Materials: Artist Grade Watercolor Edition
Phew, so disclaimer and warning are DONE. If you have not read it please read it (here). This post is SOLELY for watercolor, I will create a different post for the brushes and papers so it won’t get too packed and confusing.
Before we get started, there are some things and terms that I need to cover!
1. What is the difference between artist grade watercolor and a student grade watercolor?
First of all, the price is obviously so much more expensive for the artist grade watercolor compared to the student grade watercolor. For an easy comparison, student grade watercolor such as 24 colors Sakura Koi cost about $40 without discount on Amazon while the price for a tube of Daniel Smith starts from $13.
Second of all, the pigments. Artist grade watercolors use more pigments while student grade watercolors use more synthetic binders and fillers which means that it’s not as vibrant and it’s not as long lasting as the artist grade watercolors. It’s also really easy to get student grade watercolor turn muddy when you mix too many colours together because they use hue instead of pure pigments like artist grade watercolors. This does not mean that student grade watercolors are not usable, it just means that it’s not usable for more of a professional work. If you want to read up more about the components of watercolor, how it was made, etc. this article here is an appropriate reading material for you.
2. What does the series in artist watercolors mean?
To put it simply, the smaller the number, the cheaper it is. The bigger the number, the more expensive it is. It does not mean that Series 4 are better than Series 1, of course. There are just some pigments used in watercolor that are more expensive to produce than the other, it really does not reflect on the quality at all in my opinion.
3. Understanding pigments
If you see the tube of artist grade watercolor you’ll be able to see codes like PW20, CI#77019, PW6, CI#77891, etc. But what does that mean?
PW20 is Mica (minerall), CI#77019 is Mica Gold, PW6 is Titanium White, CI#77891 is Titanium Dioxide. All of these pigments can be found in Daniel Smith Duochrome Ocean and I think the shimmer in the paint came from the Mica Gold!
Check out these links to see more pigment codes if you’re interested! Here, here.
4. What does ‘lightfastness’ mean?
You can see the lightfastness level on your artist grade watercolor.
I. Excellent light-fastness
II. Very good light-fastness
III. Colors can fade badly, especially the tints
et cetera. Lightfastness just means how quickly the paint can fade under light, either the sun or uv lights. If your tube says that the lightfastness level is I (one) then it has an excellent light-fastness and won’t fade / get bleached out as easily.
5. What does granulation mean?
Granulation can happen, it depends on the pigment in your paint. Sometimes the medium and pigment used for one particular color can separate and creates granulation. Some artists prefer that kind of effect, some don’t. It’s typically used for artists who paint background / nature rather than portrait artists.
6. Tube vs Half Pan vs Full Pan
Guide to pans. Most artist grade watercolors come in tubes either 5ml, 12ml, or 15ml. 5ml of watercolor can fill up to 2 half pans and can last your for MONTHS depends on how big you paint or how often you paint. But for reference I only ran out of my 5ml Holbein Payne’s Grey after 6 months and I paint everyday and I do use that color A LOT.
7. Other things to note:
Sometimes you can see statements such as “Semi transparent / Opaque” “Semi staining” depends on the kind of brand you use. They mean exactly as they sound!
Now let’s get started on the brand naming. BY the way, I’m not getting paid for naming these brands as my favourite, I mean I WISH lol. But these are completely my 100% genuine opinions!
WATERCOLORS
1. Shinhan PWC
Shinhan is a brand of watercolor from Korea. I first heard it from a reviewer on youtube who claimed that this particular brand of watercolor is pretty similar to Mijello because they have the same manufacturer (not sure if this is correct or not). You can check out these links for more technical infos about the watercolor here, and this link here to see the full colors range.
Based from my experience, Shinhan is one of the cheapest artist grade watercolor i’ve tried so far (compared to mijello, holbein, etc) but they do have an amazing quality as well. The colors are a bit more muted compared to Mijello, but they are still very vibrant and they rewet easily (with the exception of Vandyke Brown which has NBr8 for its pigment and I’ve read that it’s not as lightfast and is a fugitive pigment).
There’s not much granulation in this brand of paint.
2. Daniel Smith
Daniel Smith is known as a high quality, premium, artist grade watercolor. It’s more expensive than the other artist grade watercolors. The price is pretty much the same as Golden’s QOR watercolor (which i’ve never tried before).
They have A TON of colors, you can check them out here.
Some colors are questionable and not as vibrant (because i’m used to mijello’s colors being in your face) but colors like the sleeping beauty turquoise and the mayan blue is kinda muted? hard to reactivate? kinda doesn’t apply smoothly on the paper? I do notice that these two paints are from their Primatek lineup.
DANIEL SMITH PrimaTek Watercolors are literally made from the ground up. From prehistoric times to the Renaissance and beyond, artists have relied on pigments mined from the earth, and Daniel Smith is proud to have revived these time honored colors for today’s painters.
Regardless, they’re still gorgeous. Something that I like about Daniel Smith is how natural their colors are. Colors like Moonglow, Shadow Violet, and Undersea Green have the tendency to separate once they dries, creating beautiful effects I can’t find with other brands and I also notice some granulation as well.
3. Mijello Mission Gold
I saw Little Thunder used this brand and immediately marched towards the nearest art supplies store and went feral.
First of all, I love the golden tube. Second of all, they have the most gorgeous, intense colors and they rewet easily. The price is somewhere in the middle of Shinhan and Daniel Smith. Not much of granulation can be found here.
You can check out all of their colors here.
4. Dr. Ph. Martins
I saw an artist I admired and FORGOT the name of used it on instagram and bought one to test it out. It’s more ink than watercolor, it does not lift once it dries (that means you can’t rub it with your damp brush to erase it. Something that you can do with other brand of watercolor, depends on how staining they are and the paper you use). The colors are vibrant and intense, I honestly think that if you have a more of a graphic style and you like intense colors this one is suitable for you.
5. Holbein
This brand of watercolor is pretty much similar to Mijello in all aspects. I love their Payne’s Grey paint.
You can check out all of their colors here.
So! When you’re looking for an artist grade watercolor, please bear in mind that you don’t have to buy the whole set when you just get started, you can try one 5ml tube from different brands or try out their dot cards if they have any. Do your research on what kind of colours you should get, most artists buy a limited sets of colours just as long as you have your cool and warm tones and your basic colours like red, blue, yellow you should be set. Or read this is you want to build your basic watercolor palette: here.
Even if you only have 12 colors, you can create a mixing chart by making a 12x12 boxes and mix the paint with one another and you’ll get 144 new and unique colors.
MY WATERCOLOR PALETTE.
1. Mijello Airtight Leak Proof Fusion Watercolor 33-Well Palette & De Goya Half Pans Palette
2. Paints: PWC Cadmium Green, Mijellow Green Gold, PWC Naples Yellow, PWC Jaune Brilliant, PWC Brilliant Pink, PWC Lilac, PWC Shell Pink, PWC Permanent Red, Mijello Vermillion, PWC Bordeaux, PWC Brown Red, PWC Prussian Green, PWC Prussian Blue, Mijello Compose Blue, Mijello Horizon Blue, PWC Olive Green, Daniel Smith Undersea Green, PWC Umber, Holbein Opera, Holbein Isoindolinone Yellow Deep, Mijello Perylene Maroon, PWC Vandyke Brown, Holbein Payne’s Grey, Holbein’s Peacock Blue, Mijello Cobalt Green, Mijello Compose Violet, Mijello Horizon Blue, Mijello Viridian, Mijello Burnt Sienna, Mijello Lemon Yellow, DS Moonglow, DS Rhodonite Genuine, DS Rose of Ultramarine, DS Phthalo Truquoise, DS Sleeping Beauty Turquoise, DS Amazonite Genuine, DS Shadow Violet, DS Mayan Blue Genuine, DS Duochrome Cactus Flower, DS Pyrrol Orange, DS Duochrome Oceanic, PWC Ultramarine Deep
I bought these paints over the course of time last year, sometimes i bought two or three tubes in one month, some of the daniel smith are shared half pans (so i only bought half pans, not the whole tube since they’re expensive) If you’re an indonesian you can get most of these artist grade watercolor at Artland (plenty of artland stores in Jakarta, I think? and one in Sutos surabaya). For holbein you can check out Craftic. I bought the Daniel Smith Half Pan from Warau on instagram (they have a shopee account too I think). You can also find them on amazon if you’re from the US, Jacksons Paint also have an amazing collection of art supplies and you can buy them online.
If you have any questions or if you’d like me to add other things to this post please let me know!
