How to Select Watercolor Paints

There are thousands of colors and brands of watercolor paints to choose from. With a little bit of information, you can choose good-quality paints in the colors you need. By choosing the right paint, you can produce quality watercolor paintings.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Art Sets
• Fan Watercolor Paintbrushes
• Flat Watercolor Paintbrushes
• Round Watercolor Paintbrushes
• Watercolor Blocks
• Watercolor Brush Cleaners
• Watercolor Brush Holders
• Watercolor Paintbrushes
• White Artist Palettes
• Watercolor Paints
• Watercolor Paper

1. Make a list of the basic colors you need. A suggested list for beginners is cadmium red, alizarin crimson, cadmium yellow, lemon yellow, cerulean blue, ultramarine, ivory black, and burnt sienna.

2. Choose colors you like. Your color choices will become part of your artistic style.

3. Decide whether to buy student-quality or artist-quality paints. Artist-quality paints are generally more expensive and less likely to fade than student-quality ones.

4. Buy separate paint tubes rather than pans or boxed sets of tubes.

5. Select paints that have a lightfastness rating of I or II. This information can usually be found on the back of the tube.

6. Buy a white plastic palette for mixing additional colors.

Tips & Warnings

• It isn't necessary to buy orange or green paint. These colors can be mixed using the colors listed above.

• Watercolor paints are available in pans, but they're of a lower quality than tube paints and don't produce the latter's vibrant colors.

• Start with a few colors and mix others instead of purchasing a large number of ready-made colors.

• Try mixing colors directly on your painting as well as in a plastic palette.

• Purchase additional colors a few at a time. Good additions include cobalt blue, thalo green, lampblack, burnt umber, light red, yellow ocher and raw sienna.