Create Your Watercolour Greyscale
Follow along as we begin with a rich, buttery mixture and gradually add water to create five different values.
You will need:
- Your printed greyscale template on watercolour paper
- One dark watercolour - I am using black
- A brush
- Clean water
- A palette
- Paper towel
- A small piece of paper for testing your colour
Two Ways to Paint a Value Scale
There are two methods you can try.
Method 1: Start light and gradually add pigment
Begin with a large pool of water and add a little more pigment for each darker value.
The challenge with this method is that you may create more watery paint than you need. You may also need to use a lot of pigment to make the mixture darker.
Method 2: Start dark and gradually add water
Begin with a rich, buttery mixture at full pigment strength. Add just enough water to keep your brush flowing, then gradually add more water to make each value lighter.
This is the method I prefer.
The challenge for beginners is learning to see whether enough water has been added between each value. If you are unsure, test the mixture on a spare piece of paper before painting the next square.
Neither method is wrong. Try both and discover which one feels more natural to you.