Q&A

Begin with Billy is designed especially for people who are new to drawing and watercolour. It covers the foundations step by step using a variety of subjects.

The School of Botanical Art focuses on Billy’s detailed botanical painting techniques, with tutorials featuring flowers, plants and other botanical subjects.

You’re in the right place. Our tutorials are designed for a wide range of abilities, from complete beginners through to more experienced painters.

If you’re completely new to drawing and watercolour, Begin with Billy is a great place to start. If you’re particularly interested in detailed botanical painting, the School of Botanical Art offers tutorials and techniques focused on flowers, plants and botanical subjects.

A free account gives you access to selected free tutorials and previews so you can explore Billy’s teaching style before deciding whether you’d like to join a paid membership.

The Bundle Membership gives you paid access to both Begin with Billy and the School of Botanical Art through one membership.

It’s ideal if you’d like to build your core drawing and watercolour skills while also enjoying Billy’s full botanical tutorial library.

Yes. If you’re already a paid member of either Begin with Billy or the School of Botanical Art, you can upgrade to the Bundle Membership if you’d like access to both courses.

New tutorials and projects are added regularly, giving you fresh subjects and techniques to explore throughout your membership.

No. You’re free to choose the tutorials that interest you and work through them at your own pace.

If you’re a complete beginner, we recommend starting with the foundational lessons in Begin with Billy before moving on to more advanced projects.

Yes. While you have access to a tutorial through your membership, you can pause, rewind and revisit it as often as you like.

Where additional resources are provided, you’ll find them alongside the relevant tutorial. These may include materials lists, reference images or line drawings to help you prepare before you start painting.

Click School Member Login at the top of the website and enter the email address and password connected to your account.

Once logged in, you can access the tutorials included with your membership.

First, check that you’re using the same email address you used when creating your account.

If you’ve forgotten your password, click Forgot your password? on the login page and enter your email address. We’ll send you a secure link to create a new password.

If you’re still having trouble, please contact our support team via the contact page.

Tutorial videos are available to stream through the website and cannot currently be downloaded.

You can watch them on a computer, tablet or phone whenever you have internet access, and revisit tutorials as long as your membership remains active.

All tutorial videos and teaching materials remain the copyright of Water Colour Tutorial On Line Ltd.

The website works on most modern computers, tablets and smartphones.

For the best experience, we recommend using an up-to-date version of a modern web browser and making sure JavaScript is enabled.

If you experience problems playing a tutorial, try refreshing the page, closing and reopening your browser, or trying another up-to-date browser.

Yes. If you need a short break, you can pause your membership from the subscription management area of your account.

While paused, access to paid tutorials is suspended. When you resume, any remaining time from your current subscription period is carried forward.

You can cancel your membership at any time.

When logged in, visit My Profile and select Manage Subscriptions, where you can manage, pause or cancel your membership.

If you cancel, you’ll continue to have access until the end of your current paid subscription period. Your membership will then expire and no further renewal payments will be taken.

Your free account will remain open, so you can still access any content available to free members and can rejoin a paid membership in the future.

If you’d prefer us to help, please contact the support team via the contact page.

Billy mainly uses hot pressed, 100% cotton watercolour paper.

Her preferred paper is Saunders Waterford Hot Pressed, High White, which she uses in a range of weights. She also occasionally uses Fabriano Artistico Extra White.

If you’re new to botanical painting, Saunders Waterford is a very good paper to start with.

You can find more information about Billy’s recommended materials on the What You’ll Need page.

The tutorials are designed to help you learn Billy’s techniques and develop your own painting skills.

Copyright in Billy’s original tutorial images remains with Billy Showell. Paintings copied directly from a tutorial should therefore not be presented, exhibited, reproduced or sold as your own original artwork.

Tutorial paintings may be given as gifts or sold for charity, but they should be clearly credited as being based on a Billy Showell tutorial.

For work you intend to sell or exhibit as your own, we recommend using your own photographs, live subjects or other original references, while applying the techniques you’ve learned from Billy.

When sharing work created from a tutorial, we also recommend crediting billyshowell.com.

You can contact us through the contact page.

For website, login, membership or payment questions, our support team will be happy to help.

Questions specifically for Billy can also be sent through the contact form. Please allow a little longer for a personal response from Billy, as she replies whenever her teaching and painting schedule allows.