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Hello Everyone,
I am just starting to widen my skill set with watercolors and am needing your opinions and experience with which brands are the best to work with.
I follow Debbie Hughes if Lime Doodle Design and all she uses are DANIEL SMITH PAINTS.
Then I see another who uses WINDSOR AND NEWTON brand.
Any professional brand is going to serve you well. These companies have been working for decades to create an excellent product... their paints are highly pigmented, tested every which way and rated accordingly.
I tend to stay away from stamp companies producing paints, handmade paints, and new companies with "something new" when truly these kinds of products take a lot of time, science, trial and error to perfect. Winsor Newton has been making paint since 1835. They know a thing or two!
I love QoR and Daniel Smith paints. I haven't used all the watercolor brands, because they are not cheap, and these are what I have been blessed with. Both are highly pigmented and vibrant - Daniel Smith has some gorgeous paints that split and granulate, and those are not found from every company.
You're going to pay more for good paints - that is a consideration. If you have some knowledge of color theory and mixing colors, you can get by with a small set of basics, and add in more specific inbetween colors as you are able. Also, a little goes a long way, so you can look for smaller tubes (usually 5mL) or other options like Daniel Smith's watercolor sticks and half pans.
If you really want to get into pigments and know what goes into each color, that is an interesting study in itself - there really are pigment snobs out there! ;) This site reaches a level of geekery and hyperfocus that I admire, and it's a fantastic resource for more than you ever thought you wanted to know about watercoloring: https://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/water.html
You're going to pay more for good paints - that is a consideration. If you have some knowledge of color theory and mixing colors, you can get by with a small set of basics, and add in more specific inbetween colors as you are able. Also, a little goes a long way, so you can look for smaller tubes (usually 5mL) or other options like Daniel Smith's watercolor sticks and half pans...
This is something that has always seemed counterintuitive to me ever since the days I worked for the company that distributed Winsor & Newton here. I would expect professional artists to be more skilled in mixing. And yet, there were something like 28 colours in the student Cotman range and 114 in the Artist's Watercolours. Unless professionals required more consistency of colour and the ability to replicate exact tones? It always seemed to me to be the opposite of what I would expect.
If it's watercolor paint reviews you're looking for, I would direct you to Lindsey Weirick, The Frugal Crafter on YouTube. She has many, many videos where she reviews and gives honest opinions on watercolor paints (and lots of other art supplies). I think she would agree with what Dina has already posted about the professional quality paints, but she also makes an effort to look at the much lower priced student grade paints. She particularly seems to like the Pretty Excellent set by Mei Liang, which you can find on Amazon.
After re-watching the Frugal Crafter's comparison video on watercolors, I recently purchased a set of Master's Touch metallic watercolor set of 24 colors over buying another Wink of Stella brush marker to enhance my dsp and stamp images (using Archival or Versafine Clair ink pads).
The two pan set is semi-moist so it doesn't take much water to activate the color. I use a little dropper to add a drop or two at a time to get the consistency I want for painting.
The effects are beautiful! I consider it money well spent on a must have medium in my collection.
If you would like to give them a try, I suggest you watch Hobby Lobby's weekly sale ad for when Master's Touch products go on sale for 50% off. https://www.hobbylobby.com/Art-Suppl...Set/p/80826128
The following 2 users liked this post by Bohodiva:
I might suggest this...
There are Daniel Smith "dot" pages at Ellen Hutson and elsewhere. You get a small blob of each color. Not a bad way to check out the paint.
Plus Ellen always has WC brushes in her clearance section...and when she does a sitewide sale...it will sometimes stack the discount of what's in the clearance section. This is how I slowly built up my brushes. I think brushes matter but it depends how serious you want to get.
You might want to look at Blick for tubes if you decide you want that brand. They also carry Winsor and Newton.
I find it is true of all WCs that you can get many shades from one color with different amounts of water. But mixing yourself...in case you run out to do it again exactly-I am not that good so maybe that is why as Sabrina said that is why there are so many prepped colors available.
And then there is paper.
There is hot and cold press. They react differently. I got mine at Blick on sale.
I like this guy. I have watched him before. and it isnt super long-The Mind of Watercoloring.
I have done very little so far but I think it is going to be an everlasting fun adventure as I play with colors. But I am not looking to be excellent at all.
HTH
__________________ Margot
I am a proud fan club member
The following 3 users liked this post by wavejumper:
After re-watching the Frugal Crafter's comparison video on watercolors, I recently purchased a set of Master's Touch metallic watercolor set of 24 colors over buying another Wink of Stella brush marker to enhance my dsp and stamp images (using Archival or Versafine Clair ink pads).
I agree about the metallic paints and WOS. I own one Wink of Stella. It was a gift. I will never buy one. I like to make my own metallic paint with mica powders, gum arabic and iridescent medium. I do have some metallic palettes.
I echo all the sentiments about purchasing artist grade watercolors over the trendy craft paints. Trendy stamp supplies are almost always academic grade with a not so academic price.
If you can’t afford artist grade find a good academic set of paints at Amazon. You will get a better deal and still have the trendy colors.
Well timed post! I decided yesterday that it was time to rekindle my interest in watercoloring. I used to do it often and got better at. Then I got lazy and out of practice. I'm going to Dick Blick in a few weeks armed with the list of recommended paints. Thank you!
Mary Beth
Master's Touch metallic watercolor set of 24 colors
The effects are beautiful! I consider it money well spent on a must have medium in my collection.
If you would like to give them a try, I suggest you watch Hobby Lobby's weekly sale ad for when Master's Touch products go on sale for 50% off. https://www.hobbylobby.com/Art-Suppl...Set/p/80826128
Below are a couple backgrounds images were stamped on rice paper with Archival ink and painted in the flowers.
The following 2 users liked this post by Bohodiva:
Those are absolutely beautiful. You should scan those and make prints out of them.
I thought about scanning them but I torn them in to pieces, and I have plenty of paper to make more backgrounds.
When I make alcohol ink backgrounds I make it point to scan them since each background comes out different. They look great when printed on vellum and tracing papers.
I thought about scanning them but I torn them in to pieces, and I have plenty of paper to make more backgrounds.
When I make alcohol ink backgrounds I make it point to scan them since each background comes out different. They look great when printed on vellum and tracing papers.
Ooooh, I never thought about scanning my alcohol ink pieces. That is such an amazing idea! Thank you so much for sharing. Makes me want to run in my room and start scanning.
I started watercolor painting using Da Vinci paints as recommended by the instructor. Very happy with the quality and options. I agree that you can learn to mix and not require so many as they are all on the expensive side. I purchase these from Dick Blick when they have a sale. Quality paper and good brushes are also important in your end results.
__________________ Have a creative day, every day.
Watercolor paints
