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MoPotter — Watercoloring for Cheap People
Published: 2011-07-22 08:36:52 +0000 UTC; Views: 9340; Favourites: 435; Downloads: 217
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**DOWNLOAD FOR FULL VIEW.AND WARNING: MANY, MANY WORDS. AND THIS WILL TAKE AN INSANELY LONG TIME TO READ. HAH.**
Yeah; that's right. It finally happened. My first ever tutorial.
Yesterday was the only day I've had free since...well the beginning of July and I spent it working on this for you all!! Love me now rofl
So....yes. Pretty self-explanitory. This is the watercolor tutorial I promised my watchers innnn....February
xD Yes; I AM A BUSY PERSON x_XSo if there are any spelling mistakes I would be grateful if you pointed them out
Also I might as well point out if anyone doesn't understand; THESE OPINIONS AND ADVICE ALL COME FROM MY OWN EXPERIENCE IN WATERCOLORING AND I AM IN NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM TELLLING YOU EXACTLY HOW SOMETHING SHOULD BE DONE. Just so we're clear there x3
Supplies I found links to!!:
Watercolors [link]
Sakura Pigma Pens [link]
Watercolor Paper [link]
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Allen Walker, Capri Sun, Pringles, iPod, JVC, or My Chemical Romance
+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+
Now for the boring history!;
I started watercoloring in Fall of 09' when I got fed up with having colored pencils as the only thing to color my art with.
Here's some of the early stuff...
Aug 26, 2009
Feb 14, 2010
Jan 15, 2010
I went from that first watercolor fail {wrong paper} and then into a bit of an ink phase when I had a Fall art class {free supplies
} But atfer that I got lazy and discoraged and didn’t touch watercolors for a good 5 months after that.I guess in the end I realized my gallery desperately needed more color and watercolor was the only way I had. So whalah! I worked at it in Fall of 2010...
Sept 13, 2010
Sexy Mailman, the first full-page only-watercolor deviation I did since May 2010 and then I didn’t watercolor for 2 months after that.
In November I was rewarded with even a bit more visible improvement with Nov 15, 2010
Hah I laughed when I was looking back on these old deviations today! On that first one it said
So I still haven’t conquered them, but I am proud to say that I think I have improved a great darn deal!! I look forward to improving my drawing skills as much as my water-coloring skills :3
ENJOY!
Allen Walker and original reference (c) Katsura Hoshino!!
See the final artwork from this tutorial here
Related content
Comments: 136
My sister got me a watercolor set like,10 years ago and I've never used it. I plan on changing that now...
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Definitely do it!! Hah that's how I started my "new" phase of watercoloring xD It's never too late to put those watercolors to good use!
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This actually boosted my confidence a lot about starting to paint with watercolors, I've always been told when it comes to art "you get what you pay for" but as a struggling student, can't afford to drop tons of cash, but this is something I could easily afford and you made such amazing art doing it! Great tutorial, super informative, and super helpful! <3
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Well, I'm really glad you thought this was helpful AND boosted your confidence! I've always just learned to work with what I had and being unable to/reluctant to spend that kind of money on supplies really helped 
Happy to help^^
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this is awesome, its nice to know that not everyone uses super expensive materials
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It is rather reassuring, isn't it?? I thought for the longest time I had to use nice, expensive supplies to have great art- which, I'm not going to lie, they do help sometimes, but it's definitely not a necessity!
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I absolutely Loooooove this 
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I'm glad you love it!
You are very welcome too
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You are very welcome!! I'm glad :}
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2 questions; one being what weight paper did you use for this in particular (It's hard to read on the cover) and the other is; how do you keep the edges from running into one another? I realize I'll have to have my blow-dryer ready, but is it just about waiting for layers to totally dry?
On a sidenote, this is probably the first watercolor tutorial I've looked at that actually seems do-able. Very VERY in-depth, and explanatory. Thankyou for that.
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Ummm...weight paper...I didn't even know there were different weights
If I were to venture a guess I would say medium...sorry I'm not much help!
And to keep the colors from running into one another, I just et it really precise- the main thing that helps is not putting to much water/paint on the brush so it starts running away from you and into other colors! Waiting for layers to dry won't necessarily stop the colors from running- just try to minimize the amount of paint so that it doesn't have the chance to run!
And thanks so much! I'm so glad to hear that :} It's kind of exactly what I needed when I first started watercoloring and then had to find out on my own. So I'm glad to share and help others with it!
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Thankyou for the tip, and I got to squinting at the photo and you used 90Lb paper, which is great for smaller images and characters. For like beachy/landscape scenes use 140Lb paper, it's thinker and doesn't wrinkle as easily. I actually got my paper 1/2 off with a coupon so I have more of the 140 lb, but generally 90lb is cheaper. Also, My dad scored 18 tubes of "professional paint" for $2 at the thrift store, but until I'm certain how to used them I'll use the crayola set I have.
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I'm surprised you can get such nice effect with school watercolors. though actually one can see the difference in quality between those cheap ones and those produced for artists. to be honest I think it's better to save a little more money and buy a decent quality watercolor paints than to go for the cheapest available. good quality paints can serve you very long - I got my first artist's watercolor set in 2006 and still have it working (using it more often than once a month
but as for a very start with watercolors, your way is really good - you don't waste money on something you aren't sure if you even like it. I can see that you are actually getting better and better in watercoloring, so I recommend you to spend some money on a set of better quality paints
one more thing - I'm curious why you don't advise to use wide and thick brushes. when I was a total beginner, I got three brushes - a round 2, flat 6 and flat 16. I can't imagine how to cover big areas of painting without a big brush. covering it with small brush is just a waste of time and you simply cannot get a smooth transition of colour, which is clearly visible on your paintings. don't be afraid of big brush, it's your helpful friend.
I wouldn't recommend eating anything while painting to a beginner. you must be very careful not to spoil a sheet of paper immediately with a greasy finger.
anyway, thanks for sharing your tutorial, I'm sure it helped many people to start an adventure with watercolors
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I just really like the watercolors I have now so I'm afraid if I go out and buy expensive ones and don't like them, it will be a huge waste of money! D: Hah, I've had these same watercolors for over 10 years xD And they're only just starting to run out xP
I will definitely look in to getting better quality ones as soon as I have money though! I think it will be worth the risk and I'm excited to see if the quality of the colors improves
And for this particular drawing (since it was face and body and mainly small areas) I didn't suggest a big brush! They're great for doing large areas, but I didn't want to have people mistakenly think they should use them for the smaller areas (which is difficult and frustrating
And thank you so much! Your suggestions about better paints has me thinking I should ask for some for Christmas ;D
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wow, you must have had good paints then
you don't need to spend much money at once, especially if you are afraid of wasting them - you can pick a set made only of primary colors and try them out before you decide to buy more. though it's also risky, because if you buy them singly it gets more expensive in the end.
if you plan to ask for paints for Christmas I can recommend Leningrads, I got them myself last year (also for Christmas XD) and they are simply amazing, I fell in love with them immediately. 
about the brushes, I believe the sooner you get proper tools, the better 
you're welcome and I hope you get yourself your perfect paints
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I had just purchased me the crayola watercolors 2 hours ago.
I paid $3.99 at Target. The back to school sale is the reason.
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Yay! Gotta love back-to-school deals!!
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specially ,, i just started with watercolours so i have cheap stuff and not so much yet
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That was how I was (okay, that's how I still am
I tried looking for tutorials when I began as well but yes, lots of them are for pretty advanced materials D:
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i love this the fact you used cheap watercolour pants and such just makes it even more awesome thank you for this cool tutorial
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They work just as good as the expensive ones (as far as I know)
And you're welcome^^
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that is great i love to make awesome things on the cheap
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Cheap and lazy ppl rule!!! -we should make our won group ^^ This is uper cool. I want to go digital but I don't have the cash T-T But with tutorials like this I LOVE being traditional XD
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Yes, yes they do
Our own group would be awesome..but then we might be so cheap and lazy nobody does anything for it xP hah
I've got the stuff for digital but it just doesn't compare!! And it takes so much longer D:
And thanks!!
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haha 
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Yes but it's always nice to hear it from other people!!
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You are really good with this. Now I know I can use Crayola watercolours for cheap :3 Anyways, why not the flat brushes? I find them good with doing wrinkles.... But I love a bushy brush XD Anymore tips you can give?
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Thank you!!
Hah yes, now you know!! You don't always have to spend extra money to make pretty art
And it's more of a personal preference of what you're comfortable with- for me, I work on a pretty small scale whenever I'm water coloring and big brushes would take up the whole head of the character in this tutorial if I used it. Though I have no doubt they're good for backgrounds and wrinkles and things!! I'm just not very good at using them and just found them troublesome when I was first using them so I left them out of this tutorial ;D
Use them if you can!! I still need to try using them
And hmm, more tips...well as far as coloring go I've come to realize I don't use nearly as many layers {go as dark} as some people do and it tends to look prettier with more layers so you could try that! Um, I haven't water colored in quite awhile so I can't think of anything else...but if you ever have any questions I still might be able to help you!!
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Thank you so much :3 Yeah It seems to be layers is a big thing with water colour. However, I think the three layers you did should stay that way. It's crisp, clean, and effective. I think the max should be 4-5 layers since it might over power the paper and start to spread to places you don't want it to. XD Thanks again.
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Man, reading this makes me want to try water colors again. I did a little bit in an observational class during my freshman year of college, but that was back when I first got into school, thought I knew better than everyone, and thus didn't bother to actually pay attention.
(If I could go back in time and smack myself and tell myself to pay more attention I so would).
But yeah, maybe I'll try to take up the brushes again....X3
~VelkynKarma
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Well why not try again??
Hah and I always end up having that kind of attitude in most beginning art classes and regret it later
And have fun if you do!
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Thank you for such interesting and useful tutorial!
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You are very welcome!! I'm so glad you thought it was interesting AND useful!!
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i dont do watercolor, but i read the whole thing, this is one awesome tutorial
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Well maybe you might try it now!! ;D
But thank you too!
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great tutorial! ur very talented
AND YAY FOR MCR PICTURE! i love that song/album
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Thank you very much!!
And hah YES; MCR is awesome!!
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you're welcome!
totally, they're like my favorite band in the world.
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This is the best watercolour tutorial I've seen! ( Especially for one like me, who has never watercoloured before and in trying to open the watercolour bottle had it explode all over my sketchbook for art class ;~; ) thanks so much for this tutorial, it certainly comes in helpful! ^^
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Hah well thank you very much!! I wish you the best in your endeavor to learn watercoloring 
And you're welcome^^
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