The best watercolour paint sets

Fifty colours, including metallic and luminous shades, in a slim case with its own mixing palette and water brush pens, so there’s nothing else to buy.

• 50 colours
• Metallic and luminous shades
• Built-in mixing palette
• Water brush pens included
• Slim travel case

What owners say: A lovely colour range, great value, and everything needed to start in one compact box. Owners say it suits beginners and more experienced painters, and travels well.

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A closer look: Water brush pens hold water in the handle, so a gentle squeeze wets the paint without a jar, handy on a train or a park bench. Start with a light wash and build colour in layers, letting each one dry first. The metallics look best on top of dry paint as a finishing touch.

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Winsor & Newton was granted a Royal Warrant back in 1841, and this travel tin holds 24 half pans of its Cotman watercolours: bright, transparent and easy to rewet.

• 24 half pans
• Cotman watercolours
• Travel tin
• Rich, transparent colour

What owners say: Excellent quality with really vibrant colours and good value, suiting beginners and more experienced painters alike.

Heads up: A few owners find the half pans can come loose from the tin.

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A closer look: Half pans can be replaced one at a time when a favourite colour runs low, rather than buying a whole new set. Put a drop of clean water on each pan a minute before painting to soften it. A good step up for someone who has outgrown a children’s paint box.

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Comes with six proper fine-pointed brushes rather than the usual water pens, which makes it the best starter kit here for detailed work.

• 50 colours
• 6 brushes, sizes 3/0 to 3
• Built-in mixing tray
• Carry case

What owners say: A great beginner set with a vibrant range of colours and a smart case. Compact and good value.

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A closer look: The six brushes run from a tiny 3/0 for details up to a size 3, which covers botanical studies, lettering and small landscapes. Rinse them in clean water and reshape the tips before they dry. Use proper watercolour paper, as printer paper buckles when wet.

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A pocket-sized field box whose lid works as a palette and an easel for postcard-sized paper, with a water brush included: made for painting outdoors.

• 24 half pans
• Fits a jacket pocket
• Lid doubles as a palette
• Holds postcard-size paper
• Water brush included

What owners say: Brilliant quality, with vibrant colours that lift easily from the pan and a well-designed, practical field box with good mixing wells.

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A closer look: Fill the water brush before heading out and it’s a complete painting kit in a coat pocket: the lid becomes a palette and props up a postcard-sized sheet. At home, leave the box open for a few minutes after painting so the pans dry before it’s closed.

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A hundred shades, including 35 metallics, 4 fluorescents and 10 soft pastel colours, for journaling, lettering and card-making sparkle.

• 100 colours
• 35 metallic shades
• 4 fluorescents, 10 pastels
• Compact box

What owners say: Lovely quality with strongly pigmented colours, great value, and compact enough to fit in any bag.

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A closer look: With 51 classic colours plus the metallics, it’s more of a lettering, journaling and card-making set than a landscape painter’s palette. More water gives soft, transparent washes and less gives strong colour, and the metallics shine on dark card.

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