How to choose watercolors for a child?

For many decades now, drawing has been considered in our country not only as a popular children's entertainment, but also as an obligatory exercise that contributes to the all-round development of the child. Painting with paints is included in the educational program, if not of kindergartens, then of any secondary schools and specialized art educational institutions.

However, such creativity cannot be called an exclusively childish prerogative, because watercolors have been used by real artists for many centuries to create world-famous masterpieces, so that a child can develop his skills even in adulthood.

What it is?

The composition of watercolors is actually not something completely stable, since this type of paint has existed for a good couple of millennia and has been known in various regions of the world, in each of which they used the ingredients that were at hand. It is possible that watercolors from different periods and corners of the world can radically differ in their components, however, in general, the name comes from the Latin word "aqua", that is, "water" - it was she who acted as the basis for all known compositions.

The dyes, respectively, also differed, because if today even synthetic substances can play this role, then previously they used mainly powders of plant origin. For overall integrity, various types of natural glue were also added to the mixture, which allowed the substance to maintain a fairly thick consistency.

Wherein the watercolor mixture must remain pliable and soak easily when water is added, therefore, the addition of plasticizers is also mandatory. These are most often inverted sugar, as well as glycerin, the function of which is also to hold at least a small amount of water so that the watercolor does not turn into a real stone in the long breaks between uses.

The composition of watercolor would be incomplete without bovine bile - it contributes to the uniform smearing of the dye on the surface of the paper, since it does not have the property of rolling into droplets. Phenol or other similar antiseptics are also added to modern watercolor recipes, which prevent mold and other destructive microorganisms from contaminating ingredients of natural origin.

The classic composition is completely devoid of any harmful components and is completely composed of a natural product, which contributes to the use of watercolors by children.

At the same time, in the modern world, manufacturers often use various synthetic analogs, which is why some types of paints can still be harmful. It is worth paying attention, first of all, to those paints on which it is directly indicated that they are designed for children.

As a rule, they are somewhat inferior in quality to professional mixtures, but their composition is selected in such a way as to be completely safe, and most importantly, suitable for daily use.

The widest distribution of watercolors is caused not only by the naturalness of its composition, but also by the variety of painting techniques with it, each of which gives a unique result - even despite the fact that the canvases are almost 100% limited by paper.

For example, in England it was customary to paint on paper that was heavily moistened with water, while in Italy, on the contrary, a completely dry canvas was used. Today many artists successfully combine English and Italian techniques to achieve stunning transitions from one color to another.

The difference between the techniques also lies in how many layers of watercolor paint are placed on the paper. For example, technique A la Prima does not imply any subsequent corrections of the drawing - the paints are applied to the wet paper as quickly as possible, while the base has not dried, the masterpiece does not imply any subsequent changes. Thanks to this, a special iridescence of colors, an extremely delicate play of light and shadow, but for this the master must be able to draw very quickly and accurately.

However, there is also a multi-layer technique of watercolor painting, in which the upper strokes are superimposed on the already dried lower ones, and the shade does not necessarily coincide, but the upper stroke must necessarily be darker.

The variety of watercolor painting techniques does not end there, but even from the general description it becomes clear that this type of paint gives a lot of space for experimentation and multi-level development.

History

Watercolors can be safely considered one of the most ancient inventions of mankind that have survived to this day, at least in creativity, so for sure. In fact, it is the same age as paper, which became more widespread after its invention in the 2nd century in China. In those days, it was actively used in traditional Chinese painting along with ink, but it differed from it in composition and offered a greater variety of colors, thanks to which it quickly gained popularity.

In Europe, by the way, some similar mixtures were also used, but at first they were used exclusively for calligraphy, and later, oddly enough, for cosmetic purposes.

If we talk about watercolors for painting in the modern sense, then for the first time it began to be used in Europe with the beginning of the mass distribution of paper in this part of the world.

In the Middle Ages, through Spanish and Italian ports, this Chinese invention entered the Old World, and began to increasingly replace ink. At the same time, painting as a whole already existed, but European artists of that time were much more active in using oil, which was better suited for canvases and wall painting.

Around the end of the Middle Ages, paper ceased to be a completely unprecedented rarity, and with it new possibilities appeared for watercolors.

The first great artist to widely use watercolor in his masterpieces was German painter and graphic artist Albrecht Durer. His work titled The Hare, dating from 1502, is still considered one of the earliest examples of the use of watercolors in European painting. The most interesting thing is that, in spite of everything, painting with watercolors for a very long time was considered a kind of daub, unworthy of attention, and even in the scientific works of the first half of the 19th century dedicated to the fine arts, watercolors are mentioned only in passing.

An extremely important role in the popularization of watercolors was played by the ease of use of this type of paint, thanks to which it was actively used already in the 18th century, not by artists, but by travelers and scientists to illustrate what they saw on their travels, glorify landscapes and demonstrate new or unusual animals.

Soon, watercolor paints began to be widely used for portrait painting, whose popularity was growing rapidly, and although a new invention, photography, began to overshadow it in a few decades, the popularity of watercolors was started.

The first to appreciate the advantages of water-based paints in England, where watercolor gained popularity at the beginning of the century before last, here they somewhat expanded the arsenal of drawing techniques with it.

Throughout the 19th century, the attitude towards watercolor painting changed several times, since some of the new shades developed by enthusiasts proved to be short-lived, but in general, this century became a turning point, and watercolor finally found itself among other types of "serious" painting, which was promoted by, in particular, and such geniuses as Paul Cezanne.

The tradition of watercolor painting came to Russia from England through St. Petersburg and quickly gained serious popularity.

There are a number of renowned 19th century artists who paid tribute to their work with watercolors. Among them are Karl Bryullov, and Ilya Repin, and Mikhail Vrubel, and Valentin Serov, and even Maximilian Voloshin, who personally drew illustrations for his poetic works.

In the last century, watercolor has finally entered into widespread use in our country, becoming a way of realizing inspiration not only for adults, but also for children.

Today, no one doubts that watercolor is a serious artistic tool, although the simplest children's kits can give only a superficial idea of its capabilities. Nevertheless, teaching children to paint with watercolors can give amazing results in the future, and it is possible that November 23 - International Watercolor Day - will someday be a professional holiday for them.

Properties

Somewhat disappointing and yet characteristic of modern times, many products are not really what they are called. This statement is also true for many types of modern watercolors, especially when it comes to those of its subspecies that are advertised as children.

The composition of such a mixture is optimized for safety, which is why the basic qualities that a real classic watercolor should have are somewhat lost. However, you can interest the baby with this, but for a child who has already reached a certain level of skill, the properties of a real watercolor will be needed.

It is very important for professionals compliance with reference colors. A famous joke says that the average man can distinguish only 16 colors, however, professional artists distinguish dozens of shades by eye, and in order to accurately mix them in order to obtain the missing ones, they need the shade to fully match its name.

If a professional can still recognize a deception and find a way to correct the situation, then a beginner in this case will initially learn from the wrong examples, which is unlikely to contribute to reaching a high level of skill.

An important requirement for watercolor is considered particularly thorough grinding of dry pigment particles. Due to this, the paint applied in a thin layer looks translucent, which is generally a characteristic phenomenon for watercolor painting, in fact, this is precisely what distinguishes watercolor from other types of paints.

Uniformity of application very important for paints of any type: it is unacceptable for the watercolor to collect in droplets or leave lumps on paper, which is often the case with a variety of cheap children's honey sets.

In the classic recipe, bovine bile is responsible for such a characteristic of the mixture, however, in many budget options of our time, this ingredient is not present, which completely deprives the owner of the opportunity to write real masterpieces.

Lightfastness - one more fundamental point for watercolor. Precisely due to the fact that many new shades invented by English watercolorists of the 19th century turned out to be easily fading in the sun, the future of watercolor was almost threatened: a significant part of society at that time began to lean towards the point of view that watercolors were too short-lived. to consider them a complete tool for creating paintings.

Fortunately, this problem has been overcome over time, but even today some unscrupulous manufacturers produce a mass, the pigments of which very quickly lose their original brightness.

Finally, mixture composition must be carefully balanced so that even after significant drying, the watercolor can easily dissolve again in water without hardening to a stone state. Drying, it should give a hard film, which would not be subject to cracking, remained intact.

Kinds

Modern industry is ready to present any, even the simplest, product in a variety of varieties, each of which is designed for certain highly specialized needs, and watercolors are not an exception to the rule.

Classic art watercolor

This watercolor was produced exclusively in the form of hard tiles, in this form it can be found today. It should be noted that for serious painting, only the best varieties of such watercolors are used, while the typical area of its use today is posters, and, oddly enough, drawings. A significant part of such products is intended for children's creativity, a set for children can include 12, 24 or 36 briquettes, the main requirement for which is not to be too soft or fragile, for which it is necessary to find the right ratio of sugar and gum arabic.

Honey is often used as a binder, and the result is a honey watercolor known to everyone since childhood, which has a characteristic sweet taste.

Potato molasses or animal glue are used as alternatives for the binder. A large amount of the latter can give the mixture an uncharacteristic state - the ability to knead in the hands with sufficient dampness.

Paints in cuvettes

Another common option for children is paint in ditches. To most uninformed people, this concept seems strange, but in fact it means that all paints are placed in small recesses of one common box.

Naturally, there are very few watercolors in such cuvettes, so the professional field of application of such sets is limited only to the creation of small sketches, while for a real large-scale painting, this amount of paint is not enough. Average watercolor here softer than tiles, however, it still retains a solid state.

Semi-solid paints in tubes

Many contemporary artists use semi-solid paints in tubes - the mass of each color is enclosed in its own tube with a lid, so that the shades do not mix and do not get dirty. That said, working with this type of watercolor literally requires a palette.

The mass in tubes is very soft and easily diluted with water, but differs in unstable uniformity of pigment application, which is not very conspicuous with multi-layered painting techniques, however, requires an increased level of skill when painting on wet paper in one layer.

In general, this type of watercolor is used to create large size paintings in a classic style. It should be noted that most of the cheap varieties are criticized by experts for the fact that during long-term storage the pigment is separated from the binder, as a result of which the paint becomes unusable.

Liquid watercolor

A rather rare and unconventional, but still in demand option is liquid watercolor, produced in small containers and designed both for additional dilution with water and for use as it is sold.

This watercolor is distinguished by a wide variety of very bright colors, and even a fluorescent variety is produced.

For ease of dispensing, many manufacturers equip paint containers with dispensing droppers. Quite often, liquid watercolor is used to work with an airbrush, but there are some artists who use it for classical painting with a brush. It is noted that this type is especially sensitive to the presence of any foreign matter in the water, therefore, when diluting, it is necessary to use strictly purified water.

Watercolor pencils and crayons

It is impossible not to note the modern invention, which allows you to combine drawing and painting on one canvas, practically without changing the technique - these are special watercolor pencils and crayons. The principle is fully consistent with pencils and crayons, that is they draw with this tool without extraneous devices like a brush, just holding it in their hand.

At the same time, according to the chemical composition, the coloring part of a pencil or crayon is watercolor paint, and although they leave a trace on paper even with ordinary drawing, when trying to blur with water, instead of a regular drawing, a full-fledged watercolor painting sketch is quite unexpectedly obtained.

It is noted that, on average, drawing with such pencils is somewhat easier than with a brush, but this, of course, is no longer quite a classic, and the result will not work too classic.

Watercolor pencils have a wide selection of colors and shades, and, like regular pencils, can vary in hardness, but they are almost never indicated on them, so you will have to choose by trial and error. For children, it is probably better to choose softer types.as they leave a mark on paper much easier.

In appearance, watercolor pencils are indistinguishable from ordinary pencils, but manufacturers usually still leave the owner the opportunity to identify a curiosity without special experiments - for this, they draw a small drop on a pencil, a brush or directly write the word "watercolor".

Based on pearlescent pigments

So far, watercolors based on pearlescent pigments remain a very rare phenomenon, even though they can be based not only on paper, but also on many other materials, including wood, fabric and even plaster!

However, this type of paints should be attributed, rather, to decorative than to picturesque, since in the process of drying, the shades fade very much, and the former brightness is replaced by an enhanced shine characteristic of mother-of-pearl.

Brands

Every self-respecting artist has a clear idea of what he needs to embody his own creative ideas, and certainly knows by what rules to choose his own paints. In the case of buying watercolors for children, everything is much more complicated: parents rarely know a lot about such products, because they are guided either by the inscription "children's watercolor", or they are choosing at least relatively famous brands.

As for the purpose for children, here professionals are usually skeptical: according to them, such a product cannot be called watercolors at all and it is in no way suitable for at least relatively high-quality education.

As for brand orientation, it makes sense, however, for this you need to understand something in the assortment of popular manufacturers.

In particular, names such as "Gamma", "Ray" or "Lighthouse" many people hear it, and even professionals agree that such a watercolor is good for learning to draw. At the same time, the same "Gamma" positions its products as professional. But the category of consumers to which these products are supposedly oriented strongly disagrees with this.

Therefore, if we take domestic watercolors for the first steps, then preference should be given to the above brands.

If the child has already reached a certain level at which the need for more serious funds becomes obvious, it is worth paying attention to the brand's products "Nevskaya palitra"... This manufacturer has been known in our country for several decades and is quoted by professionals of all levels. In particular, at a time when imported goods were not available, it was the "Nevskaya Palitra" that was the favorite watercolor of Soviet watercolorists. Paints of this brand are sold both in sets and individually - in separate cuvettes, which allows you to optimally organize the use of each shade.

Sets called "Sonnet" and "White Nights" are considered equally appropriate both for professional painting classes and for children's creativity, but "Ladoga" is already one level higher, because it is designed for real artists, as well as for those who seriously want to become one.

If we talk about foreign competitors, then today their products, fortunately, are presented in sufficient volume on the domestic market, and the Dutch company distinguished itself with particular popularity and breadth of assortment Royal talens, whose history goes back over a hundred years. Among the products of this brand, there are three well-known brands - Van gogh in cuvettes and tubes, Rembrandt (under this brand not only watercolors, but also other types of paints are produced), as well as Ecoline liquid watercolors.

In Germany, paint manufacturers are also not opposed to taking on some of the glory of great artists, and if the Dutch at least used the names of Dutch painters, then the Germans named their brand Da Vinci. Again, this company produces not only watercolors, but its clear advantage is that it immediately divides its products according to the possible purpose, producing separate paints for beginners and for masters.
Of German products, they are also often praised Akademie Aquarell by Schmincke, but in our country not only children, but also the overwhelming majority of professionals do not use them, because these are premium paints costing from $ 130 per cuvette.

French painting is known all over the world, and although the local creators of masterpieces are better known for oil painting, there is still a brand in this country that produces high-quality water-based paints. Local giant Sennelier best known for two watercolor sets, one of which Sennelier Artists includes 98 shades at once and can hardly be presented to a child.
But the other, Raphaelis no longer a pipe dream, while the quality is still very high.

Although the first impetus for the large-scale popularization of watercolor was given in England, the English flagship in this industry is Winsor & Newton - is much less known in our country. At the same time, his traditions cannot fail to impress - a professional chemist and an inveterate artist, whose names became the name of the company, united their efforts to produce the best paints almost two centuries ago!

Today this company offers its products, divided into two main classes: cotman - for solving relatively modest tasks and artist - for writing masterpieces of the highest level.

Colors and texture

Even the colors and texture of the mixture play an important role in the careful choice of watercolors. For any beginner, this concept will seem simple - the more colors, the better, and the texture is not so important, but in reality everything is much more complicated.

In particular, the presence of a large number of colors in the set seems to be a plus, but in practice, sometimes these colors are not very high quality.

It should be understood that manufacturers usually actively use the physical definition that all colors and hues on earth are the result of mixing green, red and blue in certain proportions. Actually, most companies only use pigments of these three colors, and everything else that is in the set – it is no longer a pure tone, but the result of mixing.

In principle, professional artists themselves often select the desired shade precisely by mixing what is available, and not at all by desperate searches in all stores, but the question of the quality of the pigments used and the degree of mixing remains open.

In the case of using ingredients of poor quality, as well as with prolonged storage, the likelihood increases that the mixture will separate over time, and instead of the expected color, you will get a set of original tones, distributed unevenly.

For this reason, when choosing, it is worth comparing several sets precisely for the quality of the color palette. Here you should focus not on the number of colors in each of the sets, and on the results of comparing two identical colors from different sets. The more homogeneous the tone, the more arguments should be in favor of this particular set.

In addition, one should be wary of too juicy shades of watercolors, because it is not for nothing that such colors are called “poisonous”.

Of course, there are world-famous manufacturers who manage to achieve such results without any unclean tricks, but in the case of cheap sets, excessive brightness can directly indicate the active use of harmful chemicals, which is completely unacceptable in the case of children.

In addition, it is very important to ensure that paints of different colors mix well with each other. This is the only way to bring the color palette even from a small set of paints to infinity. This fact is influenced by such an indicator as dispersion, that is, the degree of grinding of the pigment: the finer it is, the better. It is hardly possible to determine the dispersion by eye, so here you will have to rely only on experience, and the easiest way to compare is how white watercolor dilutes other colors.

At the same time, the dispersion also affects the texture of the drawing: with small particles of the coloring matter, the strokes are light, airy and transparent, characteristic of watercolor painting, while with large particles, the brush leaves thick, opaque traces.

How to choose?

If every professional artist has his own concept of the ideal watercolors, then the best children's paints for drawing can be determined by general requests, which are formulated not so much by children as by their parents. However, even parents do not always have a clear idea of how a good children's drawing kit should look like, so this topic requires more detailed study:

In particular, it should be understood that even manufacturers label their products as either children's or artistic. It is better for the school to buy exactly the children's species, even despite the fact that in all creative indicators they are significantly inferior to their art colleagues.
But such children's paints have one clear advantage that watercolors do not always have for serious painters - working with them does not require any serious water dilution skills. You just need to open the box, moisten the brush in water and start painting.
As for artistic watercolors, it is designed to a greater extent for professionals, in extreme cases - for children who attend an art school or at least show a great interest in drawing on their own and demonstrate natural talent.

As for the very popular honey paints, designed for the smallest and still very curious artists, they are completely focused on the ecological purity of their composition. Dextrin (corn glue) is used there as a binder; molasses and sugar also have a significant amount of weight in the composition.

Many manufacturers position such a product as completely safe for a child, but at the same time, most recipes include preservatives designed to preserve the food components of the mass in their original form.

Many buyers of paints for children in the selection process are also guided by the number of colors, and there are also certain rules. For example, even a primitive set of 6 colors will be enough for children under 5 years old in their first exercises, because the subtleties of shades are still alien to most of them and the main thing for them at the moment is to smear, but brighter.

At this stage of development, the most important thing is not to achieve certain obvious successes, but only to interest the child in the painting process, try to teach how to hold a brush in his hands, and just show the very principle of drawing with it.

Including because of preservatives, such a watercolor should not be put into your mouth, so parents need to be on the lookout.

About from the age of 6 the child can buy sets of 12-18 colors, because now the baby perceives the color palette well, is able to memorize a large number of shades and use them for their intended purpose.

For children of middle school age and older choosing paints yourself is no longer worth it. If they are really serious about drawing, then they should better understand what they need, and certain knowledge by this time will have already been accumulated.

It was already written above that today watercolors are produced in a wide variety of forms, which are designed for different methods of use. Given the specifics of children's creativity, it is best to give preference either tiled watercolors, or paints in ditches, because this form is quite compact and allows you to carry the set with you at all times.

At the same time, the box should also cause great attention of parents, unless they are eager to repaint the baby's portfolio as soon as possible in all the colors of the rainbow.

It is desirable that the packaging was made of waterproof materials (for example, made of plastic) and must be tightly closed, preventing the contents from spilling out. This is especially true in the case when the child does not have a palette, that is, in 99% of cases. In this situation, the kid has no choice but to dilute the watercolor with water directly in the cuvettes, after which a large amount of colored liquid remains in them, which tends to stain everything around.

For successful and accurate watercolor painting, you will probably need not only the paints themselves, but also related products. First of all, brushes - you can talk for a long time about how to choose such an accessory correctly, but in short, it is imperative to clarify that those samples that are sold in the cheapest sets along with paints are extremely unsuitable for drawing even at the most primitive level.

To achieve more or less acceptable results, the child will need at least three brushes. If the kid is drawing professionally, it makes sense to buy him a whole set, and in order for him not to stain the insides of his bag with them, it is worth buying him a special case for storing brushes.

By the way, you can criticize for a long time incorrectly selected paints or even a kid for the fact that he never learned to draw, and the reason for the failure in the end will be an incorrectly selected canvas. Today, typical drawing albums have become widespread in secondary schools, which, on the one hand, are theoretically suitable for painting with watercolors, on the other hand, they correspond to such a task no more than the cheapest paints and a stupid brush from a set with them.

Any professional artist will tell you what works best for watercolor painting slightly corrugated paper of medium thickness - Sufficient so as not to get completely wet when soaked with water. If the paper does not meet the last criterion, then at least one of the common watercolor painting techniques will remain inaccessible to the child.

It is very easy to check the suitability of a sheet for this parameter - just leave a very wet color smear on it and see if the paint comes out from the back side. If so, then you should be more careful about the choice of paper in the future.

Reviews

Watercolor painting has become so firmly established in the everyday life of our fellow citizens that it is not so easy to find reasoned opinions about this product, even despite the fact that literally everyone has used it at least several times in their lives.

At the same time, child development experts point out the great importance of using watercolors for the development of babies from an early age, because thanks to the naturalness of its composition and ease of use, watercolors are available for children from around the age of two.

Due to the specifics of drawing with paints, watercolor is considered to be more conducive to the development of fine motor skills of hands than pencils. Even accidental mixing of paints in childhood can clearly show a child that the two ingredients combined can give a rather unexpected third result, unlike their source.

If the baby reaches that level of creative development when he can independently purposefully mix paints in order to obtain a specific desired shade, then this will already help him to more actively develop his own mental activity, as well as fantasy.

As for the parents, they usually indicate a rather high interest of children in the art of watercolor painting. In watercolors, kids are attracted by the large number of available shades, as well as their extremely high miscibility, which gives a lot of room for experimentation.

Children a little older, who have mastered at least certain basics of drawing with paints, are very fond of drawing with watercolors because of the lightness, airiness of the finished results, which seem translucent.

At the same time, drawing with watercolors at home is much easier than, for example, oil paints, since watercolors do not need a chemical solvent that is dangerous for children, does not have a harmful odor and is diluted in an extremely primitive way, accessible even for the smallest.

If we talk about brands that are preferred by the absolute majority of parents, then these are, first of all, domestic "Gamma" and "Ray". The reason for the popularity of these particular brands lies on the surface: their quality is quite enough for education at the level of an ordinary school, and the low cost, the breadth of the offered assortment and widespread availability literally force you to make a choice in their favor.

With those children who learn to paint with watercolors on a more serious level, the situation is no longer so unambiguous, since their teachers and they themselves usually prefer better quality paints, but there is no unity in their choice.

Of the more budgetary, but quite high-quality, even for a professional level, it is worth highlighting the products of St. "Nevsky palette", however, quite often in the learning process, inexpensive specialized kits for beginner artists produced by global brands are used.