How to Paint Big Fish in Watercolor

Last Updated: December 23, 2021

Watercolors ought to glow and look juicy wet, even when they are dry. A scene of fish in an underwater environment is an ideal subject to accomplish these goals.

Steps

1
Practice doing fish first. Google "Fish Coloring Pages" and use those simple fish as reference. Start with the curved backbone. Draw two circles, one large and one small with the backbone dividing them. Add flesh by smoothing over the circles. Add tails, fins and eyes.
2
Mount your 11 x 14" watercolor paper onto a double weight foam core board using masking tape on all edges to keep the piece from buckling as you work wet. Draw an odd number of simple fish on your watercolor paper. Use the curved spine to capture them in motion. Have at least two be close up.

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3
Set up a palette with 1/4 inch of the primary and secondary colors around the edges of a white, plastic dinner plate. Assemble brushes, water, and table salt in a shaker.
4
Prepare your paints by pulling with a wet brush blue, green and yellow into the center of the plate and mixing with enough water to create three vibrant puddles of paint.
5
Paint the background first by wetting your paper around the fish with clear water. Use a big, soft brush. Touch one of colors randomly, to the background and quickly add another, floating on pigments until the background is a swirly, abstract array of color.
6
Wait and watch until the surface of the paper goes from shiny to slightly dull. At that point, sprinkle on salt. Allow to air dry or use a hairdryer, cautiously at first not to disturb the paint. When it is dry, use the edge of a credit card to scrape off the salt.
7
Paint the fish as you did the background, by wetting the fish shapes and dropping in colors. Remember to make them contrast with the background and to go lightly around the edges with darker paint to give the illusion they are rounded and have depth. Paint fins,scales, eyes and other details. After the fish are dry scrub away some of the edges to create "lost" edge, integrating the fish with the background.

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