Favorite Watercolor Brands and Pigments
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Some of you may already have my personal 12 color watercolor kit. They are not made by Daniel Smith, they come from an excellent company in Korea and are made just for me. I selected them by swatching more than 200 colors so they’re my very favorite colors. Read more about my personal set here.
However, I wanted to provide some info and another option regarding watercolor supplies. Since I’ve been painting with watercolors for years and years of using multiple types of paint, I’ve tried a lot of watercolor paint, and my very favorite brand, Daniel Smith. (FYI, I am not getting paid by Daniel Smith and I don’t have any affiliate with them.)
First, I want to provide a context to compare my 12-color watercolor set and Daniel Smith colors. My set is a very good professional entry set. It’s for beginners to intermediate and that’s the price range it lives in. If it were a car, it would a Subaru! A great, all-purpose car that will take you where you want to go. Daniel Smith, however, is a top-of-the-line paint with high end exquisite, professional quality—in my opinion, the best in the market (with a price to match.) If Daniel Smith watercolors were a car, they would be a Tesla! Unique, beautiful, and exclusive. Both the Subaru and Tesla work great, but they give a different user experience!
One of the things that’s really cool about Daniel smith is that besides the standard colors, they also have colors lines that are unique to them, such as their PrimaTek line which are made from raw minerals—and a few other gems I’m going to show you.
The Daniel Smith colors come in a tube, so I hand squeeze the colors into half pans. With tube colors you just squeeze them into the pan and let them dry out for a few days. Then reconstitute with water just like pan colors. They always stay slightly sticky and they’re beautifully responsive.
Here’s my color list!
Opera Pink: This hot pink will make you want to sing hallelujah. This is the color that most people run out of first. It’s almost neon but it also mixes beautiful and makes the best lavender when mixed with one of the blues.
Quinacridone Coral: Not pink, not red, not orange, but some brilliant, best case scenario of ALL THREE. I struggle with a lot of reds because they aren’t transparent enough and overwhelm all other colors. But this one is delicate and useable.
Quinacridone Deep Gold: This is almost a burnt, fiery orange that lightens to a rich gold with beautiful transparent effects and gorgeous mixing qualities
Hansa Yellow: I’m not a huge fan of yellow in my palette, but you need to have to because it’s important to use for mixing. I’m SUPER picky about my yellow. It has to make an incredible green and an incredible orange when mixed, and has to be clean, bright and pizzazzy with transparent, blend able colors. This brings it.
Cascade Green: OMG you guys this color is going to rock your BRAIN. It granulates when drying, and the foresty green pops with bits of mineral turquoise. You’re going to freak out. Granulation just means that there are natural mineral rock chunks basically in the paint (very small) that accumulate in irregular patterns when they dry. I think granulating is one of the most beautiful things about watercolor, and Daniel Smith is the king. Funny term I just learned: some people refer to granulation as “flocculating”. This amuses me.
Phthalo green (blue shade): I’m a big fan of the phthalo colors because of the pure color notes. This one makes an incredible turquoise/aqua that I ADORE.
Phthalo Blue (red shade): I know, I know, another phthalo? It’s just because I like how it’s spelled. Ha! But for mixing and pure color this is my go to BLUEST BLUE BLUE. Also makes a lavender that will please your eyeballs.
Indanthrone Blue: You know your favorite blue jeans? Yeah? Well this is the paint equivalent.
Rose of Ultramarine: Possibly my favorite fuschia/purple combo OF ALL TIME. This one granulates with blueish tones, makes a beautiful purple, and mixes great with EVERYTHING
Shadow Violet: This smoky little number will add dimension and shade to your colors without dulling things down like black paint will. Another one of my favorites for it’s granulating and mineral qualities, it’ll soon be your favorite as well.
