Kuretake GANSAI TAMBI Watercolor Paint Set 24 Colors, Professional-quality art supplies for artists adult painting aketching, Non-Toxic, Made in Japan

These are some truly beautiful watercolors to work with! In one word, they are "pigmented." So pigmented! They are not like traditional watercolors at all unless you heavily dilute them. They are more similar to a gouache, and all colors are fairly opaque with a few of the colors being completely opaque (black, white, and I think Pale Aqua and Cornflower Blue). There is also a color that is sort of silver or pearlescent, and both warm and cool tones of gold. So this paint is thick and fairly opaque, and a little on your brush goes a long way. I sometimes draw with a Pigma Micron pen before painting and these pen lines usually remain visible beneath the paint, so if that's something you like to do, you can still do that!The reason these paints are so different is mostly because of the binder. Most watercolor paints use gum arabic as a binder. Kuretake's use the collagen from various sea creatures instead. I've also read that that is part of the reason the colors are so bright. And you can both see and feel the difference when painting with these.Aside from these paints being such a pleasure to work with, most of the colors are lightfast! According to some kind soul who tested this set of watercolors for lightfastness over a period of a year, the only colors that are NOT lightfast are colors 34 (Dark Pink), 57 (Turquoise Green), 66 (Menthol Violet), 67 (Deep Blue). For anything serious you paint, you can just use different colors instead and you'll be fine. This was one of the bigger selling points of this watercolor set for me, knowing everything wouldn't fadeI feel like this is a genuinely good quality watercolor set that could be used by both beginners and professionals, because the quality is good but the price is still fairly reasonable. And if you are taking your art seriously and intend to display it, the lightfastness alone is worth it. Because what use is it to create something beautiful if the sun is going to erase it? So I say this watercolor set is WORTH IT!

The Kuretake set is possibly a good choice for students who can't afford a whole set of tube watercolors. They don't quite work the way tube watercolors do, because Japanese watercolors use a different binder (the stuff that sticks the pigment together into the paste in the cake--said to be fish glue in Japan.) The colors are also reputed to be more opaque, but that's actually not true. They have a very good amount of pigment but they are transparent for the most part, the same as other watercolors. The lid of the palette box has a place to do swatches, and the photo at the end of this review has my sample swatches.Another issue is lightfastness. I know the lightfastness of Western brands such as Winsor Newton and Daniel Smith, but not the lightfastness of these paints because I don't know what pigment is actually used in the paint. But their reputation is very good, from reading a number of tests done.The paints don't rewet on paper quite as well as some of the non-staining colors I use from tubes, but over all they are bright, work up easily and are very pretty colors. At the price, a student might have good luck with these colors.For illustration, you can't beat them. I still prefer my Daniel Smith or Da Vinci or Winsor Newton for watercoloring but these are very fun and so reasonably priced, they are excellent for cards and illustrations.

This is my second time purchasing this product, this time as a gift for my younger sister, who's just starting to get into watercolour.I've done my own professional work with these, and they're an amazing product that I'd absolutely recommend to anyone looking for either professional or beginner watercolor work. They're very highly pigmented and very lightfast, making them more than suitable for professional quality work, and if you're looking to get started too, I 100% endorse these. I've tried many different brands, and of all the paints I've worked with, these are my favorite.One of the biggest deterrents to watercolor is often poor quality, chalky, and low pigmented paints that are often sold as beginner sets.I also love that the box has added the English names for the pigments since the last time I bought them!!Despite being around the same price as the Windsor & Newton Cotman travel kit, which I've seen recommended as intermediate to professional grade, I've found that these have a much smoother texture, more pigmentation, and more colors!! The pans are also huge, meaning the paints last much longer.If you're experimenting with watercolor for the first time, please don't let the price deter you, student grade supplies, while cheaper, will not give you the same quality of work and will be much more difficult to use and you're very likely to feel the medium is harder than it has to be, and these are not only the best pan set I've used (and I've used a lot) they're also the easiest to use.If you're struggling with colors mixing together and muddling, make sure you fully allow each one to fully dry between layers and in places where they touch (a heat embossing gun is very helpful to speed along this process if watching paint dry is as boring for you as it is for me)If you find that making flat washes is difficult and is streaky, make sure your brushes hold enough water to spread across your area and leave a pool along the edge of your wash when you collect more paint so it doesn't dry before you continue.There are different brush types as well, and it's all a preference thing. Natural, synthetic, and mixed are the options, I've mostly used the basic Artstation synthetic watercolor brushes, they come in different sized packs for fairly cheap and hold more water than I thought they would!Skin tones can be tricky, too!! I've had the best success using the orangey-brown (I think it's burnt Siena) and just a tiny amount of the very light blue to desaturate it to a more natural tone, and *maybe* some white to lighten it, or the tiniest amount of black to darken. More blue makes a cooler tone while more orange makes it warmer, and adding some of the darkish yellow will help in more diverse ranges! Avoid using white to lighten your colors, adding more water does the trick just fine, and white tends to desaturate the color.Always test your colors on a scrap piece of paper, and mix more than you think you need! It's a lot harder to mix more of the same color than to wash your mixing tray.I also highly recommend a mixing pan or tray so you can properly dilute your paints, these are far too pigmented for use straight from the pan. Plastic works perfectly well, but I'm fond of porcelain as it's easier to clean.Paper type and weight is also very important! Any papers under 80lbs will not hold up to water mediums, but I use 90lbs for sketching and 150lbs for finished pieces and professional work. The heavier your paper weight, the more water it can hold without crinkling, and allows you to build up colors by glazing (adding a wash of color over a dried wash) and an easy way to prevent bending is to tape the edges of your paper to a board (a styrofoam board covered in scotch tape is great so you can manipulate orientation more easily and is a lightweight and cheap option) artist's tape is preferred as it has less adhesive, but if you stick masking tape to a cloth surface (I tend to use my jeans) a few times makes it easier to peel off, and if you have a heat gun, using it along the tape also releases the adhesive so as to prevent tearing your paper.As far as watercolor paper goes, whether you prefer hot or cold press is a personal stylistic choice. Cold press is more textured with a thicker grain and the paper absorbs the color and is generally more recommended for beginner use as it dries faster, and might feather out more Hot press (my preferred) is smoother with a smaller grain and the color tends to sit on top of the paper, and dries slower which gives more time for manipulating the color, and tends to have crisper edges. Canson is an affordable brand that I'd recommend for beginners or sketches, where Arches is top quality that I'd suggest for professional use due to its assurance of lightfastness and price. Canson is more widely available, and I'd suggest purchasing Arches in large sheets you can cut down from dickblick's website. I've also heard bumblebee is a good brand, but haven't personally tried it out yetExperiment with different things and find what suits you best!Overall these are the best panned watercolors I've found on the market, and I'll definitely stick with them and buy again!!

The colors are vivid and can be built up or watered down wonderfully. They mix nicely with white guache, too! I love these! I am a beginner artist, and beginner watercolors typically just don't have the bright colors or the opacity to figure out if something isn't working because of your skill or because of the material. These are a ton of high quality colors with big pans for an approachable price.