All the digital edits I'm seeing on watercolor posts lately are really getting to me

I keep scrolling through the community feed and half the pieces have clearly been tweaked in an app, the colors are way too bright and perfect. It makes my own work, where I actually try to get the color right on the paper, feel sort of pointless. I got into watercolor for the happy accidents and the challenge, not to just fix everything later. Now it feels like showing the real process is less important than the final filtered look, and that's kind of a bummer.

3 comments

3 Comments

simonscott22h ago

Wait, you're seeing that too? Man, I saw one yesterday where the shadows were pure neon purple and the paper was whiter than my phone screen. It looked more like plastic than paint. How is that even watercolor anymore? It totally steals the magic of what makes the medium special.

the_sam13h ago

But I kinda dig when artists bend the rules like that. The tools don't make the art, the person using them does. I've seen some wild color choices that actually make you feel the heat or the cold in a scene way more than a normal palette would. What's a watercolor piece you love that plays it totally straight?

leof2613h ago

Right? That whiter than screen paper thing kills me. Saw one last week where the flowers looked like cheap plastic instead of paint, totally fake.