Are you an avid artist who’s experimenting with watercolors to create some gorgeous artworks? Having concerns about your watercolor paintings is completely normal.
When you’re starting out with watercolors, a lot of things can feel wrong. “Why do my watercolors look dull?” is a common question that new artists face often. Well, good news — because we’ve got the answers to your concerns.
A lot of factors can make your watercolors look dull which can include the poor standard of your pigments, paper and the paintbrushes you’re using. All these issues can reduce the watercolor intensity and make it look very dull.
Keep reading to find out more about watercolor painting and how you can achieve brighter and bolder color payoffs with our article 5 Reasons Why Your Watercolor Painting Looks Dull.
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Why Do My Watercolors Look Dull?
There are different reasons why watercolors can look dull. A painting requires good paint, surface, and brushes to obtain the best results. If anything goes wrong with any of the supplies, you can’t achieve the perfect outcome with your painting.
Here are some of the reasons why your watercolors are losing adequate intensity —
One – Poor Paint Quality Low on Pigments
When you’re trying watercolor painting, make sure you invest in solid and high-quality watercolor paint.
If you end up buying cheap quality paints, you can’t expect bright color payoffs from them.
Usually, cheap quality paints are very low on pigments, and no matter how much you try to build them, they do not show any intensity of color and are dry lighter. So, it’s much better to invest in high-quality paint than settle for something cheap.
Paints that have gone old and expired ages ago can also result in dull colors. These paints don’t work well, and it is a bad idea to expect strong color intensity from them.
Two – Inappropriate Watercolor Paper Absorption
Paper quality and type can also have much influence on the color intensity of watercolors. Paper surfaces work as absorbers for watercolors, so if you end up with the wrong paper or a poor-quality paper, it will definitely affect the color outcomes after the paint has dried.
Choose thick papers with the right texture for watercolor painting. Another alternative you can consider if what you want is texture is using gesso. Make sure that the paper you’re choosing has enough additives for the color to reflect properly. The thicker and adhesive the paper is, the higher will be the color payoff on it. Pick real watercolor paper with the right texture to make all the difference in your painting.
Three – Poor Paint Brush Without Grip
Poor paint brushes are also a nuisance when it comes to watercolor painting. If your brush sets are cheap and do not have much grip, they cannot deliver good results in painting paper or canvas.
Usually, a big brush with natural hair and stronger bristles is perfect for creating bolder brush strokes. Brushes of big shapes can bring out the bright colors of the paints. So, investing in good brushes is essential for brighter paintings.
Four – Muddying As Results of Not Layering
One of the most common reasons your watercolor loses color intensity is muddying. But what exactly is muddying?
When there is a mixture between two or more paints, muddying can occur. This happens when no layers are formed, and the paints mix together to create a dull texture. So, when you were trying to create a contrast color of yellow or blue, it might’ve turned into something very dull.
This can happen for a lot of reasons. If you’re painting in a hurry and you did not give enough time for the previous layers to dry completely, this can cause muddying.
The end result is a mixture between the new paint layer and the former one, looking like a glob of weird and messy color. It often happens with brighter and contrasting shades of yellow, orange, blue, green, and other colors.
Muddying can also occur from using a dirty brush. A dirty brush often bears residues from previous watercolors. This residue can alter the original color tone of the paint and make it look murky and dull.
Five – Type of Watercolor Paints
Lastly, paint type matters a lot when you’re choosing watercolors. There are certain paint types that can affect the color outcomes of any watercolor painting. Watercolor paints can be of transparent, sedimentary, and staining types.
Transparent and staining watercolors can make the colors look vibrant on the painting surface. However, sedimentary watercolors cannot bring out the vibrancy of the colors as they have thicker textures. If your paintings are turning out dull, there’s a strong reason that you’re using sedimentary paint.
How to Make Watercolor Paintings Look Brighter?
Now that you’re aware of how your art supplies can make a difference in your color outcomes, it’s time to take measures against this problem. If you’re tired of facing dull colors in your paintings and you want to experience more vividness in your artworks, here are a few tips that can help you out —
One – Invest in Artist-Grade Watercolors
Try investing in artist-grade paints to have vivid and bright results. Since these watercolors have minimum binders, the colors turn out to be bolder and more vibrant.
Two – Let the Previous Layers Dry!
In order to prevent muddying, the best idea is to take things slow. Instead of rushing to finish the piece, take your time and let the individual layers dry down before moving on to another layer. You should also make sure to keep at least a quarter space of the paper white on the first wash.
Three – Using Glaze
Make sure you use a glaze after the watercolor is done. Using a glaze can actually bring a shine to your paintings. The colors will look brighter, and the finish will turn out to be sharp and defined.
Also try avoiding too many colors in one shot. In that case, the glaze might turn out to be a complete mess. Use one pigment first and then add more pigments before applying it to the final piece, for good practice.
Four – Dilute less
If you want bolder colors in your painting, don’t bother to dilute your watercolors so much. Use more paint and less water to complete your piece. In fact, try using straight from the tube instead of color mixing on a palette and then mixing it with water.
Don’t shy away from using a lot of dark paint to achieve the best results. Also, make sure you have enough idea about color theory and your color wheel to figure out which tones work well together. It’s a good idea to have knowledge on mixing colors so that you don’t end up with several layers of dull pigments.
Five – Leave Enough White Space
Sometimes, watercolors cannot show their vibrancy if you stain the paper completely with paint. The best way to bring more vividness in your colors is to leave some white watercolor paint here and there.
Six – Add Details
When you’re doing a watercolor painting, the best way to bring out the vibrant colors is by adding little details and some shadowing. You can try to define the edges or make a tiny sketch with colored pencils or markers.
Fix watercolor mistakes once they’ve dried up. Mix colors after you’re sure about which hues you want to bring out more. Sometimes these little details can make a lot of difference in your painting.
Final Words
Bringing it to the end, it can be said that working with watercolors can be trickier than you think. With the wrong supplies, watercolors can lose their color vibrancy and look dull.