Sakura Koi Water Color:

Everything You’ve Ever Wanted to Know

Intro | How to Flat Wash | How to Blend Colors

The Sakura Koi Field Sketch Kit (24) is a great starter set for anyone interested in learning how to paint with watercolor. Sakura Koi is one of the highest quality, student-grade sets out there; that is, for starting out it’s the highest quality for the price next to Winsor & Newton Cotman Watercolors. That being said, there are still some challenges to overcome when working with the lower-quality, student-grade Koi paints – challenges that I give you all the insider information for. 🙂

How to Get a Flat Wash With Sakura Koi Water Colors

ARE YOUR SAKURA KOI WASHES STREAKY? TRY THIS METHOD!

First, get the perfect amount of water onto your paper. Your goal is to see the texture of the paper and
high shine of the water, but you don’t want the water to flow or move on the paper at all.

Next, moisten your brush. Dip it into your water jar and then wipe the excess water off on the edge of the jar so the brush is damp, but not full.

Now, pick up your paint; the most effective ratio for the Sakura Koi Water Colors is a 50:50 split of pigment and water, maybe even a 40:60 pigment to water ratio.

Now, apply your paint!  Your mission here is to only apply the amount of pigment that the paper accepts. Any extra pigment will shift on the top of the paper, keep moving that excess pigment down until it’s spread evenly on the paper.  If there’s too much, mop it up at the bottom; too little, add more before it gets too dry.

If your paper is drying and you’re seeing streaks you can lightly re-wet the paper so the pigment evens out. Only add enough water to get back to that perfect state described in the beginning of this post where you can see high shine of the water, but not enough water to move around on top of the paper. Then, with the side of your brush, blend that pigment so it is evenly distributed on your paper.

Another tip is to hold your paper at an angle and to work your wash down the page from top to bottom – this is by far the easiest way to get a flat wash with Sakura Koi watercolors.