I have both of those sets! LOVE the secondary set-the undersea green is soooooooo cool. Love how it separates slightly and granulates and I’ve used it in backgrounds of portraits before because it’s so beautiful without needing any extra tinkering to feel both engaging and subtle. I agree that there isn’t a GREAT savings on these sets, but what I really loved about them was that I hadn’t considered the colors in the secondary set at all until seeing them grouped together. I also loved that the colors in the primary triad were jussssst enough savings that I could justify getting them when the smaller tubes in my essentials set ran out, so I got it and then bought individual tubes of the other three colors I needed. Together, these six paints make a very interesting group for sure, and I love that the secondary set isn’t just the actual colors that could be made by mixing what’s in the primary set but that they are genuinely their own colors. DS has soooooo many colors, I’m glad they have these smaller groupings to at least give people some ideas of where to start.
For me these sets are actually more expensive than getting the separate tubes. The thing about Daniel Smith is that as a beginner, it's really hard to pick a good starting set. There's just so many colors to pick from, and not all of them are equally useful as mixing colors. So I see the value of sets like these to help people make a good start. I made quite a few mistakes when I started my first DS set and ended up buying several tubes I don't really use anymore. As for these two specific sets I would exchange ultramarine for phthalo blue GS and undersea green for sap green. I'm a bit torn on perylene red. It's nice color, but makes for quite subdued mixes (or at least the Schmincke version of PR178 does). Quinacridone red or rose would be more useful in a primary-secondary set I think. Though in that case I'd pick one of the phthalo greens as secondary green.
I was gifted the primaries set and have considered getting the secondary set to play around with the muted tones more. They remind me of fall and I'd imagine it would be fun to plein air paint with these (somewhere that actually experiences fall haha)
A beautifully presented video of DS paints and I love all of these colors. The painting came out lovely and these two sets, together, are perfect, as you said, to the more experienced painter. I can't wait for the DS pan set to come out and see how we all react to it. Of course, price will always be an issue. Cheers, Eve! Great work here, as always! :)
Thanks for another great review Eve. I have all of these as individual tubes minus the carbazole purple. Undersea Green as well as Perylene Green are essentials on my palette as is the Quinacridone Burnt Orange. I always enjoy your demo painting at the end.
Thanks Patricia! :) Carbazole (dioxazine) violet is my favorite purple color, it's so SO deep, it looks almost black at full force. It's also incredibly transparent ♥
Just when I'm trying to trim my palette down to fewer colours along comes carbazole! I may have to pick up a tube after hearing that it's incredibly transparent.
Great video Eve! 😁 I have to look, I'm not sure if I have the perlyene red, but I know I have the rest. 😉 I love undersea green... it is awesome for forests. It's in my travel palette with ds sap green. I also love the quin burnt orange. I will say looking at the US price of the secondary triad, since they are the large tubes, it's almost buy 2 get one free if you want those three colors. 😃 I don't remember seeing this set when I bought these 3 tubes at different times. It would have been a bit cheaper for me to buy this set. I haven't really used the purple. It's time to give it a try. 😃 I always love the little paintings you do at the end. You show off the paints wonderfully! 🤗
The undersea green is so gorgeous! I'm still searching for the perfect greens for my palette, but am unhappy with the Schmincke Sap Green - it's just off, but I love how the DS looks. This week I got so frustrated and painted only with primary colors :D I guess, this sets would have been perfect for me.
I really want to get these sets, but I have so many watercolors I am thinking of select colors from them only, the thing is, I need basic colors in the same palette, lol. So I will buy these within some time. Thank you, Eve. Good demonstration I was wanting to see, and I do love the secondary trio!
I never understood the undersea green choice though I would totally buy the secondaries if it had a more useful green! Though I know a lot of people really like that one. It would be nice as well to have a cooler red, but I don't mind the perylene red too much :)
I have the DS essentials set, a warm and cool of each primary, but in the tiny tubes. They are now almost empty, it was my first DS purchase. You can make any color with those 6 shades. I plan on buying the same colors in the larger sizes.
Hi Eve, I used to be able to buy triad sets that contained 15 ml tubes of paint plus a line drawing and the same drawing colored in with the colors in the set. It contained descriptions of the colors; but, no discussion on how to paint the line drawing. It was a great way to get full size tubes of paint just to try them. Since I just replenish the paints that are in my Essential 7 set as I need to, I don't think I would purchase either the primary or the secondary set.
I would've included phthalo blue instead of french ultramarine for the primary set. I also think phthalo green would be a much better choice for the secondary set. I like the quin burnt orange though. You could use it as an orange or as a kind of burnt sienna.
Phthalo blue would've been great if they had put a more magenta red in there as well, in my opinion. You're right that the quin. burnt orange makes for a nice orange or burnt sienna color, it's really between both... :)
wooooo! The secondary set has very interesting choices indeed. They really aren't your standard textbook secondaries are they? Would you say that the secondary colours choices are pretty close to the secondary colours you create from the primary set? They look pretty similar on screen, but it might not be in real life. Love your video :D
I got a very good deal on the secondary set a while ago. I agree, with you, unless it's a better price, why get sets at all? As many others, I do love Undersea Green!
Great video, very informative, love your beautiful painting! Btw, I bought some new Renesans watercolours today and while checking out the pigments on their website I noticed that they had added both your watercolour and liquarel videos on their official website! Were you aware of this? Did they ask your permission, and if not, do you mind?
Thank you so much! :) I wasn't aware! Hehe XD They didn't ask, but I don't mind as they linked my video and didn't rehost it. I had heard about the Facebook page..? But perhaps I misunderstood and they meant the main page. Anyway, I'm honored they deemed my videos worthy of being on their page!
Eve Bolt - Bolt's Vault Yes, I too thought that you had been granted a well earned honor! But as you know, it's difficult to know how another person reacts to things. :) Yup, you are on facebook too, and they are "feeling lovely" about your video. 💗
I've tried mixing up my own 'Undersea Green' (a mix of Ultramarine and the new Quin Gold (PO48, PY150)). So far, nothing much, one day I may get the proportions right. :-)
Thanks very much for showing what these sets can do! I have a few DS paints, mostly from their Primatek line, and I love the granulation and unusual colors there. I did actually just pick up the massive dot card chart from them, but I got kind of overwhelmed by it, to be honest. I put it aside to pull out once I'm feeling a bit more confident in my own skills and ready to expand my paint collection again. :P Edit: I just realized I that I have what looks to be an extremely similar palette to the one you use here. Mine is made of aluminum, and is my first palette which is neither plastic nor ceramic. If yours is also aluminum, what do you think of the palette? Is it in any way remarkable, for good or bad, or is it a fairly representative sample of metal palettes? :)
I think the essentials set would be the way to go, unless of course you are a professional artist, then you would want larger tubes. Thanks for the video.
Oh! This is a weird coincidence. I've never heard of Undersea Green, yet the night before this video goes up Oto asks me about it on Twitter! These aren't super amazing sets, to me, though I really like that quin burnt orange a lot! And as always, I really enjoyed watching your sketch at the end!
I bought the primaries set as it was a good value and gives me a limited palette for learning mixes. Since those three colors need to be used for all of the colors I think it is a good idea for even a beginner to have them in 15ml tubes. The secondaries were more expensive so I have not bought them yet but I did run into a great sale and bought a couple individual tubes to add to my palette, buff titanium, neutral tint, and pretty cobalt teal. Thanks for the vid. I am excited to learn that Daniel Smith paints will be available in half pans assorted sets come October. Pan set would be nice too. No idea of pricing though. Go to Doodlewash.com to see the info.
I still think i would prefer the alvaro set over this somewhat odd mix... brown mixes are awesome though, perhaps i go meh cause i dont use purple that often on its own.. i rather mix mine... i would opt for the first triad on its own, wich has plenty of mix options without adding the second one. - second reason may be cause i am downright lazy; i like my basics in one go,lol
*warning! Rant ahead :)* Am I the only one who's bugged by the fact that they included Undersea Green in the secondary set, when you can practically mix a pretty close match with the other colors in these sets? I mean, come on. it's made from PB29 Ultramarine - included, PO48 Quin Burnt orange, also included. The only variant is PY150 Nickel Azo Yellow, but with the amount needed for this green, I don't think Hansa Yellow Medium will take you that far off. Assuming that these sets were meant to go together and complement each other In the same the way you treated them in your video, I find it kinda disappointing. Not to mention the fact that the duplication in pigments limits the mixing possibilities in what's already a limited palate, and it shows in the mixing chart. Undersea Green is nice color, no doubt. But is't redundant in this set, and makes these sets far less versatile and useful than the Essentials one in my opinion. That was quit a rant lol! But I can't help it. Call it a pet peeve :)
