Watercolor Basics: Essential Supplies and First Steps

Dipping a brush into clean water, swirling it into a vibrant pigment, and watching that color flow across textured paper – there’s a unique magic to watercolor. It’s luminous, often unpredictable, and capable of capturing light like few other mediums. If you’re drawn to its transparent charm but feel intimidated by where to start, you’re in the right place. Getting started with watercolor isn’t about buying the most expensive gear; it’s about understanding the essentials and taking those first, exciting steps.

Demystifying the Essential Watercolor Supplies

Walking into an art supply store (or browsing online) can feel overwhelming. Rows upon rows of paints, brushes, and papers! Let’s break down what you genuinely need to begin your journey.

Paints: Pans, Tubes, and Quality Considerations

Watercolor paints primarily come in two forms: dry cakes called pans (often set into small palettes) and moist paint in tubes. Pans: These are convenient for travel and quick sketches. You activate the color by wetting your brush and touching the pan. They are generally re-wettable and last a surprisingly long time. Sets often come with a good starting range of colors. Tubes: Tube paints offer more vibrant, concentrated color straight away. You squeeze a small amount onto a palette and mix it with water. While you can let them dry on the palette and re-wet them later (like pans), they are best used fresh for maximum intensity. They are also better for mixing larger quantities of a specific color wash. Quality: You’ll encounter “Student Grade” and “Artist Grade” (or Professional Grade) paints. Student paints are less expensive because they generally contain less pigment and more fillers or extenders. Artist paints have a higher concentration of finely ground pigment, resulting in richer colors and better lightfastness (resistance to fading). As a beginner, starting with a decent quality student set is perfectly fine. You can always upgrade individual colors later as you discover your favorites. Don’t feel pressured to buy the top tier immediately; focus on learning technique first.

Brushes: Your Magic Wands

Brushes are your primary tools for applying paint. They come in various shapes, sizes, and fiber types. Shapes:

• Round: The workhorse. Good round brushes hold a decent amount of water and paint, can cover broad areas, and taper to a fine point for detail. A size 6 or 8 is a great starting point.
• Flat: Have a square or rectangular end. Excellent for creating sharp edges, straight lines, and broad, even washes. A 1/2 inch or 3/4 inch flat is useful.
• Wash/Mop: Large, soft brushes (often round or oval) designed to hold a lot of water. Ideal for wetting large areas of paper or applying big, loose washes of color. These can be a later addition.

Sizes: Brush sizes are numbered, but sizing isn’t perfectly standardized between brands. Generally, smaller numbers mean smaller brushes. Start with a medium round (like a size 6 or 8), a smaller round for details (size 2 or 4), and perhaps a medium flat (1/2 inch). You can achieve a surprising amount with just these. Fibers:

• Natural Hair: Sable (especially Kolinsky sable) is traditionally prized for its ability to hold water and snap back to a point. Squirrel hair is very soft and holds even more water, great for mops, but has less snap. Natural hair brushes are expensive.
• Synthetic Fibers: Modern synthetics have improved dramatically! Many offer excellent water-holding capacity, good points, and durability at a fraction of the cost of natural hair. Synthetic or synthetic-blend brushes are highly recommended for beginners. They are easier to care for and more resilient.

Focus on getting a couple of decent quality synthetic round brushes in different sizes to start.

Paper: The Foundation of Your Painting

Watercolor paper is specifically designed to handle water without immediately buckling or falling apart. This is one area where quality really matters, even for beginners. Weight: Measured in pounds (lb) or grams per square meter (gsm). Heavier paper can take more water and washes without excessive buckling. 140lb (300gsm) is the standard recommendation and a great weight to start with. Lighter papers (like 90lb) will buckle significantly unless stretched. Texture (Surface):

• Cold Press (CP) or NOT (Not Hot Pressed): This is the most popular watercolor surface. It has a noticeable texture or “tooth” that grabs the pigment beautifully and creates lovely granulated effects. It’s versatile and forgiving for beginners.
• Hot Press (HP): Has a smooth, almost slick surface. It’s excellent for fine detail, pen and ink work combined with watercolor, and botanical illustration. However, washes can be harder to control, and brushstrokes are more apparent.
• Rough: Has a very pronounced, heavy texture. It creates highly granulated, textured washes and is great for expressive landscapes, but detail work is challenging.

Start with 140lb Cold Press paper. You can buy it in pads, blocks (glued on all four sides to reduce buckling), or single sheets.

Paper is Crucial! While you can learn with student paints and synthetic brushes, using paper not designed for watercolor (like printer paper or lightweight drawing paper) will lead to frustration. It will buckle severely, pill (fibers rubbing off), and won’t allow the paint to flow or layer properly. Investing in decent 140lb (300gsm) watercolor paper, preferably Cold Press, is highly recommended from the very beginning.

Other Essential Bits and Bobs

• Palette: Needed if using tube paints. Plastic palettes with wells are inexpensive and work well. Ceramic palettes or even an old white dinner plate are great options too, as watercolor doesn’t stain ceramic and beads up nicely.
• Water Containers: You need at least two – one for rinsing dirty brushes and one for clean water to mix with your paints. Yogurt pots, jars, or purpose-made water pots work fine.
• Board and Tape: If using single sheets or paper from a pad that isn’t a block, you’ll want to tape it down to a rigid board (like Gatorboard, plywood, or even stiff cardboard) using artist’s tape or masking tape. This helps minimize buckling as the paper gets wet.
• Sponge or Cloth: Natural sponges or just paper towels/a clean cloth are essential for controlling the amount of water on your brush and for lifting color off the paper.
• Pencil and Eraser: A light pencil (like an HB or 2H) for sketching your initial design. A kneaded eraser is useful as it lifts graphite without damaging the paper surface excessively.

Taking Your First Steps: Basic Techniques

You’ve gathered your supplies, found a clear space, and you’re ready to paint! Don’t aim for a masterpiece straight away. Focus on getting comfortable with how the paint, water, and paper interact.

Setting Up Your Space

Arrange your supplies logically. Keep your water containers stable and easily accessible. Have your palette within reach, your paper secured (if needed), and paper towels or sponge handy. Good lighting is also helpful.

Getting to Know Your Colors

If using tubes, squeeze out small amounts (pea-sized) of your chosen colors onto your palette, leaving space between them for mixing. If using pans, have your clean water ready. Practice activating the pan colors with a wet brush – see how much water creates a pale wash versus a stronger color. Make a simple color chart. Paint small swatches of each color you have. Try mixing adjacent colors on your palette to see what new hues you can create. This helps you understand your palette’s potential.

Mastering Basic Washes

A wash is simply an area of flat or graduated color.

• Flat Wash: Mix a good puddle of color. Tilt your board slightly. Load your brush and draw a horizontal stroke across the top of the area you want to cover. Reload your brush and make the next stroke just below the first, overlapping slightly so the bead of paint at the bottom of the first stroke flows into the second. Continue down, maintaining an even tone.
• Graded Wash: Start like a flat wash, but with each subsequent stroke, add a little more water (or a lighter color) to your brush/mix. This creates a gradual fade from dark to light (or one color to another).
• Variegated Wash: Apply different colors onto wet paper (see Wet-on-Wet below) and let them mingle and blend naturally. Tilt the paper to encourage flow.

Wet-on-Dry vs. Wet-on-Wet

These are fundamental watercolor concepts:

• Wet-on-Dry: Applying wet paint onto dry paper (or a completely dry layer of paint). This technique gives you crisp, defined edges and more control over where the paint goes. Most detail work is done wet-on-dry.
• Wet-on-Wet: Applying wet paint onto paper that is already wet (either with clean water or a previous wash that hasn’t dried yet). This results in soft, diffused edges where colors blend and bleed into each other beautifully. It’s great for skies, backgrounds, and creating soft transitions. Timing is key here – how wet the paper is drastically affects the result.

Experiment with both! Draw simple shapes. Paint one wet-on-dry. Then, wet another shape with clean water first, and drop color into it (wet-on-wet). See the difference?

Layering (Glazing)

Because watercolor is transparent, you can build up color and depth by applying thin layers (glazes) of paint over previous layers that have completely dried. This allows underlying colors to show through, creating luminous, complex hues. Always ensure the previous layer is bone dry before glazing, or you risk lifting the color underneath and creating mud.

Lifting Color

You can remove paint while it’s still wet or even after it has dried (though some pigments stain more than others). While wet, use a “thirsty brush” (a clean, damp brush), a sponge, or a paper towel to sop up color, creating highlights or softer areas. Once dry, you can gently scrub with a stiff, damp brush or a special lifting tool to lighten areas, though this can sometimes damage the paper surface if done too aggressively.

Patience and Practice: The Real Secret Ingredients

Watercolor has a reputation for being difficult because water is an active participant! It flows, it pools, it dries at its own pace. Embrace this. Don’t get discouraged by unexpected blooms or bleeds – often, these ‘accidents’ add unique character to your work. The key is consistent practice. Try simple exercises: painting washes, mixing colors, trying wet-on-wet blends, layering simple shapes. Enjoy the process of learning how the medium behaves. Watch tutorials, look at other artists’ work, but most importantly, put brush to paper regularly. Your understanding and control will grow with every attempt.