Guide to watercolour

When you walk into an art shop, you’re often greeted with a wall full of watercolour paints. There are so many different types, brands and colours – how do you know where to start?

Buying watercolour supplies can be expensive, especially when you get it wrong. This guide will walk you through the different options when it comes to watercolour paint, so you know exactly what you’re buying. Say goodbye to paint supply paralysis!

What is in watercolour?

Watercolour paints are made up of pigment, the part that gives them colour, along with binders and other additives that control things like texture.

The first thing you’ll notice about watercolour paint in an art shop is that it quickly gets expensive. The main driver behind price is the amount of pigment and its quality and purity. Cheap watercolour paints use more binders and additives to bulk out the paint so it requires less pigment, and also use cheaper and lower-quality pigments. This makes them cheaper to buy but also creates colours that seem chalky, dull and faded.

The more expensive paints use less binders and higher levels of pigments. This creates richer and more vibrant colours, but at a higher cost.

Student and professional watercolour

Most watercolour brands have two types of paint – a student and a professional range. The student range is a good watercolour paint for beginners, though some people prefer to start straight away with professional-grade paints.

Remember that the paints you use are down to personal preference. I see many people recommending that watercolour beginners buy good supplies, and the reason makes sense. If you buy cheap supplies and get bad results, you’ll get frustrated and discouraged and soon stop painting. And it wasn’t you that was bad – it was the supplies!

However, I also hear from people who buy good supplies and then don’t want to practice because they can’t bear to waste them. So here’s my advice – if you really want to start out with the best, go for it. If the cost or worry will hold you back, start with student grade paints and upgrade when you feel more confident. After all, student paints are designed for people who are learning!

And make sure to get good quality watercolour paper – it can make a big difference to the results.

Pans or tubes

There are two formats to buy watercolour paint – pans or tubes. Pans are small plastic containers that hold dried paint which is activated by adding water. They come in full pan or half pan sizes, sometimes called doubles and singles. Single half pans are the most common for watercolour sets.

Tubes contain watercolour in a more viscous liquid form. Some people like to paint straight from the tube, but this can risk wasting the paint by using too much. Remember that you only need a tiny amount of paint at a time!

The best way to make the most of tube paints is to squeeze out some paint, let it dry and come back with your watercolour paintbrush to reactivate it with water when you want to paint. You essentially dry it out and use it like a pan. You can use tubes to fill empty pans, or squeeze them out onto a palette of your choice.

What are the best watercolours?

The best place to start is to find a reputable watercolour brand – these are the most common ones:

Winsor & Newton
Sennelier
Schmincke
Daniel Smith
Art Philosophy

I use professional grade watercolour paints by Winsor & Newton. I use Winsor & Newton because they are a professional and long-established paint maker, their paints are very good quality, and because they’re a British brand – I like to support local businesses where possible. I buy all my own paints and prefer to get them in tubes and squeeze them out onto a big plastic palette.