Please don't worry about being elementary or repetitious! As a beginner, watercolors intimidate & even mystify me. Thankfully, you're an excellent teacher- thorough, patient, & kind. I'm grateful to have found your channel.
I cannot even tell enough how grateful I am to find your series of fundamental techniques in watercolor. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom and expertise with the world!
Using hot water makes the water dry faster, but with less edge. Ice cold water dries slower, but with more edge. Thought that was pretty interesting. Thanks for another top quality video btw.
Those hard edges were my biggest headache when I first started messing with watercolour and you cured it for me a long time ago. It was such a mystery to me in the beginning and I can imagine the new painters out there just pulling their hairs out. Even though I knew this stuff I still think it is one of your best tutorials ever. Thanks Steve.
I found your name on a FB beginners watercolor group recommending you. I’m 60 and just picked up a brush for the first time. I love your beginner videos. You have such a talent for teaching. I’m so excited to keep watching and learning. Thank you
I like how this video explains why edges happen rather than just how to prevent them. I found this video trying to learn more about creating hard edges in a controlled way, and I learned a lot.
Thank you. It's okay to let the more experienced watercolorists feel like they are in remedial school because for us newbies your expertise is invaluable!
Just have to say- your videos are the best tonic for when I feel like throwing my paints, brushes, paper, everything at the wall and giving up. Your calm, non judgmental and detailed approach always helps me when I'm feeling overly self critical and negative. I always come back to these lessons because I know they help me get better and give me the confidence to keep going. Thank you for being here! :)
When I started watercolor years ago, I thought for a few years that these edges are special. Because in my watercolor books was nothing about it. I was always happy when I got the edges. Sometimes I need the edges, sometimes not :-)
I love it that also helps a ton. Layers. I should stop charging in at full pigmented brushes and start with thin soft layers and THEN do it until its fantastic
I can't thank you enough for your videos. Water colours would confuse me so much because I did not know how to manipulate the components. You are a wonderful teacher. Lots of love, and stay safe!
This is just what I needed to hear. I have been trying to get that look of objects overlapping, but I was outlining. Thank you for sharing this. It really helped.
You have the best tutorials I have found anywhere. Thank you so much for sharing your talent, and doing so in such a great way. I have taken classes (many) which gave me nowhere near this much usable, understandable info. Thank you so much!! You are the best.
Thank you for patiently & clearly showing us minder principals & techniques that are probably 2nd nature to experienced water colorists. So NICE to be able to learn correct techniques, I’m a happy minder!,
Thank you so much for taking time to share your teaching. It's a pleasure to learn from your clear and concise videos. I also appreciate your suggestions on products, and have purchased through your channel and links. Some items made their way onto my Christmas list for excellent gifts. I took a watercolour course in university, and found most professors just sit back and watch the class paint, offering no demos and little if any instruction. While practice is pivotal, I prefer a variety of approaches to inculcate and inspire. Thank you for the tip about pulling the shadow away from an overlapping object. Shadows provide great exercise in adding depth and expression.
I love your videos mate. I appreciate how much detail you provide and they actually take my mind off work and stop me stressing out about crappy things haha Been using this medium for ten years now and I still find these tutorials very helpful and comforting to watch when I can’t sleep. Keep up the good work. Thank you from Australia
That was really helpful. At first, when I was newer to watercolor, I liked those edges and thought they were a built in watercolor feature that you had to live with. Somehow over months of experience I did get rid of them but this video taught me exactly HOW to get rid of them. Watercolors are so multi-faceted that no one really knows what all they need to learn at the beginning. As they always say...practice, practice, practice and learn from this CZcams channel to save yourself years of wasted time. MY NEW PROBLEM is I can’t keep my paper wet for very long. It seems to dry out as fast as I can wet it. Some Arches is on the way. I’ve been using Strathmore as an affordable way to learn.
Aha! One of the very first watercolour sketches I did was some bluebells - I got that hard edge effect and I liked it - it defined the bluebells very delicately. The paper I was using wasn't watercolour paper (although I didn't know that then, because I bought it from ebay and it was listed as wc paper...). Later I got some proper wc paper and tried to do more bluebell paintings and couldn't replicate the first painting. I think I tried about 15 times. They were all fuzzy at the edges and no matter what I did, I couldn't reproduce the style of my first painting. It drove me mad! I never imagined it could have been the paper - I thought I'd peaked on my first painting and it seemed to be all downhill from there!!!!! Having watched this vid, I'm now thinking that the paper I was using had created (or helped to create) these hard edges that I liked so much and I'm going to experiment to see if that's the solution to repeating my bluebells. Thanks so much for this, Steve - all this information is golden. :)
I have been searching for a proper explanation for those hard edges with the darker outline! I actually really like the darker lines on the edge because I think it gives a unique look to a piece, especially when you overlap 2 different colors with the hard lines at the edge. However, I never understood how to make them consistently until your video! Thank you so so so so much!
I ran across this because i’m trying to learn to do loose painting, i still am a beginner because most of what i have done are with tutorials or online classes. Hard edges are a problem, i get very frustrated. Have tossed a lot of paintings for that very reason. I’ll try your tips, thanks😊
Very helpful. For whatever reason sometimes I really like hard edges...and I need to think about why. Might be partly because I know how to create them (so it’s easier) Thanks for adding the part about putting something underneath or behind another object. I understood what you were saying about pulling the shadow away.
Yessss!!! Thanks a LOT, I was really getting frustrated at those edges and backruns happening and you really helped me understand my mistake and how to solve it. Great! :)
Thank you so much for sharing this video with us. Edges are so important. I did learn about the shading one and I'm glad that you did it the second time. The explanations are very clearly shown. You did keep me on the edge. In the past, I saw the edges forming, but never thought about the reason for the formation, so happy to see the light. Thanks again, now I will watch it again.
I am a beginner. I watched this video a few days ago and I had the biggest breakthrough in my watercolor journey ever. I painted a robin and was able to blend several colors without a hard edge. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us!!
Oh man, lining up edges between two washes are my watercolor nemesis haha. Now, I've always worn glasses, but as I've gotten older, not only do I have to lean in, but I also have to do the wide eyes 😳 I'm sure it looks ridiculous and I'm often glad I don't film my face while painting 😂
LOL! Yep. I do the squint/frown then lower my glasses to make sure the prescription is still working. Coke bottle lens are probably in my future! Sigh! Thanks for dropping by Denise!
One of the good things about aging nowadays is that when you get cataracts then you can have the surgery to remove the old and get implanted corrective lenses and these babies are awesome. I was legally blind without glasses and now I only need them to fine tune my vision, in fact I can pass my driving test without glasses. I have never experienced such wonderful vision. I got the most basic kind, the ones covered completely by Medicare, and let me reassure you that they are something to look forward to. So don't lose hope you young folks, the best is yet to come!
Wow... this is hugely helpful! This video and the ones on blending have totally explained most of the problems I've been having. I'm going from oil painting to watercolour and it's a steep learning curve. Thank you !
It's always good to have a review and I always manage to learn again what I forgot or something I didn't even consider. I liked the look of the darker behind the lighter at the edge. It was a reverse of how I think in watercolor. It isn't really behind the paint just the allusion that the sphere is behind; something I've never considered in placement. Thanks Steve, just another door opened to explore.
Your into to me to the phrase Hang 10. I looked it up the other day. They explained that the surfers on the long board and while they are a top the wave they stand at the very front of the board and have to have all ten toes hanging over the edge of the board. I watched a few videos and I was amazed. Okay what does this have to do with your video, you give us amazing clear details to watercolor insight. Thanks see ya Edgeman, it is so important.
Any somewhat different levels of moisture against each other can be where pigment gathers to create a firm edge. It is less prominent in 100% cotton paper. If the moisture difference is substantial enough though: soaked to wet to damp to dry differences will all factor. The more wet - the more the pigment spreads... so it is the area of greater moisture that will have more edge due to drying time differences. That's basically it.
Such an awesome video! I couldn't imagine starting watercolor all over again without this channel! I have a lot of successes under my belt bc of you Steve THANK YOU ❤️
@jo.... Yes! In my house there's two Steves my husband Steve and Watercolor Steve. And my husband, who has zero interest in art, definitely knows who watercolor Steve is 😂
Hi Steve. I'd like it if you could take this video further (maybe Pt 2?) and demonstrate when you'd use each technique. For example draw a flower and say you want hard edges on some of the lower petals as their edges are turning away from the viewers, whereas on the top (sun-ward) petals you don't want a hard edge. Dunno if that makes sense. I'm thinking hard edges have a place, so I'd just like to see a demo on when is a good time to use them and when you'd want the soft edges. Also, with regards to the shading of an object beneath another object, great explanation. You could also add an actual example, piece of paper with a ball underneath to demonstrate to the viewers what you mean. Great video as always. Love your channel.
Juhani139 thanks, will consider the suggestion for sure. I will say however that the line or edge effect is purely personal taste. No rules apply. Totally depends on style. And the shading examples you ask for are strewn all through my painting videos.
Love the dad jokes😂 thanks for this. I always thought it’s me/my lack of skill. Now I know It’s so many variables plus the nature of the medium it self. These tips are gold 🙏
That was good. I actually really like the hard edges, but that's just lucky. 🙂 I'm a beginner and the problem is that I don't know why it happens and how to avoid it when I want to. After seeing this very helpful video, I realize that one of my problems is the paper I'm using. I'm using a paper that is only 25% cotton because it's cheaper (my first paper was an expensive sheet that was 100% cotton and these hard edges didn't happen much). I'll get the good stuff when I can paint with confidence and skill. So thanks! Back to practicing with this new information!
Your videos are always so informative. Thanks for the tips on lining up edges. I've had trouble with those and techniques for those weren't covered in the few classes I've had.
Please don't worry about being elementary or repetitious! As a beginner, watercolors intimidate & even mystify me. Thankfully, you're an excellent teacher- thorough, patient, & kind. I'm grateful to have found your channel.
I cannot even tell enough how grateful I am to find your series of fundamental techniques in watercolor. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom and expertise with the world!
Using hot water makes the water dry faster, but with less edge. Ice cold water dries slower, but with more edge. Thought that was pretty interesting. Thanks for another top quality video btw.
Cool tip (lol get it?)
Thanks for the input mike.
I am gonna try that!
i want ice water then
Those hard edges were my biggest headache when I first started messing with watercolour and you cured it for me a long time ago. It was such a mystery to me in the beginning and I can imagine the new painters out there just pulling their hairs out. Even though I knew this stuff I still think it is one of your best tutorials ever. Thanks Steve.
I found your name on a FB beginners watercolor group recommending you.
I’m 60 and just picked up a brush for the first time. I love your beginner videos. You have such a talent for teaching.
I’m so excited to keep watching and learning. Thank you
My go-to watercolor channel! I learn something everytime.
I like how this video explains why edges happen rather than just how to prevent them. I found this video trying to learn more about creating hard edges in a controlled way, and I learned a lot.
i get a lift from the Scripture verses you sometimes put at the end of your videos. You are a really good teacher, too.
Thank you. It's okay to let the more experienced watercolorists feel like they are in remedial school because for us newbies your expertise is invaluable!
Just have to say- your videos are the best tonic for when I feel like throwing my paints, brushes, paper, everything at the wall and giving up. Your calm, non judgmental and detailed approach always helps me when I'm feeling overly self critical and negative. I always come back to these lessons because I know they help me get better and give me the confidence to keep going. Thank you for being here! :)
Yes!
New to this channel and watercolour, can’t tell you how helpful these tutorials are and what a lovely presenting style
Beginners thank you for what may be obvious to others
All your videos are priceless. Thank you so much!
When I started watercolor years ago, I thought for a few years that these edges are special.
Because in my watercolor books was nothing about it.
I was always happy when I got the edges.
Sometimes I need the edges, sometimes not :-)
Haha, I love them, too! :D
I love it
that also helps a ton. Layers. I should stop charging in at full pigmented brushes and start with thin soft layers and THEN do it until its fantastic
One of the most helpful tutorials Ive watched so far from anyone. Really grateful you made this; thank you
Great teaching. Also, I love your gospel witness
This is so so helpful! Thank you! I now understand what I was doing wrong!
Cool! Now I know how to control those edges. Thanks!
I can't thank you enough for your videos. Water colours would confuse me so much because I did not know how to manipulate the components. You are a wonderful teacher. Lots of love, and stay safe!
This is just what I needed to hear. I have been trying to get that look of objects overlapping, but I was outlining. Thank you for sharing this. It really helped.
You have the best tutorials I have found anywhere. Thank you so much for sharing your talent, and doing so in such a great way. I have taken classes (many) which gave me nowhere near this much usable, understandable info. Thank you so much!! You are the best.
So kind and encouraging, thanks!
Thank you for patiently & clearly showing us minder principals & techniques that are probably 2nd nature to experienced water colorists. So NICE to be able to learn correct techniques, I’m a happy minder!,
Thank you so much for taking time to share your teaching. It's a pleasure to learn from your clear and concise videos. I also appreciate your suggestions on products, and have purchased through your channel and links. Some items made their way onto my Christmas list for excellent gifts. I took a watercolour course in university, and found most professors just sit back and watch the class paint, offering no demos and little if any instruction. While practice is pivotal, I prefer a variety of approaches to inculcate and inspire. Thank you for the tip about pulling the shadow away from an overlapping object. Shadows provide great exercise in adding depth and expression.
These tips are excellent and can make a major difference in how a watercolor looks.
This explanation was exactly what I needed to hear! Thank you
I love your videos mate. I appreciate how much detail you provide and they actually take my mind off work and stop me stressing out about crappy things haha
Been using this medium for ten years now and I still find these tutorials very helpful and comforting to watch when I can’t sleep. Keep up the good work. Thank you from Australia
Yes! Edges were a pesky problem in my watercolors. Thanks for making this so understandable.
I am a new commer. Much needed. Big thankyou.🤗🤗🤗
That was really helpful. At first, when I was newer to watercolor, I liked those edges and thought they were a built in watercolor feature that you had to live with. Somehow over months of experience I did get rid of them but this video taught me exactly HOW to get rid of them. Watercolors are so multi-faceted that no one really knows what all they need to learn at the beginning. As they always say...practice, practice, practice and learn from this CZcams channel to save yourself years of wasted time. MY NEW PROBLEM is I can’t keep my paper wet for very long. It seems to dry out as fast as I can wet it. Some Arches is on the way. I’ve been using Strathmore as an affordable way to learn.
Repetition is what jams that stuff into my mind🤪
Great, thanks for this video. I was looking for this info everywhere.
After a tiring day of teaching, your video gave me peace of mind and a restful, fulfilled evening of sketching. Love your videos and art on Instagram.
Aha! One of the very first watercolour sketches I did was some bluebells - I got that hard edge effect and I liked it - it defined the bluebells very delicately. The paper I was using wasn't watercolour paper (although I didn't know that then, because I bought it from ebay and it was listed as wc paper...). Later I got some proper wc paper and tried to do more bluebell paintings and couldn't replicate the first painting. I think I tried about 15 times. They were all fuzzy at the edges and no matter what I did, I couldn't reproduce the style of my first painting. It drove me mad! I never imagined it could have been the paper - I thought I'd peaked on my first painting and it seemed to be all downhill from there!!!!! Having watched this vid, I'm now thinking that the paper I was using had created (or helped to create) these hard edges that I liked so much and I'm going to experiment to see if that's the solution to repeating my bluebells. Thanks so much for this, Steve - all this information is golden. :)
I have been searching for a proper explanation for those hard edges with the darker outline! I actually really like the darker lines on the edge because I think it gives a unique look to a piece, especially when you overlap 2 different colors with the hard lines at the edge.
However, I never understood how to make them consistently until your video! Thank you so so so so much!
Agreed, if your not already familiar check out Ali Cavanaugh she has an approach almost antithetical to traditional methods.
Thank you Steve!
You are a great teacher, respecting all level of learning Thx
I ran across this because i’m trying to learn to do loose painting, i still am a beginner because most of what i have done are with tutorials or online classes. Hard edges are a problem, i get very frustrated. Have tossed a lot of paintings for that very reason. I’ll try your tips, thanks😊
Steve, this was wonderful and practical advice. You’re a great teacher.
I am 100% new at this and love your videos. You give me courage:) Thank you very much.
such a good lesson ! i appreciate so much
hard edge looks great. that's what i want :)
This was very helpful for me as a beginner. Thank you.
Love your explanations of whys
I’ve recently attempted to get into water colour and your channel has helped me a lot
Wish i had your tshirt collection to go with the watercolor tips!
Another video that I needed! Thanks, Steve. You always seem to know just what I need, just when I need it!
I am a relative beginner and really thankful for your videos!!
I love hard edges in their place
Possibly the most helpful tutorial I've watched. Thank you!
That shading tip was exactly what I was having problems with! My shadows were ruining my paintings. Thank you, thank you, thank you Steve!
You bet!, Thanks for letting me know.
I need constant reminders, so thank you!
I actually like those edges, and try to make them in a 'controlled' way when I paint.
But it was good to understand why they happen.
Thank you!!
Your videos are the best ever. I’m grateful for your effort. FYI beginner artist 1 year in
Very helpful. For whatever reason sometimes I really like hard edges...and I need to think about why. Might be partly because I know how to create them (so it’s easier) Thanks for adding the part about putting something underneath or behind another object. I understood what you were saying about pulling the shadow away.
Me too. For some aesthetics they look good and fit in- but sometimes they're too distracting.
Yessss!!! Thanks a LOT, I was really getting frustrated at those edges and backruns happening and you really helped me understand my mistake and how to solve it. Great! :)
Wow...ok...watching this again. I know most of this stuff and still mess up often. Gonna practice this tomorrow! Thanks again!
Thank you so much for sharing this video with us. Edges are so important. I did learn about the shading one and I'm glad that you did it the second time. The explanations are very clearly shown. You did keep me on the edge. In the past, I saw the edges forming, but never thought about the reason for the formation, so happy to see the light. Thanks again, now I will watch it again.
I am a beginner. I watched this video a few days ago and I had the biggest breakthrough in my watercolor journey ever. I painted a robin and was able to blend several colors without a hard edge. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us!!
OMG, my shading mistakes solved! Thank you so much, Steve!!
Excellent video! Thank you sou much!
Thank you Steve very helpful info
I just tried my first watercolor ... thing... and saw some weird edges. This is so helpful! Thanks
Awesome skills and demo
Thank you so much for this video. I'm new to watercolour and this makes such sense now to what I'm doing wrong.
There is so much I have learnt from your videos. Thank you!
He must have kids because his dad jokes are ON POINTE! Thank you for your informative videos, I've learned so much I didnt think I even needed to know
Oh man, lining up edges between two washes are my watercolor nemesis haha. Now, I've always worn glasses, but as I've gotten older, not only do I have to lean in, but I also have to do the wide eyes 😳 I'm sure it looks ridiculous and I'm often glad I don't film my face while painting 😂
It gets worse the older you get!😊
LOL! Yep. I do the squint/frown then lower my glasses to make sure the prescription is still working. Coke bottle lens are probably in my future! Sigh! Thanks for dropping by Denise!
One of the good things about aging nowadays is that when you get cataracts then you can have the surgery to remove the old and get implanted corrective lenses and these babies are awesome. I was legally blind without glasses and now I only need them to fine tune my vision, in fact I can pass my driving test without glasses. I have never experienced such wonderful vision. I got the most basic kind, the ones covered completely by Medicare, and let me reassure you that they are something to look forward to. So don't lose hope you young folks, the best is yet to come!
@@farmwife7944 Congratulations! I'm glad you are so happy with the implants - never heard of them.
Thank you, the litter that I know of water color is thanks to your tutorials and I am grateful for that.
Thank you for this video!!!!!!!!! 👍👍👍
This was so helpful! Thank you! Love your videos. Watch one per day with many teachers and you are my fav!
Wow... this is hugely helpful! This video and the ones on blending have totally explained most of the problems I've been having. I'm going from oil painting to watercolour and it's a steep learning curve. Thank you !
Thanks for the lesson.
It's always good to have a review and I always manage to learn again what I forgot or something I didn't even consider. I liked the look of the darker behind the lighter at the edge. It was a reverse of how I think in watercolor. It isn't really behind the paint just the allusion that the sphere is behind; something I've never considered in placement. Thanks Steve, just another door opened to explore.
As a newbie, this was really helpful, thank you!
Your into to me to the phrase Hang 10. I looked it up the other day. They explained that the surfers on the long board and while they are a top the wave they stand at the very front of the board and have to have all ten toes hanging over the edge of the board. I watched a few videos and I was amazed. Okay what does this have to do with your video, you give us amazing clear details to watercolor insight. Thanks see ya Edgeman, it is so important.
Thanks Steve, very informative and agree a video on shading and shading placement would be really helpful to us beginners.
Any somewhat different levels of moisture against each other can be where pigment gathers to create a firm edge. It is less prominent in 100% cotton paper. If the moisture difference is substantial enough though: soaked to wet to damp to dry differences will all factor. The more wet - the more the pigment spreads... so it is the area of greater moisture that will have more edge due to drying time differences.
That's basically it.
Thank you so much for this.... I will look at your videos
This video is very helpful. Thank you for being such a good teacher.
Thanks. This was very helpful
So helpful!! Thank you for being a fantastic teacher!
So helpful,to say the least. Thank you. Both soft and hard edges are needed depending on what your painting and this helps to control this
Thank you so much!🙏🏼
Thank you!
iI use hard edges to accrnt my SECTIONALISM style - TNX 4 expansion, it helps!
Thanks a lot for this video. Im a water color noob and this clarified so much for me. Thanks!
Another incredibly helpful video. Thank you so much!
Thank you sir... Very useful insight for beginners like me now i know how to get rid of that watercolor blooms....🤓👍
Such an awesome video! I couldn't imagine starting watercolor all over again without this channel! I have a lot of successes under my belt bc of you Steve THANK YOU ❤️
Very encouraging for me to hear, thanks!
Oh, so true! Love Steve's teaching style!!!
@jo.... Yes! In my house there's two Steves my husband Steve and Watercolor Steve. And my husband, who has zero interest in art, definitely knows who watercolor Steve is 😂
Well, that explains it.
Hi Steve. I'd like it if you could take this video further (maybe Pt 2?) and demonstrate when you'd use each technique. For example draw a flower and say you want hard edges on some of the lower petals as their edges are turning away from the viewers, whereas on the top (sun-ward) petals you don't want a hard edge. Dunno if that makes sense. I'm thinking hard edges have a place, so I'd just like to see a demo on when is a good time to use them and when you'd want the soft edges.
Also, with regards to the shading of an object beneath another object, great explanation. You could also add an actual example, piece of paper with a ball underneath to demonstrate to the viewers what you mean.
Great video as always. Love your channel.
Juhani139 thanks, will consider the suggestion for sure. I will say however that the line or edge effect is purely personal taste. No rules apply. Totally depends on style. And the shading examples you ask for are strewn all through my painting videos.
Love the dad jokes😂 thanks for this. I always thought it’s me/my lack of skill. Now I know It’s so many variables plus the nature of the medium it self. These tips are gold 🙏
That was good. I actually really like the hard edges, but that's just lucky. 🙂 I'm a beginner and the problem is that I don't know why it happens and how to avoid it when I want to. After seeing this very helpful video, I realize that one of my problems is the paper I'm using. I'm using a paper that is only 25% cotton because it's cheaper (my first paper was an expensive sheet that was 100% cotton and these hard edges didn't happen much). I'll get the good stuff when I can paint with confidence and skill. So thanks! Back to practicing with this new information!
Great lesson Steve. Thank you so much for sharing your experience and knowledge!
Very helpful!!
Always great info Steve! Thanks!
Thank you so much. This tutorial
was really important to me that I am just a beginner.
Your videos are always so informative. Thanks for the tips on lining up edges. I've had trouble with those and techniques for those weren't covered in the few classes I've had.
very helpful thanks 😊