• Home
  • About
  • Art Days 2018
  • Etsy Shop
  • Freebies
  • Subscribe
Paper Nerd

Creative Encouragement

Watercolors: When to prime – and when not to!

Watercolor Lesson: When to prime – and when not to!

You may be asking yourself: “What does priming have to do with watercolors? We’re not upcycling a dresser here, I just want to paint some flowers.”

Let me tell you, if you don’t know about priming your watercolor pieces you’re missing out!

Watercolors: When to prime – and when not to!

How to prime your watercolor piece

Priming in watercoloring does not involve a base coat of paint (like gesso for example) as you may think. It simply means preparing your watercolor paper by coating it with clear water. Do NOT over-saturate or drown your paper – an even coating of water will suffice.

Going in with a large, flat brush will help you in getting an even and modest coat of water. It will also help you work more quickly so you avoid your piece drying unevenly.

We’re going for a satin glow on your watercolor paper – not glossy or pooling. See the photo below.)

If you’ve overdone your priming you can remove excess water by blotting with a paper towel.

Watercolor Lesson: When to prime – and when not to!

Now we’re ready to add some color.

I’m making two watercolor pieces on this paper for comparison. The left is not primed, the right is primed.

Watercolor Lesson: When to prime – and when not to!

In the above photo you can see the color freshly applied and wet. Below it is dry.

When to prime for watercoloring

  • Color washes
  • Backgrounds
  • Ombrés and gradients

When you’re doing a background wash of color like this priming is key for an ultra-blended and even result. On the un-primed piece you can see slight streaking and it’s “darker” on one side than the other. On the primed piece there’s a much more even tone all over.

(Granted, my example here is kind of ridiculous since it’s all very pastel-y and hardly noticable but I hope you can see what I mean, heh.)

Watercolor Lesson: When to prime – and when not to!

Now, for the next step I’m adding hot pink dots to start my leopard pattern. And again I’m priming the right side to illustrate the difference, still using clear water. You want to make sure the artwork is completely dry before priming overtop so the priming doesn’t disturb or lift the color underneath.

Watercolor Lesson: When to prime – and when not to!

When not to prime for watercoloring

  • Sharp details
  • Brush script
  • High contrast motifs

Now you can truly see the difference in not priming vs. priming. I may have even gone a little overboard with the priming ’cause you can see the first hot pink dots on the right are completely fuzzy and bleeding into the background. But also the more not-bleeding dots on the primed piece have more flow in the movement of the color. They’re much more even than the dots on the non-primed piece.

Watercolor Lesson: When to prime – and when not to!

I go in before the hot pink spots dry completely with a black-brown color to add the final detailing to the artwork and make it look like proper leopard spots.

Bonus tip: The key to painting leopard spots is to sort of outline the bigger lighter-colored dots with four smaller darker-colored dots. Make sure the smaller, dark dots aren’t perfectly round and separated. They can be a bit bean-shaped and connected for a more natural look. It’s also a great idea to vary the sizes of both the big light dots and the smaller dark ones.

Watercolors: When to prime – and when not to!

Watercolor Lesson: When to prime – and when not to!

Done!

As you can tell the non-primed artwork is much sharper and crisper, full of contrast. The dry paper sucks the color in instantly and makes it less even and blended – which is great for a lot of projects and motifs.

And the primed artwork comes out more soft and blended. The clear water in the paper allows you to make seamless color washes and build color more slowly. This too has it’s uses.

Before I let you go here’s a little card I made using the artwork from the demo. I ended up going with the unprimed piece for a sharper, high contrast look. It’s quite different from anything I usually make but it sort of just happened, haha.

Watercolor Lesson: When to prime – and when not to!

Watercolor Lesson: When to prime – and when not to!

That’s it for today. I hope you feel inspired to try priming your watercolor art next time you’re making a nice blended background or something similar.

Thanks for stopping by, lovely. Have a great day!

xo Nina

Share

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)

Share

Share
Tweet
Email
Pin
Comment
Previous
Next

Comments Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. Krista says

    September 10, 2016 at 02:21

    Interesting! Unsurprisingly, I preferred the non-primed piece because sharp details are definitely more my style as opposed to a looser style. But I didn’t know about the whole priming process when it comes to gradients and an even blend of color. When I need an even blend, I will definitely try this out! :)

    Reply
    • Nina Christensen says

      September 27, 2016 at 13:38

      Haha. :D I usually don’t prime either for a lot of things. But I’m practicing my priming and it does take a little practice to make it really spectacular.

      Reply
  2. Lauren says

    September 22, 2016 at 03:45

    LOVE THIS!! such good tips!

    Reply
    • Nina Christensen says

      September 27, 2016 at 13:37

      Thanks Lauren :D

      Reply
  3. Sam says

    September 27, 2016 at 18:46

    Thanks for sharing Nina! I never prime my papers, now i should!

    Reply

Hi! I’m Nina

Paper Nerds are loving

  • Review | Clipbook by Filofax
    Review | Clipbook by Filofax
  • Easy DIY Traveler's Notebook | Tutorial and Freebie Printable
    Easy DIY Traveler's Notebook | Tutorial and Freebie Printable
  • Watercolors: When to prime – and when not to!
    Watercolors: When to prime – and when not to!
  • How to do Abstract Watercolor – With Free Painting Prompts
    How to do Abstract Watercolor – With Free Painting Prompts

About sponsors and affiliates

If a product is given to me as a sample or gift (for review or otherwise) it will be clearly stated in the article. My opinions are always my own and I pride myself on my honest and thorough reviews. I don’t endorse anything I don’t fully believe in and haven’t thoroughly tested myself.

I use affiliate links on this blog to all of my favorite products. If you enjoy my work you can shop crafting supplies and more – at no extra cost to you – via my affiliate links and support me and my work.

I’m very thankful for all your support! <3

Get the Paper Nerd newsletter



Receive inspiring blog posts and lovely newsletters in your email. Subscribers get the Paint-it-Yourself Planner printable for free!
* = required field

Paper Nerds Are Loving

  • Review | Clipbook by Filofax
    Review | Clipbook by Filofax
  • Easy DIY Traveler's Notebook | Tutorial and Freebie Printable
    Easy DIY Traveler's Notebook | Tutorial and Freebie Printable
  • Watercolors: When to prime – and when not to!
    Watercolors: When to prime – and when not to!
  • How to do Abstract Watercolor – With Free Painting Prompts
    How to do Abstract Watercolor – With Free Painting Prompts
  • DIY Painted Background for Photos
    DIY Painted Background for Photos

Explore

  • Crafting
  • Art Journaling
  • Planning & Doing
  • Reviews
  • My Story
  • FAQ

Copyright 2022 Nina Berg Christensen