My 5 Secret Weapons for Watercolor (and it’s not paint or paper)

Ok, so you’ve picked up watercolor painting and you’re in a good groove. Woo hoo!! Maybe you’ve already checked out a few of my favorite tools on my resources page here. Well the tools I’ll be sharing in this post are a bit different. I’m sharing a few “secret weapon tools” I’ve found to help keep me efficient when creating a painting. Some of these tools help me create a painting a little faster while others help me erase mess ups or paint drips (it happens to the best of us!)

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1. Heat Gun

   Watercolor is finicky. A huge skill in using watercolors is patience… and lets be honest, I have no patience! To build up colors, shadows and values, it’s imperitive to wait until your first layer is fully dry before you lay down another layer of color. In between layers, I use this heat gun to quickly dry my paint and water before I lay down another layer of paint.

   I use a heat gun like this!

2. Magic Eraser

   A Magic Eraser is a great way to remove watercolor and not completely damage your paper. My advice is to be very gentle and take it slow. Get your magic eraser wet and lightly rub the area of paint you’re trying to remove. Dab the area with a dry paper towel. Other options to remove smaller areas of paint splatters are an X-acto knife or a scrubber brush.

3. Clear, Lined Ruler

   I love this ruler because I’m able to easily see whats underneath! But what I also love is the lines running down the center of the ruler. I use this tool often when creating the lines for the siding on my house portraits or to quickly measure and cut down my paper.

4. White Ink Pen

   I specifically use the Signo Uni-ball white gel pen. I’ve found this to be the best option for writing overtop of watercolor paint. It’s defined and clear. You may see some people use masking fluid to create white areas in their painting. Masking fluid works too, but can be such a pain sometimes! I use this pen to easily and quickly create smaller white details.

5. Water Brush

   This is my go-to brush for watercolor calligraphy, creating fine lines and details or the brick work on my house portraits . The tip is small and keeps it’s shape, which helps you control the thickness of your line. (This brush is also my secret weapon for painting bricks on houses.)