Watercolor Background for Lettering

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How to Make a Watercolor Background for Lettering

Watercolor backgrounds add depth and character to your lettering projects. Personally, I have a thing for black ink on white paper, and the majority of the time that satisfies my lettering craving. But when I add a little bit of color, the feel of the project changes completely, and I fall in love with the result all over again.

Today, I’ll show you how I like to use the wet on wet watercolor technique to create a watercolor background for your lettering. (If you want to try other watercolor techniques, check out Watercolor Techniques for ideas.) A simple watercolor wash can do wonders to accent your calligraphy too.

You will need basic watercolor supplies:

Watercolor paper (I use Canson 140lb paper or Strathmore)

Paint brush (Winsor and Newton Cotman round brush, size 10 works well, or Simply Simons 1″ flat brush for larger projects)

Paint (I recommend Winsor and Newton Cotman, student grade, or their Professional series)

And of course … water, tape and a paper towel … I also use a pipette to wet my paint, but you don’t have to.

watercolor supplies, paint brush, pipette — Gather your basic watercolor supplies before you start your watercolor background.

When I make projects using this amount of water, I always tape my paper to a flat surface. An art board works well, but if you don’t have an art board, you could tape your watercolor paper to the top of a counter or table. You just need a surface that handles water and tape well.

Think about the final shape you want for your watercolor background. The edges could be square, blotchy, brushed … you name it. Make it yours. I made several different options, but I’ll walk you through the blotchy edged one because I love the look of it.

I chose gray paint for the blotchy watercolor background, but you can pick any color you wish or blend a couple of colors to get interesting results.

Let’s get started.

First, paint the shape you chose onto your watercolor paper with water only. This will provide a wet surface for your paint to “swim” in. As the paint makes contact with the wet surface, it bleeds out, trying to fill more of the space. You’ll see this in a photo later in this post.

paint with water, how to make a watercolor background for lettering — Can you see the clean water puddled on the page?

Next, gather some paint onto your brush in the color of your choice. And touch it lightly to the wet area of your watercolor paper. Do you see how it spreads out as soon as you touch the water? That is why you want to keep your paint surface wet as you work with this technique. You want the paint to spread a bit to lighten the watercolor background. That way, your background won’t fight for attention with your lettering on the finished product.

Don’t be afraid to add more clean water if areas dry out before you have a chance to add paint.

watercolor bleed, wet on wet watercolor technique, watercolor backgrounds — Touch the paint to the wet paper and watch it “swim,” spreading color on your page.

Keep adding paint until you cover the background and don’t worry if some areas are darker than others or if they puddle. These elements all add interest to the background when it dries. I almost always get nervous about the background while it’s still wet, wondering how it will look when it’s dry, but the end results rarely disappoint.

gray watercolor background, watercolor splot,, background for lettering — Here is the gray spread throughout the wet area.

Voila! A watercolor background!

gray watercolor background — It looks so different when it dries, and I love all of the elements of darker and lighter areas as well as the dried puddles.

Here are some other edges and colors to try. And don’t forget to add some calligraphy or hand lettering.

You can even use a watercolor background for a Thank You note.
Use several colors or brushed edges to create a different feel to your project.
Square edges with highly diluted black watercolor.

Watercolor backgrounds are a fun place to play around with color and shapes. I’d love to see some of your projects. Just post them to Instagram and tag me @the.paintedpen.

As always …

Write it. Draw it. Dance it. Dream it.

Happy creating!

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