5 Best Watercolor Classes for Beginners

Over the last few years, I have been wanting to learn how to paint watercolors. It always looks so fun and dreamy, but I never knew where to start. The supplies, the techniques, and how to actually paint something that wasn’t a blob of nothingness! It all seemed to be a mystery to me.

I searched for places to take art classes online and found SkillShare. It’s a website for streaming online creative classes made by the creators themselves. The creator teaches a class for you to learn new skills while creating a project in a self-paced environment.

Most classes on SkillShare are not more than a couple hours, some are even less than one hour! The setup of the classes made it easy to fit into my schedule and be able to start and stop anytime. It was the perfect fit for learning how to paint watercolors at home.

Since my discovery of SkillShare I have taken quite a few of the classes about watercolor.  Out of the classes I’ve taken, I have made a list of the 5 Best Watercolor Classes for Beginners on SkillShare. These are in no particular order, just the best classes I’ve worked through on Skillshare that I know you’ll love!

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1) Watercolor Basics: Paint Your Own Patterned Note Cards – by Juliet Meeks

This was the very first SkillShare class that I took on watercolor painting. It was so fun and easy – not to mention you came out with an actual “product” that could be shared with others. It is a good course to help break the ice if you haven’t painted with watercolors before. The project is very easy and Juliet teaches some great basic techniques to help you become more familiar with watercolor painting.

2) Modern Watercolor Techniques: Beginner’s Level – by Ana Victoria Calderón

What else can I say, Ana Victoria is a boss at watercolor! She is amazing and I love to take her courses. These courses are longer and take more time to complete each lesson, but she goes into such great detail and has a ton of information to share. She teaches you multiple techniques and works through mini-projects in each class. My favorite mini-project was the jellyfish exercise in this class. Her final project is to create a galaxy painting and the end result is beautiful. I’ve actually gone through this class multiple times to continue practicing and picking up more skills as she teaches each lesson.

3) Watercolor Textures – by Ana Victoria Calderón

Another one of Ana Victoria’s classes was a hit with me and so many others! It’s a continuation from her beginner’s course mentioned above. It explores the idea of watercolor textures and she builds upon the basics of watercolor painting. She teaches you how to paint different swatches and new techniques to use when creating projects.

4) Watercolor Fun – Paint a Floral Wreath with Birds – by Denise Hughes

This course by Denise is a quick course if you want to practice watercolor in a simple format. Her lessons are short and she gets right to the point. Creating a floral wreath was a lot of fun and a great intro into making foliage and leaves for beginners. This was also one of the first courses I took and I was able to easily imitate the shapes and create the final project in one evening.

5) Easy Watercolor Sweets & Treats! Step by Step Beginner Level – by Yasmina Creates

I have taken a couple of classes from Yasmina and she is so fun and inviting! She makes you feel like painting watercolor is fun and doesn’t have to be serious. One of her beginner courses teaches you how to paint cute images of sweets & treats. She truly makes learning to paint fun and it’s worth checking out this class and exploring the rest of her course offerings. Her light-hearted approach makes painting watercolor not feel so intimidating.

Time to Get Painting!

And there you have it – the 5 Best Watercolor Classes for Beginners on SkillShare. So now it’s time to get painting! If you don’t have any supplies yet, I would suggest watching a few of the videos which usually discuss specific supplies in one of the first lessons for each course. That will help you to know what to buy and then you can really get started!

Also, a super awesome bonus, if you follow any of the links to the classes I’ve suggested, you will see an offer to get a FREE trial of SkillShare Premium.  Try it out with the classes I suggested above during the trial premium membership period.  With a premium membership (and during the trial) you get unlimited access to all of their classes.

I hope you love it as much as I do! I really fell in love with SkillShare and the idea that I have a place to go to take classes and learn new things without paying a ton of money! On my current to-do list is to learn more awesome photography tips, photoshop tutorials, and of course, watercolor painting!

Let me know what you think in the comments below – which classes do you think you’ll try or have you already tried on SkillShare?

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Until then, don’t forget to lead your best creative life today 🙂
Julie