the thought of buying this bag never crossed my mind. i do think it looks good but i just know i can get myself the materials and put together something that would work better for me and probably save me a lot of money
The cotman burnt sienna (more like a dark rich quin gold) is my favourite of their colours. It makes some of the most delicious mixes with other pigments. On the other hand their Prussian blue is horrific. The top of it kind of seals over and any pigment you do manage to pick up is completely gritty and a mess, like painting with blue gravel. It’s a great set for learning with and for sketches and playing, but not the best for finished final pieces.
I have this pallete. I hated how the pans always wanted to fall out. Why don't they stay properly? LOL! I ended up DIYing mine...I took out all the cakes from the pans and refilled the the pans with professional watercolors that I prefer. Then I took crafting glue dots and put them on the bottom of each pan and then pushed them back into the pallette. Now they stay put and I use this pallette much more often.
There really is a difference between watercolors and Cotman (for me) doesn't really cut it at the moment. I like it for my sketchbook sometimes because I have a really small set that I can carry with me almost all the time. If I'm sitting in my studio though, I'll bring out the bigger guns. As a whole this looks great for a person who might want to try plein air but I agree with a lot of the comments below. Great review!
Thank you for your honesty in this review. I got a Cotman travel palette. As a beginner, I thought this would be adequate. Wrong! Now I'm looking for a mid range set but I'm finding it difficult to decide on which one. Other reviewers don't seem to be as honest and straight forward as you so it's difficult to know which one to buy.
Everyone has different preferences and I think some people genuinely enjoy Cotman, but I don't and I'm not about to pretend! ;) Depending on where you live, some midrange brands might be easier to find than others. As for beginner sets, I personally think that the small, 10-colors Aquafine tin set is pretty neat. It's about 10-15$, has great color selection and payoff :)
@@EveBolt FYI - I got the Sennelier 12+6 pan set and couldn't be happier. I keep seeing the Schminecke (sp?) watercolors on RUclips and was wondering how they compare to the Sennelier. I'll bet if you do a comparison video I would know. ;-)
I bought this set on Amazon. The water bucket leaked, and I replaced it with another collapsible one. I had bought the same box of watercolours with the professional paints rather than the Cotman on sale locally, so substituted. I really do like the neat little bag, and use it a lot with my own additions.
Great Review as always! I think I've said before but my favourite Cotman paints are purple lake and Payne's gray. I also like to mix these warmer purples with new camboge, it makes a weird but interesting and warm skin tone. I remember seeing this set in a store, but didn't want to buy since I already had a Cotman sketcher's box... But the travel bag and the contents inside are really handy.
Re- adding- hue paints can be funny to work with sometimes. Like the best advice someone gave me regarding hue paints was to mix "optically". Where you layer a color, let it dry, then glaze another layer on top. I bought this bag back in the 90s, (possibly very late 80s?). It was great for waiting for the bus, this being back when Dallas Area Rapid Transit buses sometimes only came by a stop every 45 minutes to an hour. (Instead of 15 minutes like they do in big cities.) My bag was a bit different. The fabric is pretty sturdy, there's no holes in it after all this time. But there wasn't a water bucket in it, and the paper pad was a postcard pad. The water bottle was also different, it's a flatter type. Not so roundy. There was also no pencil. The eraser was a kneaded eraser. I also do not use Chinese white, I put either Payne's Gray or dioxazine purple in that spot. Dioxazine purple can give you some really good dark shadows. I really used mine too, I had to refill the pans. Though I might have used W&N artist or professional grade paint the next round. Also- only W&N pans fitting in this set- that's a newer thing. I noticed that when I bought a newer 14 half pan Cotman, with the intent of putting the newer pans into my older travel bag kit, and using the newer set for the Daniel Smith watercolors I had already poured into other half pans. I had wanted to keep the older 14 half pan with the travel bag, but ended up having to use it for the Daniel Smith colors. The pans fit in the older set, definitely not in the newer one. But the W&N pans fit in either one with no problem. And I really wanted to keep the set together! Also, if you want to keep your pans from moving around, just put a dab of that sticky tab stuff that teachers use for their boards. Look for it in the same aisle as the Elmer's Glue stuff. It's usually referred to as removable adhesive tack.
It so awesome that you have that set from back when it was super well-made! That's a precious item with a story :) I like to use removable tack for pans, but it's always a bit tricky to get them out after XD
There are “ridges” inside each of the pan slots that are what make them so small for other pans. If you have a mail file (Dremel is much easier) you can file those down flat and fit in all normal pan sizes (they do this to encourage you to buy THEIR one only which i can’t stand and always find a way around) thankfully the Field Box was made standard to accept all normal pan sizes
Looks like youll need a clip or two on the bent edges of your collapsible water bucket, just to keep the mouth open wide.It's great to have these reviews of yours. You are so good at it! That eraser was ridiculous LOL As always, your paintings are so pleasing and balanced. Lovely work :)
To make the watercolour pans stick in the little plastic holders, lift them out and put a little drop of gum Arabic in the bobbom of the holder. Then push the pan back in. They will stay perfectly, and since gum Arabic is the binder, you haven't damaged the paint.
This travel bag is a pretty sweet kit, and even without wanting to really use the paints themselves I think it’s still a pretty good value! I’d totally get this....except I already have about six different complete travel kit setups, including ones with specific bags or boxes to carry! =>.
Welp. I just ordered a set so I hope I won’t have trouble getting deep colors. I have some secondhand Cotman paints and they are so much better than my cheap paints. I guess your frame of reference is better quality stuff.
I didn't know, the WN pans weren't replacable by others... in my Cotman palette, that I've started painting with, the pans had the same issue, that they either wouldn't fit properly or were very loose. Such a strange issue! But you're right, the paints aren't the best - the bag seems nice though. Thanks for the review!
Nice set! If you decide to keep the paint, turn the watercolor nuggets upside down in their half pans and push hard. They shouldn't fall out again. I usually use a tiny piece of blu tac to hold the pans in the palette.
I like Rose Madder from Cotman but otherwise I really enjoy painting with Sennelier. If you compare Renesans to Cotman you would pick Renesans, am I right?
renesans paints better indeed, but besides their cadmiums, all their reds and yellows are from slightly to extremely fugitive :'( and they do not have a single pbr earth pigment in their line, with their earth's being mixtures of py42, pr101 and various blacks!
I have had same issue in my winsor and newton palette, pans just fell out or they needed force to fit on place! Actually, Talens uses same size pans, so rembrandt and van gogh should fit, but they also need bit help of bluetack to keep in place. I don't like cotmas, they are just so weakly pigmented and paint cakes falling out of pans is pain. I lost my burnt umber this way...
Thank you. I wounderd about this set. Now I am sure I do not want iT. I use an Ikea toiletery bag. Cheap and very functional. Plus I ordered 2 foldable stainless steel cups. (Instead of plastic cups) I Always cary water with me in a stainless steel bottle. So I Will stick with my bag.
Great review Eve. I like the idea of the bag and could see myself putting it to use but the water bucket would really annoy me as it slips closed and needs to be held open to access the water. Thanks for this, it's been really helpful. Patricia
Well, it would keep bugs and leaves out, right? ;) ... I agree that it's definitely not ideal. Mikki suggested using clips on the bent edges to keep them open and it's a good idea. I would keep this bucket as a backup supply, like if I was to forget all my other tools, I'd still like to have this around so I could at least paint a bit.
Actually, I’ve recently got a cotman set as a little treat, just to play with them, and they have improved since I got them the first time, they rewet better I feel, but the big problem i always had with them was a. They mix ... weird. Maybe it’s because they don’t get darker when you mix a color combination that should get dark, I agree c: and I always have a problem with the selection of blues they give you, I always have a problem using cerulean as my cool blue
Perhaps because they are "hue" paints? Hue paints aren't the exact pigment, they're cheaper pigments mixed to look like the more expensive version. I had a demo artist mention that you have to look at the pigment content to know exact how they will mix. He also mentioned mixing 'optically', where you put down a layer of one color, when it dries, you do a layer of the second color on top. That has worked out to be a really great bit of advice. I swear I hated hue colors before that. (Though in my set, I ended up replacing the Cotman with W&N professional or artist colors. I think I liked it more after that.)
bugeyedmonster2 that’s definitely the reason for some of them! There are a handful of singe pigment colors in there as well tho, the amount of pigment in them compared to binder and filler (to make it cheaper) is just big ~~ the professionals are definitely way better
This was my first student watercolor set and I totally HATE IT, the colors are waaay to transparent and trying to get the pigment was so hard! I guess I tried to use them 5 months but it was impossible so I decided to try another student brand and I got the Van Gogh watercolor set and like I said before I totally love them, from my experience they are much better than the cotman line from W&N, I was stupid following everyone's preference in the W&N ones when the truth here is that depends of the person and the needs you have, maybe I love van gogh but other person will hate them and love W&N, don't follow everyone's preferences because if you don't like what you got the only one losing here is yourself (and your wallet💔) thanks for this review Eve, love u so much💕
I totally subscribe to this. Van Gogh is a student range only in price. I actually prefer Van Gogh to some professional lines (like the super mediocre Daniel Smith).
I can see what you mean about "blurry!" There's such a weird textural and colour thing going on with these paints. This is a cool set in theory but I can't imagine how well it works in practice? Maybe I'm just overly critical since I've never been huge on Winsor & Newton, especially their Cotman line.
Great video Eve! 😁 The bag does look pretty nifty. Though that plastic water bag just didn't want to stay open for you. 😉 I personal don't care for their paints, but I'm glad you reviewed them. 😃
That water bag is so weird. Why is it so much bigger than the water bottle? I would much rather have one of the collapsible water cups I've seen and like another commenter said, a soft water bottle/pouch. The balance of colors is nice, but it made me mad when you mentioned (and I realized you're so right, I just never put two and two together) that none of the products make it easy to buy outside the brand. I of course already dislike their tube vs pan ploy, and I knew their pans were smaller, I just never thought about the reason they were smaller. Fishy indeed, and makes me really hesitant to want to spend money within their brand. Perhaps I'm being a bit catty, but when there are other options to choose from, why not? :D
In Liquid Color I agree! I bought this and took out the wrapped paints, replacing them with professional paints from tubes. Replaced the huge water bag with two collapsible silicone muffin cups, replaced the brushes with my favorite travel brushes, replaced the eraser with Tombow Mono one, and replaced the paper. So, basically, I bought this for the bag! (Which I like very much.) The travel palette is pretty nice, the water bag can be used as a small tote for supplies, and the paint can be used for stamping. This bag is MUCH less expensive from Jackson's, than in the States.
Nice review. Gotta love triggered Eve regarding Cotman paints xD If I were to get the travel set, I'd probably replace the paint and eraser too. For the summer I'm going to be painting some galaxy style pictures I've sketched out. I'm working on one that's Lisa Frank inspired, at least with the bright colors and such. I pulled out my giant In N Art 50 something odd well palette for the summer even, lol. I hardly use it as it is, except for the summer holidays. It has a cover so at least I don't have to worry about cat hair getting into the paint. I'm also going to be working in some coloring books with my colored pencils and watercolor pencils, plus I'm going through my once a year Harry Potter reading marathon. So at least I won't be bored even if I'm stuck inside because I can't take the heat >.> I do like the paintings you made, even with the sucky Cotman colors. I can imagine that palette being more useable if it had DanSmitty, or MGraham paints in it. Or just VanGogh would work too. Have a good summer!
Haha, thanks! These paints are so ubiquitous, I hope I can take a good break from them for a bit XD I love your summer plans, it sounds super fun! The heat is so gross, I'm not suited to it either T_T
You say it's summer, but I still spot a heavy sweater. :D And the travel set looks nice overall, but I have some perplexities over the water container (I could see you open it again and again, for me that's not acceptable) and the amount of water in the bottle. I understand that this is a travel set and I cannot get a mega tin of water, but seeing the size of the bag, perhaps it would have been more useful to have a plastic pouch for the water (more flexible but more water) and one of those metal/plastic collapsable (sp?) glasses to hold it. About the paints and paper... I understand what you mean, I personally have issues with the paper and not much with the paints. They're a bit cloudy, but I mostly use them for sketching and practice and keep the better ones for the 'nice' works. The paper though, it's really not that great, and it has a texture that is immediately recognizable, that big hole-y texture. Other papers have it, so my question is always if they use the same press or if they order it from the same place, because they all behave the same way. :D Their professional paper is better, the one with the grey cover. At least on the front side, many papers just have one usable side and the other has a completely different texture. Sometimes this pisses me off because if I make a mistake, I'd like to use the back of the paper for something else but noooooo, wrong texture.
Haha! I recorded the unpackaging of the set quite some time ago, when it was much cooler. I miss the cold T_T It's the first time I try the Cotman paper, so my opinion is not formed yet, but at the same time I'm not overly impressed. It's just completely unexciting as a supply. Basic cellulose paper with a strong texture and very average behavior. I also don't like papers that have just one side, it's definitely not compatible with the way I work. All this wasted space, argh. And thanks for the info about the pro W&N paper, I think I have a small pad of it somewhere and that made me feel better about eventually picking it up.
It has the same problem of the front being different from the back, though. But I have to say that, compared to other 'professional' papers, it has a better price for its performance than the others. But I am a Clairefontaine baby, so I will stand by that all the way. Another paper that I'm not liking that much is the Arteza one. It is fine for small works, so it's good for doodle practice, but the moment you mix you watercolors a bit more watery, it's like it becomes water repellant and getting the result you want is almost impossible. I posted my latest work on IG and the orange background was a pain to get, and it still has a very odd look to it despite my best efforts. =3=
I like how you improved in reading lists, in past videos whenever you listed off color names you made them sound like questions, like: lemon yellow?, Primary yellow?, Primary red?, And so on, but now it sounds nice, props to that
Francesca Galanti that was her francophone intonation. Honestly, I thought it was wonderful and natural. As far as I'm concerned, Italian accents are nice, too.
@Francesca Galanti I wasn't even aware I was doing that, hehe! It's definitely something that has to be coming from my French... I'm glad it's better now! :)
The travel bag itself seems like the best thing about the set. It was hilarious to watch the water bucket keep trying to close on you. That eraser is just straight up trash.
Cotman is very demanding, but the end product' quality is proportional to the skill of those using them. Patrick Ley Greaves and smoothie77 are examples of very skilled painter on RUclips who make excellent painting with cotman. In the end, with a professional line you can get a good result with less effort, but with enough skill you can achieve the same results even with prang watercolors... I don't like Cotman, because it is demanding and time consuming, but it is a watercolor that will force you to learn. For example, with more mixing, your second pairing would yield much better results. Throw away the sap green and mix your greens with your blues, yellows, ochre and phthalo. Throw a droplet of alizarin hue to your phthalo and it can go inky black. The paint is not weak, it is delicate. Mix more -this is what painters do, after all- and you will get better results.
Interesting take on these paints! I still find them to be very lacking, especially the pans. Most skilled painters who use these often use them from the tubes and I think there might be something to that. And I still do believe that it's a matter of what you want to achieve with the paints, rather than skills. The Cotman paints are weaker than the pro range and it's fine if one wants to achieve a lighter palette, but it's not great for people working more spontaneously, or that don't layer extensively. It's a matter of your process; if these paints are a good fit for you, that's awesome.
Not really, because they don't look chalky. They don't have that whitish, opaque feel to them. They look cloudy, out of focus. The transparency is there, but the pigment intensity isn't.
the thought of buying this bag never crossed my mind. i do think it looks good but i just know i can get myself the materials and put together something that would work better for me and probably save me a lot of money
;_; trying to leave a #smallcomment and it just turned out mean
Hehehe! No, it's fine! :D
You can definitely more easily put your own set together and make it a better fit for you!
The cotman burnt sienna (more like a dark rich quin gold) is my favourite of their colours. It makes some of the most delicious mixes with other pigments. On the other hand their Prussian blue is horrific. The top of it kind of seals over and any pigment you do manage to pick up is completely gritty and a mess, like painting with blue gravel. It’s a great set for learning with and for sketches and playing, but not the best for finished final pieces.
I have the pallet but I loved it when I was first starting out with watercolor
watching that bucket keep closing while you're trying to use it... T_T
I have this pallete. I hated how the pans always wanted to fall out. Why don't they stay properly? LOL! I ended up DIYing mine...I took out all the cakes from the pans and refilled the the pans with professional watercolors that I prefer. Then I took crafting glue dots and put them on the bottom of each pan and then pushed them back into the pallette. Now they stay put and I use this pallette much more often.
There really is a difference between watercolors and Cotman (for me) doesn't really cut it at the moment. I like it for my sketchbook sometimes because I have a really small set that I can carry with me almost all the time. If I'm sitting in my studio though, I'll bring out the bigger guns. As a whole this looks great for a person who might want to try plein air but I agree with a lot of the comments below. Great review!
Thank you for your honesty in this review. I got a Cotman travel palette. As a beginner, I thought this would be adequate. Wrong! Now I'm looking for a mid range set but I'm finding it difficult to decide on which one. Other reviewers don't seem to be as honest and straight forward as you so it's difficult to know which one to buy.
Everyone has different preferences and I think some people genuinely enjoy Cotman, but I don't and I'm not about to pretend! ;)
Depending on where you live, some midrange brands might be easier to find than others. As for beginner sets, I personally think that the small, 10-colors Aquafine tin set is pretty neat. It's about 10-15$, has great color selection and payoff :)
@@EveBolt Thank you! I'll check that out.
@@EveBolt FYI - I got the Sennelier 12+6 pan set and couldn't be happier. I keep seeing the Schminecke (sp?) watercolors on RUclips and was wondering how they compare to the Sennelier. I'll bet if you do a comparison video I would know. ;-)
I bought this set on Amazon. The water bucket leaked, and I replaced it with another collapsible one. I had bought the same box of watercolours with the professional paints rather than the Cotman on sale locally, so substituted. I really do like the neat little bag, and use it a lot with my own additions.
The bag is really nice!! It would be neat if they sold it on its own :)
Great Review as always! I think I've said before but my favourite Cotman paints are purple lake and Payne's gray. I also like to mix these warmer purples with new camboge, it makes a weird but interesting and warm skin tone. I remember seeing this set in a store, but didn't want to buy since I already had a Cotman sketcher's box... But the travel bag and the contents inside are really handy.
You Always Have Great Informative Videos.
Thank you so much! :)
Re- adding- hue paints can be funny to work with sometimes. Like the best advice someone gave me regarding hue paints was to mix "optically". Where you layer a color, let it dry, then glaze another layer on top.
I bought this bag back in the 90s, (possibly very late 80s?). It was great for waiting for the bus, this being back when Dallas Area Rapid Transit buses sometimes only came by a stop every 45 minutes to an hour. (Instead of 15 minutes like they do in big cities.)
My bag was a bit different. The fabric is pretty sturdy, there's no holes in it after all this time. But there wasn't a water bucket in it, and the paper pad was a postcard pad. The water bottle was also different, it's a flatter type. Not so roundy. There was also no pencil. The eraser was a kneaded eraser.
I also do not use Chinese white, I put either Payne's Gray or dioxazine purple in that spot. Dioxazine purple can give you some really good dark shadows.
I really used mine too, I had to refill the pans. Though I might have used W&N artist or professional grade paint the next round.
Also- only W&N pans fitting in this set- that's a newer thing. I noticed that when I bought a newer 14 half pan Cotman, with the intent of putting the newer pans into my older travel bag kit, and using the newer set for the Daniel Smith watercolors I had already poured into other half pans.
I had wanted to keep the older 14 half pan with the travel bag, but ended up having to use it for the Daniel Smith colors. The pans fit in the older set, definitely not in the newer one. But the W&N pans fit in either one with no problem. And I really wanted to keep the set together!
Also, if you want to keep your pans from moving around, just put a dab of that sticky tab stuff that teachers use for their boards. Look for it in the same aisle as the Elmer's Glue stuff. It's usually referred to as removable adhesive tack.
It so awesome that you have that set from back when it was super well-made! That's a precious item with a story :)
I like to use removable tack for pans, but it's always a bit tricky to get them out after XD
There are “ridges” inside each of the pan slots that are what make them so small for other pans. If you have a mail file (Dremel is much easier) you can file those down flat and fit in all normal pan sizes (they do this to encourage you to buy THEIR one only which i can’t stand and always find a way around) thankfully the Field Box was made standard to accept all normal pan sizes
Looks like youll need a clip or two on the bent edges of your collapsible water bucket, just to keep the mouth open wide.It's great to have these reviews of yours. You are so good at it! That eraser was ridiculous LOL As always, your paintings are so pleasing and balanced. Lovely work :)
To make the watercolour pans stick in the little plastic holders, lift them out and put a little drop of gum Arabic in the bobbom of the holder. Then push the pan back in. They will stay perfectly, and since gum Arabic is the binder, you haven't damaged the paint.
This travel bag is a pretty sweet kit, and even without wanting to really use the paints themselves I think it’s still a pretty good value! I’d totally get this....except I already have about six different complete travel kit setups, including ones with specific bags or boxes to carry! =>.
Thanks for the review
Welp. I just ordered a set so I hope I won’t have trouble getting deep colors. I have some secondhand Cotman paints and they are so much better than my cheap paints. I guess your frame of reference is better quality stuff.
I didn't know, the WN pans weren't replacable by others... in my Cotman palette, that I've started painting with, the pans had the same issue, that they either wouldn't fit properly or were very loose. Such a strange issue! But you're right, the paints aren't the best - the bag seems nice though. Thanks for the review!
Nice set! If you decide to keep the paint, turn the watercolor nuggets upside down in their half pans and push hard. They shouldn't fall out again. I usually use a tiny piece of blu tac to hold the pans in the palette.
I like Rose Madder from Cotman but otherwise I really enjoy painting with Sennelier.
If you compare Renesans to Cotman you would pick Renesans, am I right?
Absolutely. No hesitation whatsoever ;)
renesans paints better indeed, but besides their cadmiums, all their reds and yellows are from slightly to extremely fugitive :'( and they do not have a single pbr earth pigment in their line, with their earth's being mixtures of py42, pr101 and various blacks!
I have had same issue in my winsor and newton palette, pans just fell out or they needed force to fit on place! Actually, Talens uses same size pans, so rembrandt and van gogh should fit, but they also need bit help of bluetack to keep in place. I don't like cotmas, they are just so weakly pigmented and paint cakes falling out of pans is pain. I lost my burnt umber this way...
Thank you. I wounderd about this set. Now I am sure I do not want iT. I use an Ikea toiletery bag. Cheap and very functional. Plus I ordered 2 foldable stainless steel cups. (Instead of plastic cups) I Always cary water with me in a stainless steel bottle. So I Will stick with my bag.
Great review Eve. I like the idea of the bag and could see myself putting it to use but the water bucket would really annoy me as it slips closed and needs to be held open to access the water. Thanks for this, it's been really helpful. Patricia
M.P. Langer.Art Totally agree. Not to mention the bag flying away with a bit of wind.
Well, it would keep bugs and leaves out, right? ;)
...
I agree that it's definitely not ideal. Mikki suggested using clips on the bent edges to keep them open and it's a good idea. I would keep this bucket as a backup supply, like if I was to forget all my other tools, I'd still like to have this around so I could at least paint a bit.
Of course..... bugs and leaves. I failed to think ahead, happily entrenched in the heat of July. And yes, always good to have a back up.
Actually, I’ve recently got a cotman set as a little treat, just to play with them, and they have improved since I got them the first time, they rewet better I feel, but the big problem i always had with them was a. They mix ... weird. Maybe it’s because they don’t get darker when you mix a color combination that should get dark, I agree c: and I always have a problem with the selection of blues they give you, I always have a problem using cerulean as my cool blue
Perhaps because they are "hue" paints? Hue paints aren't the exact pigment, they're cheaper pigments mixed to look like the more expensive version.
I had a demo artist mention that you have to look at the pigment content to know exact how they will mix. He also mentioned mixing 'optically', where you put down a layer of one color, when it dries, you do a layer of the second color on top. That has worked out to be a really great bit of advice. I swear I hated hue colors before that.
(Though in my set, I ended up replacing the Cotman with W&N professional or artist colors. I think I liked it more after that.)
bugeyedmonster2 that’s definitely the reason for some of them! There are a handful of singe pigment colors in there as well tho, the amount of pigment in them compared to binder and filler (to make it cheaper) is just big ~~ the professionals are definitely way better
This was my first student watercolor set and I totally HATE IT, the colors are waaay to transparent and trying to get the pigment was so hard! I guess I tried to use them 5 months but it was impossible so I decided to try another student brand and I got the Van Gogh watercolor set and like I said before I totally love them, from my experience they are much better than the cotman line from W&N, I was stupid following everyone's preference in the W&N ones when the truth here is that depends of the person and the needs you have, maybe I love van gogh but other person will hate them and love W&N, don't follow everyone's preferences because if you don't like what you got the only one losing here is yourself (and your wallet💔) thanks for this review Eve, love u so much💕
Best. Decision. Ever.
I totally subscribe to this. Van Gogh is a student range only in price. I actually prefer Van Gogh to some professional lines (like the super mediocre Daniel Smith).
I can see what you mean about "blurry!" There's such a weird textural and colour thing going on with these paints. This is a cool set in theory but I can't imagine how well it works in practice? Maybe I'm just overly critical since I've never been huge on Winsor & Newton, especially their Cotman line.
I liked this video. Lol. 👍
Thanks! 😆
Great video Eve! 😁 The bag does look pretty nifty. Though that plastic water bag just didn't want to stay open for you. 😉 I personal don't care for their paints, but I'm glad you reviewed them. 😃
That water bag is so weird. Why is it so much bigger than the water bottle? I would much rather have one of the collapsible water cups I've seen and like another commenter said, a soft water bottle/pouch. The balance of colors is nice, but it made me mad when you mentioned (and I realized you're so right, I just never put two and two together) that none of the products make it easy to buy outside the brand. I of course already dislike their tube vs pan ploy, and I knew their pans were smaller, I just never thought about the reason they were smaller. Fishy indeed, and makes me really hesitant to want to spend money within their brand. Perhaps I'm being a bit catty, but when there are other options to choose from, why not? :D
In Liquid Color Cause they are dirt cheap (2$ per 12ml tube, here) and ubiquitous.
In Liquid Color I agree! I bought this and took out the wrapped paints, replacing them with professional paints from tubes. Replaced the huge water bag with two collapsible silicone muffin cups, replaced the brushes with my favorite travel brushes, replaced the eraser with Tombow Mono one, and replaced the paper. So, basically, I bought this for the bag! (Which I like very much.) The travel palette is pretty nice, the water bag can be used as a small tote for supplies, and the paint can be used for stamping. This bag is MUCH less expensive from Jackson's, than in the States.
Nice review. Gotta love triggered Eve regarding Cotman paints xD
If I were to get the travel set, I'd probably replace the paint and eraser too. For the summer I'm going to be painting some galaxy style pictures I've sketched out. I'm working on one that's Lisa Frank inspired, at least with the bright colors and such. I pulled out my giant In N Art 50 something odd well palette for the summer even, lol. I hardly use it as it is, except for the summer holidays. It has a cover so at least I don't have to worry about cat hair getting into the paint. I'm also going to be working in some coloring books with my colored pencils and watercolor pencils, plus I'm going through my once a year Harry Potter reading marathon. So at least I won't be bored even if I'm stuck inside because I can't take the heat >.>
I do like the paintings you made, even with the sucky Cotman colors. I can imagine that palette being more useable if it had DanSmitty, or MGraham paints in it. Or just VanGogh would work too.
Have a good summer!
Haha, thanks! These paints are so ubiquitous, I hope I can take a good break from them for a bit XD
I love your summer plans, it sounds super fun! The heat is so gross, I'm not suited to it either T_T
You say it's summer, but I still spot a heavy sweater. :D And the travel set looks nice overall, but I have some perplexities over the water container (I could see you open it again and again, for me that's not acceptable) and the amount of water in the bottle. I understand that this is a travel set and I cannot get a mega tin of water, but seeing the size of the bag, perhaps it would have been more useful to have a plastic pouch for the water (more flexible but more water) and one of those metal/plastic collapsable (sp?) glasses to hold it.
About the paints and paper... I understand what you mean, I personally have issues with the paper and not much with the paints. They're a bit cloudy, but I mostly use them for sketching and practice and keep the better ones for the 'nice' works. The paper though, it's really not that great, and it has a texture that is immediately recognizable, that big hole-y texture. Other papers have it, so my question is always if they use the same press or if they order it from the same place, because they all behave the same way. :D
Their professional paper is better, the one with the grey cover. At least on the front side, many papers just have one usable side and the other has a completely different texture. Sometimes this pisses me off because if I make a mistake, I'd like to use the back of the paper for something else but noooooo, wrong texture.
Haha! I recorded the unpackaging of the set quite some time ago, when it was much cooler. I miss the cold T_T
It's the first time I try the Cotman paper, so my opinion is not formed yet, but at the same time I'm not overly impressed. It's just completely unexciting as a supply. Basic cellulose paper with a strong texture and very average behavior. I also don't like papers that have just one side, it's definitely not compatible with the way I work. All this wasted space, argh.
And thanks for the info about the pro W&N paper, I think I have a small pad of it somewhere and that made me feel better about eventually picking it up.
It has the same problem of the front being different from the back, though. But I have to say that, compared to other 'professional' papers, it has a better price for its performance than the others. But I am a Clairefontaine baby, so I will stand by that all the way.
Another paper that I'm not liking that much is the Arteza one. It is fine for small works, so it's good for doodle practice, but the moment you mix you watercolors a bit more watery, it's like it becomes water repellant and getting the result you want is almost impossible. I posted my latest work on IG and the orange background was a pain to get, and it still has a very odd look to it despite my best efforts. =3=
I like how you improved in reading lists, in past videos whenever you listed off color names you made them sound like questions, like: lemon yellow?, Primary yellow?, Primary red?, And so on, but now it sounds nice, props to that
Francesca Galanti that was her francophone intonation. Honestly, I thought it was wonderful and natural. As far as I'm concerned, Italian accents are nice, too.
@Francesca Galanti
I wasn't even aware I was doing that, hehe! It's definitely something that has to be coming from my French...
I'm glad it's better now! :)
The travel bag itself seems like the best thing about the set. It was hilarious to watch the water bucket keep trying to close on you. That eraser is just straight up trash.
a small comment
As always, much appreciated :)
Rich S. Lol!! (Smaller yet)
Cotman is very demanding, but the end product' quality is proportional to the skill of those using them. Patrick Ley Greaves and smoothie77 are examples of very skilled painter on RUclips who make excellent painting with cotman. In the end, with a professional line you can get a good result with less effort, but with enough skill you can achieve the same results even with prang watercolors... I don't like Cotman, because it is demanding and time consuming, but it is a watercolor that will force you to learn. For example, with more mixing, your second pairing would yield much better results. Throw away the sap green and mix your greens with your blues, yellows, ochre and phthalo. Throw a droplet of alizarin hue to your phthalo and it can go inky black. The paint is not weak, it is delicate. Mix more -this is what painters do, after all- and you will get better results.
Interesting take on these paints!
I still find them to be very lacking, especially the pans. Most skilled painters who use these often use them from the tubes and I think there might be something to that. And I still do believe that it's a matter of what you want to achieve with the paints, rather than skills. The Cotman paints are weaker than the pro range and it's fine if one wants to achieve a lighter palette, but it's not great for people working more spontaneously, or that don't layer extensively. It's a matter of your process; if these paints are a good fit for you, that's awesome.
I have always felt the same way about the Cotman paints. They are kind of disappointing!
Sooo... you meant the paints look "chalky"? ;-)
Not really, because they don't look chalky. They don't have that whitish, opaque feel to them. They look cloudy, out of focus. The transparency is there, but the pigment intensity isn't.