How to Trace or Transfer to Watercolor Paper – Four Ways!
Here at Lily and Thistle, we have so many fun projects designed to help you gain confidence in watercolor and have a fun and relaxing experience in the process. Today I thought I’d show you four ways you can transfer (or trace) the templates we have made available to you onto your choice of watercolor paper. You can use this technique for your own drawings as well.
Because watercolor is not an opaque medium, it’s easy to see the lines you make under your painting. It’s much better to work your drawing out first and then transfer it so you don’t have any eraser marks or lines where you don’t want them.
So with that, let’s get started!
Supplies:
- 140lb Watercolor Paper (this is my favorite)
- Printable Pattern (included in the Lily & Thistle Watercolor School or the Free Resource Library)
- Graphite Paper or Window, iPad, Lightboard (see below)
- Pencil
- A Kneaded Eraser (perfect way to make your lines faint but not too faint that you can’t see them)
Method #1: Your Window
Hot tip: You have a light board (actually a whole bunch) right in your home: WINDOWS! This is one of my favorite ways to transfer images to watercolor paper because it’s free, easy, and so accessible.
Just a few things to remember: adhere your template and watercolor paper with tape that will be easy to remove from both your paper and your window and don’t press too hard with your pencil.
Method #2: Your iPad or Tablet
If you are working on your project at night or in the early hours of the morning (my favorite time), windows will obviously not work. You might not be aware of this, but you actually have a light board on your iPad!
I have an app that I love to use on my iPad. It’s called the Softbox app . Once you download the app, go to the color settings and put it on the white setting. Tada! You now have a perfect light board!
Method #3: An LED Lightboard
A few years ago, I invested in this awesome lightboard. I use it a lot for paper doll projects and other illustration work. It’s very skinny which makes it easy to store and pull out when I need it. If you are getting serious about art and want something that is specifically designed for tracing, I’d recommend this!
Method #4: Graphite Paper
Graphite paper is also a great option. Graphite paper is basically a thin piece of paper coated on one side with a smooth layer of graphite and another side that is not coated. This is how you use it:
- Place the graphite paper coated side down on your watercolor paper.
- Tape your drawing right-side-up in place on top of it.
- Use a pencil (or even a pen) to trace the drawing onto the working surface.
- When you’re finished tracing, simply remove the drawing and graphite paper.
A sheet of graphite paper can be used many times over so one sheet goes a long way. One warning: it is easy to create smudges on your paper where you don’t want them. You can usually erase but sometimes if you rub too hard against your paper or push too hard with your pencil, it doesn’t erase as easily.
Quick Note
Before we get started, I’d like to invite you to join us at the Lily & Thistle Watercolor School! We have bundled all of our watercolor painting courses designed to help you learn the basics FAST so you can quickly become a more confident artist. You will learn the foundational skills you need and continue to grow as you pick and choose from 100+ projects. We breakdown everything in Watercolor School to make it fun and SIMPLE for anyone (ages 5-95!) Find out more about Watercolor School here or click the photo below.
BONUS TIP FOR TRACING ON WATERCOLOR PAPER
You can actually make your own graphite paper! Just use a pencil, shade one side of a piece of paper with several layers of graphite, and voilà! You have your own graphite paper! Just as I mentioned before, be careful with smudges and you should be fine.
I hope you found these tips helpful! Transferring onto the proper paper is such an important part of watercolor art so pick your favorite method and see what it does for you.
Please let me know if you have any questions. I am so happy to help.
And remember, your life is your art.
Your friend,
-Hannah
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Hi, thanks for your tracing tips. Why didn’t I think of windows. The I Pad tip is great also.
Wow, I got the soft box app for my iPad and it works great for tracing. Thank you so much.😃
YAY! Yes, it was a great find! Glad you are finding it helpful. Cheering you on from here! – Hannah
Thank you for the tracing tips.
You’re welcome! Hope you enjoy it!
Hi, I use watercolor pencils . I take a darker color depending on the colors in the picture I want to paint and scribble on the back side of the picture I am reproducing. Then I lay the picture on the watercolor paper and trace it with a regular pencil. The image is on the watercolor paper and paper in watercolor pencil and then I can paint it out as I paint the picture.
I just use a very soft pencil and trace just cover area I want to trace instead of covering the whole back of the paper.
Thank you Hannah for the great tips! Glad to find you!
Andi
You’re so welcome Andi! Cheering you on from here!
I print out an image from my computer, turn it over and use a watercolor pencil and color the backside of the image. Then I place the page on my watercolor paper and trace the design. When I begin to paint, the watercolor pencil marks blend with my paint and voila no marks showing through
Joan,
Thanks for this! What a great idea!
Wow awesome idea, thank you!
this would work for any prints, correct? Even the ones you can buy
Thank you for information. Especially IPad use. I have a light board, Not a very good Watercolor painter, but do enjoy it.
So glad it was helpful! I’m sure you’re better than you think! I’m cheering you on from here.
Hi Hanna, thank you so much for sharing! Tracing newbie here! I’m sorry, but I’m not sure how the kneading eraser fits in to this equation. Would you happen to have a video of your process? Thanks?
Hi Maria,
Yes! Check out the flower heart tutorial here https://www.lilyandthistle.com/watercolor-flower-tutorial-beginner/ (it’s an older video but it should help explain the kneaded eraser well). 🙂
I just discovered Pinterest and am overjoyed at all the resources available. I am an 80 yr old Great Grandmother and just taking up watercolors. Just learning by watching demonstrations on line. Love watercolors and wish I had started earlier. Thanks for the tracing tips.
Each of these methods requires a pencil which would then need to be erased at some point, but you mentioned that erasing pencil marks is not ideal. So I’m not completely understanding how this would all be awesome.
Lorie – sorry for the confusion. Using a regular pencil sometimes does not come off as easy as a blue sketching pencil. I like to use a blue pencil since you can lightly trace your outline and erase the lines with a kneaded eraser. With regular pencils, if you use the eraser at the end of the pencil, it leave a mark from that eraser. If you don’t have a blue sketching pencil, you can definitely use a regular pencil, but having the kneaded eraser helps a lot since it just “picks up” the marks and lightens the graphite from the pencil. It’s meant to be used more like you are kneading dough and pushing on the paper vs. rubbing it back and forth like a normal eraser. I hope that explanation helps.
Thank you so much for the tips, I will try them. Really appreciate you and for sharing different ideas.
I appreciate your page. I’m always looking for ways to improve my watercolor skills. I loaded the Softbox app after paying my 99 cents and despite its 1-star rating. I don’t see a setting for colors inside the app so not sure how that color white works . Maybe changer my screen color …?
I use a small ball-ended stylus (embossing tool?.) with graphite paper.
I am sketching my daughter’s cats onto paper in my sketchbook but I want to paint them on watercolor paper. I don’t see how using a light pad or window would allow me to trace onto watercolor paper—it is too thick and opaque, isn’t it? I’ll try it but I’m so suspicious. I have put off attempting it because I felt it was not going to work, but now I just have to give it a shot. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. 🎉
Just to mention that you have a link for graphite paper but it takes you to carbon paper. The difference between the two types of tracing paper is that carbon paper cannot be erased if you make an error.
Hello Don! Thanks for noting that. You are correct, the carbon paper won’t erase as well as graphite paper. I will pass this on to our team.
There is an app for the iPad called “Camera Lucida” – use these words only when searching.
It is an amazing app to let you “trace” a photo on to paper. You can even control the scale.
I have had great results using just a pointy end of something (embossing tool, dotting tool and an orangewood stick from my nail art stuff, the tip of one of my hair accessories—pretty much anything pointy but something WITHOUT ink, graphite, lead, etc) and a window/lightboard/ipad. You just have to make sure your took isn’t sharp, so that it doesn’t scratch or cut your paper. I just trace the design and indent the paper, and it works because the watercolor paper is so thick, I don’t have to worry about erasing or having my pencil color show up in the watercolor. It might be harder to use this trick for more detailed projects, but it works great so that I can keep things in perspective vs trying to do things freehand.
What kind of paper do you choose for watercolors?
Method #3: An LED Lightboard —- I have this lightboard. When I used my 140 lb Canson paper, I could not see the image coming through. Is there a work-around for this?
Thank you.
Jean
Canada
Hello Jean. Thanks for your question. We are sorry to hear that you are having trouble using the light board with the 140 lb paper. You could try another tracing method mentioned in the post to see if a different option works better. You could also try a different type of paper on the light board although we do prefer the 140 lb. If you continue to have difficulties with this, let us know and we would be happy to troubleshoot further.
Hi Hanna, the light box you show here on this post, do you use it for tracing onto 140lb/300gsm watercolour paper? You do mention it’s great for your paper dolls and other art projects, bit you don’t say it specifically for watercolour paper. So I just want to be sure before I purchase one. Thank you. 😊
Hello! Thanks for your question. We do recommend tracing onto 140 lb watercolor paper with the light box mentioned in our post. Please let us know if you have any other questions! 🙂
Hi! Do you recommend white or black graphite paper for tracing? The Amazon link offers both.
Thanks!
Hello Abigail! Thanks for your question. We recommend the black graphite paper for tracing. Please let us know if you have any other questions.
I use tracing paper, but don’t think it is Graphite. So Graphite is on my Amazon wish list. I do have a light box, and have used a window. Thanks for the tips.
Great tips! I tried to make my own graphite paper for tracing and it seemed to work well, but when I was making a new sheet, my young son licked the back of the paper that had all the pencil shading on it. His tongue was covered in pencil led, absolutely grey. He’s had an upset stomach since, and has been sleeping more than normal. This was a couple of days ago. I’ve heard modern pencils don’t use actual lead, so I figured it wasn’t dangerous, but I am concerned. Any tips?
We are sorry to hear that your son had a bad experience. Hopefully he is feeling much better! We are unable to offer medical advice so we do hope that you checked with your pediatrician if your son’s symptoms didn’t subside. You are correct that modern pencils do not contain lead. They do contain graphite which is “non-poisonous” but still shouldn’t be ingested. In the future, you may want to try one of the other options mentioned in this post like using your window, your iPad/tablet, or an LED light board. All of these methods utilize far less graphite. Please let us know if you have other questions.