5 Beginner Watercolor Tips I Snuck Into My Strawberry Tutorial

I filmed this strawberry watercolor tutorial as a fun summer painting... simple, cute, something you can finish in 20 minutes and actually give to someone or keep for yourself.

But if you watch it just to paint along, you'll miss about five things I snuck in there that apply to everything you'll ever paint. So here they are, pulled out and explained so you actually know what you're learning.

Tip 1: Get your paint-to-water ratio right with the "coffee test"

The most common reason watercolor looks pale and washed out isn't the paint... it's too much water. And the reason it looks dark and flat? Not enough. In the strawberry tutorial, I mix what I call a "coffee consistency"... the paint is watered down enough to flow, but there's enough pigment that the color is bright and readable.

Think of it like coffee: you want the color of a medium roast, not dishwater and not espresso. Before you start any painting, test your mix on a scrap piece of paper. If it looks too pale when dry, add more pigment. If it looks too dark, add more water.

Once you know what you're going for, the rest of the painting is way easier to control. This is one of those foundational things that the Watercolor Confidence Course covers on repeat because it makes every single tutorial that follows click into place faster.

Tip 2: You can remove paint on purpose

Most beginners think once paint is on the paper, it's there.

Watercolor is actually way more forgiving than that. In the tutorial, I use a clean brush with most of the water dried out of it like a sponge... pressing it into wet paint to lift pigment and leave a lighter area behind. That's how the strawberries get that rounded, shiny look.

The light spot isn't painted on. It's lifted out.

This works on any wet paint. If something is too dark, too harsh, or just not working... dry your brush off and dab it gently into the area. You'll be surprised how much control you actually have.

Tip 3: Use brown, not black, for shadows

This one trips up so many beginners. You want to darken a color, so you add black. Logical, right? But black has hidden undertones... depending on the brand, it can go green, blue, or gray.

Suddenly your whole painting looks muddy and you can't figure out why.

Brown is the move. It darkens your color, warms the shadow, and blends naturally without any weird surprises. In the strawberry tutorial, I mix a little brown into my red to make the darker color for the seed shadows.

It works every* time.

Next time you want to add a shadow or deepen a color, reach for brown before you reach for black. Try both on a scrap piece of paper first and compare... the difference is usually pretty obvious.

(For more on why colors go muddy, 5 Watercolor Mistakes Beginners Make goes deeper into this one.)

Tip 4: Curve small details to follow the shape of your subject

When I add the seeds to the strawberries, I make sure each little oval curves slightly with the contour of the fruit... not straight up and down. This is a small thing that makes a big difference.

When details follow the curve of a surface, they tell the viewer's eye that the surface is rounded. When they're all perfectly vertical and parallel, the shape reads as flat. It's a drawing principle more than a painting one, but it applies any time you're adding small marks to something with a 3D form... fruit, flowers, pottery, fabric.

You can see it in action in How to Paint a Loose Watercolor Bouquet too, where the same idea shows up with petals. Bend the detail to match the form. It's one of those things you can't unsee once you notice it.

Tip 5: Use a white gel pen instead of masking fluid

Masking fluid is great in theory... paint it on, paint over it, peel it off, and your white area is preserved. In practice, for tiny little marks like seeds or highlights, it's fiddly, it can tear your paper, and it's honestly kind of stressful. A white gel pen on top of dried paint does the same job with way more control.

You just draw the dot, the line, the highlight... exactly where you want it, exactly the size you want it. No masking, no peeling, no ruined paper. I use one almost every time I paint now.

They're inexpensive, they last forever, and they're one of those supplies that once you have one, you wonder how you painted without it.

One note: gel pen isn't permanent, so if you go back in with wet paint on top of it, it'll smear. Add it at the very end as your final step and you're good.

So what?

These five things... paint consistency, lifting, shadow color, contour, and gel pen details... aren't strawberry tips. They're watercolor tips I used in a strawberry tutorial.

Which means you can take them with you into literally everything you paint next. Watch the full video here. If you're looking for more ideas of what to paint next, I share 30 free seasonal painting prompts... grab them here.

And if you want more structure around building an actual watercolor practice, a Watercolor Workbook or Watercolor Kit is a great low-commitment place to start.

Come find me on Instagram at @alyssawhetstoneart for quick tutorials and behind-the-scenes looks at what I'm painting.

Happy painting! -Alyssa