How to Create Shadows with Watercolors

Why Watercolor Artists Don’t Use Black for Watercolor Painting

Creating shadows in art for many artists involves watering down or mixing white with black paint. When I studied color theory, we would use different values of black to create grey. We didn’t discuss how to create a warm or cool grey until later in color theory. It wasn’t until I studied how to create grey with color, and not black, that I figured out how color truly works. Mixing grey from different colors can give you more vivid and realistic shadows.

Black paint can be used for shadows, but it’s not preferred.

How to Create Shadows in Watercolor

Creating shadows for many beginner artists involves using black paint. This post presents a modern approach to creating shadows with watercolors. It’s all about color.

Strategy for Painting Shadows

When creating a strategy for how you will paint shadows, you’ll need to decide on whether or not you want them to look realistic, creative, or suggestive. Shadows usually are never created from black and gray is mixed by using multiple colors to create this shade. Mixing for grey creates a more realistic shade of grey.

Basics of Shadow Painting

There are two types of shadows used to show depth and form. Cast shadows appear below or around the object. Form shadows reflect back onto the subject. Shadows are determined by where the light source is coming from. They usually stretch away from the subject depending on the direction of the light source.

Cast Shadows

Cast shadows consist of occlusion shadow, the darkest part of the shadow; the cast shadow itself which stretches away from the object, and the penumbra which is the lighter area of the shadow.

Form Shadows

Form shadows take different shapes and colors on the form of the object. On a sphere the terminator divides the area without the form shadow from the one with the shadow. The farther you move away from the light sources, the darker the shadow will be. Objects and light reflect on each other throughout a composition. Mastering this concept is the key to creating realistic artwork with accurate colors. For instance, the shadow on the ground will reflect back onto the object.

Complimentary Colors as Shadows

Using a complimentary color as your shadow color can provide you with a cool color in your shadows. Simply pick a complimentary cool color and paint that as the surrounding shadow. Using wet on wet you can mix in warm complimentary tones to give depth, so the shadow doesn’t look flat. Some artists also use neutral tint. I have found neutral tint has warm tones in it. This might be great for a mountain scene. It can provide darker tones without ruining the saturation of your subject when you create form shadows.

Paynes Grey

Another method for creating shadows is to water down Paynes grey. This doesn’t work for all scenes, but this does work for shadows on snowy scenes. It just all depends on the intensity of your light source and the type of scene you are painting. I happen to love the versatility of Paynes grey. It’s not quite black and it’s also a little blue. Because of the blue cast in this paint, it provides the cool tones you would find in a shadow. I would then mix in colors that compliment the scene and the subject in the shadow. Using vibrant colors in your shadows makes them look more real. If you use warm colors in your shadow, the shadow will appear warmer, and cool blues and greens will make the shadow cooler.