Cheap vs Expensive Crayola and Schmincke Watercolor Painting Comparison and Review 

one of the few artists that actually talks about the topic at hand without rambling on tangents that have nothing to do with the discussion. GREAT tutorial. Your speech is very clear and easy to follow...this comment coming from someone with only one ear that hears.

it's crazy to me how much nicer the crayola still looked at the end minus all the struggles that went into it. Absolutely mind boggling!! I know paper really makes all the difference but still -- this is great.

I think what actually does make a difference is the paper you use. Cheap paper just does not absorb water well, and makes wet on wet difficult. I would love to see you do the same painting on two different types of paper: arches and then a cheap brand!

I’m a watercolor beginner and have been using Crayola super tips markers! I squiggle the marker on a ceramic plate and add water. Or, if I want a bolder look, I’ll lay the marker down on my watercolor paper and then add the water to the page. The colors are gorgeously vibrant, as only Crayola can do. I’m learning color theory too so I’m not confident in mixing colors just yet - I want to see the color I’m actually going to get on paper. My box of 50 markers was $7.50 from Target!

Emily: tapes paintings to the windows Neighbours passing by: Look, she got two nice parrots!

It would also be interesting if you did this same challenge but used the same high quality brush on both paintings. Some artists might invest in a good brush before committing to higher quality paint.

I wish you had just use the same brush on both so we could just compare the paint. But this was an interesting video.

Van Gogh watercolor is also really cheap, yet lightfast and joyfull to use. Where I live it's slightly cheaper then Windsor and Newton. Great video! The lightfast test is a great bonus.

I started WC with a Michael's brand paint and paper and moved pretty quickly to Cotman paints and Canson and Strathmore paper. After a year i started purchasing professional paints and cotton paper. I still use cheaper paper for practice though. Big difference with better supplies. And of course practice. Tfs

Wow - the fading is significant! In just 18 days, too.

a very strong endorsement for quality cotton paper.

Instead of Cotman I'd recommend van Gogh as a beginners watercolor brand. I started with Cotman and thought I wasn't able to mix colors the right way.

Love both paintings! Thanks for sharing your expertise!

Loved this video

I think the difference with cheap and expensive paint is the experience. More expensive paint normally makes the experience easier. Like say the brush the brush was much easier to use in the expensive watercolors set and more expensive watercolors probably layer easier then cheap ones. But you can still make if not the same then pretty close stuff with cheap or expensive paint.

Totally enjoyed watching this video. Thank you.

I think you should upload the rough sketch of your paintings as it will be easier for us draw

Great and useful information as always Emily. Thank you !

I love your art and videos. TYFS this information, I really enjoy learning from you. Have a wonderful day 🐣

I'm trying watercolor paint for the first time and trying to find budget friendly ones. This is a very helpful video even over time. Thanks.

I love this video and your art work is amazing!

While a talented and experienced artist can create something with cheap paint... I don't think the amount of struggle involved to do so was adequately described in this experiment. Everything is harder and in some cases impossible. Blending, glazing, flow, mixing, pigmentation... it all directly affects not only your results but how hard it is to achieve them. Watercolor isn't an easy medium... give yourself the best odds for success. First, you need cotton paper. Period. Anything else will simply make your job harder than it has to be. After that buy the best paint you can afford. You need only a few colors.. and many small sets don't include them. You need a lightfast, transparent, warm and cool of each primary... red, yellow, and blue. Add burnt sienna for easy browns and greys (mixed with the warm blue). That is seven colors, and you can paint almost anything with them. When you consider how few paints you actually need it's easier to budget for the artist quality. Then a decent synthetic brush designed for watercolor (I suggest either the Princeton aqua elite or neptune lines.. the first is faux sable, the second faux squirrel.. just depends on your preference for water capacity and snap). I started with Cotman and it was awful, it's been outsourced to China and is not the quality it once was. It was so bad I almost quit the medium.. thankfully I tried something else first. If you simply cannot afford artist quality brands Van Gogh is the best student grade on the market.. it behaves like watercolor should and every color is lightfast. If you can, Roman Szmal is an excellent next step, it's artist grade, comes in full pans so you get a ton of paint for your money, and is about $5 a pan. Another option are the Paul Rubens professional paints (only the professional line...it is in a pink tin) on Amazon.. they are very good, pigment based, and also way less expensive than other brands. White Nights is often suggested, and some of their paints are great.. but many have inferior lightfastness so I would avoid. It's impossible to put together a base set from them with LF1 lightfastness currently, the yellows and reds are especially poor unless you go with cadmiums and they do not mix easily for beginners because they are opaque. Both Daniel Smith and DaVinci have lovely six tube sets that include all of your primaries.. you can just add the sienna and you are good to go. DaVinci is a much better deal since you get 3x the paint for about the same price.

I originally was using the Artists Loft watercolor brand from Michael's, but soon I bought the Windsor/Cottman pocket set. I like them so much better. I just purchased a 24 color set of ArtWhale watercolors, can't wait to try them out.

Such a helpful video! Love it!

Thank you!!! That was a fun video 🙂 my favorite word of wisdom is 100%cotton paper 😊😊😊

You should try ibc il colori watercolor, I have a set of 21 watercolor and it is the best watercolor I have ever tried

You are an awesome artist i love all of your drawings ❤️

They were so similar Crayola did it again ☺️ btw your art was awesome

Thank you. Very useful.

Excellent videos! Very informative

I collect vintage art supplies and have several sets of watercolors from the years 1960's to the early 2000's. Some of them have that gooey slimy feel and a few paint out beautifully.....like the Reeves student paint tin and the Guitar opaque watercolors. I have 1 Crayola set and the colors are nice. Vintage Prang sets are nice too. I just play around with them....make cards...as I know they will get tossed eventually by the recipient. I use all professional paint and paper though for serious projects or commissions. This was a fun video.....I just subscribed.

Basically about the binder and pigment quality. Proper storage evens thing a little.

Hi! I started watercolor painting in 1994 (I was 24) and I was taught with a full sheet of Arches 140lbs CP WC Paper, a №10 Robert Simmons Round paintbrush and a set of 8 watercolor 'pans' by Prang! They worked really surprisingly well, lol! I'd suggest every newbie in watercolor try it out first. It tends to teach you a lot about color mixing and how to use the water vs pigment ratio.

I think the slimy texture of the Crayola paints comes from the need to make it washable. For the same reason I assume the pigments do not stain.

When I was in my school I was using 1$ watercolours, but I was really bad. But - my mom, what she did! She used those watercolours as gouache paints and created the most beautiful parrot

Pop out those Crayola Washable WC tabs. They make a good crayon. Like colored pencil almost, but chunky form. I love those things. I wish there was a crayon with that texture/formula.

Amazing paintings.

“With a name like Schminka, it has to be good!” (Sorry, I couldn’t resist!)

Dear Emily, I find both paintings gorgeous and the infos about paints were very useful! 👍I love Schmincke paints and also would love to paint along with you, but can not find the photo reference of macaw. Is it from Pixabay? 🙏Thank you! ❤🙂

I struggle with the dry look of watercolor so I liked the finish of the crayola paint. But either way it really takes skill to make a great painting and I don’t have that 😅.

The Crayola looks nicer!

Dye and gelatin? Is that what Crayola watercolors are made from? Schmincke is made with sugar and spice and everything nice. Lol.

Sure wish this had been for Patreon customers with detail. I really want to color the parrot with PH Martin since they are so vivid in color. I’m going to give it a try. But, I can be really good or terribly bad. Lol

We can use it for practice 🤔☺️

Good video but it would have been fairer if you used the same brush. That Crayola brush looked really bad,

I imagine they use some kind of food coloring and edible thickener. Because they know children sometimes eat paint.

I can't tell

Thanks. It was enjoyable to watch but then now it is time for me to start doing some of my own work and stop making excuses.

You did that with Crayola!? So now I know it’s just my sucky art 😭

crayola are designed to be washable...so, not surprised they're not lightfast. For the cheap paint, maybe shoulda used a student or crafting paint, not a kids paint.

As the video shows, paint quality doesn't matter. Few, if any, beginners' paintings see the light of day - sunshine or high-UV lighting - or are expected to stand up to any sort of environment for more than a short period. Buy what makes you happy with results. When you outgrow the less expensive paints, move up a notch or two. ONLY when your paintings sell for prices high enough to warrant the expense should an artist buy premium quality/priced paints. With watercolors, DO buy the best papers you can afford, and if possible, avoid any non-rag watercolor paper, because no matter how good or bad the paint is, if the paper doesn't reflect that quality, it makes the entire creation crappy and is a sure way to make a novice give up and look for something else to do. Good video, but the premise is false. Use paints you like and, as you improve, buy better.