DIY Watercolor Kits – an Easy Way to Stay Creative

What are watercolor kits?

Are you looking for an easy way to get started painting with watercolors? Do you want to practice painting with watercolors, but you run out of ideas of things to paint? Do you wish you had something fun and artsy to do with friends, but you don’t feel like dealing with all the extra supplies?

Let me tell you a little bit about watercolor kits. 

DIY watercolor kits are an easy way to explore watercolor painting. They come with almost everything you need to get started right away. All you need is a small round paint brush, somewhere between a size 5 and size 10 is fine, and a paint palette (or just a paper plate). 

The kits include:

• Drawings printed on 140 lb. student grade watercolor paper
• Paint dots in colors I used to create ideas, optional if you need them
• A QR code to printable idea worksheets
• Instructions for using the paint dots

Why printed drawings?

In my own artwork, I often start with ink linework, and many watercolor artists start with a pencil drawing sketched very lightly under their painting. The lines act as guides to keep things shaped the way we want them as we paint. Especially if you’re a beginner painter, guidelines can take the pressure off of painting because you don’t also have to think about whether the shape of your artwork is what you want. You can focus on learning about how watercolor paint works. 

My first watercolor kits started with black lines printed on watercolor paper. And that was fine to learn on, but I’m trying to transition to lightly printed lines that will ‘disappear’ into the artwork like pencil lines can. That way, if you only want watercolor art, you can have it, and if you want to add lines, you can do that, too.

What are paint dots?

Watercolor paint dots are created from student grade watercolor paint. I buy watercolor paint in tubes to use during my in-person workshops. This allows me to choose the exact colors we’ll use as we paint that workshop’s theme. The paint in the tubes is a thick liquid. Watercolor paints also come in a dry form, little blocks of paint called pans. To use either type of watercolor paint, you have to add water and mix the color to the consistency that you want to paint with. I use tube paint in my workshops because they require less mixing to get started. 

For paint dots, I squeeze a dot of paint in several project specific colors onto a piece of wax paper. Then, I let them dry. Once they’re solid, you can use them just like you use paint pans. To use them, all you need to do is peel them off of the wax paper, put them in a paint palette (or on a paper plate), add water, mix to the color you want, and paint. You can let them dry and rewet them as many times as you need to use up your paint. 

Dry paint dots are perfect for diy watercolor kits because they give you an easy way to try different paint colors and they package so easily. Paint dots are optional in case you already have your own paint at home.

What are printable idea worksheets for?

Printable idea worksheets are created to help you get started painting if you don’t already have your own ideas. You don’t have to use my ideas. In fact, I encourage you to find your own ideas. Use different colors. Paint outside the lines. Add doodles. Make your work yours. It will be more fun for you that way. Painting should be fun, don’t you agree? 

That said, some kits come with worksheets that have watercolor techniques you can use, some have drawing ideas if you want to add lines, and some give you step-by-step instructions for the layers that I used to create some of the paintings. They all come with extra theme specific ideas to think about as you continue to explore watercolor painting. 

So … use the worksheets if you need them. Then, continue into your own ideas as you keep practicing your watercolor painting.

What watercolor kits do you have? 

Here are a few kits to get you started:

• Lavender
• Tulips
• Tropical
• Fall Mini Cards
• Dwarf

Find additional kits under DIY Kits. Don’t forget to check back for new ones.

Have fun while you stay creative!