A whole course of good watercolour teaching, gathered from artists who know their way around a wet sheet of paper.
Start with water and washes, work towards a painting of your own, or drop into the bit that is giving you grief. About 15 hours of free-to-watch YouTube lessons. No enrolment, no heroic shopping list.
Choose one lesson, keep a scrap of paper nearby and pause to try the decision yourself. Watching another six demonstrations will not, regrettably, dampen the paper for you.
Look. Read the looking prompt before you press play.
Try. Use the exercise, then adapt it to your own subject.
Notice. Keep one useful observation, even if the painting goes sideways.
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01
Foundation · 3 lessons
Getting started
Meet the paper, paint and brush. Start with the two shorter lessons; Jenna’s longer class is an extended paint-along or a useful return visit, not compulsory homework before you are allowed near a colour.
By the end: you can choose a modest kit and make a small vocabulary of deliberate brush marks.
Lesson 0127 min
WATERCOLOUR WEEK Episode 1: Getting To Know Your Supplies / Basic Strokes
An introduction to supplies and basic strokes from Emma’s Watercolour Week. A sensible place to begin with the kit already on your table.
Look for How the brush’s angle and pressure change the width and character of a mark.
Now your brush gets a turn
With one brush, paint a row of thin lines, a row of broad strokes and five marks that taper. Compare your first and last attempts; label one adjustment that helped.
A closer look at different brush shapes and the marks they can make. Useful before deciding that every painting problem requires another purchase.
Look for Which marks depend on the shape of the brush, and which you could make by changing your grip.
Now your brush gets a turn
Choose two brushes you own, or use two angles of one brush. Make the same leaf, straight edge and broad patch with each. Keep the comparison beside your palette.
An extended beginner class covering supplies, colour, brush control and wet techniques, with a floral wreath paint-along. Use it as a longer foundation session.
Look for The connection between a practice mark and its later use in a painted subject.
Now your brush gets a turn
Choose one basic technique from the class, practise it on a scrap, then use it in a tiny leaf or flower study. Return to the longer project when the smaller exercise feels manageable.
Fill a page with thin lines, broad strokes, dots and tapered marks using a brush you already own. Label what changed: pressure, angle or paint load. Keep the sheet. It is a more useful equipment review than the contents of your shopping basket.
The water is a collaborator with unusual working hours. These lessons help you recognise paint consistency, carry an even wash and decide whether a boundary should stay crisp or wander.
By the end: you can compare wetness and brush load rather than blaming the paint by default.
Lesson 0424 min
The answer to water control problems when using watercolor.
A focused practice lesson on pigment-to-water ratios. Jenna credits Brienne M. Brown for the Tea–Butter exercise discussed in the video.
Look for The difference between changing the paint mixture and changing the moisture on the paper.
Now your brush gets a turn
Make five puddles of one colour from pale to strong. Paint a small square with each on dry paper, then repeat on a damp strip. Let both dry before comparing.
Steve Mitchell’s introduction to the flat wash: an apparently simple skill that repays a little methodical practice.
Look for How an even area is carried across the paper and where unevenness begins.
Now your brush gets a turn
Paint three small rectangles with one colour. Change only one variable between attempts: brush load, paper angle or speed. Write down the change instead of trying to remember it next week.
Louise De Masi explains hard and soft edges, including softening marks on dry paper and addressing darker dried boundaries.
Look for When a boundary needs to remain definite, and what changes when it is softened.
Now your brush gets a turn
Draw three simple fruit shapes. Keep the first boundary firm, soften part of the second, and vary the third. Judge them from a distance rather than with your nose against the paper.
Divide a spare sheet into six rectangles. Paint three on dry paper and three on damp paper, changing the strength of one colour. Let them dry and circle an edge you like. Write down what the surface looked like when you made it.
A colour-mixing lesson and painting demonstration using just three paints. Small palette, plenty to investigate.
Look for How a colour changes when its neighbour or mixture changes.
Now your brush gets a turn
Use three colours from your own set to make a nine-swatch chart. Choose three mixtures for a small household-object study. The paints need not match the teacher’s for your comparison to be useful.
A compact lesson on making greens more varied in foliage, flowers and landscape painting.
Look for Differences in warmth, strength and value inside an area you would usually call simply “green”.
Now your brush gets a turn
Paint six green swatches with small mixture changes. Use three in a quick treeline study, leaving one part quieter. Resist giving every tree its own equally loud shade.
An introduction to glazing: what a transparent layer can do, why you might use one and what to consider before adding it.
Look for The difference between mixing colours in the palette and placing one dry layer over another.
Now your brush gets a turn
Paint three pale squares and let them dry completely. Glaze half of each with another colour. Beside them, paint the equivalent palette mixtures and compare the results.
Choose three colours from your box. Make nine labelled mixtures, then three overlapping dry glazes. Paint a leaf or ordinary household object with this palette. Keep one neutral and one lively mixture for the next session.
Two brief composition lessons, a substantial notan session and an extended values workshop. Try the short ideas first; dip into Liron’s longer live session when you have time for a deeper study.
By the end: you can test a composition through a few connected light and dark shapes before describing the subject.
Lesson 106 min
Watercolor Composition - Simple Tactic that Makes A HUGE Difference
A short composition lesson to watch with a pencil in hand. Pair the ideas with your own thumbnails before moving to a larger sheet.
Look for One change in arrangement you could test without adding detail.
Now your brush gets a turn
Make two tiny drawings of the same view. Change one placement or crop, keep everything else simple, then choose the version that gives the clearest reason to look.
Daniel Marshall’s guest lesson on using notan sketches to improve composition. Start thinking in light and dark groups.
Look for How a simplified dark-and-light plan helps you judge the whole picture.
Now your brush gets a turn
Draw three two-value plans with a dark marker or one strong watercolour. Keep each smaller than a postcard. Select one and add a middle tone in a separate study.
Another brief composition lesson from Matthew White, useful as a second opinion after making your first plans.
Look for Which principle gives you a concrete way to assess a thumbnail you have already made.
Now your brush gets a turn
Return to yesterday’s thumbnail. Make one revision in response to a composition idea from the film. Keep the old version beside it so the comparison stays honest.
A longer live values workshop covering seeing and matching tones, exercises, a demonstration and questions. Take it in sections rather than swallowing the whole afternoon.
Look for The relationship between a shape’s value and the values touching it.
Now your brush gets a turn
Mix a five-step scale in one colour. Use only three of those steps to paint an ordinary cup or small scene. Check whether the lightest area still reads without extra outlines.
Use one of your own photographs. Make three tiny plans, changing the crop or the balance of light and dark each time. Choose one and paint it with a single colour in three strengths. No windows until the large shapes have agreed to get along.
Protect light shapes, arrange a loose floral study and tackle a glass vase. These subjects reward looking at the spaces between things as much as the things themselves.
By the end: you can make a small arrangement with a clear light shape and a deliberate balance of marks.
A public technique lesson using feathers to explore negative painting. The creator’s separate paid project classes are not needed to view this lesson.
Look for The shape of the painted space around a lighter form.
Now your brush gets a turn
Draw three overlapping leaf or feather shapes of your own. Paint the surrounding middle value, let it dry, then deepen one smaller gap. Protect the main light instead of tracing a dark moat around everything.
A substantial lesson on composing loose florals. Useful for thinking about a group of marks as a picture, rather than a collection of separate flowers.
Look for The balance between busy clusters and quieter gaps.
Now your brush gets a turn
Make two small floral arrangements from observation or your own reference. In the second, leave more breathing space around one cluster. Compare the silhouette before adding details.
Paul Clark’s step-by-step still life with a glass vase. A good bridge from isolated exercises to a complete small subject.
Look for Which surrounding tones and selected edges make the glass readable.
Now your brush gets a turn
Set a drinking glass beside one object on a plain surface. Make a small study with only three values. Save two useful lights and avoid outlining every transparent edge.
Arrange a glass, a leaf and one small object on a plain cloth. Draw a thumbnail of the gaps. Paint a postcard-sized study, protecting three important lights. Repeat tomorrow with the objects moved. The exhibition committee is you, so admission should be straightforward.
Oliver Pyle gives the sky room to be observed, then considers the awkward meeting between sky and land. Treat these as two sessions, with a walk and a small weather note in between.
By the end: you can plan a sky as a large arrangement and vary the boundary at the horizon.
The opening lesson in Oliver Pyle’s sky series, with observation and morning/evening demonstrations using a layered approach.
Look for The large arrangement of light and colour before the smaller cloud shapes.
Now your brush gets a turn
Write one sentence about today’s sky. Paint a ten-minute colour note with a large light area, then a second version with fewer marks. Decide which remembers the weather more clearly.
At roughly the same time on three days, make a small sky study from observation. Note the weather and the largest light shape. On one study leave a firm horizon; on another soften part of it. Compare how the land sits beneath the sky.
Move from short landscape tutorials into longer guest lessons on rocks and water. Karen’s free video is a condensed tutorial; any paid written instructions or membership extras remain with her publisher.
By the end: you can simplify a landscape, preserve useful lights and study a solid form beside a moving surface.
Lesson 1915 min
Landscape Step by Step Watercolour Tutorial + Full Written Instructions
A short guided landscape with a limited palette and a misty-water subject. The free video stands here; advertised written instructions and longer membership material are separate.
Look for How much of the scene is established by the broad colour and value areas.
Now your brush gets a turn
Use your own quiet landscape reference and limit the first study to four broad shapes. Add only enough detail to suggest the place. Stop before the foreground begins asking for individual blades of grass.
Lois Davidson’s loose sunlit-stream study combines wet-in-wet handling, simplified trees and protected light.
Look for How the stream’s light shape relates to the surrounding trees and banks.
Now your brush gets a turn
Make a small woodland study with one continuous light passage. Establish the surrounding shapes first, then choose three tree marks that help the space read.
A substantial guest lesson with Shuang Li, focused on painting rocks in watercolour.
Look for Which large value changes give a rock weight before texture is added.
Now your brush gets a turn
Arrange two stones under a single light. Paint them with one colour, separating their main planes. Add only a few texture marks after the solid form reads.
Pablo Rubén’s guest session on painting water. Use the lesson to sharpen your observation of a surface that rarely sits still.
Look for The balance between broad areas and small surface marks.
Now your brush gets a turn
Choose your own water reference. Paint its largest colour shapes before adding any small marks. Make a second version with half as many surface strokes and compare the sense of water.
Choose your own reference showing a bank, rocks or trees beside water. Make one study of the land shapes and another of the water. Use the same small palette. In a third thumbnail, join them and decide which area deserves the most attention.
Joseph Zbukvic’s guest session and Tim Wilmot’s extended Sydney demonstration bring the decisions together. Pause often. The point is to understand a choice, not win a race against somebody who has painted for decades.
By the end: you can select one useful idea from an artist’s approach and test it in a painting of your own.
A substantial Joseph Zbukvic guest session, indexed by its publisher under mastering the water-to-paint ratio. A chance to connect earlier exercises with an experienced painter’s decisions.
Look for A change in mixture or moisture that you could test independently on spare paper.
Now your brush gets a turn
Choose one water-to-paint relationship to investigate. Make three small tests, then use the most useful result in your own scene. Record the decision rather than trying to reproduce the artist’s signature.
An extended, public Sydney streetscape demonstration from Tim Wilmot’s own channel. The reference appears at the beginning; separate membership critiques are not part of this lesson.
Look for How a complex street is organised into larger passages before the smaller architectural marks.
Now your brush gets a turn
Use a photograph of your own street. Make a three-value thumbnail, then a small colour study that keeps those groups intact. Add a few architectural clues only after the space reads.
Pick one decision to study: water-to-paint balance, a connected shadow or a simplified building. Use your own street or landscape reference and make two small versions, changing only that decision. Note which result says more with less fuss.
Choose your own subject. Make a three-value plan, test the palette, decide which light to protect and paint a postcard-sized study. Next day, repeat it with one deliberate change. Keep both. Write down what improved and what you would try next.
No certificates here. A useful page in the sketchbook will do nicely.
Watercolourist selected and ordered these independently published lessons. The films belong to their creators; inclusion does not imply an affiliation or endorsement. Our looking prompts and exercises are editorial suggestions, not transcripts or claims about an artist’s exact method.
Thumbnails come from YouTube. Selecting “Watch lesson” loads a YouTube player here; opening another lesson stops the previous player. YouTube may show ads, request consent or restrict playback. The direct YouTube link remains available beside every lesson.
Selection checked 2026-10-22. Captions and playback options are supplied by each video’s publisher. Privacy and local progress.
