Watercolor Supplies: A Complete Guide for Novices

Shopping for new watercolor supplies can easily feel overwhelming. The options can be endless, especially when you’re not sure what to look for.

This guide will help you figure out what you need, what to look for, and what to avoid.

Let’s get into it…

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Supplies every beginner needs

Watercolor is a low maintenance medium when it comes to supplies. You don’t need that much to get started. So, what does every beginner need?

• Paper
• Watercolor Paints
• Brushes
• Masking tape
• 2 Jars of water
• Paper towel

These are the essentials; you can always grow your collection as you go on.

Starting with fewer well chosen supplies is far better because you can focus on making progress with your skills.

The top priority: Watercolor paper

Of all the supplies you’re going to purchase, paper will make the biggest difference. There are three main things to look for when buying paper:

• Material– There’s cellulose and cotton, most student grade papers are made with cellulose, and professional grade papers are made with 100% cotton paper
• Weight- With watercolor, the heavier the better. 140lb/300gsm weight or above is always best.
• Texture– There is hot-pressed, cold-pressed, and rough paper textures.

I had started with student grade celluloce paper and struggled alot with water control. My paintings were overworked and inconsistent.

It wasn’t until I switched to professional 100% cotton paper that I saw a huge difference in my paintings.

Cotton paper is good quality because the moisture spreads and dries evenly. It can handle more washes and abuse from your brush. Finally, you don’t have to work as hard to achieve the desired techniques.

You can get away with 50% cotton, but 100% is best for faster progress and beautiful results.

Watercolor paper comes in different weights. The heavier the weight, the thicker and more durable the paper:

• 90 lb (185 gsm) – Thinnest paper, good for practice sketches, cheaper to get.
• 140 lb (300 gsm)- Medium thickness, this paper can handle more washes than 90 pound paper, still needs to be stretched. Good for beginners and professionals.
• 300 lb (640 gsm)- Thickest paper, the most expensive, and very effective for final pieces. You can produce the best results with 300 pound paper.

There are three texture types for watercolor paper: hot pressed, cold pressed, and rough paper:

• Hot pressed: Smoothest surface best for fine detailed work
• Cold pressed: Medium roughness ideal for textured subjects like landscapes. Highly recomended for beginners
• Rough: Most textured paper, ideal for bold, expressive work

I personally still use cold pressed paper, I find it works perfectly because I tend not to paint detailed work.

If you want to learn more about watercolor paper, check out this article:

• Watercolor Paper: Everything You Need to Know

How to choose your watercolor paints

My first ever watercolor paint set had 58 colors in it. I wanted to make sure I had every single shade out there.

It only confused me and slowed down my progress.

Understanding color theory, I now know that you only need a warm and cool version of each primary color and some optional add ons such as burnt sienna or Payne’s gray.

The chart below shows examples of warm and cool primary colors.

	Warm	Cool
Red	Pyrroll scarlet Cadmium red	Rose Madder Alizarin Crimson
Blue	Ultramarine blue Cobalt blue	Pthalo blue Prussian blue
Yellow	Cadmium yellow Indian Yellow	Lemon Yellow (PY3)

With watercolor paint, you have student-grade and professional paints. The biggest difference between the two, besides price, is that professional paints have more pigment.

Winsor and Newton Cotman paints are an excellent beginner choice.

However, if you opt for professional paints I highly recomend Daniel Smiths, or Mgraham. My personal favorite is daniel smiths.

The only brushes you need

There are dozens of brush shapes, materials, and sizes out there. The quality and sizes might be different depending on the brand.

Here’s what you really need as a beginner when it comes to brushes

• Shape: Each brush shape has specific purposes; some are multipurpose, like flat and round brushes.
• Material: It’s always good to consider the material of the hair. Some materials hold more water, which is ideal for watercolors.
• Sizes: Sizes vary depending on brush shape and brand. A size 6 of one company may be 8 of another. When shopping online, look for measurements to get an idea.

You don’t need every brush shape available out there. I made the mistake of purchasing cheaper sets and was sorely disappointed by the quality.

For brush shapes, you’ll want to stick to round brushes; the bellies are big enough to hold moisture, and the tip comes to a fine point for detail work:

Add a mop or large flat brush for background washes (diagram below):

There are animal hairs and synthetic hairs. Synthetic hairs are more affordable and great for beginners.

You’ll want to look for one that mimics sable hair, holds enough water, and comes to a fine point. My personal favorite synthetic brushes are the Da Vinci Casaneo brushes.

Da Vinci Casaneo Synthetic Squirrel Watercolor Brush – Round, Size 10, Short Handle, Synthetic The No. 1 choice in brushes for the Urban Sketching movement, the Da Vinci Casaneo features Da Vinci’s innovative “wavy fiber? that returns to a point or edge far better than any synthetic squirrel brush. Excellent for watercolors, gouache, acrylics, inks, and for calligraphy and silk painting, these watercolor brushes have incredible water-holding capacity yet retain their shape even after long brush strokes. – Da Vinci Casaneo Synthetic Squirrel Watercolor Brush – Round, Size 10, Short Handle, Synthetic

You only need a small brush size for detail work, roughly between a size 2-6 round, and a medium-sized brush (size 8-10), and finally a mop brush for large washes.

If you want to learn more about watercolor brushes, I highly recommend checking out this guide below:

• How to choose the right watercolor brush

Additional supplies

Along with your paint, brushes, and paper, the following supplies will come in handy to you when painting:

• Two jars of water– try rinsing the brush twice every time you change colors by using two jars of water. One to clean off your brush (for dirty water) and one for clean water to use for painting
• Watercolor palette– If you are using watercolor tubes, you may need to set up a new palette.

• Hb pencil/ kneaded eraser– A Hb pencil comes in handy when drawing light sketches to guide your painting. Meanwhile, a kneaded eraser is much more effective than traditional ones as they do not wear away the paper you are working on.

• Tissue or sponge- Tissues and sponges are used to pick up pigment off the paper in order to create interesting textures. They are also handy in dampening or wiping excess paint from your brush.

• Pipette- Pipettes come in handy when adding small amounts of water to thin down a color on your mixing palette. With a pipette, you don’t have to keep rinsing your brush to add water.

• Water-adhesive tape– It’s important to have tape to stick down your watercolor paper until it dries so that it does not crinkle and become crooked. (This is called stretching)

• Masking tape- An alternative to water-adhesive tape is masking tape. In order to prevent it from ripping your paper, try sticking it to your jeans or a cloth before stretching your paper.
  
• Painting Board– When I first started I taped the paper onto my table, however using a painting board was very handy in placing the painting at an angle.

Things to avoid when shopping for supplies

From personal experience, there are some things to avoid when purchasing watercolor supplies:

1. Avoid buying cheap watercolor student sets, the paint is usually chalky and not suited for artist grade paints
2. Only go for watercolor brushes that are marketed specifically for watercolor painting. The same goes for watercolor paper. Avoid multipurpose papers.
3. Avoid purchasing cheaper brush sets. They’re usually cheaply made, don’t hold enough water, or distribute moisture evenly. Worse, they sometimes release loose hairs!
4. Nowadays, I personally stick to well known brands of watercolor supplies as the quality is ten times better. Especially when buying paper, and brushes.
5. Although it’s tempting to buy a range of supplies, prioritizing your budget for good quality paper, and limiting your paint colors and brushes will get you further in the long run.

If you enjoyed this article, found it helpful or you have any questions leave a comment below! Click here to learn about the beginner watercolor techniques to get you started with painting!