Watercolors

Hi Rachel, I took up watercolour painting about a year ago. I started with 'student grade' paints, Cotman by Winsor and Newton. There are loads of brands and there a lot of personal preference when it comes to what's 'best'. I have gradually replaced some of my half pans with more expensive 'artist's grade' pans, but still think many of the cheaper paints are great! I would just go with what is available to you and within your budget. You can get great filled palettes with a selection of warm and cool primary colours, and some extras (like a convenience green, earth colours, or neutrals), and that will likely last you for aaages! I like half pans for the convenience of carrying and using when out and about, but plenty of people prefer to squeeze out colour straight from the tube.

For surfaces, most watercolours will be painted on watercolour paper, although it's possible to get watercolour board, canvas, and a special ground that you can apply to any surface to make them suitable for painting on. Watercolour paper can be expensive, there is a jump in price between cellulose (wood pulp) based paper and cotton based paper. 100% cotton paper is the gold standard, but to start with I would recommend cheaper cellulose paper that you won't feel anxious about using lots of to practice on. 300gsm weight is ideal, as it can hold a lot of water with less buckling. But I also practice on 200gsm paper by Canson, and find it fine for quick sketches or technique practice. Brands I like: Khadi (handmade in India), Jackson's (a UK brand), Canson Montval.

Brushes is a whole other domain to think about! Start out with a branded synthetic round brush. What brushes you want to get will depend on what you want to paint. I'd start out with a size 6 round, but you could go for something bigger like an 8 or 10. Don't get anything too small to start. I use 3 brushes heavily, a Winsor and Newton Professional sable round (size 6) and rigger (size 2 I think), and a squirrel hair 'quill' brush by Art Secret (on AliExpress). I really like the quill style brush, it very very versatile! Today, there is a huge variety of synthetic brushes available if you prefer not to use animal hair brushes. I haven't used any high end synthetic sable type brushes, but I see a lot of people online who swear by them. I also have some water brushes for taking out and about. I got some cheap ones of ebay that weren't very good, the Pentel water brushes are much better! Other brushes I have but use less often include fan, flat (one stroke), detailer (tiny brushes), chinese painting/calligraphy brushes, mop, various rounds from cheap sets. It's useful to have random brushes hanging around for special effects or something that might damage them like masking fluid.

I hope this is helpful! I'm afraid if you are looking for advice on digitising artworks I can't help with that, although it's something I'd like to do as well! To summarise I'd say have a look at what's available where you are. I know that in the States there's great opportunities to get reductions on good supplies, like with coupons at Micheals, but we don't all have that luck! I'm in the UK and happy to share where I get my supplies if that's any help