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The Purple Guide to Learning Watercolor Painting in 10 Days
A 10-day starter plan to pick up a brush, mix your first washes, and decide if watercolor is a skill worth keeping
by Alumigogo Books
Chapter 1: First Day
Right, so today is the day. You're going to sit down with some watercolors and actually try it for the first time. And I want you to know something important before you even touch a brush: your painting today will probably not be good. That's not a discouraging statement; it's a liberating one. Because if you accept that from the start, you free yourself from the pressure to make something pretty, and you can just focus on the experience of moving paint around.
Let's talk about what you'll need for today's session. You don't need a fancy set of paints or a brush that costs more than your rent. You do need watercolor paint, a brush, some paper, and water. That's it. If you're working with what you already have in the house—maybe a child's paint set or an old tin from years ago—that's absolutely fine for today. If you have nothing at all, go to any art supply store or even a big-box retailer and grab the cheapest set of pan watercolors you can find, one round brush (if the package doesn't say the size, aim for something in the middle, not the tiniest one and not a giant house-painting brush), and a pad of paper labeled specifically for watercolor. Paper matters even on day one, because watercolor paper is thicker and absorbent in a way that regular printer paper just isn't. You'll feel the difference immediately, and it will make your experience ten times