If you’re wondering how to create 3D shapes with watercolours, it’s all about having areas of light and darkness. This is literally how our brains figure out what texture something has just by looking – we see the highlights and shadows.

So you need to add some light and some shadows to turn circles – a flat 2D shape – into spheres (I’m not using the word “balls” on the internet… ).

The lightest bit will be the part closest to wherever the source of light is.  For some reason most artist draw that as being the upper left, and I’m no different.  Not sure what the deal with that is, but aaaanyway….

The darkest bit will be opposite the lightest.

And because the shape is curved, the areas of light and dark are also curved.

There are loads of ways you could paint this with watercolour. I’m going to show you one where we use separate layers for the highlight, the main colour (“midtones”), and the shadows. I’ll be painting this in a simplified graphic style (i.e. it won’t look hyper-realistic but it will still look 3D)

Step 1: Draw a few circles – you can trace around something, use a compass, or draw them freehand:

Step 2: Paint them in with water, then add whatever colour you like:

Step 3: Let them dry completely.

Step 4: Paint the circles in again, but leave a bean shape in the upper left unpainted. Or be a rebel and go for the upper right, I’m not the boss of you:

Step 5: Let these dry completely too.
Step 6: If you want to be fancy, mix up a tonal grey . A tonal grey is where you mix a colour with its opposite (from the colour wheel) to make a grey. Otherwise, get a pre-mixed grey paint ready.

Step 7: Paint a crescent moon shaped shadow opposite your bean – so for me, it’s on the lower right:

Step 8: Admire your balls spheres:

I cover all of this, and more, in my latest Skillshare class: Watercolor for Beginners: How to Add Depth & Form through Layering. You can read more about this class over on my earlier blog post

Not got the time to try this right now? Pin it for later: