# Which Watercolor Set to buy



## alchemister77

Hi 
I am exploring water color paintings.. I have right now VanGough water colors and they are very dull. I want to buy artist grade watercolors.. I have two questions:

1. Should I buy a pan set or a set of tubes
2. What brand? I live in Seattle. Daniel Smith is located here. Looks like it is good quality. They don't sell pans but only tubes.. I have a 5 ml essential tube set in mind from daniel smith. Also, I am looking at sennelier 12 +6 pan set as well.. what would you recommend? 

Also regarding paper, I am thinking to go with 140lb. But should I go for 100% cotton or do you recommend any brand?

Thanks a lot
Kannan


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## leighann

I'm not a pro...just a beginner, but I like the tubes. I think the ones I have are SoHo and Winsor & Newton. 

I know Dave does a lot of watercolor, much more of an expert, so he would have better answers.


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## TerryCurley

I don't use watercolors, only oil. But I want to welcome you to the forum. I'm sure you will get a lot of advice from those on the forum that do watercolors. We have many amazing artists here that use watercolors.


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## Sorin

Most folks prefer toobies. You may use more paint & even throw some away but you CAN use more paint. You can also have better control over the amount of paint you load into your brush and the proportion of water/paint. As to kits... Expect to pay for colors you may never use or use rarely. Such as black.


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## Sorin

Ooops, forgot - Many who do W/Cs onsite and/or carry a small "kit" around prefer the pans, for obvious reasons. I'm a studio guy so I rarely think about such. I have a table full of stuff to play with!


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## Erilia

My set is a small one, it's little squares, it's from the brand Rembrandt... I bought it in France so I don't know if this brand sell worldwide...
As for the quality it is awesome, blending works nicely whether it's before application or on paper, and the color are as colorful as I want them to be


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## Asancta

Watercolors are not my thing but I do have a set of really good Reeves.I know you can find them easily including on amazon.com My opinion is that you could first try with a small set then see how it goes and if you like it you can go with single tubes and high end quality watercolors.


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## Bushcraftonfire

Not sure why you think VanGogh are dull colors.. They are what I use (in part) However.. if that's your feeling...

The other colors you mentioned are all good quality ( I assume you are buying artist quality and not student grade) I would recommend getting 3 or 4 tubes of a few different companies to test out and see what you like. Any good company will have the 3 primaries (Primary Magenta, Primary Cyan, and Lemon Yellow) With these 3 you can make ANY color possible

I also use Koi (which is VERY bright).. 
And Lukas (which are premium artist paints from Germany.)

Perhaps the problem isn't with the paints. What colors are you using? And are you using pans or tubes? And how are you mixing your colors?

HTH

D


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## ErnstG

Leider muss ich meine Kommentare von Herrn Google übersetzen lassen.
Grundsätzlich ist der Maler entscheidend, der ein Motiv malt, erst dann kommen die
Farben und Pinsel. An erster Stelle steht für einen Beginner gutes Papier. Aber daran
spart er in der Regel. 100%-Hadern-Papier ist und bleibt der Rolls Royce, dann kom-
men hadernhaltige und ganz, ganz weit hinten die Zellulosepapiere. Es darf auch
dünneres Papier verwendet werden als 300 g - aus Kostengründen und besser für
Plein-air, wegen der Trocknung.
Ein Tipp zu den Farben, verwenden Sie, wenn es geht lasierende Farben und Farben
aus der Tube (es ist ökonomischer und schont die Pinsel). Beschränken Sie die Farben
auf eine kalte und eine warme Farbreihe, plus Erdfarben. Bitte, kein Schwarz verwenden!

Unfortunately I have to translate my comments of Mr. Google.
Basically, the painter is crucial, painting a motive, only then come the colors and brush. 
The first priority is for a beginner good paper. But because it saves normally. 100%
-Hadern-Paper remains the Rolls Royce, then come Hader containing and very, very
far behind the cellulose papers. It may also be used as a thinner paper than 300 g -
for reasons of cost and better for plein-air, due to the drying.
A tip to the colors you use when it comes transparent inks and colors from the tube
(it is more economical and easy on the brush). Limit the colors on a cold and a warm
color range, plus earth tones. Please, do not use a black!

Ernst


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## Asancta

ErnstG said:


> Leider muss ich meine Kommentare von Herrn Google übersetzen lassen.
> Grundsätzlich ist der Maler entscheidend, der ein Motiv malt, erst dann kommen die
> Farben und Pinsel. An erster Stelle steht für einen Beginner gutes Papier. Aber daran
> spart er in der Regel. 100%-Hadern-Papier ist und bleibt der Rolls Royce, dann kom-
> men hadernhaltige und ganz, ganz weit hinten die Zellulosepapiere. Es darf auch
> dünneres Papier verwendet werden als 300 g - aus Kostengründen und besser für
> Plein-air, wegen der Trocknung.
> Ein Tipp zu den Farben, verwenden Sie, wenn es geht lasierende Farben und Farben
> aus der Tube (es ist ökonomischer und schont die Pinsel). Beschränken Sie die Farben
> auf eine kalte und eine warme Farbreihe, plus Erdfarben. Bitte, kein Schwarz verwenden!
> 
> 
> Ha ha Ich lerne Deutsch


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## ErnstG

Ha ha Ich lerne Deutsch

Klasse, dann kann ich Herrn Google zur Gartenarbeit einsetzen!

Ernst


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## Bushcraftonfire

I took the liberty of throwing a few colors on my sheet of paper. These are VanGogh with a few Koi (Off basic colors (like purple) are Koi). Which ones do you think are dull.. and what are you comparing them to?

Sorry they are a bit blurry.. I took them inside (not perfect lighting.. which means they are even brighter than shown). BTW.. These are NOT out of the tubes.. they are tube colors.. which I have put in my palette, dried, and then rehydrated to paint with.










D


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## Artsupplies

Tubes and watercolor set Both are good but most of the artist like tubes. Winsor and Newton Cotman watercolors are good according to quality and price.


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