Building skills: WATERCOLOUR PAINTINGUsing watercolours gives children the opportunity to learn about mixing colours and different concentrations of paint. It is a versatile medium used by many children’s book illustrators so will allow children to relate their own work to those of professionals.Once finished these warm up exercises could be stuck into sketchbooks for reference or used as collage papers to make other pictures.

Materials needed:

• Watercolour paints plus the tin lids for mixing colours, or clean palettes

• Water in pots. Ideally only shared between one or two, otherwise the water can get very ‘muddy’

• Brushes ideally soft ones in large and small sizes• Paper towel for dabbing brushes dry and for removing paint

from the paper’s surface• White wax crayons or plain candles broken into crayon sized

pieces• A5 Paper/card - watercolour paper is lovely to use but can

also be expensive so card or thick cartridge paper is a good alternative particularly for these warm up exercises.

Watercolour Basics:Watercolours need lots of water. The finished look should be washes of transparent colour, not thick vibrant colours (it is better to use poster paints when you want that effect). Watercolour is often used in combination with pencil drawing, and it is nice to be able to see the pencil lines through the watercolour washes.Most tins of school watercolours will contain black and white paints. It is recommended that you try not to use these colours at all. The best way to create white, in watercolour painting, is to leave the paper uncoloured, so the white of the paper is the lightest shade. To make other colours paler simply use more water/less paint. To create dark colours close to black try mixing colours (eg dark brown and dark blue).All paint whether it is being mixed with another colour or just

having water added should be transferred to the paint tin lid before putting on the paper as this gives better control of how light or dark the paint is.Method - experimenting with wet in wet: Using a large brush cover the whole piece of paper with a very dilute light colour. While the paper is still wet, load a smaller brush with other colours and place them onto to the surface. Watch and experiment with how the colours spread and blend. Perhaps the image being created is a magic potion with lots of different colours bubbling to the surface. This is a great technique for creating interesting textures. It is also useful to remember that this ‘spreading of colour’ is the reason for letting watercolours dry if painting two colours next to each other that you do not want to ‘run’.Method - experimenting with wet on dry: Using a large brush cover the whole surface with a light /dilute colour. Wait for this colour to dry. Then, as in the previous exercise, use a smaller brush to add dots of different colours and note the different effect. Experiment with the different kinds of dots, lines and marks you can make with your brush. Perhaps the texture being created is the fur or scales of an imaginary beast.Method - experimenting with removing paint:Watercolour techniques are often about building up layers, but it is also possible to remove paint using a paper towel. Using a large brush, cover the whole paper in a blue wash. While the paint is still wet experiment with dabbing paint off the paper again using a scrunched up paper towel to create clouds floating in a sky.Method - experimenting with resist: The lightest colours in a watercolour painting are the areas left without paint. A good way to make something look bright is to make everything else look dark. Using a piece of wax (candle broken up) draw dots, stars and moons or planets on a piece of paper. You will not be able to see them so concentrate hard. When finished cover the whole piece of paper in dark, inky colours and see how the wax resists the paint to reveal a night sky.Artist Links:Jackie Morris, Chris Ofili(watercolours), Catherine Raynor, J.M.W.Turner

These resources were created by illustrators Sion Ap Tomos, Merlin Strangeway and Toya Walker as part of a four year project with three Islington primary schools funded by Children and the Arts.

They all addressed a wide range of specific curriculum units using illustration, enabling the children to develop illustration and visual communication skills. With thanks to the pupils and teachers at Copenhagen, Robert Blair and St Andrew’s Primary Schools.

Wet in wet - step 1 Wet in wet - step 2

Wet on dry

Experimenting with resist - step 1 Experimenting with resist - step 2

Experimenting with removing paint