Watercolor training with a focus on shadows rather than accuracy

Every now and then in my classes we revert back to scenery because it is something that I believe almost anyone can do. We will normally do older buildings with high steeped roofs in order to get some practice at shadowing and not being overly focused on making the picture look like a real photograph. If people want to see that then they can just whip out their phones and take pictures. That is not what we are aiming for.

I tell my students to not focus too heavily on making the buildings or even the foliage look too realistic but instead to think hard about where the light source is and make the decisions about shadowing accordingly. To accomplish this I will normally have them place some object like an eraser near the paper they are working on in order to ensure that they can remember where the light source is.

We are not copying a picture when we do this, but instead it is just ideas of buildings that we have and they can arrange them however they want. I feel as though shadowing can add some real life to pictures that otherwise might be a bit stock standard and it also makes the students feel as though they are making real progress with their abilities.

When starting, I encourage them to do a line with a pencil about where they think the shadows should be, then paint in the lines, then later erase the pencil lines. This is where having quality paper comes into play. You can't erase a standard piece of paper, especially if it is damp, without tearing it. We provide this paper for free at the school but they can also be acquired in any art or stationary store for just slightly more than regular paper costs.

Good paper can make all the difference for a starting artist and it isn't that much money anyway. I highly recommend that anyone trying to do watercolors gets some of this thicker, better paper because standard printing paper turns to mush once it gets wet. It also crinkles and wears down the very thin fibers of the paper to an irreversible state.

Shadowing can be very rewarding and we work on it regularly in our free classes. After doing this for as many years as I have been, I am no longer surprised at how much the students enjoy it and feel as though they are making real progress when they see their finished product. Maybe you will feel the same way as well!