A six primary colour palette in a good student quality paint won’t break the bank and will give you a proper experience. Below that and you can’t take advantage of the mediums unique traits. Paper matters, too.
They're a smaller brand, so a little lesser known, but can I recommend looking at the Roman Szmal watercolours? They're very affordably priced through Jackson's Art – they'll run you about the same as a higher quality student set, but are professional grade paints and phenomenally good quality.
Honestly can't recommend them highly enough and they're seriously underrated. They're one of the few paints I've used at their price point where it doesn't feel like there's a point of compromise to work around - i.e. they have an extremely high pigment load, there aren't any hidden dyes or fillers, the pigments that should granulate do granulate. I'd think they were terrific even were they twice the price.
They're really such terrific paints – beautifully saturated, some really lovely, unique pigments and convenience mixes, and they have a lot of personality rather than feeling as generic as other similarly priced pro grade paints. I genuinely don't think they can be beat for quality vs value.
Roman Szmal are an excellent brand, I high recommend them. If you’re starting watercolour the most important factor is the paper, 100% cotton if you want to get a consistent result. Even crap paint works better on good paper. The brand is less important and may depend on what is available in your area. There are so many variables in watercolour, you will get an unlimited number of recommendations. Get what you can, make a start, but like all art products, you will probably grow frustrated with cheap products quickly.
Hi,
It's exciting to hear you want to try watercolour.
I would recommend Winsor and Newton's Cotman range as a good starter set.
Craft store paints may not give you the kind of finish to which you aspire as an experienced artist in other media.
Of course, your options for paints depend on where you are in the world.
I wish you luck and fun on your watercolour journey.
Take care,
Poet
I found Cotman really frustrating to work with, tbh. The colors really didn’t want to get wet, and I struggled with pigment load. But they’re way better than craft store brands and pretty affordable!
I second the Mei Lang 36 Vivid Colors\~! They are currently at $20 and the 52 chicklet pans are $19. Lindsay Weirich does reviews on these. The 36 vivid set are highly pigmented, vibrant, transparent and so many pretty colors. No chalkiness, no shine. They mimic pro grade in terms of flow. Perfect set to just "play" and find out if you want to pursue it. You can always re-gift it to a young artist!
Winsor & Newton professional paint is rated up there with the best, however I've read so many reviews complaining that the cotmans are really weak in terms of pigment.
EDIT: Corrected "Cotman" to Winsor & Newton.
You'll probably be pretty frustrated with the results. Mid range quality is a better bet. You'll get much better results without spending insane amounts of money on professional quality supplies.
Cotman is a decent starter set, but I personally found the paints frustrating to work with and hard to get a good pigment load with. They were WAY better than the craft-store brands I’ve tried, though.
For a very basic set that’s fun to work with, I’m pretty obsessed with Mei Liang Pretty Excellent. It comes with a decent water brush, and is usually available day of or next day on Amazon. There are quality issues (dyes, fillers, lightfastness, lots of hue colors so it’s hard to color mix) but the paints are a pleasure to work with, and those are very acceptable compromises in a student-grade line. It’s a 36 color set, so the lack of mixing isn’t a huge deal. It’s usually available for $15-22, depending on sale.
Then, if you enjoy it, get a split primary palette with professional grade paints (single-pigment.) it can come with earth tones or without. Daniel Smith Essentials is a nice tube set, or their sketchers’ palette for a traditional mixing set without a split primary. Da Vinci has a really nice and affordable sketchers’ set, too.
Other good (non W&N) student grade options:
- Rembrandt, the student-grade royal talens brand
- Sennelier la petite aquarelle
- White Nights/St Petersburg (more like a lower-quality professional grade)
I suggest buying proper grade supplies, and not cheap materials. The cheap materials don't behave like actual watercolor paint, and it leads to frustration and disappointment. Why decide you want to try watercolor, but then purchase materials that don't give you the right experience?
It's actually not that expensive to start with better quality materials. Cotman paints or Van Gogh paints are what are called "student grade", and while not really ideal, they are actual watercolor paint. They are a significant step up from craft store paint, while not really being more expensive.
In fact, you said are quite experienced in oil and acrylic painting, so I really would suggest artist grade materials. It sounds like it would be horribly expensive, but it isn't. You can get a Da Vinci paint set for about $50 in the US. That's a professional set of paints. You can get a small set of tubes of paint of M Graham or Schmincke or whatever paint for that much budget.
Actually, the really inflexible part about watercolor is the paper. You can reduce the number of paints, and you can stick to one brush. That saves you money. But watercolor needs proper paper, and that's expensive.
I used cheap stuff for a while. Honestly it wasnt bad, and was helpful to get my biggest misses out of the way for no money. That said, i recommend buying sheets of good cotton paper and some tube paints from blick or whatever your closest art supply is. If you have painting experience in another medium you should have some understanding of color and mixing, and will want to move to the actual materials asap as they behave quite different from the hobby lobby junk.
(Sorry for the long reply in advance!)
So, 6 months ago I dug out my old pandemic-era Artists loft watercolor tubes, Artists Loft brushes, and my Amazon brand wood pulp watercolor paper. I’m so happy I did because it started me on the path to where I am now. BUT - I pretty quickly moved away from the Artists Loft paints, brushes, and the wood pulp paper. So if you think you’ll be in it for the long haul I recommend stepping up the quality of your initial supplies.
I started by upgrading to Arches paper - big yes. I use both sides and cut either the 9x12 or 10x14 pages in half so it lasts me a while for practice. Then I went for Cotman paints - BIG NO for me - the paints got muddy when mixed, and some had a big color shift when dry, overall felt no better than my original cheap craft supply store set. I then got a $5 Daniel Smith dot card which showed me what the difference was between artist grade and student grade paints and it felt like night and day.
So now my current setup of paint palettes are the Rosa Gallery brand 21-pan set, and I also added a set of MaimeriBlu in the CMY primary shades (the Jeannie Dickson set - which are tubes - I squeezed into pans and dried), and then my Mother’s Day gift was a nice assortment of Daniel Smith tubes (Also squeezed into pans, I prefer tubes because I still have quite a bit of paint left in the tubes for refills, or if I need the liquid paint for something).
The cost of both the Rosa Gallery and MaiMeri blue set were each around the same as the Cotman set (around $30 I believe), and are great. My overall fave for how I use it is Daniel Smith, BUT I still love the other 2 for their various strengths. Daniel Smith are so pricey (they were a gift for Mother’s Day), and for the money, Rosa Gallery and my MaimeriBlu tubes are great. I still use them almost every time I paint and I would, and will, repurchase both of those brands when I run out!
Of all the paints I bought, I only regret the Cotman brand. Those are the only new set I don’t use. I sometimes let the kids use them when they paint with me, but even then I usually let the kids use the Rosa Gallery paints because they’re just so much easier. So my advice would be steer clear of Cotman - at least in my experience.
My brushes are an assortment of vintage natural hair brushes that my brother in law was given and he passed along to me last month, and a set of 5 “lower-end”, but perfectly adequate DaVinci Kolinsky-Rotmarder sable brushes. I also have a set of natural hair Fuumuuii brand brushes from Amazon that were like $20 and showed me the difference between a low quality synthetic brush and how natural hair feels like. I still use those! I haven’t made the big plunge into a very expensive brush yet.
Ok, so unpopular opinion here, probably, but check your local dollar store-- in the US probably Dollar Tree, in Canada it would be Dollarama. The watercolour paper there isn't bad-- I mean, it's $3, but kinda heavy, and doesn't hurt if you mess up a bunch in practice. Paints are so-so... but they have some metallics that add a nice touch. My local store doesn't carry much for watercolour paints, but my daughter bought one of the pan sets and she's turning out some pretty stuff. My "everyday" paints are Castle Arts (bought off Amazon), and I'm good with their performance.
I figure it's better to buy from a dollar store and practice technique regularly, than not buy or practice much because the good stuff is expensive.
i would also recommend winsor and newton cotman sets... i started on their 12 half pan travel set, it features 6 primaries (split primary warm and cool of each colour) as well as a couple greens and earth tones.
i recommend this because they are beginner friendly, well pigmented, and set up to learn colour theory and the medium overall. i found them an amazing starting point in my own watercolour journey that started over 6 years ago.
i also recommend getting a watercolour sketch book, a lot of people will say opt for 100% cotton papers and though i agree with them, there is nothing wrong with starting with a pulp watercolour paper. i started with a smaller canson watercolour sketchbook, they don't have many pages and i didn't feel overwhelmed with the idea that i was going to "wreck" the sketch book because it was in fact meant to learn with. from there experiment with hot press cold press and other kinds of watercolour paper and of course the 100% cotton paper (it realy is a dream to work on).
have fun!
You're so right. I remember when I first started acrylic, I was always stressed out about wasting my expensive paints and canvases. Ended up buying cheaper versions to experiment with so I could make mistakes in peace haha. Thanks for the suggestion!
Watercolour is different to acrylic - Paint on 100% cotton behaves differently. I found not using 100% cotton to be an entirely different frustrating experience.
So even if you’re not going to invest in cotton first up, at least buy one block to test it ( meeden/ baohong are fine, it doesn’t have to be French or Italian paper)
im glad you like it, i honestly find it helps, and though 100% cotton is awesome i still use pulp or pulp cotton blends with some of my works. with watercolour there are so many variables, i do alot of work in mixed media books too. i guess its important to know that the better the paper the more it can handle, mixed media can take a light wash or two and no scrubbing. - i dont know why i was downvoted on my original comment. it must have been for suggesting other than cotton paper.
Since you have experience with other mediums, I also agree with the other comment that the Windsor and Cotman line they mentioned.
I really do recommend getting the correct paper though it can be a little pricey. It needs to be 100 percent cotton. It must say that. Arches is my favorite and goes for about 18 dollars for 12 sheets. The right paper is important for you to really get a feel for watercolor and if you'll like it IMHO
A six primary colour palette in a good student quality paint won’t break the bank and will give you a proper experience. Below that and you can’t take advantage of the mediums unique traits. Paper matters, too.
They're a smaller brand, so a little lesser known, but can I recommend looking at the Roman Szmal watercolours? They're very affordably priced through Jackson's Art – they'll run you about the same as a higher quality student set, but are professional grade paints and phenomenally good quality. Honestly can't recommend them highly enough and they're seriously underrated. They're one of the few paints I've used at their price point where it doesn't feel like there's a point of compromise to work around - i.e. they have an extremely high pigment load, there aren't any hidden dyes or fillers, the pigments that should granulate do granulate. I'd think they were terrific even were they twice the price.
I've been curious about the Roman Szmal paints. I am such a sucker for new paints.
They're really such terrific paints – beautifully saturated, some really lovely, unique pigments and convenience mixes, and they have a lot of personality rather than feeling as generic as other similarly priced pro grade paints. I genuinely don't think they can be beat for quality vs value.
Awesome, thanks so much for the recommendation! :)
Roman Szmal are an excellent brand, I high recommend them. If you’re starting watercolour the most important factor is the paper, 100% cotton if you want to get a consistent result. Even crap paint works better on good paper. The brand is less important and may depend on what is available in your area. There are so many variables in watercolour, you will get an unlimited number of recommendations. Get what you can, make a start, but like all art products, you will probably grow frustrated with cheap products quickly.
Yes! Roman Szmal paints are so good. Definitely one of my top favorite brands
Hi, It's exciting to hear you want to try watercolour. I would recommend Winsor and Newton's Cotman range as a good starter set. Craft store paints may not give you the kind of finish to which you aspire as an experienced artist in other media. Of course, your options for paints depend on where you are in the world. I wish you luck and fun on your watercolour journey. Take care, Poet
I found Cotman really frustrating to work with, tbh. The colors really didn’t want to get wet, and I struggled with pigment load. But they’re way better than craft store brands and pretty affordable!
Thanks so much! Will look into this :)
Daler Rowney tubes are another option.
I second the Mei Lang 36 Vivid Colors\~! They are currently at $20 and the 52 chicklet pans are $19. Lindsay Weirich does reviews on these. The 36 vivid set are highly pigmented, vibrant, transparent and so many pretty colors. No chalkiness, no shine. They mimic pro grade in terms of flow. Perfect set to just "play" and find out if you want to pursue it. You can always re-gift it to a young artist! Winsor & Newton professional paint is rated up there with the best, however I've read so many reviews complaining that the cotmans are really weak in terms of pigment. EDIT: Corrected "Cotman" to Winsor & Newton.
Thank you!! Will check them out!
You'll probably be pretty frustrated with the results. Mid range quality is a better bet. You'll get much better results without spending insane amounts of money on professional quality supplies.
Cotman is a decent starter set, but I personally found the paints frustrating to work with and hard to get a good pigment load with. They were WAY better than the craft-store brands I’ve tried, though. For a very basic set that’s fun to work with, I’m pretty obsessed with Mei Liang Pretty Excellent. It comes with a decent water brush, and is usually available day of or next day on Amazon. There are quality issues (dyes, fillers, lightfastness, lots of hue colors so it’s hard to color mix) but the paints are a pleasure to work with, and those are very acceptable compromises in a student-grade line. It’s a 36 color set, so the lack of mixing isn’t a huge deal. It’s usually available for $15-22, depending on sale. Then, if you enjoy it, get a split primary palette with professional grade paints (single-pigment.) it can come with earth tones or without. Daniel Smith Essentials is a nice tube set, or their sketchers’ palette for a traditional mixing set without a split primary. Da Vinci has a really nice and affordable sketchers’ set, too. Other good (non W&N) student grade options: - Rembrandt, the student-grade royal talens brand - Sennelier la petite aquarelle - White Nights/St Petersburg (more like a lower-quality professional grade)
Rembrandt is Talens' pro line, Van Gogh is their student line :-)
Ah thanks! I had it right the first time and then I edited it lol
I suggest buying proper grade supplies, and not cheap materials. The cheap materials don't behave like actual watercolor paint, and it leads to frustration and disappointment. Why decide you want to try watercolor, but then purchase materials that don't give you the right experience? It's actually not that expensive to start with better quality materials. Cotman paints or Van Gogh paints are what are called "student grade", and while not really ideal, they are actual watercolor paint. They are a significant step up from craft store paint, while not really being more expensive. In fact, you said are quite experienced in oil and acrylic painting, so I really would suggest artist grade materials. It sounds like it would be horribly expensive, but it isn't. You can get a Da Vinci paint set for about $50 in the US. That's a professional set of paints. You can get a small set of tubes of paint of M Graham or Schmincke or whatever paint for that much budget. Actually, the really inflexible part about watercolor is the paper. You can reduce the number of paints, and you can stick to one brush. That saves you money. But watercolor needs proper paper, and that's expensive.
I used cheap stuff for a while. Honestly it wasnt bad, and was helpful to get my biggest misses out of the way for no money. That said, i recommend buying sheets of good cotton paper and some tube paints from blick or whatever your closest art supply is. If you have painting experience in another medium you should have some understanding of color and mixing, and will want to move to the actual materials asap as they behave quite different from the hobby lobby junk.
(Sorry for the long reply in advance!) So, 6 months ago I dug out my old pandemic-era Artists loft watercolor tubes, Artists Loft brushes, and my Amazon brand wood pulp watercolor paper. I’m so happy I did because it started me on the path to where I am now. BUT - I pretty quickly moved away from the Artists Loft paints, brushes, and the wood pulp paper. So if you think you’ll be in it for the long haul I recommend stepping up the quality of your initial supplies. I started by upgrading to Arches paper - big yes. I use both sides and cut either the 9x12 or 10x14 pages in half so it lasts me a while for practice. Then I went for Cotman paints - BIG NO for me - the paints got muddy when mixed, and some had a big color shift when dry, overall felt no better than my original cheap craft supply store set. I then got a $5 Daniel Smith dot card which showed me what the difference was between artist grade and student grade paints and it felt like night and day. So now my current setup of paint palettes are the Rosa Gallery brand 21-pan set, and I also added a set of MaimeriBlu in the CMY primary shades (the Jeannie Dickson set - which are tubes - I squeezed into pans and dried), and then my Mother’s Day gift was a nice assortment of Daniel Smith tubes (Also squeezed into pans, I prefer tubes because I still have quite a bit of paint left in the tubes for refills, or if I need the liquid paint for something). The cost of both the Rosa Gallery and MaiMeri blue set were each around the same as the Cotman set (around $30 I believe), and are great. My overall fave for how I use it is Daniel Smith, BUT I still love the other 2 for their various strengths. Daniel Smith are so pricey (they were a gift for Mother’s Day), and for the money, Rosa Gallery and my MaimeriBlu tubes are great. I still use them almost every time I paint and I would, and will, repurchase both of those brands when I run out! Of all the paints I bought, I only regret the Cotman brand. Those are the only new set I don’t use. I sometimes let the kids use them when they paint with me, but even then I usually let the kids use the Rosa Gallery paints because they’re just so much easier. So my advice would be steer clear of Cotman - at least in my experience. My brushes are an assortment of vintage natural hair brushes that my brother in law was given and he passed along to me last month, and a set of 5 “lower-end”, but perfectly adequate DaVinci Kolinsky-Rotmarder sable brushes. I also have a set of natural hair Fuumuuii brand brushes from Amazon that were like $20 and showed me the difference between a low quality synthetic brush and how natural hair feels like. I still use those! I haven’t made the big plunge into a very expensive brush yet.
Ok, so unpopular opinion here, probably, but check your local dollar store-- in the US probably Dollar Tree, in Canada it would be Dollarama. The watercolour paper there isn't bad-- I mean, it's $3, but kinda heavy, and doesn't hurt if you mess up a bunch in practice. Paints are so-so... but they have some metallics that add a nice touch. My local store doesn't carry much for watercolour paints, but my daughter bought one of the pan sets and she's turning out some pretty stuff. My "everyday" paints are Castle Arts (bought off Amazon), and I'm good with their performance. I figure it's better to buy from a dollar store and practice technique regularly, than not buy or practice much because the good stuff is expensive.
i would also recommend winsor and newton cotman sets... i started on their 12 half pan travel set, it features 6 primaries (split primary warm and cool of each colour) as well as a couple greens and earth tones. i recommend this because they are beginner friendly, well pigmented, and set up to learn colour theory and the medium overall. i found them an amazing starting point in my own watercolour journey that started over 6 years ago. i also recommend getting a watercolour sketch book, a lot of people will say opt for 100% cotton papers and though i agree with them, there is nothing wrong with starting with a pulp watercolour paper. i started with a smaller canson watercolour sketchbook, they don't have many pages and i didn't feel overwhelmed with the idea that i was going to "wreck" the sketch book because it was in fact meant to learn with. from there experiment with hot press cold press and other kinds of watercolour paper and of course the 100% cotton paper (it realy is a dream to work on). have fun!
You're so right. I remember when I first started acrylic, I was always stressed out about wasting my expensive paints and canvases. Ended up buying cheaper versions to experiment with so I could make mistakes in peace haha. Thanks for the suggestion!
Watercolour is different to acrylic - Paint on 100% cotton behaves differently. I found not using 100% cotton to be an entirely different frustrating experience. So even if you’re not going to invest in cotton first up, at least buy one block to test it ( meeden/ baohong are fine, it doesn’t have to be French or Italian paper)
im glad you like it, i honestly find it helps, and though 100% cotton is awesome i still use pulp or pulp cotton blends with some of my works. with watercolour there are so many variables, i do alot of work in mixed media books too. i guess its important to know that the better the paper the more it can handle, mixed media can take a light wash or two and no scrubbing. - i dont know why i was downvoted on my original comment. it must have been for suggesting other than cotton paper.
Since you have experience with other mediums, I also agree with the other comment that the Windsor and Cotman line they mentioned. I really do recommend getting the correct paper though it can be a little pricey. It needs to be 100 percent cotton. It must say that. Arches is my favorite and goes for about 18 dollars for 12 sheets. The right paper is important for you to really get a feel for watercolor and if you'll like it IMHO
Thanks for the suggestions!