Ok, so, please do keep in mind that while I have used watercolor in nearly every form, and since I was like, 10 - giving me *roughly* a decade or so of experience, I am not a professional artist, nor am I someone who is a formal teacher. This is just what I know, and I love to share! So ask me as many questions as need be. Hell, DM me if you want to talk, because I will always hold myself open for discussions!!
So, what would you think of as the MOST important part of using watercolors? Because the answer isn't the paint, or brush - Or even the paper! It's
#1 - Keep you water separated. Even if you are using a dollar watercolor set on printer paper, the EASIEST way to keep you paint looking nice is simply by having a cup for dirty water, and clean water. Clean your brushes in one cup, wipe them on a napkin, cloth, or just your pants, then dip the brush into the clean water before you put it back into whatever form of watercolors your using. Tube, leftover paint on a plate or cheap puck? This is the most important step because it keeps your paints clean, and colors distinct!
#2 - Paper. When you start, don't buy super expensive paper. Mixed media will be just fine, but if your itching to get super deep? Don't.
Because there is hot press watercolor paper, and cold press watercolor paper, and they are different. Cold press absorbs more, and you have less time to move the pigment before it sets, while hot press gives you more time to move the paint, and also hot press has less texture than cold press watercolor paper. If you want to use things like dip pens? Go with HOT PRESSED PAPER. This is because textured paper can actually mess with dip pen nibs, and ruin them if your not VERY careful!
The cream of the crop of watercolor paper is actually cotton paper. So, if you have that kind of money? Have fun with it
#3 - Ink. Ink or lineart is apart of the art process, and my recommendations for it is actually VERY simple - If you like to put your lines down BEFORE you put the watercolor down? Buy a ALCOHOL BASED ink! NOT a water-based one!! If you have liners you like that are water based, you need to let the paint dry fully before you lay the ink down, because if you don't? You risk bleeding, and ruining your colors!
Microns are waterproof, and so are sharpies! My personal fav is a copic multiliner, but I'm not even using them right now because they can be tricky to actually buy to begin with. But they're VERY sturdy.
#4 - Paint. Ok, now we're onto the actual paint itself! Yay!
So, when your looking for watercolors to paint with, you have a LOT of brand to choose from. From cheaper supplies up to super expensive watercolors in tubes and pans and pucks! Here's a good tip for your paint - buy a set of tubes. Mixing colors can be a little intimidating for your first outing, so find a box set. All I can recommend is to read reviews, or watch some video reviews for the specific set your looking at.
The reason I recommend tubes over anything else is because if you want to take some watercolors on the go with you, all you need to do is buy an empty travel pan, of which I own the artists loft portable pan set, its like $20, and at Michael's!
When filling ANY travel pan, you actually need to fill it TWICE. When the paint dries down, it'll shrink, and become loose within the pan. When this happens, you need to go back in with each color, and re-fill the pans to make sure the paint isn't loose because if it is, then it can fall out, get lost, chipped, or just all over a bag if dropped hard enough.
I recommend you buy a METAL OR TIN travel box.
TAKE NOTE OF THIS -
A PLASTIC MIXING PALETTE WILL NOT WORK FOR YOU WATERCOLORS !!! The paint will separate on it, and lead to you using more paint to mix colors. The artist loft tin i mentioned has an ENAMEL COATING to help prevent this, but normal travel sets tend to JUST be plastic for their whole shell, including your paint mixing area!
If you painting at home, go thrifting for a plain white plate, or two of them. I did this, and you will never want to mix your watercolors on anything else once this plate is in your use. If you want another tip, mine is just to have two pans of white, not just one.
Here is my travel pan for you to copy/paste into a browser:
https://www.michaels.com/product/portable-watercolor-palette-tin-with-half-pans-by-artist's-loft-10770596
#5 - Brushes. Now, this part is fairly simple. When looking for a brush to buy, just make sure it's labeled for watercolor - or at the very least a mixed media brush. A brush that is MADE for watercolor will retain water to aid your paints staying wet.
If your traveling, there are fancy options! But your more than likely going to buy what I call a "bottle brush" but sometimes I see them labeled as a "water brush". A bottle brush is thicker, but holds water INSIDE OF the brush itself, and travel kits tend to come with these sorts of brushes. I will say they are not always the nicest to use? So I recommend buying a stand alone brush, of which I personally own this one below for you to copy/paste the link for, it comes in lots of sizes:
https://www.pentel.com/products/aquash-water-brush-fine-point-medium-1
outside of the bottle brush, you might see much more fancy travel brushes in which the upper part of the brush can be taken apart, and the actual brush part of the paint brush hidden away into the hollow handle, but these tend to be much more expensive, and can be harder to find, even more so if you want just one brush.
#6 - Other/Misc. When looking for what I call support supplies, you might see a LOT of things. The 2 I can really only point you to in any good faith is 1, masking fluid, and 2, tape. Tape can be important for a clean edge and also to keep the paper your painting flat if its outside of a sketchbook! Washi tape will likely work if you own some, but if you want to buy nicer tape there is very nice painters tape. Just make sure its *ART* painters tape, and no the kind of tape people tend to use on baseboard when painting a wall or something because that is ALSO called painters tape.
If my previous mention of dip pens caught you eye I use Speedball handles and nibs, and my ink is a waterproof ink called BlackMagic, which is made by Higgins, and also comes in a plastic bottle if your worried about breaking the bottle. Just be sure to keep the bottle upright, as it WILL leak!
I also reccomend buying a small spray bottle just to keep water in it to wet you paints before use, and of course, PLEASE swatch your colors and mix them together with and without the paper being wet to see how they interact!
If you have any questions, comment or feel free to just send me a message! If your curious about gouache, as it is similar - most of what I said is the exact same. HOWEVER, I warn you to make sure you are not buying ACRLYIC GOAUCHE, because it can NOT be reactivated by water, and dried matte unlike standard gauche, which tend to be glossy. This goes for 'oil gauche'
Also do not buy a himi palette.
They are too expensive for their actual feel (in my opinion) Try Utrecht, Talens or again, artist loft if the thicker paint is more of your want.
Thank you for reading :) !
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