It looks like a cute little set and I like the palette and mixing space, but wow, the amount of paint in each pan is definitely disappointing! I probably wouldn’t purchase after seeing that (also, I don’t think that colour selection would work for me).
As a gouache artist I can tell you that these do not behave like gouache in any way except that they don’t move around wet into wet like western watercolor. Otherwise, they are just senmi opaque/semi transparent watercolor.
Hello! Love your Kitty! I enjoyed your review of this WC and really liked watching you mix some of the colors together. I have really not mixed colors yet. I'm pretty new to WC but seeing you do that just made me want to try mixing now. I have 3 sets of Kuretake WC. That's the first WC I bought after watching a bunch of YT videos when I first started painting. I do love Kuretake! Thanks for sharing!❤🎉
I definitely think the "transparent watercolor" version of this palette has a better color selection, but that obviously doesn't help if you specifically want gansai paints 😅 (and probably wouldn't help you either tbh, since it's a pretty "boring," basic set) This is one of my favourite watercolor travel palettes, even though I'm not a huge fan of half pans. I prefer wells or any kind of wider pans (the fclub magnetic palette + large pans bought separately is my favourite combo), but I don't think there's any other palette out there that's this compact with this many decently sized mixing spaces! But yeah, it's not the best value for the amount of paint, that's for sure.
Seeing this I am quite happy I haven't bought this ever, I was tempted. I only have the metallic set from Kuretake, the bottom was seen very fast with those ones too, and even I like the creamyness, I'd like to have more than just a thin layer. I prefer full pans or tubes anyway. Thank you for the video and your hard work for us to be able to watch it!
Thank you for the review! I only have the bigger kuretake pans in two larger sets so it was interesting to see this smaller one, but I am surprised how little color there is in the pans! And as Kuretake is not very heavy pigmented one need to take quite a large quantity of pain evwry time so I fear these would soon run out, but for a quick sketching kit they might work. I am a bit dissapointed w the Kuretake colours as I find they easily get muddy when blending. I think that may be be why their sets are so large? That cat is just so cute😃🐾!
Thank you! Yes, I think the amount of paint really makes this set not worth the $$. I think the regular sets are large because that's the standard size in traditional Japanese paints... Those larger pans look the same but they are so large that there's still a lot of paint.
I haven't decided what I think of the Kuretake paints yet but I think it's crucial to remember that they are not Western style watercolors, they are not used the same way and not necessarily meant to be mixed.
I agree! For me they are a lovely hybrid and behave more like gouache. As you mentioned, I didn't know they weren't meant to be mixed but in practice I rarely mix them (the larger pans and sets I have). Also none of their palettes come with mixing areas, I guess that would explain it! Thanks for sharing ❤️
Your Kitty is really adorable.....wow that's not a lot of paint.....Got the 48 full pan ones not too long ago and have heard they put less paint in those so the Japanese brushes could fit in and that kinda made sense but with these little pans should be considered samples really thx for sharing I'm with you Faith Ann.......same with colors not all the exciting
Hullo Irit, I have been not happy with the full pans sets by Gansai Tambi they are simply NOT FULL! Now they put out this travel set with unfilled half pans! I do not like that they have made their own "special" half pans another a dumb move for sure! I just found ROSA tubes off of e-Bay now if I could find the Gansai tubes I might buy more of them! All I seem to be able to find are the half filled, full pans! I am glad you got this to show your viewers and subscribers. This set and how/why someone might want to collect a unique palette with this set of paints, but other than that reason why would anyone buy this? I have almost completely stopped buying pre-loaded pans. I want to have more paint to fill my depleted pans and buying tubes allows an Artist to do this very thing! Now if I had never tried Gansai Tambi paints before, if this set were dirt cheap and at $40.00 it is NOT! I might try it but so expensive and 12 half empty colors with Black&White? No thank you. Thanks for the video and review/first impressions Irit.
I'm grateful that you shared your experience with these, as I have been really wanting to try this brand for a long time but never made the leap. The palette is fabulous for travel, but those pans being only half-filled... oh boy. The colors are nice, but could've gone without the gray and buff colors, maybe. Another red, an orange, or a deeper green? You're right, though, so many options to adjust! For now, I'm happy to see this one in action and I love that your cat's name is Lucy! Such a great name for a cat! Cheers! ~ Mark
Thanks Mark! My kids named her, her brother is called Bowie (yup, after the greatest David). Glad it was helpful, I'm seriously considering sending it back, for the paint it is 100% not worth it.
There's another version of this palette with Western style paints, labelled "transparent watercolors" instead of "gansai" - it's still got a black and white, and the half-filled pans, but it's a bit more of a "standard" set of colors. Eve Bold has an old review of it! It's honestly one of my favourite travel palettes, just because of the great mixing space.
Lol I have studio helper cats who like to guest star in my videos, too. It's too bad there's so little paint in there!! Looks like a cool set, otherwise. I do really like kuretake pens, especially their brush pens. 🤩
Cute set, but the colors aren't for me so for the price there are better portable palettes out there. Kitty and your cute drawing made up for the half empty not so useful paints though ❤
I like the idea. The implementation not so much. I don't think Kuretake has quite figured usability out. You have a choice of gigantic or tiny pans. And yeah, the range in this set is weird. Gut it! Fix it! Do it! ;-). Thanks for sharing.
I just checked your Amazon link (I'm in the US). The set you have isn't available through Amazon. Only "through other sellers". Just an FYI for everyone.
it is completely unabsorbant! i imagine it takes it longer to dry than regular watercolor paper so it should be something to consider in a sketchbook if speed matters :)
I guess you are paying for the palette, pen, brush and paint samples. I think they were pretty stingy on the amount of paint, and for that reason I won’t buy it.
