I've been using these little sketchers boxes for over 15 years. Top tip for the loose pans, take a tiny match head sizes ball of blue tack or even kneedable putty eraser and place it under each pan. I have several but my main travel box, I have removed the pans and fill the recesses with artist tube colours. I have also ditched the brush and glued 5 foam board partitions to the brush well to give me an additional 6 colours to give me 18 colours total.
I've found that putting a kind of thick drop of paint under each pan really helps them to stick when it dries. To remove the pan, I drip water down the edges and wait a few minutes. The paint liquefies and the pans come right out, although a little messy lol
I recently bought this set and I love it! It is my lazy set. I find sometimes I don't paint just because I don't want to drag everything out. I don't have this problem anymore. If I am inspired but only have a short time I can grab this pallet, a book,and some water and get to it. It keeps me practicing and inspired and my painting days are for bigger projects. I can't say how much this one thing has helped me 😊
The Cotman line is one of the best student grade lines to learn with. I bought a Cotman set years ago and even today I still use some of the colors in my studio palette, such as Paynes Grey. Thank you for sharing this video, it brings back some fond memories. Happy painting! :)
That’s great! I think I will be using these paints for a long time too, especially for sketches since I’m not worried about it being less lightfast. Thanks for your comment and support! ☺️Means the world ❤️
Cotman really are a great choice for anyone looking for reliable, inexpensive watercolors. I enjoy using them, too. And yes, the reason some people have phthalo blue instead of the cerulean hue is because they got a different version. My set has the phthalo in it, and it came in a different package than the one you have. The one you have is a newer one.
Lovely painting! I purchased the same set when I was interested in painting as an adult again. It’s a great set to learn how to mix colors, especially greens. I took the pans out and fit them in two small mint tins with putty. I have since refilled them with different tube paints for my own palette but love how every cake still has remnants of the original cotman. ❤
Thank you so much ❤ Yes, I agree this is such a great set for learning to mix colours, and I think I’ll definitely be keeping the pans and refilling them too😄
Very pretty and quite inspiring. I really enjoy your lovely shop fronts. I would love to see a painting of a street scene with several different shop fronts. I wouldn't mind at all watching a longer real time tutorial. Your teaching style is so pleasant and calm which makes it very easy to follow along. Thank you for sharing your lovely artwork, it is always so joyful. 👩🦳🖌️🙏
My very first set was the tube version of this set. It has all the colors I needed to learn how to mix and color match. Its a great starter set and cost a fraction of the price of higher grade paint. I can not really tell the difference between it and my artist grade set they both preform excellently. Maybe not as light fast but when I was learning I wasn't selling so it was a none issue. The work I did was in a folio and still looks good all these years later. If you want to dip a toe into watercolor I totally recommend the tube set. This one also looks as good. Thank you for a great review.
Yes I totally agree, it may not be professional grade but it’s still really high quality so it’s perfect for practice and sketching! Thanks for your comment and support, really appreciate it ❤️
I really enjoyed this demo! Thank you very much. I’m amazed at the results you’ve gotten from such a small set of paints - you’re colouring mixing is excellent.
Very beautiful painting and very relaxing video. I just started painting this year and I find everything you explain very useful. Thank you for sharing! 😊
My brother just bought me that for my birthday. I didn't know how to use it because I never tried Watercolour. SO I WAS SOO LOST.. Thanks to you because it really helped me.
Loved your neutral mixes! This is a fantastic box for beginners, sketchers and anyone really. My favourite beginner box -and it is super sturdy as well. A note on the cerulean blue, which is labeled as PB 15. This pigment is indeed phtalo blue. Real cerulean blue pigment is PB 35, more expensive and probably this is why they left it out of this beginner (cheaper) set. PB 35 is also more granulating, less staining than phtalo blue. PB15 is quite overpowering, as opposed to PB35 which is more subtle. I really enjoyed your painting, and how you made the best of this set to create values, gradients and mixes. Just proves that you can create wonderful art with a simple but we'll selected set of colours. Thanks for sharing this!
Wow, thanks for letting me know! So surprising to know that the cerulean blue is actually made from phtalo blue pigment instead. Very interesting. I need to brush up on my pigment knowledge 😂 Glad you enjoyed the painting! ❤️
This was my very first watercolor palette back in 2019 and I have also found it very versatile and good quality. I now use professional grade paints but I keep this in my pocket sketching kit! Great review and beautiful painting!
I just bought this set. Already I can tell it’s better quality than what I had. I am a beginner beginner! I know little about watercolor or mixing to get more colors, so your video gave me some clues. Thanks.
I use a wet brush, sponge, to take up a mistake. Most of the time you can get it all out instead of using white. I use the same Cotman sketch kit too. I also have a slightly bigger one with a few more colors. these colors are really good quality. And are lightfast. I bought the Professional Windsor & Newton watercolor set. I use other brands of watercolors but I use the Cotman the most. You do really nice work.
Thanks for sharing, I have not the same, but a very similar set of Cotman watercolors. I just started out with watercolor, I’m glad to hear it’s a good quality to start with, then I made a good choice.
I wanted to move the pans to a bigger box yesterday and oh boy those pans were stuck! Had to use force. It must have looked like i wanted to break it. Love these for on the go. Used them on an airplane, at home, outside, you name it
Thank you for making this video. I am a beginner and bought this is my first set but I didn’t know what the white would be used for and haven’t really understood how to mix colors to get what I want. It’s been a little frustrating so this was very helpful.
For the past few days, I have been making charts of the different water color sets that I have collected over the years. My little Cotman box must be 30 years old. The pans are still fat and the brush, which was always one of my favorites is still good except for the blue paint peeling off .
Oh my, I can’t believe it lasted for 30 years! Now that is some time-tested quality right there. Thanks for sharing! Really hope to be able to collect more sets like you too 😄❤️
Geat video thank you. As a creator I really apreciate the quality of the production. I lerned some new things. I think you will like DS ultimate mixing set, the color pallet put together so good.
I bought a set of 24 pans and I love them. I have since added 9 new colors that I bought separately. My 24 set came in an ugly plastic case and I bought a new metal case to hold them all.
The pans will not fall out if you leave the original paper wrapping on the pans…just opening the tops (with a stencil knife). I wish they arranged the colors following the color wheel, so you have to move them around.
Thats crazy that the blues are different in different sets, i got same colors as you except one of my blues is an intense blue, not even cerulean or pthalo
I love this set. I bought it when I was doing urban sketching for a short time years ago but I rediscovered them in my supplies recently. I refilled some of the pans with the tube Cotman watercolors which dry well and lay down exactly the same. I also found out they are lightfast as well. I have really been enjoying them lately.
Hi Jillee, Big fan of yours. What do you think about ArtTool case? Is it too small? Is it practical to have? Like to see your opinion on that . Thank you from Canada.
@@JilleeArts I use Matt Clay to get the bristles in line . You only need a tiny bit so it will last for ever. Leave it on overnight and rinse out with water when you want to use the brush.
Hey there , if its no problem , try once to make real time with sketching and coloring video as ASMR. Your art helps me to sleep and stop over thinking … thank you for ur great arts ❤️
For all the experienced watercolor painters there, will it be a problem to not have black color on this palette? I'm planning to buy this as my first own watercolor palette :)
Hello there! It really depends on what kind of paintings you plan on working on. Many artists don’t like to use black but I have seen some artists use black really well especially in those black and white or limited colour palette pieces. If you are a true beginner and don’t know what to paint yet, I think this set is really good, and you can always get black later if you need it 😊
I think the reason is that most artists (especially watercolor artists) don’t use black very often. Pure black is very intense and stands out too much in a painting, so most artists prefer to mix their own version of black that is, for example has a bluish/purplish tint, which is easier to harmonise with the other colors in the painting. Hope that helps!
I followed a reference picture, sketched the basic outline with pencil and used a waterproof pen to outline it. Will make more urban sketching videos later so you can see the process 😊☺️