Tombow Tutorial: Rainbow Watercolor Backgrounds

Tombow Tutorial: Rainbow Watercolor Backgrounds. Learn how to create two easy kinds of Rainbow Watercolor Backgrounds with your Tombow Dual Tips. 

Tombow Dual Tips: Rainbow Watercolor Background

Hello friends! I’m Smitha from Smiling Colors. Today I am sharing with you my love of two things: Tombow Brush Pens and Rainbows. Put those two together and I am in a happy place and I am sure this project will make you smile as well.

If you are a beginner and just got your first set of Tombows this will be a fun project for you! But if you are a seasoned brush letterer, then use those frayed brush pens to watercolor with. They are perfect for this technique.

In today’s tutorial, I will walk you through the steps of creating two styles of Rainbow Watercolor Backgrounds.

Project Supplies

• Paper: You need a good watercolor or mixed media paper that is thick and will tolerate all the water without buckling. I’m using the Canson XL pad.
• Tombow Dual Brush Pens. I’m using the Bright Set in this tutorial, but you can use any colors you wish.
• A paintbrush, I love the Round 6 size.
• A stencil of any kind.

Now let’s start painting!

Technique One: How to Create a Striped Rainbow Background

Step One

The first step is to add color directly to the paper. You simply use the brush tip and scribble onto the paper. Yes, scribble. You don’t need to be precise and neat. The Tombow Dual brush pens are water reactive and this color pigment we just applied will move around with water (which is the next step)

I went in rainbow order, because well I already told you I love rainbows and also we are going to be creating Tombows Rainbow Watercolored Backgrounds. But feel free to use colors of your choice and any color order.

Step Two

Now we simply paint with water. Just dip your paintbrush in water and then go over the marker scribblings. The color will react with the water and become spreadable and create a watercolor-like look. The colors don’t dull at all but remain so vibrant and beautiful colors!

A few tips to keep in mind for this technique: Work quickly, don’t apply the marker on the paper and walk away from this project. Paint with water almost right away or within 5 minutes at the max. Otherwise, the paper will absorb the color pigment and won’t really spread around.

Watercolor Tip

While painting, work along with your stripes. Move your paintbrush in horizontal lines and let the water do the blending of colors. If you move your brush up and down the paper here, the colors won’t blend to create a striped effect.

You’re Done!

And that’s it. The water between the stripes of color touch and meet to create a mixed color that looks very beautiful. The results will vary depending on the amount of water to add to the paper. You can add as little or as much water as you want to achieve different results. And with this technique, each and every project you create will turn out just a little different and unique. It really is the easiest method of watercolor painting and is totally addictive!

Technique Two: How to create a Stenciled Rainbow Background

Step One

This technique is a little different but equally fun! Place any stencil on top of your watercolor paper and tape into place with a bit of washi. Then go over the open design of the stencil with your Tombow pens. If your stencil has a sharp pointy design (like the one I am using) be careful while using your Tombow pens. Go over the are lightly just to add color to the paper and make sure your pens won’t be harmed.

Step Two

Fill in the entire stencil, with colors in rainbow order. Again, you don’t need to be precise here, just do a messy job because we will be adding water again in the next step.

Step Three

Dip your paintbrush in water and paint over the design. I like to drag the water to completely fill in the design. The water then creates softer shades and makes the design look beautiful!

Watercolor Tip

Work in color order again. I painted the lightest color- yellow here first, then moved onto the orange, pink and red. Then I washed and wiped my paintbrush before starting with green and continuing onto blue and purple.

All done!

And that’s it. We are done! I love the watercolor look you create in this technique. Try not to overwork the areas too much, just paint with water a few times and be done. If you fiddle with it more and more, it won’t actually get better, it might get worse.

Loved today’s Tombow Tutorial: Rainbow Watercolor Backgrounds lesson? Check these out too, they are just as colorful!

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Meet Smitha, the DIY blogger who created and founded Smiling Colors. She is a self-taught artist who loves making happy art that is colorful and bright with a positive vibe. She has been on the Tombow USA design team for three years now and loves her Dual Brush Pens. Smitha regularly posts video tutorials on her YouTube Channel and is known as @theshinynest on social media. Smitha loves anything floral and shares lots of free printables on her blog. She lives in Minnesota with her husband and two little girls. 

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