Paint a watercolor wash

Set up a wet brush and let colors bleed into each other.

Watercolor wash

Magerie's brush can behave like real wet paint: colors pool at the edges, pick up what is already on the canvas, and bleed together. Here is how to get a soft watercolor wash.

1. Make a canvas#

Open the Omni menu (Cmd/Ctrl + P), add an Image node, and select it. That is your paper.

2. Set up a wet brush#

Add a Brush node. On its wet-paint controls, three settings make the wash:

  • Pull up: the brush smears the colors already on the canvas (wet into wet).
  • Wet edges up: pigment pools at the edges, the watercolor look.
  • Charge low.

Pull plus wet edges plus a low charge is the classic wash combo. The brush shows up in the brush picker; select it, press B, and you are ready.

3. Lay down the wash#

Pick a light color and paint a loose area. Switch to a second color and paint into the still-wet first one. Watch them bleed together at the seam. Build it up in thin passes rather than one heavy stroke.

4. Export#

Wire the Image node into an Export node and save a PNG.

Take it further#

  • More bleed: raise Wet blur to soften fresh paint into what is underneath.
  • Paper texture: load an image as the brush's grain so pigment catches on the tooth.
  • Keep the brush: your Brush node is a reusable preset. Star it in the picker, or save it to your User Library.

Where to next#