Review: Daniel Smith Watercolor Palette Pan Sets 

Teoh, so glad you are talking about this and you have communicated with the Daniel Smith Company. I just dont understand the palette. I would be afraid that the paint would end up all over my clothes and the no labeling. You are a You Tuber and I am just a tuber ( a person that buys paint in tubes and creates my own sets and palettes. Thanks again for your time.

I think that this company has become kind of arrogant , with pricing and because of their huge selection of paints... is a shame , really ...

I agree about the box.. very interesting to know why they didn’t design a better palette. Since they have access to so many artist who can advise them..

So a hundred bucks for 2 useless palettes. 15 colors in pans that fly out when you finally get the most awkward lid open and no real way to put more pans in if you would so wish. Companies are getting to big for their britches when they think anyone but youtubers are going to buy their products. Not to mention a mixing palette that includes color you can mix yourself. No need for a convenience color. Ridiculous.

Thank you so much for doing the price and quantity comparisons! I am not getting the set but this is still extremely helpful for people like me who forget to pay attention to these details and end up getting a bad deal. Really teaches us to be careful before investing our money into a product. :)

I don't know WHO was the final decider on that BOX and PRICE, but they need to find a new job. Seriously. Did they even try using it before it went to market? BIG FAIL. I have never used DS colors. I was hoping this would be a good way to try them. I will be buying the 6 pack of reds ,blues ,and yellows and add 6 others.I have a spare 12 PAN Meeden metal box that is a PERFECT DESIGN. This is what happens when a company gets sold and grows too fast.

If you have a problem with staining from phthalo blue, rubbing a white rubber eraser usually removes it.

At first I couldn't figure out why they included the extra palette, but maybe they realized the design flaw and are getting rid of them in favor of a better box. I hope so because Daniel Smith is an excellent quailty watercolor and worthy of a workable palette box!

I love how YOU edit out all the unnecessary moments in your videos!!! I find the extra work you go to for us to be SO THOUGHTFUL OF YOU TO YOUR VIEWERS! It's such a delight to watch yours!!! I have learned so darned much from you!!! THANK YOU.

I was super excited for these because of that big logo on the front. I love DS and use it for most of what I do because it’s the best I can buy locally. I was really disappointed with the box too. Feels like something someone 3d printed as a test. I’m with you on that. Love the colors though. I’m a huge box nerd- I build them for fun even though I know they don’t really have any effect on skill haha

Good lord that box. I would probably move those pans in my Prima Marketing tin

I can't believe that Daniel Smith would put their high quality paints in such a poorly designed palett box. It is pretty much useless to me. On Amazon you can purchase a Meeden metal box that holds 12 pans for $10.99. And you can get 100 empty half pans for 13.99. I have purchased the Meeden palette box in the past and it is very high quality in my opinion. So for around a $24.00 investment you could use the rest of your !00.00 to purchase tub paint and fill your pans a number of times and be able to purchase the colors of your choosing.

I just bought the scratch made journal palette with da Vinci watercolours. 18 colours for 70$ usd. It's beautiful

I am glad i decided to go for the tubes of my liking and a mijello palette. May have cost me 20 euro more but from the looks of it that was a good call... pitty they did not pay attention to the lid,i would have tossed it, im not keeping a useless palette if i can not mix in it.

Thanks for the detailed and honest review! It's important to talk about the flaws in design. That's why appreciate your opinions before buying supplies myself. Thank you!

The 2 palette boxes will end up in the landfill soon because they aren’t useful. 🗑 Shame, Daniel Smith.

I've been looking at this, but since I have tubes of Daniel Smith, in the colors I love, and lots of much better palette boxes (even some I made myself from tin pencil boxes) you just saved me $100... thanks Teoh.

This is Daniel Smith's first time doing pan boxes and I hope they take this feedback to heart and make a better box next gen. I want the colors of Inspiration set because I want the colors themselves. I'll use the box to store my cotman halfpans that got displaced when I threw my DS essentials set in the cotman box!

Thanks for the review! I wanted to order this set for myself, but after watching the video I changed my mind. I will continue to use the tubes) Thank you!

I know someone who has DS watercolor paint and I was very impressed by the bright rich colors. I may just get the tubes I like and go from there. TY for the video xoxo

Thank you for the nice report you have done for us during these past for days !✋️✨✨✨🎨

Very helpful, thank you. And I agree on the USB gray name!

Thank you, Teoh. Yes, quite disappointing to see the box-palette quality. Good to know that the paints are excellent.

Thanks so much for your reviews! I've now made the decision to chuck the gorgeous DS Colours of Inspiration boxed set out of my cart and purchase the individual DS tubes for a very similar price. I'll be squeezing them into a Meeden palette alongside the DS Essentials, Primatek, and Alvaro Castagnet sets that I've collected over the past year...And I'll have loads of Colours of Inspiration left to refill the pans later. 😊👍

I just got the Daniel Smith Colours of Inspiration 6 pan set. I added my Daniel Smith Primatek colours set to it and I must say I’m loving the pallette combination outcome!!!

Teoh, I really appreciate your reviews. You take the time to point out the flaws of the products you review. I am so amazed that Daniel Smith got this product so wrong. Especially the palette design and how overpriced it is when compared to other watercolor sets of the same or better quality.

Thanks Teoh for such a detailed view of this product. A lot of effort must have gone into swatching out on two types of paper. The difference is simply amazing. To me it seems as if the first paper had no sizing? I agree with you regarding the design of the box. It feels as if they did not put any effort into the design or even consulted with any artists. It is also a pity that the mixing area stained so easily after just one use, has no divisions and it leaks. I truly hope that Daniel Smith will take videos like yours as well as the comments from artists into consideration before they attempt to improve their boxes in the future. Until then, I will wait for the improvements before investing in such a box. Thanks again! 😊

I have no idea what the people behind this were thinking. It's like they never intended for painters to use this as a palette

It's really too bad that they went with that palette case. They have such great quality watercolors, why skimp so much on the case???? I'll never buy that!

I was so excited about these DS palettes until I saw reviews about them. Such a bummer, the box and pricing 🙄 thank you for your honest review & I think I'll finally get the Mjello tube set instead.

Wow you might be the reason that Daniel Smith has traditional metal watercolor boxes now. Thank you so much for giving Daniel Smith feedback! They even have the same deal where you can buy a metal watercolor box with 12 half pans and get a free empty watercolor box 💯

Maybe Janes gray is a play on words with Payne's gray?

love the video Teoh! "I'm not sure how Daniel Smith was able to get the design of this palette box so wrong" hahah, well said! since last time, I've just tossed my dramatic blues paints into an Altoids tin since even that is better to paint and mix with when you're away from home. like you said, the high paint quality is there - which is why I'll recommend buying DS tubes to anyone who asks :D

I get that on my fursty papers like the langton by daler rowney, it sucks the paint in and locks it down very fast and is impossible to lift when dry but that is good for glazing, thanks for the video. For its price tag they should have a spot on box, come on DS have a rethink!

You are so right! When I first used it outdoor, the mixing leaked all over my hand from the lid palette. I eventually ditched the plastic boxes, and bought a 24 half-pan tin box. I am not too impressed by this product.

Hmmm where have I seen these business practices before? Oh yeah, 👉 the pharmaceutical industry. Seems to me Daniel Smith might have a marketing consultant who's pushing them to cut corners and price gouge consumers. 💰 Thanks for the fair and honest review Teoh. 👍 😄

I remember the minute I saw the palette boxes advertised. I instantly thought, "Those don't look nearly as good as anything that Teoh has reviewed, I bet he's going to review these too." And now, I just remembered what the CFO of Holbein told me to my face about Holbein making the highest quality accessories and NOT making "student grade" paint: you should be suspicious of a company that takes time and resources to make crappy products because it's a waste of resources just for a money grab. Cotman line, Grumbacher Academy line... the student grades of well-established companies, not making quality but making quantity. Looks like DS just tested the market-waters, and this box should either improve, get tossed out, or is free with every $100 purchase.

Ummmm.... As a newbie to watercolour I do I d this very helpful. I was thinking of buying this set, but now I will just but individual tubes and make my own palette... I want a great mixing palette but need a box worth using! Thank you so much for this review.

Thank you for the honest review.

Thanks for this comprehensive review of this set. It totally made me changed my mind of purchasing it! It is a shame that DS can't make a better case for the quality paint... We can find better products to spend our money!

Thanks Teoh for speaking out! other pro daniel smith channels have gone quite about reviewing them. I am saying this because there is much propaganda around certain brands on youtube. There is a lady (from california) promoting constantly daniel smith watercolours, you know the one who does million of swatches, she reviews other brands but always finds faults with them, she is bias. My opinion about it is that i consider daniel smith watercolours good, but there are better around like: schmincke, old holland, winsor & newton, sennelier.etc.. used by master painters for decades likeTurner, Sargent, and other recent ones. Go and check handprint.com . Art is not about collecting colours!

I do hope DS will add half pans to their range. The 15ml (and 5 ml) tubes are too large and expensive here if you want to try a colour, so a half pans would be a welcome addition.

For tubes I don't think much beats the Mission Gold options in price, I love the 15ml set of 34 colors for about $100. For pans there are better and better sets coming out all the time. Right now the best new brand I've found is Paul Rubens half pan sets for $50 for a set of 24 colors, and an upcoming 48 half pan set for about $70! A far cry from 15 ordinary colors in this D.S. set. They have a student set too which is "pretty awesome" by MeiLiang for only $20 on Amazon. The competition is just too great for the prices Daniel Smith decided on for these sets.

Hi Teoh. Wow... I really love Daniel Smith paints, but I find it hard to fathom how they could have gotten this so wrong, as you said. Unfortunately, even worse than the poor product is the idea that DS does't have a very high opinion of their customers or are severely out of touch with how the painting process for the average person works. However, as long as the quality of the paint remains consistent I will continue to use it and find my own palettes boxes. Thanks Teoh!

Teoh, I agree with other comments about the palette box. I think the palette box is the reason for my not purchasing (not much in the way of palette mixing). However, I do love DS watercolors,

Nice review! I agree with you completely on the pallet design. I was thinking the cost of the watercolor pans were expensive to, then I just purchased some Winsor Newton replacement pans from Blicks and it cost $68 for 9 pans, crazy expensive. I checked a few other sources before ordering and it was pretty much the same every where. I should have bought the tubes however they are so messy when I’m traveling it’s like they never dry completely. By the way I’ve really been enjoying your Gumroad tutorials I purchased. As always you do such a great job on your videos.

I was so close to buying one of these, I'm glad I waited for the reviews to start coming out. They really should have spent more time on the box palette, it's just not good. And for the price, I could see it making some types of customers mad. DS is such a great brand and they seem to be very conscious of what their customers want so this is just kind of confusing. It even looks a bit cheap, which I think is fine if it is still good and saves on price. When I'm looking for a palette I want it easy access with removable pans and LOTS of mixing space with no pilling. The color choices are great though. I love that they used a grey instead of a black like the Sennilier palette I was just looking into.

I hope that Daniel Smith does something different soon. I have bought 2 schmincke 18 half pan palettes just for the pallet..and it is number 5 or 6 on my favorite brand list..I am not alone when it comes to palette design.

I once had the same problem with paper. I think I stored it wrong or too long. Not sure. But I had it two times and both times with cotton paper. Someone mentioned that it could be because I stored single sheets with cellulose paper, but we didn`t find out for sure. I also think the boxes are too expensive. It`s a shame. DS costs enough in Europe. Thank you for your honest review.

Schmincke pans are better quality and are filled 4 times, not three. Schmincke also checks each batch before they are pored. These are cheap packaging with quality paint. I bought 2 half pan sets and I was soooo upset with the palette boxes that DS came with. I thought that I would get similar packaging to schmincke and I was upset. They lost my business permanently. They clearly don't care about the customers. I'm sticking to my other trusted brands.

The main problem I have with "Jane's Grey" being offered in the set is that the set also includes Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna. So basically it's a repeat color... 😡 for the price, I'd rather get a color I can't mix myself using the same set it comes with.

I think Jane Blundell just named it that for her own page and showed how she made it. It was DS's choice to hame it that. BTW, totally agree on the box. I would not buy their sets. I have Portable Painter and looking at the credit card size set.You did a good and fair review.

Thanks for the review Teoh. Too bad DS went with such a poor box design. The Schmincke special edition boxes with the graphic designs on the lid are my favorite, and they're the regular metal tin many brands use. If DS did something cool like that I would probably buy all the sets! 😍 Gonna pass for now though. 😕

For that price, I'd rather just buy tubes of colors I know I'll use and find my own palette. This is really disappointing that they would put such a poor design to house one of their staples. I haven't had the opportunity to use Daniel Smith yet as I'm trying to get through my Schmincke, Zecchi and Qor first. This video convinced me to look more into their tubes instead of the set when I do start to look. Thank you, Teoh!

Thanks for video teoh

You are going to love pyrrol scarlet based on all of the other colors I've seen you use. It may even make you rethink your organic vermillion (although that one is much lighter). Jane actually picked all of the colors for this set and her jane's grey was created because she wanted it without black and liftable.

I got the DS blue set on a closeout or I wouldn't have bought it. As much as I've heard that Sleeping Beauty Turquoise is a gimmick, I had to try it anyway and was fortunate to find a crazy deal on the set! And yep, the SBT is pretty boring and I'm thrilled that I didn't have to buy the tube to try it, but I found that I liked the other colors in the set more. I don't mind the box, since I mix all my colors on a Mijello palette anyway. For travel, I'd never take all the blues with me, but if I want one or two of them I'd pop them into a separate palette. It's a shame that the box isn't good for mixing, because I otherwise like its layout. Thanks for the review. It's hard to go wrong with these colors. Jane is sensible.

I love your reviews. You have never steered me wrong! Link for the sketchbook, pretty please? BTW, I now have all of Steven Reddy's books. They're beautiful!!!! Have you seen the last one, in black and white? Such depth and detail!

Very comprehensive review, thanks! It seems to me that it would be a better value to buy DS tubes, and put them in a different palette. The only question that you didn't answer about this plastic box is whether other half pans will fit in the slots. I know that half pans are not a standard size, and these pan slots seem very specific to me. I think that's another disadvantage for this box. (but I do like the gold logo on the lid). I have so many DS colors already, it doesn't make any sense for me to buy one of these sets, just for the cute box, especially since the box design has so many flaws. Thanks!

He's like the beauty guru of art

Hi Teoh, can you do a video to explain how to use buff titanium? I know it's not one of your go-to colors, but since you own it now and you have a working knowledge of jane's website/color ideas, maybe you could explain it? I find most colors self explanatory but not buff titanium. Thx :)

Daniel smith needs to get with it...need some youth and seasoned artist in there design room! They have great paint but think they are still over priced. No reason there pre package sets cant be hugely discounted! Just like most other company's. Then you get ur awesome paints in more people's hands, and when they run out of a color they are more likely to pay the crazy $25 for a tube of paint, one at a time over years.... but spending 100s of dolors for just a handful of colors before u get to try them....or $100 for a small pre made set that u have no say in what colors u get

It's a shame. I am a DS superfan and while I have more than enough of their tubes, had the palettes themselves been ingeniously designed to justify the pricing, I would have gotten myself a set.

If I get any of these sets, it wouldn’t be the ultimate mixing set... I already have most of those colors except for goethite and raw umber (and I can mix my own half pan of janes grey). I would get one of the smaller sets containing colors I don’t already have. I must say I am really disappointed in the box design, but its also nice to see a plastic palette that doesn’t bead upon first use. Either way I won’t be purchasing any of these sets in the near future. Thanks for your review of these!

Lol when you switch the pans at the end

I find it very interesting that DS has not even mention this box set on their own RU-vid channel.

Jane’s Grey vs Payne’s grey? They look pretty much the same.... am I missing something?

Yeah, I'm not sure what calling that mixture "Jane's Grey" is all about. As far as I know, a grey/black mixture of Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna has been called "Ultramarine Grey" or "Ultramarine Black" for hundreds of years. Odd they didn't just call it that.

The box was the main reason I have not bought any of the collections. I started with a couple of tubes and my own half pans. I just don't understand why these just weren't sold in a lovely gift box like Kuretake Gansai Tambi.

Thank you for being so damn honest!

I want love these colors.

What do you think about the 24 colors handpolished watercolor half pan set in a metal box?

To me it feels like DS felt obligated to come on the market with pans, but they do not really like it. They'd rather just sell the tubes, but now at least there is some kind of 'choice'. This way most people will just go on buying the tubes, like me :)

Teoh, it looks like the sizing is missing from your paper. Hmmm, that's really strange. I hope the rest of your sketchbook isn't like that. What a bummer.

I have a question. Do you think it's a good idea to mix ultramarine and burnt sienna while pouring it from tubes to a pan? I also enjoy the effect of mixing the two colours to see the separation once it dries, but the mixed with a toothpick won't be so "perfect".

But that Jane's Grey colour isn't because Daniel Smith called it Jane's Grey but it is actually what's its called because it was made popular but Jane Blundell where she has an actual ratio of ultramarine and burnt sienna to create the cool grey that she uses using Daniel Smith paints (this was published on her blog in 2014 but she has done it for many years) so everyone started to call it Jane's Grey .. similar to Payne's Grey. She also wished that Daniel Smith will one day make that mixture for her so she doesn't need to do all that mixing so they finally did! And she also said the tubes of them may be out next year! Exciting :D

Nice review 👍..

I figured out a way to make the palette lid work. Carefully take it off the base and use a utility knife to cut away about 1/8” away from the inside edge of the lid. That gives enough clearance for the lid to open flat - you have to play around with it to get it right but it was worth it IMHO

Thanks for your video ❤️ ! Ineed your experience! I was going to order some color tube, when I saw that there is a box (all colors are all in). Do you think I would see a difference between the tubes and the pan? it's "P" Primatake colors, or for moonglow? (It's really original hues, with material and various effects) the box interests me well for the price (and the box) but I would not especially lose the effect of moonglow or serpentine genuine ... ( sry for my low english)

Thanks!!

I really want to purchase this set, but the palette’s setup seems to be really impractical. I guess I could buy the portable painter travel box, and use the pans in one of those. But since that idea is pretty impractical I guess I’ll just buy the colors as tubes and mix Jane’s grey on my own. 😩😩😩

it is unfortunate that Daniel Smith made one vital error for the palette and that was the box its self. With no mixing sections or ability to lay flat it makes the item less coveted. And thats coming from a gal that loves loves Daniel Smith paints

Yes, WN Cotman watercolor is a student grade watercolor. But they have, as far as i know, the most design of palette boxes. And, some of the best. It ranges from the most compact, to some of the unique ones, to the generic big boxes. Daniel Smith should learn from WN.

15:47 😂 I feel you Teoh, they shouldn't have named it like that

I was expecting a more functional palette too , maybe version 2.0 will improve on it! They are probably testing the waters and weren’t sure if people would buy it, not sure.... I hope version 2.0 is metal (so it can take more abuse!) and has more than just a single mixing large well - it should not be hard to design something as compact with perhaps 3 mixing wells! The color choices are great, I discovered a couple of colors I can really use - I give DS a B- for their efforts 🤓

Why are filled half pans smaller off brand, but empty half pans are larger Daniel Smith logo?

Throwing shade with Jane's Grey :)

Roman Szmal another worth trying. Jane even put her name to a set of these.

I was reading the comments before the video and i was like, it cant be *that* bad. But oh man, it really is

Ever though about showcasing or comparing DS iridescent watercolors? You could be the first!

Style of box and price of set

I will never understand why these paint companies don't hire actual painters to design their palettes. Unreal. See this is what happens when you hire engineers to do a job a six year old could do. They just go out of their way to screw things up. Maybe they think it's job security. Newscaster now they have to pay them to fix that which they screwed up in the first place. Just hire or consult with an actual plein air painter. Then you'll know you'll get the palette right. There is no need to ask a RU-vidr that reviews products but never uses them in the real world. They'll not know. Someone like you perhaps. Someone who not only reviews the product, but actually uses it in a real world application. I do like how compact the set is. Love that there are no bubbles, bumps, raised portions in the lid, but as you said, it's still ineffective if the lid won't hinge flat.

The color “u BS” had me going 😁

DS watercolours are gorgeous but the set is too expensive and with that cheap palette, it's not worth it. You can find cheaper sets that come with a metal palette. They went a bit too far with the price. Thank you, Teoh for this review :)

Does anyone know if they have improved this product? It has been at least a year. And they have received a MASSIVE amount of complaints. Surely they HAD to be pressured into fixing this and lowering the price. Anyone have an update on this for me?

I know part of janes vision was to have all single pigment colors, bad enough the unavoidable quin gold isuues but that switcheroo sticking in perm alizarin with THREE pigments turns me off to the palette esp without explanation.

I just picked these up. Only because I got three sets for $25.00. I got the one you reviewed here, the inspiration and the earth for $25.00. Otherwise I wouldn't have bought it.

Magenta yellow and cyan are the primary colors.

I find it unusual that the pans can fall out when you use it first, considering Daniel Smith goes to such a length to claim the pans are poured three times. Schmincke pours their pans also but their pans never fall out and seem to be almost welded to the pan. This set is way overpriced and the tin was designed with no thought whatsoever. I also agree with what you said about the name of "Jane's Grey". Ultramarine and Burnt Sienna have been used in a mix forever and it did not take Jane Blundell to invent it. Furthermore, why include a mix of Ultramarine and Burnt Sienna in an "ultimate mixing set" when these two colours are already in the set? It's a great shame because Daniel Smith makes nice paints but these pans will not sell well.

The pans should absolutely be labeled, when i got the blues set it was very hard to tell which was which, especially if any pans fell ouy