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

I wrote the headline that way to let you know that I've used watercolors for quite some time, but don't consider myself a professional as it is just a hobby. But over the past several years, I've learned quite a bit about paints (a great YouTube gentleman to learn from is called "The Mind of Watercolor"), their quality, how they do/don't work on certain papers, etc. I'd consider this set to be a very good quality set, especially for the money. After having used them a bit, I'm thinking I should have bought the larger set, but one doesn't want to spend more money if one isn't used to a product, so I can probably do with this 36 piece set. BTW, I only use Arches paper, for my water colors (I also do mixed media so used mixed media paper for that), which while more pricey, is worth it to me so that I have the best probability of a good outcome on my watercolor image. I highly suggest Arches if you can afford it as it's sooo much nicer to work on. It doesn't soak in your watercolor quickly, which gives an amateur like me the time I need to move my colors around nicely. I typically use the wet on wet technique for bigger areas, and I've been able to wet a 3 x 4 inch piece of Arches, and it stays wet long enough for me to spread my watercolor around very nicely, which makes a big difference to the end result, no hard lines. I also learned that a great set of brushes to use is the Princeton Neptune series. I have the 0,2,4,6 and 8, but usually don't use the 8 much. While a bit more expensive, they hold a lot of watercolor in the bristles, so you don't have to go back to get more color as often, which is helpful in not creating hard lines that can be difficult to blend out. As far as the Arches paper, I buy it in the big 9x12-inch Natural White 100% Cotton Paper - 12 Sheet Arches Watercolor Paper 140 lb Cold Press Pad. While an initial expense at the outset, I save money by cutting my sheets to size. So back to the watercolor set, I was surprised to see that their white actually does show up on the Arches white paper, so it will be useful, as most white colors I've received in other watercolor sets, to me, seem to be just a useless addition so they don't have to add one more "real" color. The box is nice looking, but I didn't receive the separate swatch sheet as some have said they received. I swatched my own colors on to a piece of Arches, so I could see what my colors will actually look like, rather on the inside of the box. My main complaint would be that the Amazon worker was too lazy to put the paint set into a box, and instead just slapped my mailing label onto the outside of the paint set and it arrived in that condition. Fortunately it arrived in good condition. Was okay not being in an amazon package of some type since it was not a gift, but if it's a gift, when you check out, make sure towards the end of the process that you check the box that says it needs to be in Amazon packaging so it doesn't end up with just with a label slapped onto the outside. Enjoy your painting!

I have both the 36 and 48 color sets and they are lovely! They are NOT western watercolors, although they can be used like western watercolors and with some practice get similar results. The paints are semi-opaque, so must be really watered down to get the translucence of western watercolors. They are very vibrant and have a nice creamy consistency. Because of the binder, they tend to dry with the satin sheen where the paint is heavy. I absolutely love them for what they are and have created some beautiful work with them…and I’m new to traditional watercolor.

This water colors are incredible great! The color quality are super strong and I love how they practically when applying them seems to read my mind 🤣 because these color exactly reflect what always, I was expected! Amazingly great quality!

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!!

These are actually gouache. That isn't a bad thing. With enough water, they act like watercolors. That gives you lot's of options. The colors are very nice.