How I Used Deliberate Practice to Finally Improve at Watercolour

I spent months jumping from tutorial to tutorial, painting along with YouTube videos, and finishing pieces that looked... fine. But I wasn't getting better. Not really.

Then I discovered deliberate practice—a learning method used by musicians, athletes, and chess masters to accelerate skill development. I wondered: could it work for watercolour?

The answer changed how I approach every painting session.

What Is Deliberate Practice?

Deliberate practice is a structured approach to learning developed by psychologist Anders Ericsson. Unlike casual practice, it focuses on isolating specific skills and working on them with full concentration.

Key Principles of Deliberate Practice

• Isolate one skill at a time – Don't try to improve everything at once
• Work at the edge of your ability – Comfortable practice doesn't build new skills
• Get feedback – You need to know what's working and what isn't
• Repeat with intention – Mindless repetition doesn't count

The crucial insight? Simply spending time painting doesn't guarantee improvement. Targeted watercolour exercises and drills do.

Why Tutorials Weren't Working

Here's what I realised: following tutorials is passive learning. You're copying someone else's decisions—their brush choices, their timing, their colour mixing. When you try to paint something on your own, those skills don't transfer.

Deliberate practice flips this. Instead of painting complete pictures, you break watercolour down into trainable components and drill each one separately.

How Does Deliberate Practice Apply to Watercolour?

Watercolour is actually perfect for deliberate practice because it breaks down into distinct, isolatable skills:

Technical Skills You Can Drill

• Water control (wet-in-wet timing, bloom prevention)
• Value control (light to dark consistency)
• Brush control (edges, pressure, stroke direction)
• Colour mixing (temperature, saturation, mud avoidance)
• Wash techniques (flat, graded, variegated)

Subject-Specific Skills

• Painting skies
• Foliage and trees
• Water reflections
• Architectural elements
• Figures and portraits

Each of these can be practised in isolation through focused watercolour exercises before you attempt a complete painting.

What Results Did I See?

The difference in my progress was dramatic—but not uniform across all skills.

Quick Wins (Days to Weeks)

Some subject-specific skills improved remarkably fast. When I focused purely on painting cars, for example, I saw noticeable improvement within just a few days of targeted practice. The same applied to other specific subjects where the challenge was more about observation and decision-making than technical control.

Slower Burns (Weeks to Months)

Technical skills like wet-in-wet timing took much longer—several months of consistent practice. These skills require building muscle memory and developing intuition for how water and pigment behave together. There's no shortcut.

The key insight: deliberate practice works especially well for improving specific techniques or subjects. You can make rapid progress when you know exactly what you're targeting.

How to Start Practising Watercolour Deliberately

Ready to try this approach? Here's how to begin:

Step 1: Identify Your Weakest Skill

Look at your recent paintings. What consistently lets you down? Muddy colours? Uncontrolled blooms? Weak values? Pick one thing.

Step 2: Find or Create Targeted Exercises

Don't paint complete pictures. Design drills that isolate your target skill:

• For value control: Paint greyscale value scales, then simple shapes showing light and shadow
• For water control: Practice timing exercises—paint strokes at different paper wetness levels
• For brush control: Fill pages with consistent lines, curves, and edges

Step 3: Keep Sessions Short and Focused

Ericsson's research found that beginners can only sustain true deliberate practice for about 15-20 minutes. Don't marathon—sprint with full concentration, then rest.

Step 4: Track Your Progress

Date your practice sheets. Compare them weekly. Seeing improvement (even small improvements) keeps you motivated.

What's the Difference Between Practice and Deliberate Practice?

This is worth clarifying:

Regular Practice	Deliberate Practice
Paint whatever you feel like	Target a specific weakness
Work in your comfort zone	Push just beyond your current ability
Judge by finished result	Judge by skill improvement
Sessions can be any length	Short, focused bursts
Feedback is optional	Feedback is essential

You can paint for years without improving if you're always working within your comfort zone. Deliberate practice ensures every session counts.

How Long Does It Take to See Improvement?

This depends entirely on what you're practising:

• Specific subjects (cars, flowers, buildings): Days to weeks
• Brush techniques (dry brush, lifting): Weeks
• Fundamental skills (values, water control): Months

The good news? You'll likely see some improvement after just a few focused sessions. That early progress compounds over time.

Do I Still Need to Paint Complete Pictures?

Yes—but think of them differently. Complete paintings are where you apply skills. Drills and exercises are where you build skills.

A useful ratio: spend at least half your painting time on targeted exercises, especially when you're actively trying to improve a specific area.

Start With One Skill Today

You don't need a complicated system. Pick one skill that's holding you back—just one—and spend 15 minutes drilling it tomorrow.

Values and water control are excellent starting points. Master those, and everything else becomes easier.

The artists who improve fastest aren't the ones who paint the most. They're the ones who practise deliberately.