Water color paper is best when stretched over board.Then set the board at 15% angle it lets the color run and blend with the water motion.

Small natural hair brushes are best for detailed portrait painting. Sable is the best but expensive. Some times you can find discounts on group packs of bushes.

Sable brushes are my favorite when i use watercolors.

Having a large variety of brush's can make painting in different scales easy and fun. Using the tech of Drawing on the right side of the brain can improve your ability to see like a artist and transfer what you see to your arm and to your hand and to the page. Some times turning a object upside down can make seeing easer. Turning the object you are drawing upside down will turn on the right side of your brain and that is the side that is creative and handles the space relation ships that control how you see and how you draw a object.