Video: Watercolor Painting Gradation

Painting gradation involved several hues of a color. Learn how to paint gradation with watercolor paints in this free art lesson video.

Video Transcript

Ok, now that we've got a flat wash, which is the simplest wash of all, done, we're going to do a gradated wash. So we're going to start with a darker color, full-strength color, just for example. Then we're going to stick it in the water and remove some of the paint, and then go right up against it just with the tip of the brush touching the darker color, and sweep it back and forth in sort of a scrubbing motion. We can go faster, it doesn't matter, and you see, it's softening the edge between the darkest and the sort of medium tone. Ok? Just keep working it until you've got a gradation there. Now I'm taking more paint out of the brush, and I'm going to work it towards my hand in a Z-type stroke. It's got less paint on the brush and you notice that it's fading out more. So you just keep doing this, eliminating more and more paint from the brush, adding more water, and then wiping out the water until you get to no paint at all. And that's how our gradation's done. You notice that the way it works is that you do a Z stroke back and forth. This is a Z stroke, but you tighten it so that you can't see any openings in it.

Watercolor Painting Gradation

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