Paints & Brands

Paints & Brands

So what watercolor paints brand should you buy? 

If there is your first article I would reccomend you to go over this one aa a first step: Tubes or Pans? 

Here is a list of companies that are considered to be of high quality:

• Daniel Smyth - an American company that produces paints composed of natural stones.  High-quality but also very expensive.

• Schminke - German company, "Horadam" are high-quality paints with a wide range of colors.

• Rembrandt - produced by "Royal Talens", Dutch company, are also of quite high-quality.

• Sennelier - French company. Paints are based on honey.

• Windsor & Newton - British company.

• Mijello - South Korean company with a wide selection of pigment combinations with exotic names.

• Rosa - a relatively new Ukrainian brand. Only pans are currently in the market.

• Maimeri Blue - Italian brand.

• White Nights - Russian brand.

All of them are equally recommended, as all of these paints are produced by serious manufacturers. There are a few others, but I haven't studied them, so I will not reference them.

Practical Tips:

• When buying paints, keep in mind that the price depends on the size of the packaging. The larger the packaging, the cheaper the price per milliliter. That is why I prefer to buy tubes of 15 ml or 20ml rather than 5 ml.

• There are several "weight" categories, within each brand (see article Tubes or Pans? ),  based on the amount of pigment used in the paint. So when buying paints, don't compare the cost of paints within the same brand, but compare between brands with the same quality level and within the same category. For example: compare Royal Talens "Remdrandt" paints vs "W&N" proffessional watercolor, but not with W&N "Cotman" series, because it's of a student quality. 

• Once you have selected the colors you need, compare the cost of paint (price per ml) between brands, and then you can make an objective decision about the brand's prices. For example, take Ultramarine and check how much it costs in several online art stores available for you.

• Don't forget to consider the cost of shipping as well.

• Keep in mind that the larger the packaging, the less noticeable the price of the paints because they last longer. If you follow this buying scheme, you also don't have to worry about shipping cost too much.

• After determining the set of your basic set of pigments, you can purchase one or two additional paints each time and test them, to enrich your palette.

• I don't recommend buying a lot of paints at one time; you'll simply get confused.

Personally, I don't buy many paints. I also don't buy paints from many companies; I prefer Rembrandt. I have a minimal set of 20 colors, and that's enough for all my tasks.

Summary

A rational approach to choosing paints and brands will save you time and money.