ARE THESE WATERCOLOURS WORTH IT? Testing Cotman Watercolours 

These were my first watercolors before I graduated to tubes. It is a nice travel palette.

Kirsty Partridge Art, Your artwork is truly amazing.❤️❤️. I recently created an image of a red panda inspired by your video and I would really like it if you could create a tutorial that is more in depth about how you create your watercolour pieces, I think it would really help me Improve my watercolour skills as I am new to them. You are such an inspiration, thank you Kirsty 😊

I have a couple sets but find they are harder to re-wet and I have to use more glazes to build color. They are a very good beginner enthusiast set.

Professional watercolors have more pigment and usally a lot of colors are made from single pigment (they're better for mixing). The professional lines have a wider range of colors available and they tend to have better lightfastness). That said, student/academic grade are a great way to start or to do sketches or study pieces.

yes I've got them and if I'm honest I adore them far cheaper and just as good quality. all I would say is the Chinese white isn't as pigmented as I would expect but the little half pans are so cheap making watercolour really affordable medium

Um new video idea???? 💪👽💪

Zimrian is present yup Yup YUP YYYYYYUUUUUUUPPPPPP!!!!!!

I've seen some nice work with coffee.

Exactly my experience, van gogh has some great watercolors too though maybe more opaque and less runny. I only buy professional grade when i want a Cobalt pigment for example or Perylene pigments, primateks or whatever pigment that is just not available in the cotman or van gogh lines and that i want. I do feel like Holbein watercolors are something else and worth to have if the price is good because how they run, an how to smooth and high quality they are.

yes she does look a lot like her

Leslie Burke?

How about Keira Knightley?

Dania fcb11 same here!

Same! Oil pastels is now, but at the beginning of this year it was acrylic!

The Duke of Kidderminster I could only find them for 89.99 but it was on sale for 35.99? 🤷🏻‍♀️

The Duke of Kidderminster try amazon

lol theres something called lightfastness u know? you dont need to be picasso to know some basic knowledge about paints - which you should probably try to learn about too.

How rude! You are asking an art tutor if she knows what archival means! Cotman are not as good as the W&N artist grade for various reasons. If you know artists who sell their Cotman paintings without turning them into prints first, then they are in the wrong because those paintings will fade. And finally, you are still wrong about the pigment load. Do a comparison. Cotman are weaker and duller, the same brand artist grade are brighter and stronger. Stop being a reverse art snob!

@@suewilkinson910 Please, have you ever heard of lightfast? Read your information on the watercolours on their site, it will tell you. Being an artist doesn't mean you must have high-grade tools.

@@suewilkinson910 Not all art teachers are good. :/

@Crucibelle i am afraid in this case, cheaper do equals lower quality. Cotman is a good student grade paints, but it doesnt compare with the professionals one. I love cotman and im using it together with van gogh watercolor. Both are great and affordable.

Sadly, every brand sold in AU (even the local AS brand) cost heaps!! :(

@@memmik1448 Yeah ;w;

@@memmik1448 I cri

It is green shade from my knowledge

@@gnathp4497 thanks! i appreciate it :)

Kimberly Colley but then that’s what your getting when you get a small set, plus personally I think you get what you pay for. If you wanted better colours either buy a larger set or buy a customisable palette. I’m pretty sure Winsor and Newtown sell their cotman range individually so if you want more specific colours then do it that way.

Menna's Corner Agreed. The problem is those Cotman half-pan sets are marketed for beginners.

I owned both. I think they are both equally good. Only downside with Koh-i-noor is they only come in sets, not sold individually. So if you ran out of one of your colors, you will have to get a new set/find alternatives to fill up the empty pan. For W&N, you can buy replacement easily.

Memmi K I ended up buying the set and I’m in love with it. Thank you for your opinion :D

Marcotronic aren't that a very not fair comparison?

When you watch the video you get the impression that Cotman watercolors don't differ very much from the Winsor & Newton artist grade line and I just wanted to point out that there definitely *is* a lot of difference regarding pigmentation and vibrancy between Cotmans and artist grade watercolors (no matter from which brand basically). It's clear that there is a huge price difference and you actually can't compare those but when you watch the video people might get the impression you don't see any difference here. I just wanted to point out my point of view here...

Marcotronic thanks, i do get the impression that cotman and winsor and newton's artist grade doesn't differ much, but i just thought that maybe the wn artist grade is "bad" for an artist grade, because i've watched and read reviews on schmincke and all said it was great, i haven't seen a lot of wn professional reviews though. I only have experiences with cotman and it works well for my uses, (and such an upgrade from my reeve's), here in my country cotman is the highest quality i can find in stores, but well it's enough for my purpose.

By the way: The best "non-artist-grade" watercolors I have tried are "Sonnet" by Nevskaya Palitra (Russian) - supercheap here in Germany and I'm totally amazed by the quality. Super high pigmented and vivid as hell! Absolute recommendation! Here I really don't notice any difference between those and the expensive horadam watercolors by Schmincke.

Are you serious??? There is indeed a LOT difference between the student and the artist grade watercolors by Windsor & Newton. If you aren't able to see the difference you should question your own "state" as an artist. You are really honestly believing you can judge my success as an artist based on my ability to differentiate between student and artist grade watercolors? Seriously? I've been drawing and painting for about 42 years now and I'm working as a professional designer. But I'm sure you are a very very successful artist yourself when I read you comment. **lol** You really made my day :)

Jenny Ann Art I would suggest not worrying too much about that and just paint and practice with them. When a color runs out, just replace it with professional grade paint :)

For practice, yes. For selling art, no.

I would only sell prints that were painted in these paints. I think that what upset me more than anything is one I'm only on very limited income and still want to learn how to paint. Despite the financial limitations I wanted to be able to purchase a good brand of watercolour that was within my budget ecen if it meant I still had to save up for them. Secondly I'm a beginner at drawing and painting and I believe that any beginner should try to use a good quality medium no matter what it is, where paint is concerned it should be at the very least a high quality student grade because poor mediums just don't give a beginner a decent headstart. I felt that being told something I already knew and in the tone it came across to me was that my purchase wasn't good enough and that I was judged to be as a hobbyist when in actual fact I've made a very conscious effort to put other things on hold to learn how to paint and spend several hours a day doing drawing/or painting and so while I'm not yet at a level to be called a professional artist I certainly do not regard myself as a hobbyist. Yes to some I may seem like I've taken this to heart but when one comes from the background like mine it did feel like that's not good enough, I'm not good enough and if I continue using student grade albeit a good brand then I'll never be good enough. I know of many artists who use them not just for studies but also for saleable prints to. It's just some people need to think about what/how they voice their opinion right or wrong. I also believe that if one wants to create art they should just do it with whatever they can source than not at all. I'm truly over the underlying negativity around the archival levels of art mediums.

Mary I wasn't having a go at you personally in fact it was to anyone who read this thread I guess I shouldn't have tagged you my apologies. I was trying to explain how the particular incident made me feel and my opinion in relation to new artists and student grade mediums. I will cut and paste my comment and add it to the my original comment or delete it altogether.

Don't let criticism turn you away from your dreams. There will always have people with different point of view than yours. I have seen many artists using the Cotman Watercolors and selling their originals. They just use a really good UV varnish (archival grade) to protect their paintings. That being said, I would suggest you keep your originals and sell prints. Usually, people don't have that much money and can't afford the price of an original. But prints are cheaper and you definitely don't need to worry about the quality of your paint. Begin with the student grade watercolors, see how you can grow with it and when the time (and money) is right, change to professional grades watercolors. But don't put that much pressure on you, we all begin somewhere :)

Those colours are all hues in the Cotman set. But to be fair I tried buying the real cerulean as an extra pan and the results were not particularly better than the hue IMO.