Good comparison Lindsay. However, W & N are actually found cheaper in the UK than Sennellier (hope I have spelled that right). I got a set of the professional cols (18 pans) for my birthday last year and the nearest good quality set was actually a lot more money so in the end I did go for the cheaper option! I did get a good deal though from an art shop in the UK which has on line purchasing. I have done the swatch with the enclosed paper that came with the paints. Looking at yours I think I will laminate it now to keep it fresh. Thanks for the video, it was informative. :-)
I dont have any tattoos but everyone says they are addicting- I do however have over 20 sets of watercolors!! LOL Talk about addicting??? :) I always want to try different sets- I went out and grabbed those 5 dollar circle pan watercolors from ocean state after you reviewed them- I played with them for hours! LOL - I have not taken the dive into W&N pro paint yet- but i have the big set of the cottman and love them- out of all my paints- I love my student sennelier and my huge set of white knights the most- Qor and Mijello are right up there too= Hope you are enjoying the bahamas!!!!
Oh and I can honestly say the Turners are so easy to control for a beginner- unlike the Qor and Mijello- Turner are not in your face strong which makes it easier to not mess up paintings * I overwork most of my paintings!* probably why i love the sennelier
Lindsay, I compared my Winsor Newton tubes and Sennelier tubes with St. Petersburg White Nights and the St. Petersburg were more brilliant and clear in my opinion. I waited and waited for a good price of the St. Petersburg and paid $75 for the 36 count last fall through Amazon. I did have to wait a few weeks for delivery, but it was worth it. It took me more than a week to try them because I just liked looking at them for awhile---yeah, I am one of those..... Thanks for the video!!
Diane LoDico fisrt i used winsor but when i have the white night which is St .P it feel like a new world to me but winsor is not bad for a beginners at all
I have a Yarka St Petersburg set that I bought when they first became available maybe 20 years ago. I have moved 3 times since then, and somehow they wound up at the bottom of a box and I didn't see them for 15 years, and guess what? They're still moist, with no mold! Amazing, and just as strong as they were. The only thing that worries me about them is that they are not labeled for toxicity and I am sure some of them contain cadmium. Maybe the newer sets are properly labeled.
I personally find the pans to be a bit tricky for me, not rewetting as easily as other brands... However I love the tube Winsor and newton colors, easy to control and to re-wet!
I wouldn't know about their professional line in pans. I've never used them. I have used pan citman. I use the tubes as well, but only because I get W & N 5ml tube paints for free. If I had to pay for them I wouldn't use them. I agree with Mrs. Frugal. W & N are not a go to paint anymore. Especially since they had them made in China. They don't anymore but they haven't been the same since. They are hard to rewet, some crack when dry, they can be streaky and they are way over priced. Their old cotman brand are just as good. I'd rather pay less and spray the paints than pay more for just an immediate swipe. If I paid for them that is. I'd rather have daniel smith or watercolors from India. Which are equal to daniel smith but cost far far far less. I'm curious, so many years later, do you still use W & N or have you moved on from them?
My local art store in NSW Australia only had Windsor and Newton and I love them. I have the tubes and they re wet beautifully. Now my store has alot of other brands but I'm still so happy with them. I've tried 4 other brands and I find I go back to Windsor
thats a fair review and comparison, think the W & N paints have a inflated price for you in the US. the good thing about them in the UK and europe is you can walk in to a art shop and get the full range of the shelf , thanks lindsay
I agree with Ian, great review. I'm in Austria and the brands mostly available in mortar and brick stores here are Schmincke (the most available), W & N, Sennelier and Van Goch.
Lindsay you are so committed to honesty and integrity in your reviews- it's why most of us put such weight in your opinions! In Alberta, Canada we have much more limited supply options than our American neighbors despite the proximity. W&N and Crayola are the two most common and easily found and there is a BIG price difference! We have a couple of fine art supply retail places who carry one or two other professional brands but nothing like the range you mention in your videos. I'm not sure how others are handling that situation but I've become a serious online shopper since I took up watercolour art! Even with the shipping, W&N is cheaper than buying locally, and online gives me access to the brands you recommend. It's a shame, cause I'd love to support our stores but ....
I really like this brand, their permanent rose is my favorite color across all brands. However, I was really disappointed in the earthtones as well and I really have to agree with you on that. I do mostly portraits and this was super disappointing, I’ve had to figure out some other creative alternatives other than using they’re burnt sienna and especially they’re burnt umber
I love my Windsor and Newton when I’m working with landscapes, except the earth tones. Love the colors of them, so I try to match the colors in other brands. I just love their blues, yellows, pinks, greens, grays,ok- all the rest!
I bought a similar set a few years earlier than this video (the same in theory but they’ve changed a few colours since) and it was hugely on sale at 45% off. I’ve used a few colours much more than others and love them (permanent rose, indigo, payne’s grey), but mostly prefer others I’ve discovered since eg Roman Szmal. I’ve got Cotmans I’ve had just as long and enjoy those just as much. They’re my most local brand, but I guess I’ve branched out.
I really enjoyed this review. I use Daniel Smith almost exclusively and I love their paint! I do have some Winsor & Newton (like them a lot, but not quite as much as my Daniel Smith). I also have lots of Cotman because those are the paints I started with. I will finish them out because I can't stand waste, but from here on out, it's pretty much going to be all Daniel Smith for me. :) But I do love that we have so many wonderful choices to suit each of our needs and preferences. :)
I have not been able to try any "good quality " paints yet....I have limited income now that I am take. Out of my work due to medical stuffs.... it sure which paints I should save up for, have watched your tutorials and they are very good. Nice to follow while I continue to learn and grow in my art. I do feel that I could get better results with better supplies...my fredmeyer "specials" are not so great.I'd love to try some of the brands you have shown and do appreciate your showing the variety and what you think of each.Keep making your tutorials they are helpful 😊!!
I use Winsor and Newton Artist's watercolours and use tubes to refil my pans always without any problem, I think you are right about this being a marketing ploy.
Thank you, Lindsey! You have answered a lot of my questions regarding the paints. They do have some pure pigment paint in their line that Schmincke doesn't have and I might compliment my palette with them at some point. Prices here in Germany don't vary much from the Schmincke but if I wait until after Brexit, it might be a different story.
you have nothing to fear from Brexit, import levies from pigment suppliers and chemical imports will have reduced or cancelled levy's applied to them from outside EU territory manufacturers, thus reducing cost of manufacturing, which can be applied to the production cost and if so chosen apply to a reduction in rrp price from winsor and newton, the EU will not apply importation levys from UK to EU nations due to the imbalanced trade deficit in our favour from UK to EU export, protectionist customs unions keep prices high and is bad for consumers, Brexit is the best news Africa has had in decades, now they can produce and sell through capitalist enterprise instead of being economically strangled and restricted, BREXIT MEANS PEACE, the EU is evil to it's core run by untouchable beaurocrat dictators under a friendly guised cloak and blatent lies that are echoed time and time again so the public believe through mass media
Purchased the winsor and newton professional palatte 24 colour a week ago. I agree the neutrals are rather weak. Have to repeatedly go over the same area to bring out the colour. And in my 24 colour set it had 5/6 colours that in my opinion not worth the money. I would probably look for an alternative to them. The series 7 brushes are very good though.
Hi Lindsay, wonderful review. Maimeri is Italian, and is pronounced exactly as "my Mary", They make a nice student line called Venezia and a top artist line called Maimeri Blu. Think they might be worth trying. In oils they show great quality, with a student line rivalling artist products, with true cadmiums and cobalts and many single pigments. They also have some of the best earth colors around. PS: I like your fast talk very much, keeps me sort of mesmerized but awake. Funny pleasant effect.
a friend of mine saved her money to get the Windsor and Newton pan set that you have,I tried to talk her out of it she was disappointed when she got them, I don't know why but it sure seems like the quality has gone down in the past few years have a great creative weekend Lindsey!
I just paid for 6 months of Anna Mason's online tutorials and she recommends specific paints so I figured I would get the colors she is using to set myself up for success with her lessons, but they aren't colors I have been using so I don't want to spend a lot of money on them. She recommends W & N mostly so I was shopping around and Jackson's Art Supplies has them for almost the same price as Cotman and half of what they were selling for at Micheal's and on Amazon. The tubes are smaller of course so not the same cost as Cotman but much cheaper than other places. That said I am still torn on whether W&N are that much better than Cotman for watercolors as a hobby.
I would invest in a pro range of paint for her classes because she works in dozens of layers and the Cotman will lift as you paint more layers on top and be frustrating. I think since you will be studying with her for 6 months and since you will do so many of her lessons I'd fgo with the paint she recommends as you can probably use up the small tubes and you can decide if you want to reinvest after that. Plus it will be less frustrating if you are using exactly what your instructor is and I think she has a palette of about 18 colors so it might cost a small fortune to begin I think you will be happier to no second guess if the formula she is using is the same or different. You can check what you own vs what you need for class by using name and pigment number and you might not to buy much and if you already have cotman in those colors maybe try one tutorial and see if they can handle the layering without lifting as you have nothing to loose. Have fun with your classes!
Thanks for sharing this, it's really helpful. I was smitten by your swatch of the Qor D/P-something violet (Perm?). It looks like mimeograph ink purple. I popped over to Qor but didn't see it there. I'll scramble around for a PV23. I'm trying to get our art shop to get some Mission Gold sets in stock. I do adore the W&N Green Gold, it'll be lovely with mimeograph purple.
Thank you for sharing this video Lindsay! I honestly couldn't see too much difference between the artist colours and cotman colours. Unfortunately, W&N is so overpriced where I live and I found a schminke set cheaper. Funny how it varies everywhere! Good to see you got this set on sale. 🙂
the big differnce is hoe much color is released when you touch the brush to the pan but as far as the dry color looks it is the same. The cotman lift easier so glazing will be more diffucult with cotman but they are really great student paint. Easy to find and reliable.
@@thefrugalcrafter I actually love cotmans French ultramarine. Granulates so much and super randomly. It seems to get used up waaayy quicker than my DS ultramarine though.
Here in the UK W&N are the most available brand but there can be some crazy price differentials. I picked up my 24 pan set on a promotion for £28, many art shops are selling them for around £80-100 and yet W&N list it at £134 that's just crazy. I can pick up a 5ml tube for just over £4 (series 1) where in contrast lowest price for Daniel Smith is about £6.50 in the UK. As you say, across the world right now there are some really good paints being made and there is not so much difference anymore in the top tier professional grades.
Omg cotman's are hard to activate! I always have to use a bunch of water to get them get a good vibrant pigment. Do you like pans better than tubes? Daler Rowney has I am guessing a student grade tube color set at walmart 24 tubes for like 15 bucks and the ones in my area also have canson and strathmore papers double the amount and half what you'd pay at Michael's for it.
I always prefer buying colours individually. Although probably more pricey this way, you actually save money because you only use what you need. There are far too many YELLOWS in that selection! About 6! Lacks more earth tones and natural greens. 🤔🤔🤔
I have bought this set during a holiday sale from Jackson's Art Supplies and the set for around $60 and I regret buying it. While the colors are fine...it's one set I don't feel excited about ever. Maybe it's just old-school watercolor paints but I don't get excited about them at all.
it totally depends on where you are, here are some good brands I like: M Graham, Mission Gold, Winsor & Newton, Schminke, Sennelier, DaVinci/American Journey, Yarka/White Nights and a tiny bit less quality but the price makes up for that: Turner and Lukas and I am probably forgeting some:)
Comparing expensive watercolors is fine,, however, adding in the conversation about paper is important. Paint responds differently to different papers as well. You mentioned that about the cards that came in your Jane Davenport video. I am wondering if that would not be a video worth the time. Quality paint deserves quality paper to perform well. Yes? ;)
ps i recently got some winsor and newton professional tubes.. i put them in a pan as i do with most of my paints but i dont have the rewetting issue winsor warns about, they work just fine for me. I only have to get used to the more orange burnt sienna as my schmincke one is more on the brown side and still my favorite, i love the winsor and newton sap green and their alizarin crimson wich is a total keeper in my palette. it is not the actual pv19 but for the life of me i dont care, that color screams 'want' at me so bad,lol
I find that my dried tube W&N paints in earth tones definitely need to be sprayed and left to soak before using. Particularly the Raw Sienna and Raw Umber pigments. Spray or drip water and let them sit for five minutes before using, and it will loosen up a lot more pigment and they spread out much more readily on the paper... I am usually forced into buying W&N because that is the brand we carry at the store I work at, and hey, who am I to turn down a staff discount? I have an ancient set of Yarka paints, (had them since the year 2000!) and the Sepia pigment is still one of my favourite earth tones. Thanks for the tip about M. Graham paints. I would definitely like to try those some day. Love your videos, Lindsay! You're helping me teach my retired mom how to paint. She adores you too!
I recently bought the half pan 24 set of the Winsor & Newton Professional Artist water colour paints. I swatched them out and something really weird is happening -- the Prussian Blue and Viridian do not want to become water colour paints after wetting. I put a few drops of water on the pan and tried to lift paint on a wet brush --- nothing came up. So I left the paint pan alone for a while. I tried picking up paint agian -- nothing. I tried testing if I can lift paint from the pan using a stiffer brush --- nothing. I was then really curious about what was happening. All the other pans behaved perfectly ok. Does anyone know whats happening here. These 2 pans are gel like substances but no paint comes off the brush.
that just happened to me, it's called "glassing" and you need to get a stiff brush like a toothbrush or stiff scrubber (like really stiff, almost like a fabric paint brush) and scrub the surface. First add water to the pan ad let it sit 5 minutes and then scrub it. It will redistribute the binder that sealed the top of the pan and will be usable again.
Hi Lindsay, I am just experimdnting with watercolour after wagching you and seeing Danielle Donaldson, so I have just bougt a set of Peobo watercolor s how do they compare to others you have used?
Hello all, in southwest Louisiana, I can only find Windsor Newton professional tube paints, and Cotman grade tubes and half pan sets. I was watching Lindsay demonstrate the Lukas w/c set of 48 half pans, so I bought them from Jerry's Artarama. Their price is currently higher, so thank you Lindsay. Yarka is mentioned. Was that a professional line of water color paints? I would like a paint swatch notebook. How would I set it up? I liked the tiny swatch of collors that she made for the small w/c set.
Sandra Lewis I took a binder and cut cheap wc paper to size, punched holes and just started swatching my colors. I have a page for each manufacturer along with the tin /set info. I divided my binder between wc paints, wc pencils, inks, colored pencils, etc. I put the color name, lightfastness, transparency and pigment numbers in their own circle or brush swipe of color after i write in black micron ink the info. I color in the circle with the color, let it dry and then glaze the color again over half the circle. Because I write in black ink first, I can also see transparency this way. I also tend to do it in the order they are on my palette...but I also do a small swatch to go in my paint palette (same order). It really just depends on how the organization works for you. I can open up to the page for that manufacturer and see the colors I am interested in and all of the color's info. I have amassed a lot of paints now (thanks Lindsay...lol😉), so my binder is very helpful. It took a little while to swatch everything in the beginning (I already had a lot), but now I can quickly add a new page or add directly to a page if I get a new tube. I hope this helps!! 😆
Valarie Connell /DrawingWithFire Thank you, Valerie. I wrote the paint names on the outside of my large w/c palette. I mist the tube paint palette and the colors moisten fast. But I want to open my new pans and enter them like the video. Good ideas!
I been wanting to find some good watercolor . You sad in the video that there is other cheaper brands then Winsor&Newton, Can you please recommend ? What is your favorite?
I just recently bought this paint set! It's my first professional set. Is there a way to set it up so the pans don't slide around? I can't seem to figure it out. I haven't had much time to use them but I was hoping I would be able to take it hiking with me. Unfortunately when I go out the items in my bag getting beaten up quite a bit. I have only very lightly used this set, and just from opening and closing it there is already chips in the enamel of the box. I haven't been loving it so far, which is extra disappointing because I spent my bonus from work on it.
it is an easy fix, take out the pands and push the clips in towards the rain and then snap the pans in, I have a tutorial on this here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-eQI4LlSW7x8.html
I was a big fan of W/N when all I could get alternately when I was young were Grumbacher. (Although a few of their colors are exceptional, the pthalo blue and raw sienna, still use them.) We didn't have Daniel Smith or all the other brands and the other European brands were not imported. You could get a handpainted color card from W/N (how I wish I still had mine! Actual paint swatches.) But over the years their colors got rather ordinary. And their student line Cotman a big disappointment; Talens student line and Sennelier are far superior. Worse yet, their caps would stick. You had to take a match flame to loosen them even if you soaked and cleaned the tube before closing up again. They are a solid choice but not cheap outside the UK and I'm happier with Daniel Smith if I'm going to spend a penny.
There is no such thing. If you are a good artist you can make art with anything. But quality wise,W&N have the factory in France,so they have very high quality standards just like Schimnke. The pigments are different, on W&E are more vibrant and Schminke has more earthy tones . You need to use both to undertand this
What's your opinion on using different brand paints in the same palette? I was thinking of refilling my 12 half pan cotman set with the professional Windsor and Newton as they run out, but now I'm thinking to buy other brands of watercolour paints that are just as good but cheaper to refill my set. What do u suggest I do because I want to eventually have a more pigmented/professional set of watercolours. Thanks.
I know you were asking Lindsay's opinion, but I have about half Turner and half Daniel Smith paints on my big Pike palette (has 20 wells, Lindsay shows one in her paint boxes video) and have never had an issue mixing the two...mixing issues are all about pigment, not brand, so just pay attention to which pigments you like the look of most, see if they're single vs. multiple pigment and which you prefer, and go for it! I'm actually gonna be replacing a few more of my Turners with some more DS, Sennelier and potentially Da Vinci, some because the pigments in Turner are multiple vs single pigments which I find mix better in most cases, and the DS Ultramarine for example granulates better than Turner, so those are my reasons.
hello. do u have a vid on watercolor palettes ? I'm a beginner but I wanna get a good palette n be done with it. . I saw ur watercolor pencil vid n u said that. so I wanna do the same thing with watercolor palette ( not in tubes) tyvm
Hi Sherry, winsor & Newton does extensive lightfast testing with and I trust their ratings. They are one of the oldest and most trusted companies in the art world and I don't know if I'd trust my lightfast tests results since there are so many variables. They use a machine that can produce reliable "sun" conditions so it will be accurate. Me taping a swatch in a window for a month is less so:)
I'm a beginner as in I watched a handful of your videos yesterday and all of sudden decided I need to do watercolor !!! I'm happy with what I have ... for now ! Lol. Made some pretty awesome gift tags last night !
Watercolor paints at Michael's are almost 2x as much as online art stores like Jerry's or Jackson's. I only buy there if I have a half off coupon or if I am too impatient and can't wait.
a-wild-carrot-appeared I think she has a video about it. Check the one titled "Setting Up Your Watercolor Palette" or something like that. She goes over warm & cool primaries, if I remember correctly.
In the UK we have "the Range" group of stores they also have a WEBshop. The large "The Range" Stores stock artist material including Winsor and Newton paints and brushes. The cheapest ever prices on Winsor and Newton. Seriously half the price you pay elsewhere. The Range do not advertise their prices!!
Windsor and Newton is a disappointment, especially for the price. I'm an M. Graham fan. I practice with the pure color set of Sheehan pure pigment set of Mission Gold, I'm very happy with that. I feel like Daniel Smith is hype, nice colors but the range is too huge, just like the price.
