Getting your watercolor paints can be overwhelming specially when you have no idea on what to get and what works for you. So breathe and check out these swatches and quick review of some watercolor brands.
Winsor and Newton Cotman
The variety of colors in this set is amazing! I bought a set of 48 half pans (some are repeated colours) it can be easily activated, the transparency is good but it is not vibrant enough for me.
Winsor and Newton Cotman. Swatch in Aquafine 300 gsm CP
Van Gogh
Most of the colours were bright, intense and transparent. I like that many colors have granulation. It’s a student grade line of Royal Talens but the quality is very good!
Sakura Field Sketchbox
The colours are fun to use and the set is handy as promised. This set is perfect for outdoor painting, for urban sketching. I love the earth colours of this set but find it abit chalky in some papers.
Sakura Field Sketchbox swatched in Canson 200 gsm CP
Mungyo
I love the greens of this set! The color selection is impressive, they are vivid and easy to activate. The metallics are not as sheen and some colours are really opaque. But it gets a little chalky fo me.
Mungyo. Swatch in Aquafine 300 gsm CP
Prima Confections
Prima is comparable to Mungyo although I find Mungyo bolder than Prima. It is not as transparent as Cotman and not as chalky as Simbalion. It does stain in the tin which probably suggests high filler content. Price is very reasonable so it doesn’t hurt to grab one and play with it.
Prima swatched in Aquafine 300 gsm CP
Shinhan Professional
My first taste of tube goodness started with this set. Shinhan mix very well and doesn’t get muddy. They are intense and highly pigmented! Shinhan Professional is a student grade and Shinhan PWC is Artist Grade
Shinhan Professional swatched in Aquafine 300 gsm CP
White Nights, Nevskaya Palitra
My obsession with vibrant, pigmented and easily activated watercolor started with this brand. Since I get acquainted with White Nights, I always compare newly acquaired paints to my WHite NIghts set. A real value for money and highly recommended.
Kuretaki Gansai Tambi
This Japanese watercolor set is very opaque and although very vibrant I regret that we didn’t get a long but I enjoyed using it with brush calligraphy.
QoR ‘Quality of Results’
QoR is the newest line of Golden, who are well-known for their acrylic paints. According to QoR these paints use a new binder called Aquazol, which claims “gives greater intensity and clarity, while retaining the best qualities of traditional watercolours”
Althought I liked that QoR is vibrant and pigmented, I had hard time mixing their colours.
Turner Watercolors
This watercolor paints delivers vibrant colours, incredible transparency and excellent lightfastness. Generally I did not noticed any chalkyness or white sludge sediments to suggest excessive amounts of fillers.
Swatch Comparisons
Holbein, Daler Rowney Simply, Winsor and Newton Fine
Swatch in Aquafine 300 gsm CP
Daniel Smith, Winsor and Newton Professional,
Shinhan PWC , Mission Gold
Daniel Smith — Winsor and Newton Professional — Shinahan PWC — Mijello Gold. Swatched in Aquafine 300 gsm CP
Tried and Tested Watercolor Supplies That Did Not Disappoint
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