Veridian is such a great mixer. I know that some people like to always mix green from scratch but I find it helps to have a cool and a warm green that I can start with to make a green that I want. I was taking lessons a year ago and I took my own palette to class instead of using the instructor provided palette. We were working on individual projects so it didn’t matter if I used her colours. She had some greens in her palettes but when she saw viridian in mine, she exclaimed, “I don’t understand why people have that colour in their palettes. It’s such an unnatural colour. That green doesn’t exist in nature.” Told me right there that she didn’t really understand that colour mixing is about theory but it is about preference as well. I love viridian for its mixing qualities.
lol I would have responded back that the sap green on her palette most likely contains that pigment and is also a convenience colour and a green like sap/hookers doesn't exist as a single pigment and see how she reacts 🤣
The Cotman colours were my first better quality set. They are some of the better student quality around. Do I own better artist quality? For sure, but my 30 year old paints still perform very well and some old ones outperform the reformulated ones. In my opinion Cotman colours are very reliable and well suited to beginners as well as more advanced painters.
that's the set I'm working with currently. I was planning to take out the white and the viridian, but I will try some more mixing with the viridian first. I love how many different greys you can mix with the burnt umber and the blues
Every professional artist I know uses this set. I belong to an national plein air competition group. We travel to plein air paint. Our works are them shown in a pop up gallery and sold. The cheapest paintings are 5" x 7" for $1200.00 usd. After the gallery and awards we set up our individual booths to sell from. No one involved, and there are hundreds, uses anything other than cotman or white nights. One person used to use davinci until they had a horrible mixing mishap. One girl uses daniel smith but she's a brand ambassador. It doesn't help because she's never won anything and I don't think she's ever sold a single painting. But she is popular on social media. So she sells stickers lol. I used w&n professionals when I got them for free, but as soon as I had to start buying my own paints I went straight to cotman. For commissioned work I do use daniel smith and paintings for myself I use ds. Mainly because I love the feel and a more natural realistic color palette which ds offers. But when I'm in the field or competing it's cotman. Point is, when one paints to play or social media or themselves one can afford to pay more for less. Because you aren't using it, but when one makes their living based solely on painting sales, one uses the best at the lowest cost. Last season a majority had switched to white nights. But they are too bright for me. I don't want to tone every mix down on the fly, but others love that versatility. I guess my other point is, use what you have. The supply isn't going to make you a better artist. Millions of paintings painted with cotman are sold every year for thousands of dollars.
@@phillipstroll7385 thank you so much for your input, I had no idea. A plain air competition sounds like fun. How about lightfastness, have any of you ever noticed the cotman colors fading over time or are they lightfast?
Re white. Have a look at the great masters watercolour painters pre 1950. They knew how to use white watercolour to make amazing paintings. It can be incredibly useful if you know what to use it for. Hint, it's not lightening colours.
I’m glad that you consider these watercolors are good, because I also love them, in despite of having some negative reviews. I agree that white is not very useful, I only use it mixed with permanent rose when I need a very light pink. Yellow ochre is a basic color for me, as I paint basically landscapes, but it would be fine for portraits as well, and mixed with viridian, you get a more natural green.
thank you so much for this video! I’m very new to painting (did painting during middle school but stopped after my mental health declined) I was worried about not having enough options with colors but this was very helpful❤
There is just an miss argument here: it not cost the same every place. I paid last year 230 pln for the biggest set - in Brasil is 10 times more expensive… 😮😮😮 but this is q great video! :)
Olá! I'm sure they are exceptions of course, what I meant to say was when compared to other brands this is available on many more countries and the price doesn't vary as much
White is always the "waste" color in the art world which is really sad. But its not. You cant achieve pastel colors with paint and water only. You add white to make pastel colors, or it adds TINT to the color. Can also act as a highlight and a lot more. Thats why its not lightening, it adds tint. Really fun to experiment tho, at least for me.
In my older set, it came with intense blue instead of cerulean blue, and as the name suggests it was so intense it was barely useable. Even the smallest amount overpowered whatever you were mixing. I'm glad they changed it!
This set still has phthalo blue instead of cerulean for the NA market unfortunately, but you can at least buy the cotman pans open stock and replace it with cerulean
Hi guys! Today I'm trying out a Cotman watercolor set and I can't wait if it's worth it. Have you tried Cotman before? Let me know what you think.
Veridian is such a great mixer. I know that some people like to always mix green from scratch but I find it helps to have a cool and a warm green that I can start with to make a green that I want. I was taking lessons a year ago and I took my own palette to class instead of using the instructor provided palette. We were working on individual projects so it didn’t matter if I used her colours. She had some greens in her palettes but when she saw viridian in mine, she exclaimed, “I don’t understand why people have that colour in their palettes. It’s such an unnatural colour. That green doesn’t exist in nature.” Told me right there that she didn’t really understand that colour mixing is about theory but it is about preference as well. I love viridian for its mixing qualities.
Yes, I've playing around with color mixing and love how viridian works when mixed too
lol I would have responded back that the sap green on her palette most likely contains that pigment and is also a convenience colour and a green like sap/hookers doesn't exist as a single pigment and see how she reacts 🤣
I thought the same thing about viridian - until I saw someone on youtube mix it with yellow. Boy did I feel stupid. 😅
The Cotman colours were my first better quality set. They are some of the better student quality around. Do I own better artist quality? For sure, but my 30 year old paints still perform very well and some old ones outperform the reformulated ones. In my opinion Cotman colours are very reliable and well suited to beginners as well as more advanced painters.
I agree!
that's the set I'm working with currently. I was planning to take out the white and the viridian, but I will try some more mixing with the viridian first. I love how many different greys you can mix with the burnt umber and the blues
@@travwhitmer I totally agree with replacing the white, a waste of precious pan space. But the viridian is worth it 😁
Every professional artist I know uses this set. I belong to an national plein air competition group. We travel to plein air paint. Our works are them shown in a pop up gallery and sold. The cheapest paintings are 5" x 7" for $1200.00 usd. After the gallery and awards we set up our individual booths to sell from. No one involved, and there are hundreds, uses anything other than cotman or white nights. One person used to use davinci until they had a horrible mixing mishap. One girl uses daniel smith but she's a brand ambassador. It doesn't help because she's never won anything and I don't think she's ever sold a single painting. But she is popular on social media. So she sells stickers lol. I used w&n professionals when I got them for free, but as soon as I had to start buying my own paints I went straight to cotman. For commissioned work I do use daniel smith and paintings for myself I use ds. Mainly because I love the feel and a more natural realistic color palette which ds offers. But when I'm in the field or competing it's cotman. Point is, when one paints to play or social media or themselves one can afford to pay more for less. Because you aren't using it, but when one makes their living based solely on painting sales, one uses the best at the lowest cost. Last season a majority had switched to white nights. But they are too bright for me. I don't want to tone every mix down on the fly, but others love that versatility. I guess my other point is, use what you have. The supply isn't going to make you a better artist. Millions of paintings painted with cotman are sold every year for thousands of dollars.
@@phillipstroll7385 thank you so much for your input, I had no idea. A plain air competition sounds like fun. How about lightfastness, have any of you ever noticed the cotman colors fading over time or are they lightfast?
I too was very impressed by the vibrancy and good pigmentation of the Cotman series by Winsor & Newton.
Re white. Have a look at the great masters watercolour painters pre 1950. They knew how to use white watercolour to make amazing paintings. It can be incredibly useful if you know what to use it for. Hint, it's not lightening colours.
I will, thank you 😊
I’m glad that you consider these watercolors are good, because I also love them, in despite of having some negative reviews. I agree that white is not very useful, I only use it mixed with permanent rose when I need a very light pink. Yellow ochre is a basic color for me, as I paint basically landscapes, but it would be fine for portraits as well, and mixed with viridian, you get a more natural green.
Agreed 😁
thank you so much for this video! I’m very new to painting (did painting during middle school but stopped after my mental health declined)
I was worried about not having enough options with colors but this was very helpful❤
I'm so glad you've given it another try! Yes! Step away from the big sets, this is all you need. Plus it's much more fun this way 😉
There is just an miss argument here: it not cost the same every place. I paid last year 230 pln for the biggest set - in Brasil is 10 times more expensive… 😮😮😮 but this is q great video! :)
Olá! I'm sure they are exceptions of course, what I meant to say was when compared to other brands this is available on many more countries and the price doesn't vary as much
White is always the "waste" color in the art world which is really sad. But its not. You cant achieve pastel colors with paint and water only. You add white to make pastel colors, or it adds TINT to the color. Can also act as a highlight and a lot more. Thats why its not lightening, it adds tint. Really fun to experiment tho, at least for me.
I own the kuretake art nouveau set and you can clearly see the white in the pastels yes. I'll have to give it a try 🙂
In my older set, it came with intense blue instead of cerulean blue, and as the name suggests it was so intense it was barely useable. Even the smallest amount overpowered whatever you were mixing. I'm glad they changed it!
Yeah that does sound useless... So glad they changed it too
This set still has phthalo blue instead of cerulean for the NA market unfortunately, but you can at least buy the cotman pans open stock and replace it with cerulean
Thank you for the review=3 This is a lovely set=3
It's one of my favourites at the moment
I bought this little set a few weeks ago. Love the colours but the little colour bricks keep falling out
That happens to me.too. maybe place a small adehesive dot under the pans to hold them in place.
The brush too small imo. Frustratingly so
It is! I only use it for small details.
Hi Sandy. Paul Rubens wants to work with you for our new watercolor palette. Could u plz send me your email? 🥰