It has come to my attention that the kuretake paints are NOT vegan, they use glycerin derived from beef tallow. I didn't know, and i have no idea if kuretake knew the whole time. Apologies to anyone who is vegan who bought the paints on my recommendation Edit: quite frankly i don't know anymore, but google is your friend! i'll look into it in more depth at some point and try to get a more definitive answer
YAY! THANK you! I do Chinese brush painting/Japanese Sumi-e and I am tired of all these YT artists saying they don't like gansai because they aren't like "real" watercolors, etc etc. They are meant to be put down in one layer on very thin rice paper. Interestingly, China actually brought the art form to Japan so the paints are originally Chinese! I don't speak Japanese, but I do speak Chinese (not fluently, but enough that when I am in China people assume I'm fluent) so I guess it's easier for me to get info on gansai: because I know different Chinese art supply shops in the US and I follow Chinese brush painting channels here on YT. I also follow a lot of the Japanese ones too! I love Nihonga as well! I love making my own paints fresh for each painting, the fact that there like 50 diff variations of the same pigment with slight differences based on how large or small the particles are, the cool brass spoon I get to use after I dissolve the glue..............
There's not much about Gansai paints out there, you did a great job with this instructional video. I love Gansai paints for abstract paintings, the large pans are perfect for large brushes. The graphite set is one of my favorites. Your art is so soft and cute! Thank you for the lightfast test in special, it's a first!
@@madden.r.grimesThanks for sharing..can you recommend any brush or paint types for someone starting off but wants to be professional? Sounds like ga sai mightbe easier than watercolor or is ot subjective to some extent? And easier or ablit the same as acrylic I'd guess? And maybe somewhat subjective..Thanks for sharing
I thoroughly enjoyed using gansai for a time, as they act as a happy medium between gouache and watercolor for me. I agree they are completely different from either medium, and find that one might enjoy using them if they have an illustrative style or would like to do something gouache-like but want the luminosity of oils. The shiny finish of thickly applied gansai on a smooth paper? Gorgeous.
As a sort of noob when it comes to watercolors, i wanted to try the Kuretake Gansai Tambi paints for a while, but after watching this video im beginning to think they aren't a good fit for the artwork i do. I love mixing my colors myself with my small set of watercolors i have and i like working really small and detailed when i paint. Thank you for making this video, it makes the difference between watercolor and gansai paints so much more clear to me. I may still try these paints in the future, but for now and after watching this video that will be much later on. Btw i absolutely loved your painting, its adorable :)
I love how comprehensive this was, most people on here that I've seen usually end up bashing Gansai paints cuz they're not like western watercolours which I think is dumb. Love the painting btw!
FINALLY ! An explanation of these paints. Your right on that they are not like watercolors. They are paints in their own right. Water based paint. I’m a long time painter, my favorite is traditional watercolor. I’ve worked with all kinds of mediums, each are unique . The techniques for each are different. Thanks for ‘ clearing the air’ on Gansai. 🌴from Florida 🌴
Thank you, I have so little experience with watercolor of any kind, collage having been my entry point. Now, retired, and with a general loss of strength, I am eager to learn about art and watercolor. Planting 5 shrubs a day is no longer an option for me, having slowed; I greatly appreciate your video helping me to understand how I might proceed, and experiment. Best to you. Regards, Suzanna
This is so great to see the lightfast tests. I have the 52 and 48 sets and absolutely love them and use in conjuction with my artist grade watercolours. I love seeing all the colours in one box and will continue to buy them when they run out.
I really like the creaminess of the Kuretake paints and just went to the Dick Blick site to find the other set of paints you were using, the Art Nouveau, and all the descriptions of their paint sets say they are vegan. I love your little horse painting! This is the first light fastness test I have seen, thank you for that!
Thank you for this video! Very helpful and having used the gansai for the last several months I can attest to everything you have explained and you have helped me understand some of my frustrations with these. I'm a total beginner. I was led to believe that Kuretake gansai was great for beginners. I bought the main, art nouveau, graphite, sumi, starry colors, and granulating sets! 😂 I have enjoyed them, but have learned very quickly after watching other artists using Western watercolors that they are not the same thing. Not inferior, not superior, just different. I have since bought a teensy weensy split complimentary set of Daniel Smith. I'm teaching myself how to use both types of paints. They are both beautiful in their own right. Thanks again!
Thank you. I was trying to use it like watercolor. Then stopped using it at all. Now, you’ve demystified it all and my mind is newly open to try it as it’s intended !
Oh my...,Thank you very much for making this video🙏 Your explanation was eaisly, and clearly understandable. I did buy the Kuretake Gansi paints under the impression they were a watercolor. I wasn't entirely fond of them due to the opaque nature, this wasn't something I was expecting. I found your video very informative and helpful, thanks again❤🥰
Thank you for this wonderful video. It was soothing and informative. I am retired and finally have time to pursue learning how to paint. I’ve always loved the delicate almost ethereal transparency of water colors. These Japanese water based paints are so intriguing.
Great video. I’ve purchased or been given most of the Kuretake paint set and enjoy fiddling with them when I’m not beating my head against my W&N palette. Your description of them was interesting. I’ve done a little research but your talk was far better than I could do.
These paints have been in my shopping cart for a year, and I just wasn’t sure what they would bring to the table, so thank you for showing them so thoroughly! I look forward to more of your videos!❤
Really great video and well needed! 😊 I absolutely love my Gansai paints. So it was nice to learn more about them. I use them all the time lately, especially when playing with colour palettes as they are so easy to match with the colours on the palette! I love the painting you did too. Looking forward to watching your other videos ☺️
Thank you for making this, I've been trying to find basically this exact video for months. I was under the impression that gansai didnt lift at all, but I think that's because there's two kinds of Japanese "watercolour" - one that does and one that doesn't lift. I recently learned that only the one that lifts is made into gansai, which makes sense now that I think about it, since the pans have to be reactivated.... Thank you for helping me clear up some misunderstandings!
Ive had these paints sitting on a shelf for two years and used them once , i love how pigmented they are and just when i decided to paint with them your video popped up! Thank you for sharing your knowledge 😊
Thank you for this explanation and thoughtfully put together video! I was gifted this exact set about four years ago and was so confused as to why they were seemingly like watercolour but was meant to be applied differently and whatnot :) excited to give these another go
This video was so cool to watch, I didn’t realise it but i actually have a set of Gansai paints and now I feel like I can utilise them a lot more effectively! Thankyou!
I just picked up watercolors for the first time since high school art class. This was really fascinating. Thanks for saving me from an uninformed purchase!
So pleased you did this video on Gansia Kuretake. Hopefully it will reach newbies to watercolour who do their research. I purchased Gansia as I heard many times it was a good beginners w/c paint and the price point was good. Initially Gansia was great to use it was so easy as I was totally new to painting of any sort. As I got better with brush work and sketching I found I couldn't achieve Western techniques with them. Before I could conclude I was no good at painting I stumbled on some comments in an art chat. There was a whole discussion about how Gansia could not be used like Western w/c. So I stopped trying to to do Western style w/c with them and just used them straight and I got watercolour paints to do watercolour techniques. I love the vividness of kuratake Gansia and I think I will always have some to play with.
I haven’t even heard of these before and I have realised since seeing yours and learning about them from you 🥰 that I bought about 6-8 of them a couple of years ago and didn’t know because I bought them off a shop selling single pans on eBay and they had them listed as watercolours, they do work kind of like watercolours but they weren’t quite the same and I didn’t understand why and it’s because they weren’t 😂 the shop selling them was Chinese and not Japanese though I think, so I thought they were just selling single pans of more varied colours and now I see they just mislabelled them or maybe thought they would be more easily found by calling them watercolours but either way they build up to quite a strong pigment and they’re lovely colours! I’ll have to dig them back out now I know more about them! You look like a beautiful elf ! I love your hair! 🥰❤️ I love the adorable my little pony that you painted! So cute! ❤
I began using these wonderful paints in the beginning of my watercolor journey. I did not understand how to use them properly and the information you supply today reaffirmed the fact that I should not have been using them in the beginning of my watercolor journey. That being said I absolutely use and love these paints. I would be extremely interested in learning about other mediums. Please seriously consider providing the information to those of us who are eager to learn more. Besides those of us from the Northwest need to stick together😊
Wow, I had no idea. Here I was using them as watercolors! I think I've only used my set a handful of times, so I'll have to try them out again with this new knowledge and see for myself how they differ from watercolors. Thank you for the video!
Thank you for this. I've experimented a bit with gansai paints in etegami, and the information you provided is helpful in understanding the medium. As for sauces, green curry!
@@madden.r.grimes I've also been thinking that gansai paints remind me more of poster paints than watercolor, with the glossiness, the muddy mixability, and the cartoon-ish applications. Do try them on washi paper if you haven't.
YES!! Those Talenti tubs are GREAT f or being impromptu water cups. Also for storing brushes, tools, pencils, etc... Also, thank you for the informative video about Gansai paints! It truly seems like a remarkable medium to experiment with.
I've been using Gansai paints for a while but treated them more like watercolours so that video was very interesting and educational, thank you! :) I will look at them differently now (I love them)
I love the pony you painted! It takes me back to the pleasantly colorful MLP ponies of my childhood. The colors you chose complement each other beautifully.
Thank you. Great information. Your painting is lovely. Your voice with the soft background music is perfect. I’m looking for a medium to use for painting on fabric in a “watercolour - like effect” so very interested in these paint sets. I’m hoping the different characteristics will enable me to use them on an uncommon surface like fabric. Your information on how they don’t bleed and repel actually was super beneficial to me as fabric absorbs water and paint spreads differently than on quality artist paper…like it runs along the threads or puddles into a muddy mess! I really appreciated the information on colour fastness. The best video I’ve seen on that. Thank you for sharing your observations, opinions and art. Enjoy your art time. Hello from 🇨🇦
I stumbled here cause YT suggested this and since I knew nothing of Gansai paints (or any japanese type paints), I clicked. I did not expect pony art! Hello fellow ponyartist! This was very informative, thank you!
Thank you for all the information on Gansai paints. I've been wondering about them for a while. I had the graphite set, but gave it away because I wasn't sure of the lightfastness. You worked so hard to test all your colors; I really appreciate it. Now, I'm not unhappy that I gave the colors away! I think I'll stick to my watercolors! I thought your comments were very wise. And thank you for mentioning Nihonga. I enjoyed watching that video too. Now I have something else to look into 🙂.
Subscribed. Yes I'd love to learn more about other mediums. I thought gansai paints were watercolors so thank you for the info. Also, I hope that adorable painting went to an ecstatic child. 😊
I am primarily a watercolour artist, but enjoy various other mediums, including gouache and gansai tambi ( I own all the available sets) all three mediums are very different, which is why I love using all three. I really enjoyed your informative and well thought out video. You have a new subscriber from Australia. Thankyou and happy painting! 😊❤🌻
So thankful you have put so much info out about gansai paints. I am about to buy kuretake sets for sure. I appreciate your little pony painting demo with the features added after the base painting as this is sometimes the direction I like to go in. Love your works. Thank you for being so generous with your time and advices. 😊😊😊😊
Thank you for this video. First, I’m no pro. With that said, I have used DS and others and I was frustrated with some aspects of this paint that had me thinking I was just using them wrong. I tried diff papers…more water….tossed them in the drawer. I now understand they are what they are. A water media. Not watercolors. Got it! 🎉
Thanks for this informative video. I started looking into Japanese paints because I had been using acrylic paints and inks as "watercolours" and read (on Wikipedia!) that Japanese nihonga paints dried tough enough not to need protection behind varnish or glass. Plus I love the muted Japanese colour palette. Turns out the protective element in the paints is animal glue and they have to be mixed up from scratch, so not what I'm looking for at this stage. The reason I paint acrylic as watercolour has to do with me not knowing where to start, I knew that acrylic was water-soluble and versatile so that's what I went for. Also watercolour to me (before I started painting) meant the super washy misty looking pictures, but the style I paint in is closer to traditional gouache, but I really didn't want something that reactivates when wet, hence acrylic. 5 months really isn't long for a lightfastness test. I put some blobs of paint in a southfacing window and forgot about them till 14 months later. By then the yellow had half disappeared and leaf green had darkened (presumably as the yellow component disappeared) leaving an austere bluey-green. No pigments were listed on the paints box (hence the test) but research suggests the disappearing yellow is PY1. Fun fact: the Japanese word for western type art is yōga 洋画, pronounced exactly the same in Japanese as yōga ヨウガ the Indian spiritual exercise practice with the god postures 😂
Love the fun fact I have put the strips back in the window, and i will check in on them in a few months/a year so i can get even more info. I do think this was enough to tell what colors to avoid like the plague though 😅
Thank you for you lovely, gentle video. I've been working with watercolours for a couple of years and have enjoyed them but during that time I was drawn to the Gansai paints. I love them for their vibrancy, I've yet to try gouache, that's next on my list. I'm an artist that wants to learn the traditional plus alternative ways of using them.
Your video was sthg long overdue! Thank You! Gansai paints and Sumi paints (the dark ones, they are darkened/muted by using black Sumi Ink) have a long tradition of more than 1,000 years in Japan. Comparing them to western paints and bashing them for not being like western paints is almost sacreligious. A very good way of seeing how Gansai paints are used in Japan is by watching videos of Japanese artists, even if you don't understand what is being said. Just by watching the techniques and the painting process we can learn a lot.❤
Another thing I have learned from Japanese artists is that they never spray Gansai paints before using them. An Asian artist, I believe she is from Thailand, who often reviews Asian "watercolors" once said that Gansai are immediately re-activated when a wet brush touches them. And I find that ist true. Apparently pre-wetting the paints causes too much paint being lifted from the pans, which then easily leads to them looking awkwardly shiny after drying.
this was the first “fancy” set of paints i ever got myself in early high school, and at the time I thought they were watercolors. which explains my frustration with watercolor sets i purchased afterwards! thanks for the info on these amazing paints
i got this set of gansai paints because i thought it was watercolor. everything on the website told be it was normal watercolor. no wonder it didn't work the was i was wanting :D thank you for this information! i cant wait to try them in the right way
I use Gansai paints very sparingly. Usually they are used when I need to ‘cover up’ a mistake when I paint with the usual watercolours. Thank you for your test.🤗
Thank you for the explanation. That helped so much. Loved watching you paint the horse. ❤️🥰 Yes, if you are able to compare other mediums, that would be so helpful. Still a newbie with watercolor, but sure love the Gansai paint and colors. Excited to use them.
In a way you're right but even we refer to Gansai as "Watercolor". Your pronunciations are fine, thank you for teaching people about the supplies from my kinsmen :) Beautiful artwork and calming easy to understand commentary.
i think i got a couple pans of these a few years back in a monthly art supply box and assumed they were watercolor, and I found them very weird and didn't like them. however that's because I didn't know they weren't actually watercolor and didnt know how to use em
I have a pan of these! I bought them during college from the college store and have been referring to them as “fancy/japanese watercolours” because there was ZERO info on what they were, I just got them bc they were… a really nice pallet of hard paints that I could take with me places and had very vibrant colouring. I always loved how fast they dried and the rich colours they came in, much more hearty than the western watercolour pallets I could acquire. I don’t paint a lot anymore, but I always pull out that little green box when cleaning and feel nostalgia for those college days again
Can’t believe I found this I have a set but my skill was not there I kept them safely tucked away to come back to now I know I can come back this and try again.
OK, about the rice paper: There are three diff sizings for all Chinese/Japanese paintings. Raw (unsized), ripe (sized), and half raw half ripe (slightly sized). Unsized rice papers are great for landscapes as, of course, the unsized paper absorbs water/ink/paint and spreads it out (it looks like you are painting wet in wet even tho you aren't) which is what you want when you are doing clouds, mountains, fields, etc. If you look at traditional landscapes you will see that the clouds and mountains, etc fade out. BUT that is for the traditional SPONTANEOUS painting. There is also Gong Bi style (meticulous). You know the ones I'm talking about: the very detailed pics of birds with every feather meticulously painted and shaded, each flower petal done perfectly, all with those perfect outlines. And Gong Bi is done on ripe papers. The half raw half ripe (or semi sized) are for up close subjects but in spontaneous style, where you need more control of where the ink is going but you still want that one brush stroke to represent a branch or a beak. The sizing is done with different materials, but one of the most popular is alum. I buy alum and size my own papers because alum makes the paper sparkle! That is why you will find diff Chinese papers labeled "Dragon Cloud Sparkle paper" (thick with these cloud like fluffy fibers running through but sized), "Cicada Wing paper" (SUPER thin, practically transparent, and sparkly....just like a cicada wing!), etc. OK. I am literally talking too much, but go on the Website Oriental Art Supply, it is in English and located in CA and they have descriptions of everything that will explain it all to you. They also have a RUclips channel! Same name OAS Oriental Art Supply where they teach painting diff subjects on diff papers! Also, Henry Li has a shop and a RUclips channel both called Blue Heron Arts that can give you much more info on the subject if you are so inclined to learn!
"you might love the weird effects you get using paints the wrong way", me with alcohol markers when they bleed across the paper like watercolor. I like gansai tambi watercolor and used them like normal watercolors with other brands (note that I already like to use things in non standard way), in my case I have no problem with them "being chalky" and their opacity was perfect for my technique more colored pencil style. When I use them I always think in old anime painted backgrounds, kinda ghibli (I know they use another type of pain for that), but to have a visual idea of what they look like
This was really informative and interesting! I don't do a ton of traditional art, but I like knowing about different media for art journaling and making grimoire pages. (I don't really use the grimoire for magic, as is traditional, more for examining my life and its trajectory.) I think it's great to experiment with media in different ways just to see what it can do for your repertoire, even if it doesn't work out and you go back to traditional intended uses. Yesterday, I learned you can use water-based markers like watercolors by scribbling them on a palette and adding water. And you can blend and lift alcohol-based markers like paint. Who knew?
I love gansai. And finding info has been hard. I would never have tried it had I not taken a class from a Korean illustrator. And now I'm hooked. I even managed to get the next level tube pigements to mix my own paints. There are Western (mostly European) brands that make Gansai, but often you don't know it until you get your hands on them, and usually see a few reviews saying things like pans are too big, white was included or mixed in, they don't act like watercolor. Thank you for covering this!
@@madden.r.grimes Even though there is a set on Amazon. the company contacted me twice to make sure i wanted them. To make sure i understood that I would have to mix up these paints and that if didn't buy the binder, I would need to make my own etc. They wanted to be sure i knew what I was getting into... which honestly was a great experience. Tells you they care about the product.
![[Eng sub] What are these? 48 Japanese Colors Watercolor Set / Kuretake / gansaitambi](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/qoR_OO6jb2w/mqdefault.jpg)
It has come to my attention that the kuretake paints are NOT vegan, they use glycerin derived from beef tallow. I didn't know, and i have no idea if kuretake knew the whole time.
Apologies to anyone who is vegan who bought the paints on my recommendation
Edit: quite frankly i don't know anymore, but google is your friend! i'll look into it in more depth at some point and try to get a more definitive answer
They reckon they didn’t know. I’d like to believe they didn’t!
It used to be an issue, but they changed the recipe a while back.
Only a few colours aren't vegan friendly and are listed on their website.
doesn't matter , DNA & RNA are same for plants and animals just arranged differently
No wonder they tasted so good
Thank you So Much! Your video is a treasure for my learning process. So thoroughly covered! Thank you, again.
YAY! THANK you! I do Chinese brush painting/Japanese Sumi-e and I am tired of all these YT artists saying they don't like gansai because they aren't like "real" watercolors, etc etc. They are meant to be put down in one layer on very thin rice paper. Interestingly, China actually brought the art form to Japan so the paints are originally Chinese! I don't speak Japanese, but I do speak Chinese (not fluently, but enough that when I am in China people assume I'm fluent) so I guess it's easier for me to get info on gansai: because I know different Chinese art supply shops in the US and I follow Chinese brush painting channels here on YT. I also follow a lot of the Japanese ones too! I love Nihonga as well! I love making my own paints fresh for each painting, the fact that there like 50 diff variations of the same pigment with slight differences based on how large or small the particles are, the cool brass spoon I get to use after I dissolve the glue..............
Yesss, all the supplies look so tempting and beautiful! Someday when i have a proper studio i will have to tackle Nihonga
There's not much about Gansai paints out there, you did a great job with this instructional video. I love Gansai paints for abstract paintings, the large pans are perfect for large brushes. The graphite set is one of my favorites. Your art is so soft and cute! Thank you for the lightfast test in special, it's a first!
Thank you so much! The graphite set is a special favorite of mine too, even though i don't use it in finished work
@@madden.r.grimesThanks for sharing..can you recommend any brush or paint types for someone starting off but wants to be professional? Sounds like ga sai mightbe easier than watercolor or is ot subjective to some extent? And easier or ablit the same as acrylic I'd guess? And maybe somewhat subjective..Thanks for sharing
I thoroughly enjoyed using gansai for a time, as they act as a happy medium between gouache and watercolor for me. I agree they are completely different from either medium, and find that one might enjoy using them if they have an illustrative style or would like to do something gouache-like but want the luminosity of oils. The shiny finish of thickly applied gansai on a smooth paper? Gorgeous.
I have yet to experiment with applying them thick and shiny, but you're making it sound tempting!
As a sort of noob when it comes to watercolors, i wanted to try the Kuretake Gansai Tambi paints for a while, but after watching this video im beginning to think they aren't a good fit for the artwork i do. I love mixing my colors myself with my small set of watercolors i have and i like working really small and detailed when i paint. Thank you for making this video, it makes the difference between watercolor and gansai paints so much more clear to me. I may still try these paints in the future, but for now and after watching this video that will be much later on.
Btw i absolutely loved your painting, its adorable :)
Thank you!
I'm so glad you found this helpful!
I love how comprehensive this was, most people on here that I've seen usually end up bashing Gansai paints cuz they're not like western watercolours which I think is dumb. Love the painting btw!
Thats a big part of why i wanted to make this video
FINALLY ! An explanation of these paints. Your right on that they are not like watercolors. They are paints in their own right. Water based paint. I’m a long time painter, my favorite is traditional watercolor. I’ve worked with all kinds of mediums, each are unique . The techniques for each are different. Thanks for ‘ clearing the air’ on Gansai. 🌴from Florida 🌴
I've been treating these like they were watercolors, this was very informative!
This was so mesmerising to watch! Thank you for this detailed intro :)
You're welcome ^w^
Thank you for the informative video. I love my kuretake set. They’re in their own category between watercolor and gouache, and I love the texture.
Thank you, I have so little experience with watercolor of any kind, collage having been my entry point.
Now, retired, and with a general loss of strength, I am eager to learn about art and watercolor. Planting
5 shrubs a day is no longer an option for me, having slowed; I greatly appreciate your video helping
me to understand how I might proceed, and experiment. Best to you.
Regards,
Suzanna
Thank you for the lovely comment! I'm glad this was helpful
This is so great to see the lightfast tests. I have the 52 and 48 sets and absolutely love them and use in conjuction with my artist grade watercolours. I love seeing all the colours in one box and will continue to buy them when they run out.
I really like the creaminess of the Kuretake paints and just went to the Dick Blick site to find the other set of paints you were using, the Art Nouveau, and all the descriptions of their paint sets say they are vegan. I love your little horse painting! This is the first light fastness test I have seen, thank you for that!
I learned a lot! I'm going to play with gansai paints today. It feels like they're more like transparent gouache than watercolor.
Thank you for this video! Very helpful and having used the gansai for the last several months I can attest to everything you have explained and you have helped me understand some of my frustrations with these. I'm a total beginner. I was led to believe that Kuretake gansai was great for beginners. I bought the main, art nouveau, graphite, sumi, starry colors, and granulating sets! 😂 I have enjoyed them, but have learned very quickly after watching other artists using Western watercolors that they are not the same thing. Not inferior, not superior, just different. I have since bought a teensy weensy split complimentary set of Daniel Smith. I'm teaching myself how to use both types of paints. They are both beautiful in their own right. Thanks again!
Thank you. I was trying to use it like watercolor.
Then stopped using it at all. Now, you’ve demystified it all and my mind is newly open to try it as it’s intended !
The art nouveau palette is one of my favorite of all my types of paint
It's a really lovely selection of colors
I bought these, tried them a few times, and now they sit on a shelf. I so appreviate this video.
Oh my...,Thank you very much for making this video🙏 Your explanation was eaisly, and clearly understandable.
I did buy the Kuretake Gansi paints under the impression they were a watercolor. I wasn't entirely fond of them due to the opaque nature, this wasn't something I was expecting. I found your video very informative and helpful, thanks again❤🥰
You're welcome ^w^
Yes please, explain all mediums, that was interesting 😊 great 👍🏻 video.
I’m so glad I stumbled on this video. Thank you so much.
Thank you for this wonderful video. It was soothing and informative. I am retired and finally have time to pursue learning how to paint. I’ve always loved the delicate almost ethereal transparency of water colors. These Japanese water based paints are so intriguing.
Congratulations on finally getting to paint!
These are my FAVORITE of all my paints. I love them
Other than Holbein, Gansai are always my second favourite. I love your art 💜
Holbein are a fantastic brand, really excellent stuff
Great video. I’ve purchased or been given most of the Kuretake paint set and enjoy fiddling with them when I’m not beating my head against my W&N palette. Your description of them was interesting. I’ve done a little research but your talk was far better than I could do.
Thank you!
These paints have been in my shopping cart for a year, and I just wasn’t sure what they would bring to the table, so thank you for showing them so thoroughly! I look forward to more of your videos!❤
Glad I could help!
Really great video and well needed! 😊 I absolutely love my Gansai paints. So it was nice to learn more about them. I use them all the time lately, especially when playing with colour palettes as they are so easy to match with the colours on the palette! I love the painting you did too. Looking forward to watching your other videos ☺️
Thank you!!
Thanks for the gansai run through, very helpful.
Thank you! As someone new to water soluble media and especially watercolor, I really appreciate your video. ❤️
You're welcome! ^w^
Thank you for making this, I've been trying to find basically this exact video for months. I was under the impression that gansai didnt lift at all, but I think that's because there's two kinds of Japanese "watercolour" - one that does and one that doesn't lift. I recently learned that only the one that lifts is made into gansai, which makes sense now that I think about it, since the pans have to be reactivated.... Thank you for helping me clear up some misunderstandings!
it’s the hair and eyes. Mesmerizing
You mean his, right? Agree.
Ive had these paints sitting on a shelf for two years and used them once , i love how pigmented they are and just when i decided to paint with them your video popped up! Thank you for sharing your knowledge 😊
Super informative, thank you! I just got the gem set and was looking for more info on the other sets
Thank you so much for this. I really appreciate and admire your dedication, talent and patience!
Thank you for this explanation and thoughtfully put together video! I was gifted this exact set about four years ago and was so confused as to why they were seemingly like watercolour but was meant to be applied differently and whatnot :) excited to give these another go
Glad it was helpful!
Super interesting. Thank you! Learn something new every day ….
I would love to see you do a whole series on all things paint
This video was so cool to watch, I didn’t realise it but i actually have a set of Gansai paints and now I feel like I can utilise them a lot more effectively! Thankyou!
Thats awesome to hear!
Very Useful video thanks for sharing. there is such a lack of information on Gansai paints. great video!
Thanks, I have some of these paints. Thank you. You have a new subscriber.
I just picked up watercolors for the first time since high school art class. This was really fascinating. Thanks for saving me from an uninformed purchase!
Thanks for your video! I love learning something new. Do more! 🐝
Love the music, your whole look there looks like a watercolor palette
So pleased you did this video on Gansia Kuretake. Hopefully it will reach newbies to watercolour who do their research. I purchased Gansia as I heard many times it was a good beginners w/c paint and the price point was good. Initially Gansia was great to use it was so easy as I was totally new to painting of any sort. As I got better with brush work and sketching I found I couldn't achieve Western techniques with them. Before I could conclude I was no good at painting I stumbled on some comments in an art chat. There was a whole discussion about how Gansia could not be used like Western w/c. So I stopped trying to to do Western style w/c with them and just used them straight and I got watercolour paints to do watercolour techniques. I love the vividness of kuratake Gansia and I think I will always have some to play with.
You are a beautiful person!!
Thank you for this introduction!
Thank you I found your video informative as a new watercolorist. I don’t own any Kuratake palettes as of yet but grateful of your honest opinion.
I haven’t even heard of these before and I have realised since seeing yours and learning about them from you 🥰 that I bought about 6-8 of them a couple of years ago and didn’t know because I bought them off a shop selling single pans on eBay and they had them listed as watercolours, they do work kind of like watercolours but they weren’t quite the same and I didn’t understand why and it’s because they weren’t 😂 the shop selling them was Chinese and not Japanese though I think, so I thought they were just selling single pans of more varied colours and now I see they just mislabelled them or maybe thought they would be more easily found by calling them watercolours but either way they build up to quite a strong pigment and they’re lovely colours! I’ll have to dig them back out now I know more about them! You look like a beautiful elf ! I love your hair! 🥰❤️ I love the adorable my little pony that you painted! So cute! ❤
I get that elf comment so often, i really need to get around to reading lord of the rings at some point
I began using these wonderful paints in the beginning of my watercolor journey. I did not understand how to use them properly and the information you supply today reaffirmed the fact that I should not have been using them in the beginning of my watercolor journey. That being said I absolutely use and love these paints. I would be extremely interested in learning about other mediums. Please seriously consider providing the information to those of us who are eager to learn more. Besides those of us from the Northwest need to stick together😊
I am really thinking about it, the only problem is deciding what to cover next!
Wow, I had no idea. Here I was using them as watercolors! I think I've only used my set a handful of times, so I'll have to try them out again with this new knowledge and see for myself how they differ from watercolors. Thank you for the video!
I was gifted some of these from my brother. I LOVE them. Thank you for the education on them.
Very helpful vid, thank you ☺️
Thank you for this. I've experimented a bit with gansai paints in etegami, and the information you provided is helpful in understanding the medium. As for sauces, green curry!
Ha! I cannot believe nobody has made that joke yet, i love it!
@@madden.r.grimes I've also been thinking that gansai paints remind me more of poster paints than watercolor, with the glossiness, the muddy mixability, and the cartoon-ish applications. Do try them on washi paper if you haven't.
YES!! Those Talenti tubs are GREAT f or being impromptu water cups. Also for storing brushes, tools, pencils, etc...
Also, thank you for the informative video about Gansai paints! It truly seems like a remarkable medium to experiment with.
They are such a fun medium!
I've been using Gansai paints for a while but treated them more like watercolours so that video was very interesting and educational, thank you! :) I will look at them differently now (I love them)
I love the pony you painted! It takes me back to the pleasantly colorful MLP ponies of my childhood. The colors you chose complement each other beautifully.
The my little pony brand has always been great at picking color palettes!
i deeply love these paints, thanks for talking about them
Thank you. Great information. Your painting is lovely. Your voice with the soft background music is perfect. I’m looking for a medium to use for painting on fabric in a “watercolour - like effect” so very interested in these paint sets. I’m hoping the different characteristics will enable me to use them on an uncommon surface like fabric. Your information on how they don’t bleed and repel actually was super beneficial to me as fabric absorbs water and paint spreads differently than on quality artist paper…like it runs along the threads or puddles into a muddy mess! I really appreciated the information on colour fastness. The best video I’ve seen on that. Thank you for sharing your observations, opinions and art. Enjoy your art time. Hello from 🇨🇦
Thank you so much!
Good luck with your experiments!
I stumbled here cause YT suggested this and since I knew nothing of Gansai paints (or any japanese type paints), I clicked. I did not expect pony art! Hello fellow ponyartist! This was very informative, thank you!
You're welcome!
Thank you for all the information on Gansai paints. I've been wondering about them for a while. I had the graphite set, but gave it away because I wasn't sure of the lightfastness. You worked so hard to test all your colors; I really appreciate it. Now, I'm not unhappy that I gave the colors away! I think I'll stick to my watercolors!
I thought your comments were very wise. And thank you for mentioning Nihonga. I enjoyed watching that video too. Now I have something else to look into 🙂.
Subscribed. Yes I'd love to learn more about other mediums. I thought gansai paints were watercolors so thank you for the info. Also, I hope that adorable painting went to an ecstatic child. 😊
I am primarily a watercolour artist, but enjoy various other mediums, including gouache and gansai tambi ( I own all the available sets) all three mediums are very different, which is why I love using all three. I really enjoyed your informative and well thought out video. You have a new subscriber from Australia. Thankyou and happy painting! 😊❤🌻
Wow! Thats crazy to think i have people watching that far away!
So thankful you have put so much info out about gansai paints. I am about to buy kuretake sets for sure. I appreciate your little pony painting demo with the features added after the base painting as this is sometimes the direction I like to go in. Love your works. Thank you for being so generous with your time and advices. 😊😊😊😊
My pleasure ^w^
Great blog Madden, I really enjoyed it. New subscriber today ❤❤❤❤
Thank you for this video. First, I’m no pro. With that said, I have used DS and others and I was frustrated with some aspects of this paint that had me thinking I was just using them wrong. I tried diff papers…more water….tossed them in the drawer. I now understand they are what they are. A water media. Not watercolors. Got it! 🎉
Thank you for the information on Gansai paints! This is very helpful
Thank you for this nice “how-do” to a paint previously unknown to me.
Thanks for this informative video. I started looking into Japanese paints because I had been using acrylic paints and inks as "watercolours" and read (on Wikipedia!) that Japanese nihonga paints dried tough enough not to need protection behind varnish or glass. Plus I love the muted Japanese colour palette. Turns out the protective element in the paints is animal glue and they have to be mixed up from scratch, so not what I'm looking for at this stage. The reason I paint acrylic as watercolour has to do with me not knowing where to start, I knew that acrylic was water-soluble and versatile so that's what I went for. Also watercolour to me (before I started painting) meant the super washy misty looking pictures, but the style I paint in is closer to traditional gouache, but I really didn't want something that reactivates when wet, hence acrylic.
5 months really isn't long for a lightfastness test. I put some blobs of paint in a southfacing window and forgot about them till 14 months later. By then the yellow had half disappeared and leaf green had darkened (presumably as the yellow component disappeared) leaving an austere bluey-green. No pigments were listed on the paints box (hence the test) but research suggests the disappearing yellow is PY1.
Fun fact: the Japanese word for western type art is yōga 洋画, pronounced exactly the same in Japanese as yōga ヨウガ the Indian spiritual exercise practice with the god postures 😂
Love the fun fact
I have put the strips back in the window, and i will check in on them in a few months/a year so i can get even more info. I do think this was enough to tell what colors to avoid like the plague though 😅
@ZadenZane kuratake change their recipe for most of their paints years ago so that most colours are vegan friendly. Their website has more info.
This was super helpful, thank you!
Thank you for you lovely, gentle video. I've been working with watercolours for a couple of years and have enjoyed them but during that time I was drawn to the Gansai paints. I love them for their vibrancy, I've yet to try gouache, that's next on my list. I'm an artist that wants to learn the traditional plus alternative ways of using them.
Your video was sthg long overdue! Thank You! Gansai paints and Sumi paints (the dark ones, they are darkened/muted by using black Sumi Ink) have a long tradition of more than 1,000 years in Japan. Comparing them to western paints and bashing them for not being like western paints is almost sacreligious.
A very good way of seeing how Gansai paints are used in Japan is by watching videos of Japanese artists, even if you don't understand what is being said. Just by watching the techniques and the painting process we can learn a lot.❤
Another thing I have learned from Japanese artists is that they never spray Gansai paints before using them. An Asian artist, I believe she is from Thailand, who often reviews Asian "watercolors" once said that Gansai are immediately re-activated when a wet brush touches them. And I find that ist true. Apparently pre-wetting the paints causes too much paint being lifted from the pans, which then easily leads to them looking awkwardly shiny after drying.
Oh definitely if you use them straight from the pan, i prefer to use them from a pallet, so this works best for me ^w^
I love the Gansai Paint and I completely agree with the students grade products.
Wow... color fastness matters so much! This was quite a surprise! Thank you. I just bought some Gansai. 🎉
this was the first “fancy” set of paints i ever got myself in early high school, and at the time I thought they were watercolors. which explains my frustration with watercolor sets i purchased afterwards! thanks for the info on these amazing paints
This was so interesting! I love gansai paints and need to use them more. I love the horsey too, beautiful! ❤
such an endearing story, may blu and dory have a long and happy friendship 🐾
Oh wow! I bought Gansai Paint under the impression that it was just water colour. I’m glad I saw your video before using them.
i got this set of gansai paints because i thought it was watercolor. everything on the website told be it was normal watercolor. no wonder it didn't work the was i was wanting :D thank you for this information! i cant wait to try them in the right way
I subscribed to your channel a few weeks ago when you said you'll make this video ❤thank you
I always deliver... eventually
I use Gansai paints very sparingly. Usually they are used when I need to ‘cover up’ a mistake when I paint with the usual watercolours. Thank you for your test.🤗
Thank you for the explanation. That helped so much. Loved watching you paint the horse. ❤️🥰 Yes, if you are able to compare other mediums, that would be so helpful. Still a newbie with watercolor, but sure love the Gansai paint and colors. Excited to use them.
Thanks, that was very informative.
In a way you're right but even we refer to Gansai as "Watercolor". Your pronunciations are fine, thank you for teaching people about the supplies from my kinsmen :) Beautiful artwork and calming easy to understand commentary.
Very helpful. Thank you!!
Très interessant ! Merci pour le partage
i think i got a couple pans of these a few years back in a monthly art supply box and assumed they were watercolor, and I found them very weird and didn't like them. however that's because I didn't know they weren't actually watercolor and didnt know how to use em
What a clever way to test the paint :-) I must try this myself although we are aproaching fall and winter, so it will have to wait til next spring.
Thank you SO MUCH! :)
I have a pan of these! I bought them during college from the college store and have been referring to them as “fancy/japanese watercolours” because there was ZERO info on what they were, I just got them bc they were… a really nice pallet of hard paints that I could take with me places and had very vibrant colouring. I always loved how fast they dried and the rich colours they came in, much more hearty than the western watercolour pallets I could acquire. I don’t paint a lot anymore, but I always pull out that little green box when cleaning and feel nostalgia for those college days again
Thank you! I learned a lot from your video!
I’m impressed with the pink and purples lightfastness.
Can’t believe I found this I have a set but my skill was not there I kept them safely tucked away to come back to now I know I can come back this and try again.
Their paints are some of my favorites. I reach for my Kurtake more and more.
OK, about the rice paper: There are three diff sizings for all Chinese/Japanese paintings. Raw (unsized), ripe (sized), and half raw half ripe (slightly sized). Unsized rice papers are great for landscapes as, of course, the unsized paper absorbs water/ink/paint and spreads it out (it looks like you are painting wet in wet even tho you aren't) which is what you want when you are doing clouds, mountains, fields, etc. If you look at traditional landscapes you will see that the clouds and mountains, etc fade out. BUT that is for the traditional SPONTANEOUS painting. There is also Gong Bi style (meticulous). You know the ones I'm talking about: the very detailed pics of birds with every feather meticulously painted and shaded, each flower petal done perfectly, all with those perfect outlines. And Gong Bi is done on ripe papers. The half raw half ripe (or semi sized) are for up close subjects but in spontaneous style, where you need more control of where the ink is going but you still want that one brush stroke to represent a branch or a beak. The sizing is done with different materials, but one of the most popular is alum. I buy alum and size my own papers because alum makes the paper sparkle! That is why you will find diff Chinese papers labeled "Dragon Cloud Sparkle paper" (thick with these cloud like fluffy fibers running through but sized), "Cicada Wing paper" (SUPER thin, practically transparent, and sparkly....just like a cicada wing!), etc. OK. I am literally talking too much, but go on the Website Oriental Art Supply, it is in English and located in CA and they have descriptions of everything that will explain it all to you. They also have a RUclips channel! Same name OAS Oriental Art Supply where they teach painting diff subjects on diff papers! Also, Henry Li has a shop and a RUclips channel both called Blue Heron Arts that can give you much more info on the subject if you are so inclined to learn!
Thabk you for such an informative comment! I am definitely going to do some rabbit hole-ing now!
"you might love the weird effects you get using paints the wrong way", me with alcohol markers when they bleed across the paper like watercolor.
I like gansai tambi watercolor and used them like normal watercolors with other brands (note that I already like to use things in non standard way), in my case I have no problem with them "being chalky" and their opacity was perfect for my technique more colored pencil style.
When I use them I always think in old anime painted backgrounds, kinda ghibli (I know they use another type of pain for that), but to have a visual idea of what they look like
That sounds gorgeous!
thank you this is very helpful and interesting............
Love this! So helpful ❤
My favourite paints, I love them.❤️
This was really informative and interesting! I don't do a ton of traditional art, but I like knowing about different media for art journaling and making grimoire pages. (I don't really use the grimoire for magic, as is traditional, more for examining my life and its trajectory.) I think it's great to experiment with media in different ways just to see what it can do for your repertoire, even if it doesn't work out and you go back to traditional intended uses. Yesterday, I learned you can use water-based markers like watercolors by scribbling them on a palette and adding water. And you can blend and lift alcohol-based markers like paint. Who knew?
Its really great to research and and experiment and find out just how much you can do with one medium, its like the world is suddenly your oyster
I love gansai. And finding info has been hard. I would never have tried it had I not taken a class from a Korean illustrator. And now I'm hooked. I even managed to get the next level tube pigements to mix my own paints. There are Western (mostly European) brands that make Gansai, but often you don't know it until you get your hands on them, and usually see a few reviews saying things like pans are too big, white was included or mixed in, they don't act like watercolor. Thank you for covering this!
I would love to try the tube pigments someday, they are so gorgeous!
@@madden.r.grimes Even though there is a set on Amazon. the company contacted me twice to make sure i wanted them. To make sure i understood that I would have to mix up these paints and that if didn't buy the binder, I would need to make my own etc. They wanted to be sure i knew what I was getting into... which honestly was a great experience. Tells you they care about the product.
Thank you, I’m glad I accidentally came across this