Do you feel you have no idea on how mix watercolors together? Do you think that memorizing which colors you like and hate the most is a big deal? Well, what you need is just a watercolor chart. Some painters may think it is a complicated task to do. Although it may take few hours to make, making them is not only artistic but also therapeutic. See how easy it is to make them below:
Supplies:
- Pencil
- Ruler
- Jars for Clean Water and Dirty Water
- Paint brush (round, size 2 or 3)
- Watercolor paper
- Watercolors, tubes or pans
- Calculator (or do it manually if want to do math)
Steps:
- Collect all of your watercolors. Then, count them. After that, set your watercolors aside by putting them in ROYGBIV order.
- Decide how big you want your watercolor chart to be. As a reference, in the example in the picture, the size of the chart is 8 inches wide, but the “margins” on every side of the paper is not included. The “margin” space will provide you a room to label the name of your charts. The “margin” space can be around one or two inches. It all depends on how big your handwriting size is.
- Calculate how big the squares for the charts need to be. Referring to the measurement you got from Step 2, divide that number by the total of watercolors. In the example, the chart size of 8 inches is divided by 25 watercolors.
- From the calculation on Step 3, you can figure out how far the horizontal and vertical lines need to be spaced apart. In the example, it is 32 inches.
- As you now already have the horizontal and vertical lines, you need to name the, with the colors of your watercolor. Make sure you make them in good order. Once you go either vertically or horizontally in naming it, stick with it till the last color naming.
- Finally, paint the colors! Start coloring it with the first tube of watercolor. In your chart, find out where you labeled the similar water color on both the vertical and horizontal lines. How you plot your color is based on where they meet at a point or intersect.
To do the coloring, first, dip the brush you are going to use in clean water. Then, dip it into a particular color and finally paint the color in the right square. Once you are done with these steps, make sure you clean your brush before repeating the steps with other watercolor colors.