This article contains what I would call unorthodox advice.<p>Here are my own recommendations regarding tools (I won't give advice how to paint, unlike the OP): you will need 5 tools only:<p>- colours: get a Lukas (preferred) or Schmincke set, a box with 12 half-bricks of colours will last for a long time and provide plenty of choice, 50-70 €;<p>- 2-3 brushes: only natural horse hair, one medium, one thinker and if you can afford three a thinner one, 30 €;<p>- paper: thick watercolour paper A5 to A3, well-glued, 15-25 €;<p>- 1 soft thin pencil to pre-sketch, e.g. Faber-Castell, 2-3 €;<p>- a glass (e.g. ordinary drinking glass or former pickles container) 200-400 ml, 0 €;<p>So 120-150 € give you a fantastic equipment, which may not be cheap but the cost of a good table-tennis bat is in the same range; the paper will be a costly repeat purchase if you stick to it, but the other tools can last for a long time (depending on how prolific a painter you are, of course).<p>(In my opinion, the quality of the brush and the quality of the paper matter the most.)<p>Edit: This selection has a strong German bias based on where I grew up but also because Germany, Japan and a few other countries also have a long-standing reputation for high quality stationary.