Your First Watercolor: Start with One Color

You don’t need to know how to draw to make your first watercolor marks. Clear a little space on your table, choose one color, and start with a few shapes.

In this guide, we’ll make three color swatches and a small page of leaves. You can work beside a window, at the kitchen table, or anywhere you can set down a cup of water. There is no need to finish in one sitting.

1. Set out what you need

We’re using the FUNTO WANDER 24-Color Kit (FT1114). For this exercise, take out:

• The 24-color wooden paint case
• The watercolor journal
• The refillable water brush
• The rinse cup

Add clean water and a paper towel or clean cloth from home. A leaf or a houseplant can be useful to look at, but you can follow the written steps without one. Leave the bag and other accessories aside for now. You don’t need to set up everything to begin.

If you already have watercolor paint, watercolor paper, and a brush, use those. An ordinary brush with a cup of water works for this exercise too.

2. Get your brush ready

Fill the water brush reservoir with clean water, following the opening and closing directions on the brush. Check that it is closed securely. If you are unsure which way a part opens, don’t force it.

Let a little water reach the bristles, then touch the tip to your paper towel. The brush should feel damp, rather than release a large drop. Try a mark on a spare corner of the page before picking up paint. If the brush leaves a puddle, blot it again.

Keep the rinse cup nearby. Between colors, rinse the tip and wipe it gently until it comes clean. For now, we’ll use only one color, so there is less to keep track of.

3. Pick one color and make a mark

Choose a green that catches your eye. You do not need to identify the exact pigment or match the leaf in front of you.

Touch the damp brush to the paint. If the surface is dry, add a small drop of water and let it soften for a moment. Move a little paint into the mixing area, then brush a small patch onto the paper.

Watch the mark as it settles. One edge may be darker. The middle may look uneven. Leave it for a moment instead of brushing over it repeatedly. Your first job is simply to notice what the paint does.

4. Make three shades from the same color

Beside your first mark, make three separate swatches:

1. Light: mix a little paint with more water.
2. Medium: use a little more paint in the mixture.
3. Dark: use a more concentrated mixture, with less added water.

Keep a small gap between the swatches so they don’t run together. If the mixes look similar, adjust the water gradually and try again. Let them dry before judging the final shade; watercolor often looks lighter once dry.

You have already learned something useful: one pan of paint can give you more than one shade. You don’t need to use all 24 colors today.

5. Turn a brushstroke into a leaf

Load the brush with your medium green mixture. On a fresh part of the page, lightly touch the tip to the paper. Press a little more of the bristles down, pull a short stroke, then lift as you move to make a pointed end.

Try that movement a few times. Depending on the brush and the pressure you use, the marks may be narrow, round, or uneven. All of them are useful practice.

For a fuller leaf, paint two curved strokes beside one another. Let them meet near the ends, and leave a thin sliver of white paper between them if you can. If they join completely, keep the leaf as it is. You can try leaving the gap on the next one.

There is no need for a pencil outline. Make each leaf small enough that you can paint it with a few movements rather than lots of corrections.

6. Give the leaves a little room

Paint three to five leaves facing different directions. Leave some white paper around them. Try one pale leaf and one darker leaf using the mixtures you made earlier.

Wait until the paint is dry before adding a fine vein, if you want one. You can use the tip of the brush or the drawing pen from the kit. Test the pen on a spare, dry area first. The leaves also work without any extra lines.

Stop when the page feels finished to you. It does not need to be filled from edge to edge.

If something looks different than you expected

• There is a puddle: blot the brush on your towel, then touch its tip to the excess water to lift some away.
• The color is too pale: let it dry, then add another light layer.
• The color looks muddy: rinse the brush, change dirty water, and mix fresh paint.
• The surface starts to roughen: stop brushing that area and let it dry.
• The leaves don’t match: keep them. Change the direction or pressure of your next stroke and see what happens.

Keep this first page

Add the date and one short note: “The plant by the window,” or “My first green.” You’ve made a small record of a moment, as well as a page of practice.

Next time, repeat the same exercise with a different color. You can return to the same leaf and notice something new. Later, you might take your colors outside. For today, a little space at home is enough.

The kit used in this guide

The FUNTO WANDER 24-Color Kit includes the paints, journal, water brush, and rinse cup used here, along with additional drawing tools and a canvas bag. Bring your own clean water and paper towel.

Already have your tools out? Keep painting. You can explore more watercolor tutorials whenever you’re ready for another small exercise.