Retouching Watercolor Painting Technique

Retouching Watercolor Painting Technique

Article by Vladimir London, Watercolor Academy tutor

The retouching method is painting in very small brushstrokes with a small size brush.

Illustration by Vladimir London, Watercolor Academy tutor

This is the perfect approach for making miniatures and, as such, the peak of its development was in the 18-19th centuries, before being outmoded by photography.

Retouching in watercolor is very similar to the painting process with tempera, which is a water-soluble paint with egg yolk as a binder. Because tempera paints are fast drying and cannot be applied in washes, the artist paints with small brushstrokes. If you have any experience in tempera, the retouching method in watercolor will be very familiar to you.

The beauty of retouching is in optical mixing, when tonal values and color saturations are built by small brushstrokes in multiple layers.

Retouching is quite time consuming and therefore is not as popular. Nevertheless, by painting this way an artist can achieve great results. It is mainly used in portrait painting, especially on a small scale and for illustrations where a greater degree of detail is required.

In the Watercolor Academy video lessons, I demonstrated every painting method described in this article. In the Academy, you will also find much more information on watercolor painting techniques and their combinations which I explain step-by-step and show how to do by creating watercolor artworks in front of your eyes.

To learn how to paint in watercolor, enroll now