Watercolors

What form of watercolors do you think you need? There are liquid, tube, and pan varieties.

Liquid is fun for mixed media, but they are definitely less portable. Tube are more expensive than pan, generally, but you can alter the consistency and use them more like gouache or a thicker paint.

For pan, I like the Kuretake sets — I dropped mine on the ground, though, and it shattered. Totally gutted.

www.dickblick.com/products/kuretake-gansai-tambi-watercolor-paint-pan-sets/

I have watercolor pan, tubes, pencils, and crayons. All are fun to use for mixed media. For coloring card images I tend to use the pencils and pans the most. For backgrounds I tend to use the tubes and the crayons the most. I also have super cheap sets from teaching art classes to littles. If that's what you can afford, I say get that to play with. I've made some cute backgrounds with them.

My pencils are Stampin' Up as I was a demonstrator for a few years.  My crayons are Caran d'Ache Neocolor II Artists' Crayon. I got some Derwent Inktense Blocks last year but haven't played with them yet. I have Reeves student grade tubes. Pans - I can't even remember it's been so long since I've used them (I think they're in my DD's room).

mymodernmet.com/best-watercolor-paint-sets/

I started with the Koi set which wasn’t bad, but now use Daniel Smith for my cards and sketchbook. I’m also in the get the best you can afford camp. Yes, they’re expensive because they have more real pigment & less filler - the actual cost is in the pigment itself. With better paints you get better results and are less frustrated. They do have the smaller tubes in lots of colors now even Joanns carries them. You also use a lot less paint so they go further. I’ve been painting more seriously for the last 2 or 3 years and have only replaced one tube.(I fill 1/2 pans, let them dry & put them in a palette that I can take anywhere)

If you’re not ready for that, which is absolutely fine, try Winsor Newton Cotman which are a student grade from a company that makes professional paints, but again have a higher pigment/filler ratio. I’d avoid anything that has a “chalky” result they have lots of filler and very little color not worth it. Gansi Tambi are beautiful colors but very opaque and don’t have the translucent quality of watercolor-more like sumi-e painting tradition.

Another option is to buy a “mixing set” of good quality paint and learn to make your own color - it’s addictive and fun. there’s  a free course from Emma Witte at thewatercolourcompany.com (British spelling, she’s Australian) that is terrific and teaches how to make color from 3 tubes. Highly recommend it! Once you’re comfortable with making color you can decide what convenience colors you want and slowly expand. Whatever you decide have fun watercolors are amazing.

This is the best answer.
Go buy from a company who's business is paint and only paint, even if you're going for a student grade set. You will get the best quality and value over rebranded 'designer' stuff from the scrapbook section. Those companies buy white-label products, usually the lowest quality stuff and just slap their own packaging on it.

You're going to need black as well, at the very minimum. And magenta/cyan in addition to primary red/blue helps a lot with colour mixing. The general premise is sound though - fewer, higher quality colours over lots of cheap ones will not only be a better investment, but encourage the acquisition of the essential skill of mixing colours.

I bought a set of Gansai Tambi paints secondhand here on the FSOT board. If you can find a set that someone else didn’t use much it’s a pretty nice way to get something to try without too big a commitment if you’re not sure you’ll watercolor often.

Using something a bit nicer with more pigment is quite satisfying after using crappy kids/craft ones.

I like using the neocolor crayons for little bits of color - I just scribble on the lid and use a water brush to pick up the color. Handy for adding a little shadow or coloring a smaller stamped image.

I've painted on it before and it's terrible quality.  It might be the sizing.  It's really hard to work on.

If I were going to start, I'd get a coupon from Hobby Lobby and get a pad or block of Arches 140lb cold press.  With a coupon, it's fairly reasonable priced pack.

I can see a very dark brown being possible relatively easily, but do you get a proper true black that way? I'd be very curious to see.

I personally prefer Daniel Smith because of the amazing granulation, but it depends on the effect you want to achieve. I also use a few W&N, and Sennelier. Michaels now carries most of W&N, and many DS colors. It is 40% off about every 6 weeks, usually for a one day sale. I fill half pans that I purchase off amazon. Dick Blick is also a good supply company. I would skip Cotman and grumbacher because they tend to appear more opaque.

Two artists that have amazing watercolor information : JaneBlundell.com and Lizsteel.com. Jane Blundell has swatches and comparisons of most manufacturers, and Liz Steel does a lot of mixing studies.



I would recommend you mix your own black -Burnt Sienna and French Ultramarine or ultramarine and raw umber. Black watercolor is flat.

If you want to get into mixing your own colors, and want to start with the basics, get red, blue and yellow in a warm tone and another set in cool tones to mix. Then you can add in colors that speak to you. If you buy on sale, you can keep to less than $100, including brushes and paper.

freebird gave you the best advice.

I have been watercoloring a long time. If you want to learn watercolors please pick up a mid-range student level set that is around $30-$75. Stay away from the "craft" companies sets. Now, some of the brands are art grades. They do contract with art companies like Derwent, Staedtler, etc.... SU did this years ago. Jane Davenport is considered a "craft" company paint but I highly recommend her art products because Jane does actually have an art background and her quality is good. She is the exception to the rule. Even Jane's I prefer to have her sets as an addition to my artist grade brands. Only buy from craft companies if you have your heart set on their color lines and you have not learned how to color mix.

A good student range is Prang. I was taught by a professional artist who used Prang. I have met a lot of professional artists who always keep a set of Prang in their watercoloring toolbox. I always felt like you were not a watercoloring artist unless you had a Prang palette in your possession.

The black hue debate- I do buy black. I prefer to mix my colors to make a black paint. There is just so many different color gradients in black. IMO, even when you buy a black it is not a true black so that's why there are different black paints from one line. The black hue painting debate-

willkempartschool.com/the-3-myths-of-black-in-mixing-paint-colours/
gamblincolors.com/choosingblackoilpaint/

I know these are oil painting articles. The same principles apply in color theory.

2 other excellent YouTube resources are Denise Soden “In Liquid Color” and Steve Mitchell “Mind of Watercolor” both are very informative and approachable.

I would also check out Lindsay the Frugal Crafter. Here is her blog: thefrugalcrafter.wordpress.com/
Her videos are great - she will often compare brands and gives good reviews. I have learned tons from watching her!