Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. That means if you buy something we may possibly get a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Watercolour painting needn’t be complicated - in fact sometimes it doesn’t take much more than a simple line drawing.

This comes in handy rather often, for instance…

You know how you carefully pack up your sketching supplies because you are going away for a few days… and then carefully unpack them untouched when you get back?

It’s not just me is it?

I know I always have such good intention and imagine being all relaxed and happy in the perfect mood for a spot of art making in a lovely location. But somehow it all seems rather complicated.

Actually the seeming more complicated is not exclusive to vacation time. It is often an idea that stops me from actually doing the art making I imagine. So I have had to come up with a few strategies to overcome this.

One is to have a go to process (I call it my Prime Process and you can find out more about that here).

This is another alternative. Keep it really simple.

What if all you asked of yourself was a simple line drawing?

And what if all you need was one marker and a paintbrush?

Now normally, I carefully choose a quick drying waterproof pen for a line drawing. Something like these Pitt Artist Pens.

Less likely to smudge, and if I accidentally spill something on it it will probably survive. It also leaves me the option of adding a spot of watercolour (which I obviously love to do) at some point if I feel like it.

But, what if you select a watersoluble pen or marker for your line drawing?

Then you can add a bit of value to your drawing simply by activating the line with a damp paintbrush. The drawing comes to life and you don’t even need paint.

I created a whole series of elephants this way.

It was such fun that I thought you might want to join in - click the button below to find out more.

What is value, you ask?

Well it’s one of my favourite topics so I have a whole post about it here, but essentially it is the darks and lights in the image.

It is these darks and lights that give the flat drawing the sense of being 3 dimensional. The parts of a form that curve away from the viewer (and or the light source) will be darker, and the parts of a form that come towards the viewer (and or the light source) catch the light and seem lighter. Darker shadows where two surfaces meet depict the form of the object and its relationship to the surface.

If you squint your eyes by partially closing them you will see less colour, and things appear more as lights and darks. Like a black and white photo. Have a go and see what I mean.

So once you figure out where you want to add some darker areas in your drawing, that is where you activate your line. The white of the page serves as the highlights and by blending out the areas between the highlights and the darks with a clean damp brush you will achieve some mid tones.

Like magic your line drawing becomes a painting.

Any water soluble pen or marker will do this for you, but I think my favourite is the Tombow Marker - in black.

So why not grab a watersoluble marker right now and try it for yourself?

By the way, if you would like a little help getting started one of these might be just what you are looking for.

Keep on Reading…