I know what you are thinking…7 tools for making watercolor clipart that I can’t live without sounds a little over the top.

I guess it is, but it’s also the truth!

If I could only have SEVEN resources to invest in for my design business, then the seven that I am going to talk about would definitely be it!

In fact, I know they would be because I actually invested my own money to get them. Making investments can be really scary especially if you are trying to make watercolor clipart to sell.  I remember thinking, “Yikes, it would nice to make some money first.”

I know my husband was like, “You’re going to spend WHAT?”

Here’s the thing.

Having the right tools for the job can make the job sooo much easier.  Investing in the right tools at the beginning can make it easier to make more watercolor clipart and even more money in the long run if you are going to sell it.

For whatever reason a lot of people have trouble with this concept of investing in a business upfront.  It’s the same as if you decided to go back to school to train to become a (insert occupation here).  You invest upfront with the tuition you pay for training that may or may not get you a job at the end.

Now some of you may just be creating watercolor clipart for fun and you’re not even going to sell your clipart because you don’t need the money.  The rest of us jealously welcome you here also. 😉

So.

If you are still here and wondering what tools I use to make watercolor clipart that I can’t live without so you can maybe not be able to live without them either than I say let’s get to it!

But before you do that why don’t you join my email list?  For joining you’ll get a free Goodie Bag of handmade clipart that which are lovely, if I do say so myself.  And just between you and me you may get some other goodies too but shhh don’t tell anyone!  Oh and you get first access to all my sales and discounts on my other clipart collections.

Here’s My Top 7 tools for creating watercolor clipart I can’t live without…and you shouldn’t either.

1. IPAD PRO, Apple Pen and Procreate

Let’s just start with the big one.  Why not right?  Let me spend your money!  And I know that I technically listed three things but c’est la vie!

Seriously, I just love my Ipad Pro.  I just love it, love it, love it!  It is so awesome.  Okay I wasn’t even nervous to spend money on this.  My husband was but not me.  I just knew it was going to make life, I mean workflow, better and it definitely has.

Why do you need it for making watercolor flower clipart you ask?

The Ipad Pro and Procreate make it oh so easy to erasing background.  Trust me it is very tedious to try and do this with your mouse or mouse pad on your laptop.  It is soooo much easier to do with the Apple Pen on the Ipad Pro in Procreate.  It’s also great for adding fun stuff to your watercolor painting like sparkles!

 

2. Paint

Yes I know it seems just a tad obvious that you need paint in order to make fabulous watercolor clipart.  However, when I do paint watercolor flowers, I prefer to use Winsor and Newton professional watercolor paints.

And why is that?

I find that professional paint is more pigmented and less chalky.  This gives the finished watercolor illustration more vibrant and clean colors.  In my opinion it also makes for more consistent colors which is very important to me if I am creating a number of different watercolor elements for a collection.

 

3. Brushes

If you are painting watercolor clipart you definitely can’t do it with your fingers!  One of the keys to honing your painting style is the tools you use and that is especially true when it comes to brushes.

For me, I like professional grade sable brushes and here is why I can’t live without them!

For those of you that don’t know sable is referring to the type of hair used to make the brushes.  I don’t have a particular brand that I stick with.  As long as the brushes are professional grade and sable I am a happy camper.  The reason I like them is that they shed less and keep their shape better than synthetic brushes.

Sable hair brushes are more expensive but they are so worth it!  It’s like difference between a twenty dollar bottle of wine and a two hundred dollar bottle of wine.  Hmmm, is it too early for a glass of wine?

Fun fact, did you know that the Winsor and Newton brushes were first made in 1866 for Queen Victoria!  No wonder I can’t live without them!

Once you have used these brushes you won’t want to go back.

 

4. Paper

There are so many different types of papers you can use for watercolor painting.  You can get paper that is hot pressed, cold pressed, student grade, artist grade, light weight, heavy weight, it’s all great.  Really it is a personal preference and the only way to figure out what kind of paper suits you is to try them and see which you prefer.  What paper you use also depends on the final product you are after and the look you want it to have.

What do I use?

I love to use cold pressed paper.  I like the slightly textured surface of this paper and find it to be very good for washes and for fine details.  Of course, it’s got to be artist grade.  I prefer handmade cold pressed paper but I also use machine made cold pressed paper.  I haven’t fallen in love with any particular brand but I will let you know if I do!

 

5. Light Table

Sometimes I like to sketch out what I want to paint in my sketch book before I start to paint.  Once I sketch out something I am happy with I like to trace that onto the watercolor paper that I am going to paint on.

This is where the light table comes in handy! 

Watercolor paper is quite thick so the light table makes it easy to see the original sketch so it can be lightly traced onto the watercolor paper.

I don’t have a fancy table but if I could give any advice I would say the bigger the better.  There are all different kind of sizes but I like this one here.

6. Photoshop

So once you have got your painting into a Jpeg and erased the background have you ever thought to yourself that it just needed a little something to make it pop?

This is why I love Photoshop.

Photoshop is perfect to double check your clean up by using stroke.  And while you’re at it bump up the saturation and vibrancy of the image to really give it that je ne se quoi!

 

7. Scanner/Camera

Once you have your beautiful, gorgeous, elegant and whimsical watercolor painting done you will need a way to get it in digital format on your computer.

I always picture somebody looking at their computer in a puzzled way holding their painting and trying to figure out where to stick it in the computer.

I digress.

You will need a scanner to scan your watercolor painting into a Jpeg on your computer.

But what about the camera?

I don’t actually have a very good scanner but I do have a good quality DSLR camera so what I do is I take a high-resolution picture of my painting and then upload it to my computer.

You want to get a high-resolution scan or picture of your painting.  If you are using a camera than you want to have diffused indirect lighting to get the best picture you can.

And there you have it, my top 7 favorite tools to make watercolor clipart that I just can’t live without!

 

Seriously, I do love these 7 tools a lot and have found them all to be well worth the investment.

If there is something that you just can’t live without then let me know.

I would love to hear about it!

 

Happy creating!

Kris