Watercolor Materials for Beginners
Hey! Welcome to the club!
Watercolor is such a fun and approachable way to get into painting and I’m glad you’re here.
Since I’ve started offering my watercolor classes, I’ve been asked what supplies I recommend for beginners. If you’re just starting out, a quick peek at an art supply store can be incredibly daunting. When I started out, I bought a basic paint set and some cheap acrylic brushes (oops) from Michael’s. Since then, I’ve evolved my materials a bit but here’s what I would’ve bought if present-me could speak to past-me.
I want to start off by saying that if you have absolutely none of these materials yet, I’ve got you covered.
I sell a Curated Watercolor Materials kit that has pretty much everything I use and love. Plus, you’d be getting $102 worth of supplies for only $80! It includes my favorite, curated high quality paints, a selection of brushes, my favorite eraser and pencil, a watercolor pad, a cute color wheel, and even the very best absorbent rag, and all for $20 less than you would find in stores. If you’re starting from scratch, look no further.
looking to supplement your current Supplies with a few new things? here’s what I’d recommend.
There are three things integral to watercolor painting (that aren’t household products), the rest is optional. I’ll start by touching on those three things.
1. Paints
When you’re just starting out, you want smooth, easy to use watercolor paints in nice clear colors. A lot of companies sell great starter kits!
You can get these paint sets in a few different forms:
Liquid (paint pre-mixed with water, not my personal favorite but fun for some),
Tubes (the paint is thick and gelatinous and needs to be squeezed out and cured/dried on a palette before using), and lastly,
Pans (the paint is pre-dried in plastic or metal pans that are ready for you to wet and use!) For true beginners, this is what I recommend. Tube paint is what I use because when you paint as often as I do, that’s where you get the most bang for your buck. However, if you’re a hobbyist or just wanting to dip your toe in the water, pans are often the best price and choice.
You’re looking for the following:
Student grade (meaning that you’re paying an introductory price point for introductory materials. It won’t be the most expensive or high quality pigments but they’ll do the job!),
Non-granulating (meaning you’ll get smooth colors without little individual specks of pigment separating and settling. Save that for when you are ready to explore with some funkier, artist grade paint!) and finally,
A full rainbow! I recommend getting a palette with a full ROYGBIV rainbow (Red, Yellow, Orange, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet) with a few extras like black and brown. Some of them even come with pink and white (a controversial choice, but we’ll save that for another blogpost).
All of that said, here are some great sets that I’d recommend for beginners.
Sennelier makes gorgeous colors, this little introductory set would be a great place to start.
Cotman is the student-grade line of products from Winsor & Newton. They also make brushes, including the water brush that comes with this set.
I love how this little set from Raphaël comes with a pink and purple!
2. Paper
When it comes to paper, here’s what I look for:
8x10” or larger - Choose a pad with enough space for you to really have fun with your paintings but won’t be too large for your desk.
Cold Press - This has to do with the texture of the paper and how the paper is made. This is a whole other blog post and to keep myself some rambling I’ll just say this: cold press paper has just enough texture to give you control of your paint. Hot press paper is extra smooth and you can lose valuable detail and control. Rough press paper is super bumpy and beautiful but not great for detail work!
140lb or more - What does this mean, why is paper measured in pounds, will I be ordering 140 pounds of paper - all good questions. Paper thickness is measured in a million different ways, one of the most frequent (especially in the US) being pounds. You wouldn’t want to watercolor on a sheet of printer paper because it would buckle and warp, consider that the printer paper is often 20lb. More pounds = thicker paper. I could write a dissertation on this but just know that I’d recommend starting with watercolor paper that is at least 140lb thick.
Cotton content, when possible - I like a paper that has some cotton content (or 100% cotton content!) and not just 100% wood paper pulp. The reason is that I feel like it absorbs paint more nicely.
A Pad - For beginners, I recommend painting on a watercolor pad versus a block. You may not have a palette knife to separate the sheets on a watercolor block and a pad would just be easier!
Here are some choices that I use and love:
This is the pad I sell with my Curated Watercolor Kit! It’s great for beginners. I love how it can take a lot of layers of paint without losing its integrity.
For those who prefer ring bound sketchbooks, this is a great introductory watercolor pad. It has a very distinct texture which can be polarizing, check it out to see if it’s something you like!
This paper is liked by both hobbyists and professionals because it’s 100% cotton and readily available in lots of art supply stores.
3. Brushes
Where do I begin! There are so many beautiful brushes in the world, so many bristle types and lengths and sizes and funny names for brush shapes! I am overwhelmed (and in heaven) every time I go to the art supply store. And it is so easy to see brush prices and get wtf sticker shock. Don’t worry about it! Let’s break it down. Here’s what I’d recommend:
A set! - When you’re starting out and buying brand new brushes, sets are where you get the best price per brush! You’re often actually getting one or two brushes for free by buying a set. It’s great.
Synthetic - Some of my favorite brushes have natural bristles (that means animal hair). Those are the most expensive brushes but also some of the longest lasting, wonderful brushes I own. They’re investments that I cherish but they aren’t introductory. When you’re looking for beginner brushes, I’d suggest looking for synthetic brushes. That means, the bristles are man-made and therefore much more cost effective! I have some great synthetic brushes I love too.
A mix of shapes but a few rounds - I use almost exclusively round brushes in my work. This is the shape that most of us think of when we think of brushes - the bristles are in a round base (a ferrule) and they all come to a nice point! I always recommend having a few sizes of round brushes (including a small number 2 size for details) and a few flat wash brushes (square shaped bristle pattern, great for wetting big areas)
Here are some sets I love!
This Princeton Select line is readily available in craft stores and has a nice bristle with good bounce! I’ve had a few of these brushes for several years.
A great introductory synthetic set from Blick. I love how it has a big wash set along with a couple sizes of rounds.
These Cotman brushes are great quality for introductory brushes! Plus, they come in a huge variety of shapes and sizes.
4. The Other Stuff
Much of these other items you can use household goods for! If and when you’re ready to invest in more of a long term art set up, I’m happy to give my recommendations for student-grade and artist-grade stand ins. Just let me know if you’re interested in that in the comments below!
A palette - If you don’t have a palette, I’d recommend a ceramic plate for mixing your colors!
A water cup or two - Of course, feel free to use drinking cups! I’d recommend using glass ones that you can thoroughly clean later. A lot of paints have components you do not want to be ingesting later so choose an option you can really sanitize later. I use two old glass jars, I like that they’re easily cleanable and see-through so I can see how dirty my water is!
Blotting materials - A square of paper towel and a few q-tips can fix a lot of mistakes and make a lot of magic!
Tape - If you don’t buy a block of watercolor paper, you’ll want some blue tape, washi tape, or masking tape to hold your paper down while you’re painting. This prevents buckling, movement, and spillage!
Full disclosure.
I don’t have any discount links and I don’t get paid for recommending certain products. I will, however, get a small portion of the sale if you purchase anything via the links above! I’ve tried out everything above during my years of experience. I have a love for materials and for testing out as many brands of paint and brush and materials as physically and monetarily possible!
Let me know what you think!
This is my first ever blog post (!) and I’ll happily do more if you all are enjoying them. What else would you like to know more about? Should I feature my favorite professional and artist grade materials next? I’m here for your ideas!
