Gentle Watercolor

The idea of watercoloring can stress some people out. It doesn’t have to be that scary! This layout shows a few very simple watercolor techniques that can be easy, even for newbies.

All the details are up in the video below so if you want to know more, you can check it out. For the quick version:

The journal spots are created with circles of very lightly tinted paint and then more concentrated color dropped into the middle while the paint is still wet. This creates a halo effect for the spots.
For the title I penciled in straight lines with a ruler, penciled in my letters and then use the edge of a wide flat brush to trace the letters. Be sure to pencil lightly so the marks don’t show later.
The “washi” strips at the top, as I call them, were created with a glazing technique. Paint a strip of color; i purposely made the edges look torn. Dry that color!! Then paint another color slightly overlapping the first. Repeat until you have the number of strips you want. I varied the width and length of my strips for more detail.
The target spot was more complicated and I’m not fully happy with it. But you could do a simple version just by dragging the full edge of a wide flat brush around a circle. I suggest tracing something circular first in pencil to get a nice straight line. I didn’t do that an my circle is a bit wonky.