Watercolor Art Journaling Supplies for Beginners: What You Actually Need (And What to Skip)
By Dalton Scolman
Starting a watercolor art journal sounds like it requires a lot of setup. A whole kit, a proper workspace, the right supplies in the right order. In practice, it requires almost none of that. But there's a gap between "you don't need much" and "here's exactly what to get," and that gap is where a lot of beginners end up buying things they don't need and missing the one or two things that actually matter.
This guide is that bridge. We'll cover every category of watercolor journaling supply, what's worth spending money on, what genuinely doesn't matter yet, and what most supply lists miss entirely when it comes to painting on the go.
The Journal: Your Most Important Decision
Before you buy a single drop of paint, choose your journal thoughtfully. This is the one area where cutting corners early tends to backfire.
The key number is paper weight. Watercolor is a wet medium, and you're going to be putting water, sometimes a lot of it, on the page. Paper that isn't designed for this will buckle, warp, and make your paint behave unpredictably. Look for a journal with paper at 140lb (300gsm) or heavier. Below that weight, journaling with watercolor gets frustrating quickly.
Beyond weight, you have two texture options. Cold press paper has a slight texture and is the most forgiving, versatile choice for beginners. Hot press paper is smooth and great for fine detail work but less forgiving when you're painting washes. Most watercolor journalers start with cold press and stay there happily for years.
A few journals worth knowing: the Strathmore 400 Series Watercolor Journal is a reliable, affordable workhorse. Hahnemühle watercolor journals are beautifully made and hold up to a lot of wet media. If you want to start smaller, a 5.5" x 8" size is ideal for beginners. Small enough to fill quickly, large enough to actually paint in.
One thing nobody mentions: the binding matters more than you'd think. A journal that won't lie flat while you're painting is genuinely annoying. Spiral-bound journals lie flat naturally. Hardbound journals often need a rubber band or binder clip to stay open. Both are fine, just know what you're getting before you buy.
Paint: The Decision That Actually Defines Your Experience
This is where most supply lists default to the same two or three brands and stop thinking. Here's a more honest breakdown of your options.
Pan sets are the most common recommendation for journaling because they're compact and self-contained. They work well in a fixed studio setup. The limitation that nobody talks about: in a shared pan palette, colors gradually cross-contaminate each other as you use the set. After a few months of regular use, your pans pick up traces of every other color, which subtly affects every mix you make. It's also easy to accidentally get paint on the outside of the palette, your bag, or your clothes.
Tube watercolors offer richer pigment and more flexibility, but they require you to squeeze paint into a palette before each session or pre-fill wells and let them dry. For journaling on the go, they add setup steps that can make the difference between actually painting and leaving the supplies at home.
Dry sheet watercolors are worth knowing about if portability matters to you. Peerless DryColor sheets are exactly what they sound like: each color lives on its own dry sheet, no larger than a business card, with concentrated pigment on one side. You activate it with a wet brush directly on the sheet, then paint. No palette to open and close. No lids to lose. No wet paint to worry about if your bag gets jostled. The sheets tuck right inside your journal, your pocket, or a small folder, and because the pigment is highly concentrated, a single sheet lasts a long time.
If you paint primarily at home at a dedicated desk, a quality pan set is a perfectly good choice. If you're painting in coffee shops, on trains, in waiting rooms, at the park, or anywhere that isn't a studio, dry sheets are worth a serious look. The Peerless Sidekick is designed specifically for this kind of journaling: eight colors, flip-out tabs for easy color access, and a built-in mixing surface, all in something smaller than a wallet.
For a more comprehensive color range to experiment with, Individual DryColor Sheets let you build exactly the palette you want, pulling only the colors you love and adding new ones as your style develops.
Brushes: Two Is Enough to Start
You do not need a large brush collection to watercolor journal. Two brushes will cover virtually everything a beginner needs.
A medium round brush (size 6 to 10) is your workhorse. Round brushes hold a good amount of water and paint, come to a point for detail work, and are flexible enough for washes and loose passages. This is the brush you'll reach for 80% of the time.
A small round brush (size 2 to 4) handles details, fine lines, and small areas where the medium brush is too large.
The one addition that genuinely changes journaling: a water brush. Water brushes have a reservoir in the handle that you fill with water, eliminating the need for a water jar entirely. You squeeze the handle gently to release water, rinse by pressing the tip on a paper towel, and keep going. For journaling anywhere that a spilled water jar would be a problem, a water brush is the single most practical upgrade you can make.
Brush quality matters more than brush quantity. One good-quality synthetic round brush outperforms five cheap ones in every way. It holds its point, carries paint evenly, and bounces back to shape after each stroke. The Niji watercolor brush set is a solid starting point if you're building your kit from scratch.
Water and Mixing: Simpler Than You Think
For home journaling, use two jars of water. One for rinsing dirty paint off your brush, one for picking up clean water to load onto the brush. This two-jar system keeps your colors clean and prevents muddy mixes.
For on-the-go journaling, a single water brush eliminates both jars. You still want a small piece of absorbent cloth or a few folded paper towels to press the brush tip against when switching colors. That's your rinse.
For mixing, a small ceramic or plastic palette with a few wells is useful if you're working at a table. The Sidekick's built-in mixing surface covers this if you're traveling.
What You Don't Need Yet
A few things that appear on supply lists and genuinely don't matter at the beginning:
Masking fluid. It's useful eventually, but beginners often find it more frustrating than helpful. Skip it until you feel comfortable with basic wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry techniques.
A large, expensive set of paints. Six to eight colors is plenty to start. A limited palette forces you to mix colors and actually learn how they work together, which is far more valuable than having every color pre-made.
Expensive professional brushes. Good synthetic brushes at a mid-range price point are genuinely excellent for journaling and hold their shape better than you'd expect. Save the kolinsky sable investment for when you know exactly what you want from a brush.
A lightbox or transfer tools. If you're drawing first, pencil and eraser on your watercolor paper is all you need. Underdrawings lift right out once the paint is dry, or can simply be left in as a visible sketch layer, which is part of the charm of a journal.
A Realistic Starter Setup
If you're putting together a watercolor journaling kit from scratch, here's what a smart, complete setup actually looks like:
- Journal: Strathmore 400 Series Watercolor Journal, 5.5" x 8", cold press, 140lb
- Paint: Peerless Sidekick (8 colors, built-in mixing surface, no water jar needed) or a quality 12-pan set for home use
- Brushes: One medium round (size 8), one small round (size 4), one water brush
- Mixing: The Sidekick's built-in surface, or a small ceramic palette for home setup
- Other: A few paper towels or a small cloth for brush rinsing
Total setup cost: significantly less than most people expect, especially if you choose a concentrated paint format that doesn't need constant replacing.
Starting Your First Page
The hardest part of any art journal is the first page. Here's a low-pressure way in.
Don't try to paint a finished scene. Instead, paint color swatches: one patch of each color in your kit, labeled by name. This teaches you your palette, breaks the blank-page paralysis, and gives you a reference you'll actually use later. It takes fifteen minutes, produces a genuinely useful page, and removes the pressure of making something "good" on your very first try.
After swatches, try loose washes. Wet a section of the page, drop a color in, and let it do what it wants. Watercolor in a journal rewards the same quality it rewards everywhere: curiosity over perfection, process over product. The more you let it surprise you, the more you'll love it.
FAQ
What is the best watercolor paint for art journaling? The best watercolor for journaling depends on where you paint. For home journaling, a quality pan set from any reputable brand works well. For painting on the go, in coffee shops, on trips, in waiting rooms, a compact portable format like Peerless DryColor sheets is especially practical because they require no open palette, no water jar setup, and tuck directly inside your journal. They activate with any wet brush and produce highly vibrant, transparent color.
Do I need special paper to watercolor journal? Yes. Standard notebook or sketchbook paper won't handle watercolor well. Look for a journal with paper rated at 140lb (300gsm) or heavier. Below that weight, the paper will buckle and warp under wet paint, making it difficult to work with. Cold press (textured) and hot press (smooth) surfaces both work for journaling; cold press is more forgiving for beginners.
Can I use a water brush instead of a regular brush for watercolor journaling? Absolutely, and for journaling on the go, a water brush is one of the most useful tools you can own. The water reservoir in the handle eliminates the need for a separate water jar, making it ideal for painting anywhere. Use it with a small piece of paper towel to rinse between colors by pressing and dabbing the tip.
How many colors do I need to start a watercolor journal? Six to eight colors is plenty for beginners. A limited palette encourages you to mix your own colors, which builds skills faster than having every hue pre-made. From a small set of warm and cool primaries, you can mix almost any color you'll need. If you use Peerless DryColor sheets, you can add individual colors one at a time as your palette grows.
Is watercolor art journaling good for beginners with no art experience? It's one of the best creative practices for complete beginners. Journals are private, low-pressure, and forgiving. There's no gallery showing, no finished piece to critique, just pages to fill. Watercolor rewards loose, exploratory work, and you'll naturally develop color intuition, composition instincts, and brush control just by showing up regularly, even for fifteen minutes a day.
Ready to Start?
A complete, go-anywhere watercolor journaling kit doesn't have to be complicated. The Peerless Sidekick was built for exactly this: eight vibrant colors, a mixing surface, and a format that fits in your back pocket. Pair it with a good watercolor journal, one round brush, and a water brush, and you have everything you need to fill pages anywhere life takes you.
Journaling with watercolor isn't about getting it right. It's about showing up to the page and seeing what happens. Start there.