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Most beginner supply lists are written to sell products. This one is written to keep you from buying things you don't need. The honest truth is that you need five items to start watercolor painting, and you can get all of them for under $60. Everything after that is optional until you have a clearer sense of how you paint and what you're trying to do.
If you'd rather skip straight to a curated set recommendation, see our guides to the best watercolor sets for beginners and the best watercolor sets. Otherwise, here's what everything is and why it matters.
1. The Essential List
These five categories cover everything you need to start painting. You don't need the best version of any of them — you need a functional version of all of them.
Start with a 12-color pan set or a small selection of tubes. Pans are easier to manage as a beginner — they don't dry out, they're compact, and you can pick up the whole set and paint anywhere. Tubes give more paint per dollar and more vibrant initial mixes, but they require a palette and take more prep.
The most important thing at this stage is not the brand — it's using the same colors consistently long enough to understand how they behave. Twelve colors is enough to mix anything you need. Thirty-six colors is overwhelming and teaches you less.
One round brush in size 6 or 8 is all you need to start. A round brush holds a point for detail and holds enough paint for broad washes — it does both jobs. Get a good synthetic; natural hair brushes are better but cost more and don't make a meaningful difference until you're past the basics.
The single most common beginner mistake is buying a set of six cheap brushes instead of one decent one. Cheap brushes lose their point after a few uses, which makes painting frustrating and teaches bad technique. One brush that works properly is worth more than ten that don't.
Paper is the supply that matters most, and the one beginners are most likely to underinvest in. Regular printer paper or sketch paper buckles instantly with watercolor, makes wet-on-wet techniques impossible, and teaches you nothing about how watercolor actually handles.
Use 140lb (300gsm) cold-press watercolor paper. Cold press has a slight texture that holds pigment well and works for both detailed and loose styles. 140lb is heavy enough to handle wet washes without buckling. Arches is the professional standard; Fabriano and Canson are solid student-grade options at lower cost.
If you're using a pan set, the lid of the tin usually serves as a mixing surface — that's fine for starting out. If you're using tubes, you need a separate palette with mixing wells. Plastic palettes work. Ceramic palettes stay cleaner and are easier to mix on, but they're heavier and more expensive.
A folding plastic palette with 12–20 wells is the practical beginner choice. It's cheap, light, and stores easily. Upgrade to ceramic later if you find yourself frustrated by how paint sits and mixes on plastic.
Use two containers: one for rinsing your brush (dirty water), one for picking up clean water for mixing. This is a small thing that makes a big difference. Muddy rinse water contaminating your mixes is a constant frustration with a single container. Any two cups or jars work fine — dedicated art containers are not necessary.
2. Budget Options vs Mid-Range
Both tiers get you painting. Here's where the money actually makes a difference.
Functional for absolute beginners or testing the medium. Colors are less vibrant and lightfastness is limited, but the price makes experimentation free of financial pressure.
Budget brush sets often include a round that works adequately for a few months. Expect to replace it once it loses its point.
Not professional quality, but far better than printer paper. Handles basic washes without falling apart. Good enough to learn on.
Cotman is the benchmark for student-grade paint — reliable behavior, consistent pigmentation, and refillable pans. Koi is comparable with slightly warmer colors. Either is a serious step up from budget sets.
These synthetic brushes hold their point through hundreds of sessions. A size 8 Princeton round will handle most of what you paint for years.
Fabriano Artistico is the best value at this tier — 140lb cotton paper with excellent handling for under $1 per sheet. Arches is the professional standard if you want to spend a little more.
The mid-range tier doesn't make you a better painter, but it removes friction — the supplies behave predictably, which means you spend less time fighting your materials and more time learning to paint.
3. What to Skip as a Beginner
The watercolor supply market is large and full of things that are genuinely useful at an intermediate or professional level but actively unhelpful or wasteful when you're starting out.
These are excellent paints, but they cost 4–6x more than student grade and the difference in quality is not visible at the learning stage. You'll get more value from painting 100 pieces with Cotman than 20 pieces with Daniel Smith. Save the upgrade for when you've hit the ceiling of student grade — which takes a while.
The best brushes you can buy, and completely unnecessary for the first year or two of painting. A good synthetic handles differently — less water retention, slightly less snap — but the gap is invisible to a beginner and large synthetic brushes cost $8–15 vs $50–200 for kolinsky.
More colors sounds better but teaches you less. With 24 colors you reach for the ready-made color rather than learning to mix. With 12 colors you develop a real understanding of how pigments interact. Start with 12 and add individual tubes when you know what you're missing.
Masking fluid is genuinely useful once you're painting with specific outcomes in mind. For beginners, it's another variable in a process that already has plenty. Learn to work around your whites before you start masking them.
Proper paper stretching prevents buckling on light paper. But if you use 140lb paper, you don't need to stretch it for most work. Buy 140lb paper and skip the stretching equipment until you're working on very large or very wet pieces.
4. Starter Kit Recommendations
If you want everything in one purchase rather than building it yourself, these guides cover the best ready-made options at each price point. Kits bundle paint, brushes, and sometimes paper together, which eliminates the decision-making. Sets are paints only — better for people who already have brushes.
Every set tested and ranked — beginner to professional, every price range.
See sets →Paint sets specifically evaluated for beginner use — color range, handling, and value.
See sets →The full guide covering student through artist grade — useful if you want to see the full range before deciding on a budget.
See all sets →Watercolor instructor and supply reviewer. Maria has been teaching beginner watercolor workshops for eight years and has tested over 200 sets, brushes, and paper options for this site.
Frequently Asked Questions
What supplies do I need to start watercolor?
The minimum starter kit is: a pan set or tube paints (12 colors is enough), one round brush in size 6 or 8, a pad of 140lb cold-press watercolor paper, a mixing palette, and two water containers. Everything else — masking fluid, additional brushes, fancy palettes — can wait until you've been painting for a few months and know what you actually need.
How much should a beginner spend on watercolor supplies?
A solid beginner setup costs $30–60 total. That gets you student-grade paints like Winsor & Newton Cotman or Sakura Koi, a decent synthetic round brush, and a watercolor paper pad. Spending more than $60 as a complete beginner is not necessary and won't accelerate your learning. The biggest skill gains come from painting frequently, not from expensive materials.
What is the difference between student-grade and artist-grade watercolor supplies?
Student-grade paints use less pigment and more filler, which makes colors less vibrant and harder to mix. Artist-grade paints have higher pigment concentration, better lightfastness, and more predictable behavior. For beginners, student-grade is the right choice — the difference matters less than getting comfortable with the medium first. Upgrade to artist-grade when you've been painting regularly for six months or more.