Watch This Before You OVERSPEND On Watercolor Supplies: Arches Paper and Daniel Smith Tubes Are A NO 

How much did you spend (and what did you buy) when you first got started with watercolor? Cotman Travel Palette amzn.to/3X8hxd1 Canson Spiral Notepad amzn.to/3YJgLVg

I would have to disagree with you on the cotman paints 😂 maybe I’m just being a cotman hater but based on my experience it’s really not worth the money. When compared to other student grade watercolors of similar prices the quality just doesn’t hold up especially with how many better options there are. Depending where you shop you could probably get a Van Gogh watercolor set for around the same price or a couple extra bucks but the quality is far far far superior and it will serve you better and for a longer time (they also come in pans and tubes and I believe all their pan sets come with a *bigger and better* brush). I used to hear great things about Winsor&newton products in general but honestly they kinda fell off and don’t compare to what we have now. Bottom line, they are NOT worth it 😂 I see what you mean when it comes to starting small and affordable but when the supplies that you get are mediocre at best (*ahem ahem*cotman watercolors) I think you’re not doing yourself justice. They’re definitely not the worst out there and you can totally use them if you do more soft delicate paintings without much layering or contrast but the price tag doesn’t match the quality, I think you’re better off getting paints that are more pigmented (like Van Gogh) because you can always water them down to achieve a soft look but can’t keep layering the paint to get more pigment payoff cause it’ll just end up a chalky mess. If you’re really on a strict budget I would honestly recommend prang watetcolors because even though they’re definitely gonna fade over time and the fact that they’re kids’ watercolors they behave more similarly to professional watercolors in my opinion than cotmans and they’re like the price of a McDonald’s meal. 7:54 Also about the tube vs pan watercolor situation, tubes are often better value for the money for example: a winsor&newton cotman half pan on Jackson’s is £2.50 while an 8 ml tube for the same color is £2.80. A 5 ml tube is approximately equivalent to a full pan (2 half pans of course) so you get way more paint in a tube for around the same price + they’re the same quality and you can buy empty pans and fill them multiple times with one tube and you use them just as you would use pans! unless you’re mixing your own custom colors fresh out of the tube in their own pan before they dry you really don’t have to worry about them being a hassle or getting messy because you likely won’t be bringing around watercolor tubes and mixing paint in large quantities if you’re painting outdoors. I will say however that the actual palette container for the cotmans is pretty nice and sturdy 😂 sorry for the ramble lol I’m just really passionate about this 😭 cotman paints almost made me fall out of love with watercolor they were so disappointing and I don’t want anyone to get them and assume that all watercolors are supposed to be like that because there’s so much better out there for the same price!

Just started 2 months ago and the "elitest" watercolorists who kept pushing for expensive Arches paper and professional grade paints really pushed me off even trying watercolor for almost 6 months. I ended up deciding that if I just try at any level of supplies, then it is way better than not at all. I bought Cotman set of 24 watercolors for $25 on ebay, $6 on Canson paper (60% off sales at Joanns) and then got a Princeton Velvetouch brush for less than a dollar after waiting for a sale and using a $5 reward at Michaels. How am I ever going to even know Canson paper is bad if I just jump to Arches or Fabriano? And honestly the first few weeks is just trying to figure out water control and how to even use a brush. When I saw the title of your video today, I said yes!!!!