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My niece will be turning 16 next month and has asked for watercolors for her birthday. I can't afford to spend a fortune, but I want to get her quality art supplies. She loves to draw so I have gotten her charcoal pencils before and when I found a set of 132 Prismas NIP at a local thrift shop, they became hers. She has a set of watercolor pencils I gave her last year.
I just bought a set of Arteza half-pan WC paints. There was a lightening deal on Amazon, so my total was $23 and a few cents.
I have only made swatches with the color, but they are easy to use. I know a have seen a video on them from The Frugal Crafter. Maybe there are others out on You Tube. Seems everybody likes the Gansai Tambi, but I wasn't sure I would love paint and didn't want to spend as much money.
Good luck with your choices. I think paper makes a difference. There are a lot of WC paper brands out there.
__________________ Lisa Featured Stamper #671 Love sending BRAK cards. Dirty Dozen Alumni.CC927 Favorite Virtual Stamp Night April 19 - 20 Come Join in the Fun Here
Kristina Warner did a review of them and said they were pretty good. She did not love the brush and thought the ones right at the hinge were a bit hard to reach, but for the price they were good.
I personally can recommend the Kuretake Gansai tambi watercolors (36). I got them via Amazon for $33ish I think. They also have the smaller sets at Hobby Lobby. Nice variety of colors. Using the tubes are more cumbersome To me, especially if you don’t know if you will enjoy water coloring much. If I ever buy the tube ones, I like the Daniel Smith ones.
Everyone has posted great suggestions, don’t think you could go wrong with any. I’d suggest a Winsor Newton Cotman pan set, choose number of pans depending on your budget. I know Amazon offers a 24 pan set for around $36.00. I do love Kuratake Gansai Tambi watercolors, but you want to buy watercolors that are the closest to artist grade color, transparency, and performance. She’ll be able to more accurately apply color theory and mixes will be less likely to muddy. They use traditional watercolor names that make learning easier.
I agree that Winsor & Newton Cotman would be really nice, and pans can be added. Many years ago it was suggested by an instructor as a good starter set. Pans can be in field sets too, which is fun. Just as a starting point, Dick Blick shows quite a few in the thumbnails you can click on:
Lots of people like Kuratake Gansai Tambi, so that’s a possibility too, or even Sakura Koi for less $$. I had the Kuratake but fought with it so gave it away, but I’m weird, liking a really expensive watercolor brand as well as one that’s extremely cheap, so my vote shouldn’t count.
Last edited by bjeans; 11-23-2018 at 05:12 AM..
Reason: autospell
I have the little Cotman (good student grade brand from W&N) Pocket Sketcher set. It has 12 or 14 half pans in an adorable and practical case. I got it at Joann’s with a coupon a few years ago for a reasonable price, and I really like it. The refill tubes are also easy to find and affordable.
I have 3 recommendations; in watercolor, paper is the most important factor in getting a good result. A good brush is next. And if you have those two quality items, you can get good results with a cheaper set of watercolors.
Paper: I recommend a pad of Arches cold-press 140 lb. You can get this at Michaels or Hobby Lobby with a coupon for about $12.00. For reference, here's a link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Arches-Waterc...+lb+cold+press
Watercolors: a Sakura Koi set; these are top level student grade paints; it has a removable mixing palette that hooks on either side of the case. For reference: https://www.amazon.com/Sakura-XNCW-2...atercolor+sets
So for less than $45, you have a gift any art student would be thrilled to receive, beginner or advanced.
__________________ Linda E
Caution: You are entering an artistic zone. This is not clutter - this is creating. These are not pajamas - it's my work uniform.
Strongly agree: Good paper makes or breaks watercolors, especially for a student. Buying student grade paper is the quickest way to discourage a newbie when it inevitably yields poor results.Also, the Silver Brushes Black Velvet line are easily available and give a very good result for a beginner.
Probably should have just said "Me Too" to the previous post from Linda E!
Thanks ladies! I had my mom help my pick out some good brushes for her. I know how frustrated I was tole painting years ago when my aunt gave me her "used" brushes. There wasn't much "use" left in them.
I had picked up a Strathmore paper pad for her, but I should be able to exchange it for a better brand.
In a “live” on-line sketch/watercolor class, suddenly I couldn’t do a simple assignment, and after struggling, it finally dawned on me the paper wasn’t my go-to Canson. I had grabbed some cut up pieces of Strathmore that were in my stash.
Later, one of the other students said she was having a difficulty and I asked which paper she was using. It was Strathmore.
Both Canson and Strathmore are inexpensive papers, relatively speaking. Some people like one much more, some the other.
When making cards with just a bit of watercolor I still sometimes use Canson, but Arches is the cat’s meow.
This isn’t a put-down of Strathmore at all, just natural differences in peoples’ preferences, like for watercolors themselves. For anything, almost!
Not sure if you are still deciding, but just wanted to add my husband has been using the Grumbacher Deluxe for over 25 years. He bought them the first time in Germany while in the Army, and has been buying them ever since. They are available at Dick Blick.
Brands of quality watercolors?
