10 Watercolor Supplies Beginners Should Skip (And What to Use or Do Instead)

Walking into an art supply store as a beginner watercolor painter is a lot. The options are endless, the price tags are all over the place, and it's genuinely hard to know what you actually need versus what's just clever marketing. The good news? You need a lot less than you think. Here are ten things beginners commonly buy that they'd be better off skipping if your goal is to really learn the skill of painting with watercolors.

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1. Giant Brush Sets

Those 20-piece brush sets look like incredible value. They are not. Most of those brushes will never touch paper, and budget brush sets tend to shed bristles mid-painting, which is both frustrating and capable of ruining an otherwise good piece. Instead: Buy two quality brushes — a medium round (size 8 or so) and a smaller detail brush. Add more only when you feel limited by what you have.

2. Liquid Watercolors

Liquid watercolors are vibrant and fun, but they behave very differently from traditional pan or tube watercolors and aren't ideal for learning foundational techniques. They're also easy to overuse, making it harder to develop a feel for color mixing and value. Get comfortable with traditional watercolors first.

3. Watercolor Pencils

Watercolor pencils seem like a gentle on-ramp — familiar like a regular pencil, but painterly. In practice, they're a different skill set entirely and can create confusing habits if you're trying to learn traditional watercolor. Skip them for now. They're worth exploring later as a complement to your practice, not a starting point.

4. Cheap Dollar Store Paint Sets

This one might sting a little, but those dollar store paint sets are often not true watercolors. The pigment is weak, they don't rewet well, and they'll make you feel like you're doing everything wrong — when really it's just bad paint. Instead: A beginner set from a recognized brand like Sakura Koi (pan type) or ShinHan (tube type) costs a little more but will actually behave like watercolor is supposed to. (Note: that Sakura Koi kit is perfect for on the go painting and the limited palette will actually help you be a better painter than the kits with 50 colors. More on that below)

5. Masking Fluid (Right Away)

Masking fluid is a legitimate tool, and you'll probably use it eventually. But it requires some finesse — it can tear paper if removed incorrectly, ruin brushes if it dries on them, and generally adds a layer of complexity that beginners don't need while they're still learning how water and pigment interact. Give yourself a few months before introducing it.

6. Pre-Stretched Paper

Stretching paper is a technique for preventing buckling on larger works. It's useful! But if you're painting small — which most beginners are — you don't need it yet. A good 140 lb / 300 gsm cold press block or pad handles small-scale work just fine. Stretching paper is a skill to pick up when you're ready to work bigger.

7. Specialty Brushes

Fan brushes, mop brushes, hake brushes, sword liners — there's a whole world of specialty brushes out there, and they all have legitimate uses. But they're tools for solving specific problems, and as a beginner you haven't encountered those problems yet. Wait until you find yourself thinking "I wish I could do X" — that's the moment to research whether a specialty brush is the answer.

8. A Formal Mixing Palette

If you're using pan paints, the lid of the tin is your palette. If you're using tubes, a white ceramic plate from a thrift store works just as well as a $30 artist's palette. Save the money.

9. Texture Mediums and Additives

Gum arabic, ox gall, granulation medium, iridescent medium — these are fun to experiment with eventually, but they change how watercolor behaves in ways that are hard to interpret when you're still learning the basics. Master the core medium first. There's plenty to discover before you start modifying it.

10. A Full 24- or 36-Color Paint Set

More colors sounds like more options, but for a beginner it mostly means more confusion. A well-chosen set of 10–12 colors — covering warm and cool versions of the primaries, plus a few useful extras — will teach you far more about color mixing than a massive set where you can just grab the exact hue you need. Constraints are good early on. Instead: Look for a 12-color set, or build a small palette of individual tubes based on a recommended beginner color list. I have a tailored list in this post that is a great starting set of colors.

The Bigger Picture

The pattern across all of these is the same: complexity before readiness. Most of these supplies aren't bad — they're just better suited to painters who already understand the fundamentals and know what problem they're trying to solve. As a beginner, your job is to learn how water, pigment, and paper interact. Keep your setup simple enough that the medium itself can teach you.

You can always add more later. It's a lot harder to unlearn habits built on the wrong tools. If you're interested in learning the right tools, read this post.

Happy painting! - Em