I followed instructions but the watch face goes blank and can only be turned on by tapping

I'm not sure what you mean by "meet watch face", but if the Watch will not show a face when you raise your wrist, check in the Watch app on the paired iPhone, go to Settings>Display & Brightness, Wake on Wrist Raise, is that turned on. If yes, then on the Watch, swipe up from the bottom of the screen to display Control Center. Check for an icon that looks like 2 theater masks. That is Theater Mode and it will keep the Watch dark until you tap on the screen. When Theater Mode is off, the icon will be gray with white masks. It will be on if the background is yellow/orange and the masks are white. Tap it again to turn it off.

Glad to hear it. Enjoy your new Apple Watch.

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