These gansai tambi paints are made more for calligraphy and sumi-e-like paintings. They don’t mix and layer like traditional watercolors. Also, the big differences is that these use glue-like binders as opposed to gum arabic.
Thanks I was searching for this comment. I didn't know exactly the name of the paintings so...your comment is best compared of what I was going to say 😅
yes! Usually everything that says Gansai Tambi is also not vegan because they often times use rabbit skin glue but afaik exactly these actuallly are vegan. There was once a big debate about it. However, these are NOT watercolorr paints in the understanding of the "western watercolor paints" we are used to and they aren't made to be used in that way. Therefore I think it's a very interresting thing to try, but not if one wants to use them for the known "classical" way of watercoloring outside of the asian area.
They get "slimy" or "gloopy" because it's not a western watercolor where the binder is just gum Arabic, honey or glycerin. it uses a glue as well. the binder has an animal hide glue in it. That's why the texture is different from what your used to. They are great budget paints for any skill level!
@@Gloomyraindrop I've used them before and they are pretty nice. The glue isn't sticky or anything as you paint. It's just a binding agent for the pigment. It does give a slight shine if you over layer it. It comes down to taste and budget.
@@Gloomyraindrop Its a different kind of paint. It is supposed to be that way, and they work perfectly fine. They aren't watercolor they are gansai. I found a video explaining it. I'm sure you could find it if you lookup watercolor vs. gansai.
Hey Kasey ! Actually , this set is "gansai" paint , and not watercolors. Watercolor is à mix between pigments and gum arabic basically but gansai is pigment + animal glue et and a lot of other things ! It's really different :3 Gansai is used for japanese traditional paintings , that's why the pans are so big , the traditional brushes must fit in them :3
Kasey: I'd be surprised if you never had heard of them within the art community! Me: Well Kasey, you'd be surprised how broke I am. Edit: this comment haunts me now because everyone in the comments decided to argue when i made a very stupid self-depricating joke. If it makes any of you that decided to argue below happy I finally have enough money to check these out so please stop arguing please ;-;
Nona Is A Potato Art supplies are v expensive... Personally I only know about certain art supplies is bc I look them up when I’m looking for new ones.. So I kinda get where og coming from
13:30 That's because these paints aren't watercolours! They are actually gansai paints which are really similar to watercolour, except they layer a bit less and the binder is animal glue. That's why they were a bit sticky at times. I have tried these paints and have not been disappointed. I highly reccommend them and great video, Kasey, as always!
chic flash nope, not vegan. But there are vegan brands! A lot of higher end(Schmincke Horadam, Sennelier, M. Graham etc) aren’t vegan, but their student paints can be. For example Schmincke Horadam aren’t, but Schmincke Akademie is *correction, the binders are usually vegan(except the honey based ones) but the pigments are not. Technically Kuratake Gansai tambi aren’t even watercolour but Gansai, which is always based of pigment and glue usually animal hide glue
@@zaurxzx sakura koi watercolors are vegan and some of winsor and newton cotmans and pebeo fine watercolors too,arteza and prima marketing all vegan with good prices
+chic flash I once read a bigger debate about it and as far as I remember this exact brand in fact does not use an animal glue and therefore is vegan. On the other hand they aren't "Gansai Tambi" in this case and are labeled wrong, what bothered the other half of people. I guess, if you are interrested in them, do your own research about them, there actually is a chance that these are vegan.
Just a FYI:These aren’t actually watercolors, they are gansai paints.They are made differently from traditional watercolors and are more opaque.They contain animal hide glue.They lift easy as well.
I love these paints! Im using smaller set... 36 set definitely a lot and i'll feel overwhelmed. The paint is good if you like using lifting technique!!
I've also got a smaller set! I love it, I don't feel limited by the smaller color selection and I've been using them for about a year now. also, seeing the clean new ones really put mine to shame, they're a well-loved mess.
Right! I agree. These are the first decent watercolors I got as I'm a beginner, and they lift very well. That's why I love these ones but I think I'm not really getting the real "watercolor" experience with these ones.
these paints are actually a traditional japanese style watercolor. (you're like whats that mean?) Well, like there's Gouache and watercolor varieties, these paints are known as Gansai which is to say its a brand that was made to be paired with japanese made paper. (think caligraphy paper) The pans are designed to be large so that japanese brushes can fit in them without damaging the bristles. As for the paint themselves, from what i've seen, they don't mix very well. Also as for the textures of the paints, its probably just due to the pigment. Certain pigments disperse easily into binder than others. I think it has to do with how fine the pigment is, So the finer the pigment, the smoother the paint is, the courser the pigment, the bumpier it probably is. (that also leads me to think that the finer pigment pans probably have a little more binder so it may feel more gloopy)
Japanese watercolors are different from traditional western ones as they are intended for a different use and don't mix or layer as well. When it comes to affordable traditional style watercolors, I cant recommend st Petersburg Sonnet enough. I bought my set of 24 for about 15$ on ebay and absolutely gorgeous. Not chalky at slightest, super pigmented and transparent, spread beautifully in water. Ive been using them for years and I love them so much. Hope this helps ☺️
in this case, I'm sorry to say, yes you where ripped off! I mean I don't know what country you are from but in Germany you pay around 25-30€ for the set of 36
@@Tippel3 I bought them from a fancy art store in France cause I couldn't find them anywhere else and Amazon doesn't ship to my country so I was getting desperate lol
It depends on where you are - her in Oz pretty much the cheapest you can get the 36 colour set is over $60AUD. Its still a REALLY good price though for what they are and what the next cheapest price point for quality is like.
@@Stacy_SJA I would check out Sadie Saves Lives’s video called _What is Gansai | Watercolour 101_ because she explains it much better than I could. The short of it is the binders are different and the traditional applications are different - but seriously, her video is the best comprehensive source on the internet about it. Also, you can use them in a more Western watercolour application but it works differently because of the natural of the materials used intended for traditional Japanese watercolour applications (very few layers - bold washes of colour and complimented heavily with ink). Again, watch the video, it will explain it better. I can’t even find the Wikipedia page for them anymore, which is strange, so yeah. Hope that helps!
@@SourEggz I got the Gansai set a few weeks ago.. and your comment helped so much! Just wanted to thank you again! You’re right- they’re so much better when used without a bunch of layers. With the right brushes & technique, like a dagger or cat’s tongue , you can create amazing one brush stroke art pieces. And they’re perfect for inking over and under. I bet they’re even better with the traditional brushes. So thank so much for the helpful comment!
@@Stacy_SJA Aw! This comment made my day! Thank you so much for the feedback! I love that you are enjoying your new paint set and I bet your artwork is beautiful!
These paints are very nice but they are very different from watercolor (learned from experience since I own the set lol) they don't mix or layer well since they're not really made for that but You can still get lovely effects with them! Great video! ♥️
The answer is YES! I use these paints all the time and they work perfectly! I’ve been painting for a little over a year and I make some high level stuff. They are great and they last a long time. When I started I thought they sucked, but now that I know how to use watercolors, they are amazing. I even have some techniques that I can only use with Gansai paints like this. Totally worth the $36
The Windsor and Newton 12-pan box is very good (around 10$) ! The only low point for me is the brown (that is a little chalky in my opinion) but you can always replace it!
I've just looked these paints up and they're vegan and cruelty-free. I know this is often a concern for people who don't want to use Japanese paints because they often contain animal-derived ingredients. 😊
"I'm surprised if you haven't seen these in the RU-vid artist's community" But, you're like... The only art RU-vidr I watch. The only others are Lavender Towne, Tennelle Flowers, and Nerdy Crafter, and none of them do water color often. This is a compliment by the way. I like you enough to watch you painting stuff. :)
im so happy to see u posted about this. i now know my paper is what is causing the issue not the paints! i love them. they are my first set of pans" as i normally use tubed water color. i like that they arent traditional western style too! 🥰
When Kasey called the raccoon "big bootied" I instantly thought of that picture where Bill Nye says "that raccoon has no business being that thicc" lol.
I agree that these watercolors are the best for beginners! I’ve had my set for about a year and I love them. Even though I’ve been watercoloring for two years I’ve learned the most using the gansai tambi set. ( and by watching these videos)
Can confirm they are absolutely amazing. I have been using them for nearly 2 years now. They are so pretty. My only complaints are they layer a bit weird and I have nearly ran out of white so multiple white pans in watercolor sets just in general would be so nice. Otherwise they are beautiful. Highly recommend.
I have the gansai since 2016 and I love them I use them in all my watercolor pieces and honestly I love their texture and how I can add a lot of water and it’s still thick 💕😍
These watercolors are really good! They’re the ones I use, and I’ve never had a problem with the watercolors themselves at all. They’re pretty cheap, and that exact set comes in smaller sets with less colors! I recommend starting off with the smallest set of you wanna just try them out
I have these watercolours and I would sometimes think. " Hey... I wonder if Kasey Golden would review this. " Also love your videos and you have been one of my role models for awhile now ((When I saw the thumbnail a instantly clicked it. ))
i have recently purchased these paints, did a swatch sheet also as well as using the lid. the majority of the colors are more opaque and remind me alot of gouache. im enjoying using them, the box size is perfect, its smaller than my watercolor pallet. i am branching out from traditional paintings and painting a few abstracts and these paints have impressed me. ty for sharing your video. love your drawings.
I've been using these watercolors for years (they're my very first set and I'm still using them!) And I've honestly been waiting for your review on them lol
Looks really promising! I want to try experimenting more with watercolors so I think I might get this for my birthday :D Thank you for making this video :)
I love these paints I got them last year as a present and I use them all the time. They’re better for more expressive paintings rather than a painting that requires a lot of layers because they lift veryyyy easily
@IY3S i kept coming back but didnt think much abt it and then i was like hmm well i like the content so imma do it. ive also started watching a video abt her and other art youtubers and wanted to wait before subscribing but i did it anyways soo
They are probably great as a complementary material for traditional western watercolor. I want to use both mediums in the future for diffrent efects, but I need to save money. But yes, according to the reviews, they are practicly different mediums, so its worth it to invest in both if you can
Kuretake: writing for me to reference back to. -They hate water/ lift easily -They don’t stain -Transparent first layer and opaque second layer works best -They bloom like crazy with very obvious borders -If worked with transparently, mixed media is the way to go, especially with colored pencil. -Vibrant and saturated colors for that POP. -If these paints dry on a smooth surface, you can peel them and put it back in the palette.
i am so shocked right now, because I was just casually stumbling upon these watercolors and wanted to see how they perform, so I looked for a video on youtube... usually when I search for art stuff reviews they are mostly old videos, but this one was uploaded just today, I'm surprised :D
I've been eyeing up these watercolors. I already have the gold and pastel ones. I think these are next on one of my art supply purchases. Thank you. :)
I bought my kuretake last year and i'm very happy with it ! I'm not a beginner in watercolor but not an expert yet, and it's work for me pretty well with my watercolor's technics but i think it can't be for anyone, i recommand them for people who want bright and "strong" colors + people who didn't make 35 different layers because colors can be re-activate really quickly for me !
“We’re gunna need to give him some friends” Me aggressively chanting at the screen: “RAT RAT RAT RAT!” *doesnt give him a rat friend* Me: :( (Not hate I still love it I just like rats lol)
but be aware that these would be more like a side step and not a step up from you point, they aren't western watercolors as you have now. They are Gansai paint, basically the asian way of watercolor, close but different and made for a different type of coloring. Also they are made with (animal) glue etc instead of your usual binders, that's what Kasey noticed when they would get slimy, gloppy or sticky
Since I don't have watercolours, I use a piece of acrylic (which I somehow had lying around), and I scribble on it with my primary school felt pens, then I do watercolour with that. My friend taught me this and it's what all my friends and I have been doing for a while. It's awesome if you can't get your hands on watercolours! :D Any cheap, kid's water-based markers works perfectly fine and looks good.
Hi Kasey! So gansai is a type of watercolor that’s different from western watercolor in the sense that it’s binder is a type of animal-based glue. That’s why it gets that “goopy texture”! It’s made with that glue because of the style of painting, as it’s meant to sit more on top of the paper than what you may be used to. Also gansai paints aren’t really meant to be mixed , hence the reason there’s no actual pallet(if mixed too much they get really muddy). As for the texture in the pans when they’re dry, I’m not really sure what causes that. Hope this answers some of your questions about this pallet!
Just want to let everyone know that gansai is a specific type of Japanese watercolor. The are less transparent than watercolor but no where near as opaque as gouche. They dont glaze very well but if you are careful you can get some distinct layers. They also are NOT vegan friendly (unless the brand you buy states that). The pans are larger as to allow the use of traditional Japanese brushes which are larger than regular watercolor brushes. The kuretake brand in particular arent very lightfast however if you dont display them in direct light they are fine. If you have western watercolors I do recommend you give gansai watercolors a try its definitely a different feel. I own both Gansai and Western watercolors and, while I love them both, I prefer western watercolors for final illustrations. I do reach for the gansai for sketchbook and color study usage.
I started with Rosa gallery. They are also great! Thx for help! Also hey that polaroid is a reminder of Kaseys meadow drawing with oil paint. Change my mind.
I've used this set and the Windsor & Newton large set together and to be honest I've enjoyed using the kuretake as much as W&N! I love how opaque they are and tbh the opaque white has been a lifesaver for a beginner and novice in watercolour (when I've coloured over a light shiny area etc). These last ages too!!
I love the way you come up with your little illustrations! My creativity doesn't quite flow that way... super jelly! Thanks for the great review! I was curious about these!
My first watercolors that weren't side-walk chalk being sold as watercolor was a set of Daler-Rowney Aquafine pan watercolors. I fell in love with watercolor because of them. Inexpensive and high quality. My second is Winsor Newton Cotman pans. I haven't experienced chalkiness in either of brand of the colors I own, though my Cotman pans don't seem to try. They seem to be perminately gooey. This works for me since it allows me to scoop some pure pigment into a pallet to water down and I can travel with my Aquafines, but if it's your only set and you want to travel with them. Beware, I suppose.
