(Part 2) Top products from r/watercolor101

Your colors look great, very autumn! So you did great with those.

Another good book to read is Carlson's Guide to Landscape painting
( https://www.amazon.com/Carlsons-Guide-Landscape-Painting-Carlson/dp/0486229270 )

What he talks about in that book is how we can never replicate the full range of values or colors that exist in nature... the best we can do is have each patch of color on the canvas have a consistent relationship with the other patches. So, like, right now I'm working on a picture of a garage. I can't get the exact color I saw but I can make the shadowy areas darker and cooler (more blue) and the areas in sunlight lighter and warmer (more yellow). That way they are correct relative to each other. If you get the structure of the relationships right, then you won't have to worry about matching exactly. Let go of matching exactly and work on making things relatively correct.

Here's Stapleton Kearns on value in the landscape http://stapletonkearns.blogspot.com/2013/10/confounding-color-and-value-in-landscape.html

Anyway, I'm rambling here, but I think this landscape is a really great start, keep going. My process has been, read some books and do some exercises, try a painting keeping one or two ideas in my head, repeat repeat repeat. It's been an incremental process for me. The main thing is the work and trying again and again.

You got this, have fun! :)

You shouldn't have any problem mixing brands - most are similarly formulated! Some brands like M Graham or Sennelier even have honey in them and can be used with other brands without problems.

This website explains how watercolors are made! If you look on the back of your paint tube (the WN cotmans will have this) you should see a few letters and numbers ie PB 29 - this is the pigment that is in tube (in this case ultramarine blue) and you will find that different companies W&N, M Graham, Daniel Smith, etc all have their own ultramarine blue but all of them are derived from the same pigment - PB 29. "Pure pigment" tubes will list just one pigment, but often companies will make colors that have multiple pigments - ie Payne's Grey is PBk9 and PB29.

Handprint.com is a great resource but a lot of reading, wetcanvas.com has a great watercolor forum and handbook with a wealth of information. A book that really helps me mix and understand color theory better is Making Color Sing by Jeanne Dobie.

It depends on what gear you prefer to work with. . My kit is [this] (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Winsor-Newton-Cotman-Water-Colours/dp/B000N9B3WM?ref_=bl_dp_s_web_1658568031travel) which has 12 half pans, a compact brush, built in palette, sponge, a water bottle and a container to pour the water into when you get to your destination. I then just make sure i also take a couple of pieces of kitchen roll, a pencil, rubber and my a5 sketchbook.
I really like this setup as it fits into a very small space, you don't need a separate water container or palette and i love the vibrancy of these particular watercolours. They're also a good selection of colours for outdoor work.
Hope that helps.

I'd say there is probably a book out there for anything you're striving for. Fantasy watercolor art, figurative watercolor, urban watercolor, so you should go for one that is covering the subject you like most! I'm a fantasy lover myself and I'm a big fan of the books by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law, I have 3 of them and they all begin with basic tools, and techniques before getting into painting full works. Good Luck!

How much are you willing to spend?
I am a beginner as well and use a travel kit here
I also bought my brushes and paper (it was 3 dollars less when I bought it, you can get this one at Walmart for around 5-6$) on Amazon, I also use an ink manga pen to outline stuff as I like the look of thick black lines on certain things. I bought a watercolor book also that gives a good amount of tips as well but Youtube tutorials and online guides are just as good.

It depends on what you're doing with it exactly. The tools I most often use are: • Quil Pens, I found that this particular nib works well because it is designed for a more viscous ink. • Silicone Shapers. These are made for sculpting but they are perfect for masking fluid. • The back of a plastic handled brush. These Polar-Flo Brushes have a wedge shaped end that works fairly well.

I see the Koi set recommended here a lot, which leads me to believe it's good.

My personal recommendation for beginners would be to put aside the concept of many pan pigments and get a simple travel palette like [this] (https://smile.amazon.com/Martin-Mijello-Airtight-Watercolor-18-Well/dp/B0049UZEWQ/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1511907584&sr=8-6&keywords=travel+palette) and four pigments as tube paints to mix with: a red, a blue, a yellow, and an orange that makes a gray when mixed with the blue. If your blue is ultramarine, the orange is burnt sienna. If the blue is phthalo blue, use transparent orange. That way you learn to mix colors instead of depend on whatever hues come in the starter set.

The article doesn't mention this, but finding storebrand watercolor brushes is a great way to go for beginners, you don't need expensive sable. And paper is the first thing you should upgrade as it makes the biggest difference in quality.

It all depends on your style of watercolor. If you're going with a loose style that needs to soak up a lot of water, you'll need a brand like Arches that can take it. For my detailed, nearly drybrush work ( see here and here ) I use some super cheap Hotpress Paper and love it.

Sure...this one I painted after watching this lady: https://www.youtube.com/user/angelfehr . I'm pretty sure she has a demonstration video that is pretty darn close to this exact composition and I tried to mimic the techniques she used.

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I used this watercolor set: https://www.amazon.com/Prang-Watercolor-Assorted-Refillable-16000/dp/B001E6EUS2/ref=pd_bxgy_229_img_3/139-0904342-7338501?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B001E6EUS2&pd_rd_r=5882a36e-391a-11e9-bebf-15ead0be056d&pd_rd_w=Inr3t&pd_rd_wg=uwmBV&pf_rd_p=6725dbd6-9917-451d-beba-16af7874e407&pf_rd_r=2ZREYCRT896ZTHKDHCEY&psc=1&refRID=2ZREYCRT896ZTHKDHCEY

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And the cheapest watercolor brush they had at my local craft store.

thanks a ton. I use prisma color felt tips

https://www.amazon.co.uk/KHADI-HARDBACK-BOOK-White-Rough/dp/B002UJXE3Y/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=khadi+handmade+paper+sketchbook&qid=1564260063&s=kitchen&sr=1-4-catcorr

I use this one. It's not square (I prefer the long orientation), but I believe Pentalic has others that are more square.

https://www.amazon.com/Bee-Paper-Watercolor-6-Inch-9-Inch/dp/B0044SAXKQ this is what I use when I'm practicing or when I'm making small paintings.

actually that was the brand of paper I got


my paints are Japanese

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kuretake-Gansai-Japanese-Watercolour-Paints/dp/B001MPA6W4

this is the one that I use. It's just a block of nice watercolor paper, with all of the edges sealed down.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07N2KHJ8X/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0?psc=1

This is a block, not sure what you are looking for.