All the supplies you need for watercolour

Watercolour is fast becoming one of my favourite mediums to create with. I’ve tried out a lot of watercolour related art supplies but not everything is all that great. Other than water, here are the tools I love and use regularly when watercolour painting.

Paints

I got my first set of Winsor and Newton cotman watercolours in my first year of University, I remember they were a real splurge and I used them for one of my final projects that year - I think I got an A if I remember. I played about with them a little but didn't really properly into watercolour until April last year. Since then I've upgraded my 10 colour pan set to 25. If you'd like a more in-depth post with swatches about the colours I have let me know.

Brushes

I've used a lot of brushes when it comes to watercolour but none have been better than the ones that are made to go with my paints, the Winsor and Newton cotman brushes. My most used are the round brushes in sizes 6, 2, and 0.

I also have a couple of cheaper brushes that I use fairly often, these are more for larger washes and mixing colours. The Princeton 3/4" stroke brush is my only flat brush I use regularly, it's not really made for watercolour but does a pretty good job at washes which are great for backgrounds. I also have a Da Vinci college round brush size 12 which is technically made for oil and acrylic paint but is a great colour mixer and also doubles well as a good brush for washes where the Princeton 3/4" brush is just a bit too big. I'll probably upgrade both of these in the future but for now they do the job!

Drawing

Before painting though, unless you're freehanding it, you'll want to sketch out your designs. For this I don't really have any recommendations for a pencil, just make sure it doesn't leave indentations in the paper - I use just a regular a 2B pencil.

The thing I can't recommend enough is a kneadable eraser, I use a faber castell one. This is so much better than a regular eraser as it won't pill up your paper or leave little bits all over it. The best way to erase your sketch before painting is dabbing the kneadable eraser over your drawing until it's barely there but still visible enough for you to follow.

Paper

Paper is important as you need something that will withstand a drenching. Not all paper can absorb the amount of liquid watercolour painting involves and often will curl and bend. I currently use Bockingford cold pressed 200gsm watercolour paper, I did use their 150gsm paper previously which I preferred but I'm pretty sure they've discontinued that and come out with the 200gsm to replace it. I do prefer the thickness of the 200gsm though.

I also have a hardback sketchbook from Winsor and Newton which is 300gsm cold pressed paper which I like to do experiments and less finished type pieces.

Other

There a fair few other tools and items I use regularly when painting watercolours but they're not essential. As long as you have water, paint, and paper, and probably a brush if you don't to go in with your fingers you're good to go. But in case you want extras, here's what I use.

Whether you're using a sketchbook or a piece of paper I recommend keeping it in place. Bull dog clips are perfect for sketchbooks and washi tape/masking tape works best for single sheets of paper. You can also use the tape to mask off a boarder around your artwork if that's the style you're after.

If you want to mask off smaller areas, or more detailed areas of your piece then masking fluid is your pal. Think masking off cloud shapes while painting the sky so they stay white! I use the Winsor and Newton masking fluid, only really because it was the only one I could get my hands on but it does the job.

Depending on the size of your watercolour palette you may also want to get another mixing palette. I have the Expression Ceramic Palette and I love it, I ordered it online expecting it to be much smaller as stupidly didn't look at the specs but turns out it's the perfect size - totally recommend. I have added a foam base to mine though as the ceramic can scratch your table/desk.

Last thing is for outlining and highlighting, if that's your thing. For any outlines or tiny black details I want to add to my piece I use either a 0.5 or 0.7 Muji black gel pen, you could use any just make sure your artwork is dry underneath. For highlights I will either use some Pebeo white gouache if I'm feeling fancy or usually just a Uni-ball Signo white gel pen or a Uni Posca pen.

And that's it! It seems like a lot but you don't have to get it all to start - just paint, paper, and brushes - the rest you can collect at a later time if you stick with it. Oh, and don't forget the water!

- Sophie

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