Getting Started with Ink and Wash: The Supplies I'm Using

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If you’re thinking about getting into ink and wash painting, the first question is always the same: what do I actually need to get started?

There’s a lot of noise online — expensive sets, collector’s brushes, paper that costs more than a textbook. I wanted to see how far you could get with a modest, sensible kit before spending serious money. Here’s what I’m starting with and why.

The Watercolours — Winsor & Newton Cotman

The Cotman range is Winsor & Newton’s student grade line. That sounds like a downgrade, but honestly for someone just starting out it’s the right call. They’re widely available, predictably consistent, and the pigments behave well on wet paper.

The difference between Cotman and professional watercolours is real, but it matters more once you know what you’re doing. At this stage, technique makes a bigger difference than pigment quality. Get the Cotmans, learn how water and paint move together, and upgrade later if you want to.

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The Brushes — Fuumi Synthetic

I’m using Fuumi’s synthetic brush set. A lot of ink and wash artists swear by sable, but synthetic has come a long way and at a fraction of the price. These hold a decent amount of water, snap back to a point reasonably well, and haven’t shed a bristle yet.

For ink and wash you don’t need a huge range of brushes. I’m mostly using a medium round for the main wash areas and a smaller detail brush for tighter work. That’s genuinely it.

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The Liners — Prisma Micro Fine Liners

The ink line is what makes ink and wash distinctive — that confident, permanent mark that the watercolour wash sits over. I’m using Prisma micro fine liners for this.

They’re waterproof once dry (important — your wash will lift the lines if they’re not), comfortable to hold, and give a clean consistent line. The micro tip is good for detail work without being so fine it catches on paper texture.

A word of warning: let the ink dry completely before you go over it with water. A minute or two is usually enough. Rush it and you’ll get a muddy smear where you wanted a clean line.

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The Sketchbook — Fuumi A5 Cold Press Cotton

Paper is the one area I wouldn’t cheap out on as a beginner, because bad paper is genuinely discouraging. Cheap paper buckles, bleeds, and pills under wet washes — you end up fighting it instead of painting.

The Fuumi sketchbook is 100% cotton cold press at A5 size, 30 pages. Cotton paper absorbs water properly and lets you work wet on wet without the page warping out of shape. Cold press has a slight texture that holds ink lines well and gives watercolour something to grip.

A5 is a great starting size — small enough that it’s not intimidating, big enough that you’re actually making a painting and not a thumbnail.

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What I Left Out (For Now)

I’m not using a palette yet — just the pans from the Cotman set. I’m not using masking fluid, salt, or any special techniques. Just ink lines, clean water, and paint.

Starting simple means fewer variables. If something goes wrong, it’s easier to work out what happened.

Is This Kit Enough?

Yes. You can make genuinely good ink and wash paintings with these four things. The limiting factor right now isn’t the kit — it’s practice.

I’ll be doing a video walkthrough of the kit and a first painting with it shortly. If you’ve got questions about any of the supplies or want to share what you’re using, get in touch.