In this watercolor tutorial, I teach you how to paint a realistic detailed rose.

I’m going to break it down step-by-step. Even if you’re a beginner, you can do this! With a lot of patience, I think you may be able to surprise yourself.

I pulled up a fluffy David Austin Rose as inspiration and while I don’t replicate it exactly, it’s helpful for envisioning the basic shapes. I use a light 4B pencil to start the sketch.

Since this flower takes a long time to paint, I have two versions: a full-length (watch every second of the painting) version and a shorter, condensed version (that still has all the instruction, just sped up parts).

How to paint a realistic watercolor rose:

Shortened version:

Music license acquired from Artlist

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How to Paint Roses (loose-style)
How to Set Up a Watercolor Palette
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Watercolor Techniques: Wet-on-Dry
10 Tips to Improve Your Watercolor