Watercolor supplies for beginners

If you are confused about which supplies to use or which materials to use as a beginner, so while thinking you might have thought some time to go for expensive materials, but at the very beginning, you don't need expensive materials all you need to do is polish your skills. 

"Get maximum outcomes in minimum supplies"

So with the minimum and less expensive supplies or materials, you can polish your skills and when you think now this is the time when I reached a certain level and now I want to be experimental with supplies and techniques then go for an expensive one.

Let's just leave expensive and inexpensive materials, lets first start with the understanding of  Watercolour supplies.

Paints and colors -

Watercolors are the colors that are transparent in nature, unlike oil paints and acrylic paints. There are two forms of paints for watercolor painting - Pans and Tubes. Whether it is pans or tubes, both come in different numbers of sets, 12, 24, 36, etc. But for beginners or anyone else, set of 12 colors are enough.

Pans -

Pans are the most comfortable and enjoyable for beginners. These are very handy and come up with their own palette and brush sometimes. We need to activate these colors with the help of a few drops of water as these colors are hard and do not contain any moisture. These colors are great for small paintings.

Tubes -

These paints come in tube forms that have a creamy texture and contain moisture. This form is more precise than pan forms for larger size paintings. It is easy to mix colors while using tube forms. We need to take extra care of tube forms as it can easily get dry if it comes in the contact of air for a long time.

Paintbrushes -

The brush has fine point, holds a good amount of water and gets even tone effect or distribute even color over a paper, if a brush shows these characteristics then it can be considered as a good brush.

The hair of brush differentiates into three types - Natural, Synthetic and Mixture of Natural and Synthetic. Natural one is considered as high-quality brushes that is made up of animal hairs and are expensive. Synthetic brushes are affordable and great for beginners.

So for painting you don't need tones of brushes, I would insist a couple of brushes like one small size round brush and one medium size flat brush that has a good quality is enough for beginners.

As your watercolor journey progresses, you can try with different brushes and techniques. 

Paper -

As a beginner what should you look for in the paper is,

-Weight -Weight about 200 gsm is considerable for watercolor painting. 

-Size - how thick is paper and how much color a paper can absorb.

-Texture - Smooth, rough, or medium textured paper.

Watercolor papers are available in sheets, boards, pads and blocks.

Sheets - 

Sheets are the most traditional method that ca e used for painting. If you are the one who doesn't want to spend too much on paper then this is the most affordable way. Ut before choosing a convenient sheet for painting, take care of weight, size and texture of paper.

Boards-

This is the kind of traditional board that is used for other paintings like acrylic and oil painting. This is made up of watercolor paper stretched over rigid board with the help of glue. 

Pads -

This pad is made up of number of watercolor sheets that are bound together. These pads are handy and comfortable while traveling. Again while choosing the ideal pad, take care of paper quality.

Blocks -

The watercolor block is the bundle sheets bound together from all sides with the help of glue. So all you have to do is paint on the very top sheet of the block and once it gets dry separate it out with the help of a knife.

Palette-

Palette is available in two types- Plastic and Ceramic

Plastic is light in weight but ceramic plates do not get stained with color, unlike plastic.

I will suggest you to go for normal dinner plates which are easily available in our home. If if you are particular and neat and clean and do not want colors to be mixed up then go for a traditional palette.

Because while using a normal dish or plate, there is always a fear of colors to be mixed with each other.

Container-

This container is for water so you can rinse your brushes and also can use it for dipping. Some artist use more than one container.

Constantly change your water while painting when it gets dirty.

Absorbent material -

This will need you to clean or soak water when you rinse your brushes and to soak excess water on paper.

Pencil and Eraser -

You will need this to draw in raw form, using light shade pencil will be preferable.

So these all supplies I have mentioned above are very basic. Once you improve then moving for next level or advanced material will be more suitable.

Thank you.

(Image source - Pinterest)