Pen, Ink and Watercolor Wash Sketching.

Download Free Drawing & Sketching Tip Sheets, Practice Sheets, and Tutorials - Watercolor Wash

The Watercolor Wash Tutorial Tip Sheets download includes instructions, tips, and reference photos: for a deck, for a beach, and for a street scene as shown above. Under each photo there is a postcard size work area to make a drawing using colored markers or watercolor pencils and a smaller area to plan the composition for a second watercolor wash sketch to be done on wet media paper.

These Watercolor Wash Tutorial Tip Sheets can be printed on any computer printer using either a good quality multipurpose paper or drawing paper that has been cut to 8.5” x 11” to fit the printer. When making sketches on the printed sheets, you can use the printed photo for reference. Alternatively, when viewing the PDF file in Acrobat Reader, you can sketch from the computer screen and use the magnifying glass on the toolbar to zoom into the photo and discover the smallest details. This is an especially helpful tool if you have chosen a distant object as the focal point of your sketch.

Watercolor Wash Tutorial
This Practice Sheet lets you try different techniques using the deck with flowers as a reference photo.

Pretend the photo in the PDF download is your plein air view. Choose a small area for a focal point and sketch your own composition in the postcard sized drawing area provided on the Tip Sheet. Use colored markers or pencils when working on printer paper. For your second sketch, work on drawing paper. Use pens, inks, new water brushes, or watercolors for wet media washes. Choose a different focal point for your second composition and make a thumbnail sketch in the small drawing area. Using paper that accepts wet media, try various techniques for shapes, lines, and tones in a larger, 6” x 4” postcard size sketch.

Below: This first sketch shows how a composition can use just a corner of the deck as the focal point to make a simple monotone sketch with black line and a tinted wash.

Below: The second sketch uses the detail of the flowers, in the photo at the right, as the focal point for a watercolor wash sketch at the left. A 3/8" Sceptre Gold II Brush was used both to draw the lines and to paint the washes. I find that the edge of a flat brush works very well as a drawing tool.

Below: The third sketch again uses a detail from the larger photo. The small flowering trees contrast nicely with the massive trunk of the larger tree for an interesting sketch. Here a black line also contrasts with the colorful washes.

In the same way these three sketches were made from one of the reference photos above, try finding three focal points in the other reference photos of the ocean and the building. Make postcard size sketches using markers and colored pencils on the practice pages printed from the PDFs.

In the thumbnail sketch spaces provided on each printed sheet, create additional compositions for full watercolor wash sketches. Note that artists often like their thumbnail sketches best because the small size simplifies the composition, ensuring that only essential elements are included. Paint the final watercolor sketches on wet media paper in a good sketchbook or on drawing paper that will accept light washes. Strathmore Series 400 Drawing Paper was used for all of the sketches above and is a good choice because it is available in a wide range of convenient sizes.