Which Painting Set Should You Choose? Top Picks for Beginners

Diving into painting can quickly become a daunting task given the multitude of choices. Gouache, acrylic, oil… which type of paint is right for you? Should you go for a complete kit or buy your supplies individually? This guide is here to help you get a clearer picture and present our selection of the best sets to start this new creative passion or to perfect a technique.

Our team has carefully reviewed the Joybuy catalogue to offer you reliable recommendations and help you choose the materials that will bring your projects to life.

How to Choose Your First Painting Kit

Before diving into our selection, let's review the essential criteria for finding the painting kit that's truly right for you.

1. Choose Your Medium: Gouache, Acrylic, or Oil?

Each type of paint has its own specific characteristics, which will shape your working process and the final look of your creations.

• Gouache: Ideal for beginners, this opaque, matte paint is simply thinned with water. Its greatest advantage? It remains "rewettable" once dry. Made a small mistake? A damp brushstroke and you can rework it. It's perfect for illustration and clean, flat blocks of colour.
• Acrylic: This is the ultimate all-rounder. Highly versatile, it dries quickly and becomes permanent and water-resistant. Its creamy texture can be thinned for watercolour-like effects or used as is to create texture. Acrylic paint adheres to almost any surface: canvas, paper, wood, cardboard…
• Oil Paint: The premier medium of the fine arts. Oil paint dries very slowly, giving you ample time to blend colours on the canvas, create subtle gradients, and refine your work for hours. The result offers an incomparable richness and depth of colour.

2. Check the Set's Contents

The contents of a beginner painting set can vary enormously. Some sets focus on the essentials: the tubes of paint. This is perfect if you already have your brushes and canvases. Others, more comprehensive, are true all-in-one kits that include paints, brushes, and sometimes even paper. A turnkey solution to get started without any guesswork. Carefully assess your needs for your creative painting hobbies.

3. Analyse the Colour Palette

A good starter kit should include the fundamental colours: the primaries (a cyan blue, a magenta red, a yellow), as well as white and black. With this base, you can create an infinite number of shades by mixing them and thus take your first steps in the art of colour theory.

Recommended Painting Sets to Consider

We have selected three sets from the Talens Art Creation paint range, a brand renowned for its excellent value for money in fine art materials. Each kit is designed for a specific technique, ensuring you start on a solid and reliable foundation.

1. TALENS ART CREATION Gouache Set (12 x 12 ml)

Why we love it This set is the ideal gateway to gouache painting. It offers a palette of 12 intense, high-coverage colours, perfect for creating uniform flat areas with a velvety matte finish. Easy to thin and clean with water, it's a pleasure to work with.

Key features

• Opaque and matte finish: Impeccable coverage, without leaving brush marks.
• Forgiving: The paint can be reactivated with water, allowing you to correct and touch up your work even after it has dried.
• Fast drying: A bonus for illustration or projects that require layering colours without a long wait.

Who is it for? For art students, budding illustrators, and all creatives who love a clean, graphic, and shine-free finish.

2. TALENS ART CREATION Acrylic Paint Set (12 x 12 ml)

Why we love it Versatility is the name of the game with this acrylic paint set. Its 12 resin-based colours offer a smooth, easy-to-work-with texture. Once dry, the paint becomes permanent and forms a robust film with a satin finish, which is water-resistant.

Key features

• An all-terrain paint: It adheres to canvas, paper, plaster, wood, stone… In short, almost anything.
• Creations that last: Once dry, the paint is water-resistant, ensuring the longevity of your artworks.
• Easy to get started: It can be used straight from the tube or thinned with water, and the colours mix together effortlessly.

Who is it for? The ideal choice for curious beginners who want to experiment with a wide range of techniques and surfaces, from classic canvas to decorative objects.

3. TALENS ART CREATION Oil Paint Combi Set

Why we love it This combi set is the hassle-free, all-in-one solution for getting started with oil painting. It doesn't just provide 12 tubes of paint: it also includes 3 brushes and 15 sheets of A4 paper suitable for oils. The real bonus? The QR code that links to video tutorials to guide you.

Key features

• A truly complete kit: Unpack it, and you're ready to paint. Everything is included.
• Time to think: The slow drying time is an ally for beginners. It leaves plenty of time to mix, blend colours, and make corrections on the canvas.
• An integrated guide: The QR code and its tutorials support your first steps as an artist.

Who is it for? This beginner painting set is perfect for those who want to try their hand at oil painting without running around stores to find all the necessary fine art supplies.

Want to Go Further?

Our selection focuses on kits that are perfect for starting out with a new technique. But the world of painting is endless! Individual colours, canvases of all sizes, easels, other types of paint… Feel free to explore our dedicated category to complete your setup.

Discover our full range of art materials and supplies

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What is the difference between gouache and acrylic?

The main difference is their behaviour once the paint is dry. Gouache remains water-soluble: you can rework it at any time with a little water. Its finish is matte and opaque. In contrast, acrylic becomes permanent and water-resistant after drying, offering a more satin or glossy finish.

Do I need to buy extra brushes with these kits?

It all depends on the set! For the Talens Art Creation gouache and acrylic sets in our selection, brushes are not included, so you will need to get some. However, the Oil Paint Combi Set includes three brushes, making it a truly ready-to-use solution.

Can you mix the colours from the same set?

Yes, and that's the whole point! Beginner sets are specifically designed for this. They contain the primary colours and basic shades that will allow you to experiment with mixing and create your own palette. It's an essential part of the learning process.