There is absolutely nothing wrong with Cotman paints. Being a retiree on a fixed income, I'm not going to be too "fast and loose" with high priced paints, but I want good outcomes, which I get with Cotman, no problem. What's the fun in being afraid to express yourself because you don't want to 'waste' your paints? Ron Ranson used them his whole painting career and he did alright, didn't he? I'm looking forward to the brush video. Also, when are we going to do a livestream painting session again? Thanks for these videos, Patrick. Have a good one!
I agree there proving to be pretty good so far will be testing out a bit more thoroughly today. I didn't realize Ron Ransom used them, if they're good enough for me there certainly good enough for me. I was finding the price of artists quality just to much have my fingers crossed the Cotman paints can deliver i am sure they will. Will live stream shortly, maybe early next week. Thanks for your comment, Margaret.
I found that understanding how my paints react to different brands of watercolor paper and water from my brush helped my paintings more than the color/vibrancy or if you want to say student/professional or cost/brand of the paints. Also as a newbie to watercolor lightfastness is not as important because my paintings are not quality, yet. I feel like UA-cam focuses on the wrong aspects of this wonderful hobby. My advice; buy the paints that you will use with an unburdened heart. Also practice practice practice. If you want to make fifty square swatches on ten sheets of watercolor paper do it. Learn how your paints mix together, learn how to make your paint move and what causes blooming, and why scrubbing yellow and blue together on the paper makes green but dropping naples yellow onto cobalt blue creates a gorgeous sunlit sky. Find out all the lovely Grays/neutrals created with complementary colors. Great video. Cotman is a fine paint. Also pro tip, go with tubes, always more cost efficient.
I think Cotman are great paints. Out of the student grade paints, they are amongst my favorites. I know a lot of people insist that Cotman are poorly pigmented and chalky, and the reason I tried this brand was to see why so many people dislike it so much. - I was so pleasantly surprised, they're not bad at all! I enjoy using them.
I have a bunch of Daniel Smith and Schmincke colors, but really appreciate your approach with this. As someone new to watercolor, I feel like sometimes "teachers" make the consequences of using anything but artist grade supplies sound so dire that many people give up because they can't afford to spend THAT much. I know the cost I most struggle with is PAPER and I know it makes a huge difference (more than the paint). It's hard to practice with all the "good" stuff when there is this big counter in our brains ticking off the money spent for every brushstroke or practice painting. :-). I'm looking forward to your examples done with these paints.
Great video Patrick. Its very hard to get an honest view on youtube about Cotman watercolours. Most people dismiss them instantly without even trying. Yet some of the greatest artists use them like Guan Weixing and Chien Chung Wei! I have been using Daniel smith and Holbein but am seriously considering going back to Cotman. I just can't afford or justify the cost, especially as Im not regulary selling paintings! The earth colours I can't tell apart at all from Student and Artist quality. Maybe Cobalt seems a little less intense , as I had to keep squeezing out more pigment to get the amount of intensity but thats not a big deal. Anyone out there you will not be less of a painter if you use Cotman.
You say it all in your post-Gary. I think there is a lot of paint snobbery around. Possibly some people are under the illusion the more expensive the paint you squeeze into your palette the more credible you are. Over the coming weeks, I'm going to put the Cotman to my own personal test will also be sharing the videos here on youtube. My budget won't run anymore to artists quality paints so I'm praying the Cotman come good! Thanks for your comment Gary.
Yes, you're right about that, it is quite difficult to find a useful and honest review of the Cotman paints on here. So far, out of the dozens of reviews of these paints, I have seen two or three that really looked at what they paints are like. I ended up trying out Cotman paints because I wanted to see what it is that people dislike so much. I had heard so many bad things about them, that simply did not line up with what I saw when I looked at pictures that I knew were painted with Cotman watercolors, so I had to try them out for myself. I was super pleasantly surprised. I think Cotman are good paints, they do exactly what they are supposed to, and I cannot, at all, confirm those typical claims about them being chalky, poorly pigmented, insanely difficult to activate, etc. I honestly do get the feeling that many of the negative Cotman reviews/comments are not so much a result of genuine opinions, but of people trying to say what they believe will make them sound like super experienced painters with high standards.
I've had a similar experience with these (: If you choose the right colors, it's one of the best student grade paints out there. Thank you for this excellent review and explanation ^_^
Yes, that is what I say, cotman are one of the best student grade watercolors out there. So many people don't like them, but I think they are great. I initially tried them simply to see why so many people don't like them, and I ended up finding an affordable watercolor that I love to use!
Having "graduated" to expensive artist quality paints, I still find myself reaching for the Grumbacher Academy paints I started with. I do have a few Cotmans from back then but preferred the Academy for vibrancy. Thanks Patrick (I'm Patricia) for a much needed take on this subject.
I've been using W&N Cotman's since I've started the love for watercolor, my art work and my Urban Sketch book is always very colorful, people ask me how can I do things like that. So that means to me that this watercolor paints are not that bad for being student paint quality. This video is good information thank you for sharing :)
I come from a background of very large abstract oil paintings and have been finding the conversion to watercolour painting quite challenging. Having seen many watercolour painters on UA-cam I particular like your free style of painting and your very engaging teaching. I've spent a lot of time (and money) experimenting with paints, brushes and papers, and moved from cheaper student paints back to W&N or Danial Smith's professional series, but have minimalized my palette considerably. Now I can mix pure vibrant colours or a range of harmonious quieter hues from just three primaries which mix well together although I do allow myself the luxury of a a couple of "convenience pigments". I shy away from opaque colours, non permanent and as far as possible, staining pigments. So my way of saving on paint is cut out the superfluous hues. One thing that has been a huge surprise to me is the difference a decent quality paper makes. With oil or acrylics it doesn't really matter what the ground is but the difference from a "practice/student" quality paper to Arches is light years apart - something I discovered after nearly a year of frustration and heartache using cheap practice paper.
Chris Moon. So true. Its the paper that makes the biggest difference. I remember the excitement I felt the first time I used good watercolor paper. It was a W/N 140 lb. YAAAAY!
Arches was such a shock for me to use when I first tried it; such an upgrade in quality. Sometimes when a painting comes out well I ask myself: Was it me or the arches paper? Colors look so magical on it. Also, may I ask what the primaries you use are? I have a small obsession with interesting triads :D
Thank you, thank you, Patrick! What a needed video. I do a lot of watercolor sketching with pen/ink/wc, and the prices of watercolors for my needs are outrageous, yet, as you suggest, an artist still wants paints of some quality, not like tinted dishwater. The reviews on UA-cam seem to be for the most expensive paints which I cannot afford at sometimes as much as $22 for a 10 ml tube. The prices for some of the travel pan sets are appalling. I have a travel pan set from Cotman that works just fine. I look forward to seeing your paintings using Cotman colors.
Hi Patrick thanks for another great video. I got into Watercolour after reading Ron Ranson s first book. He recommended Cotman 21 ml tubes which I get from ken Bromley £4.69 each. I’ve never used anything else so I can’t compare them, but I find Cotman paints ok. As Ron said “ I can squeeze plenty of paint out without worrying about wasting an expensive paint “ as far as I know Ron Ranson used Cotman paint all through his career as an artist thanks again.
Just right this video Patrick especially for newcomers to watercolour painting. I am a hobby painter in both acrylic and watercolours. I started out with Cotman watercolours and as I progressed and got better and better at my work I thought that I should be progressing to artist quality paint, and so I did and it was very expensive and a mistake on my part. That was a few years ago. I have since reverted back to Cotman watercolour paints and I still think that as far as I am concerned they are the bees knees for quality and price. I will never change again, so for any new or budding artist they are good quality and give lots of satisfaction.
Nothing wrong with Cotman colours - I also like the Rembrandt brand, which is somewhat more expensive I think. The downside of this brand (Cotman) is that the colours based on metals for artists' use - i.e. the cadmiums, and cobalt - are hue colours in the Cotman range; I quite like the Cotman Cad yellow hue, but it doesn't have the opacity or strength of the pure pigment, which you'll get in the artists' range. So (I'm not primarily a watercolourist, mind you) what I do generally is to buy the cheaper ranges of colours for, eg, the umbers and ochres, plus French Ultramarine, Prussian Blue, Pthalo Blue or Green, Viridian, and splurge the money on the metal-based paints. In oil paint - the difference in quality really IS noticeable, for the most part: but - not always.... you get to learn which colours you can buy in cheaper formats, and which you need to have in a higher quality. But - that's another subject: and you can spend an awful lot of money on oil paint if you're not careful! You can also save money in w'colour with synthetic brushes, rather than the vastly expensive sables, and with mixes of different types of hair.
Good video, Patrick. Cotman is a very good student quality brand. I started out using this brand and still do along with artist quality paint. Love your simplicity of palette colors and mixing. Thank you for putting out these videos! Very helpful!
Pure Watercolour Patrick Ley-Greaves You're welcome! Cotman has a sketchers pocket box. Comes in half pans. Takes a bit of water to activate the colors. I prefer to use the Cotman tubes. Happy painting! Thanks again!
Another very good student paint is Grumbacher Academy, and it's very inexpensive in the US where I am. I also follow a professional UK artist who uses nothing but DR Aquafine, I've never used that one myself but his work is gorgeous. I would suggest if you are going to buy student grade buy tubes.. put them in pans if you must.. or buy that nice travel pan set and refill with tubes as you go. They seem to perform better and are more cost effective. Also take the time to read the info on your brand so you can choose the best colors based on pigment vs color name, and if there is a weak color in the line check the others to see if you can just swap brands within the price range.. there is nothing saying you can't mix brands. If there is a custom color you have to have from high end buy a tube.. but save on all those workhorse shades at the same time. I totally agree regarding too many artist instructors who take the position of $$$ or nothing. It just isn't feasible for so many people, it's almost to the point of class discrimination, it just discourages too many. Same issues with paper, which is a better investment of limited funds than the paint. There is a gradient of bad to good to best in anything. We need to have more discussions regarding "good enough".
The comments, as well as 5he video, are very helpful. As Liron says, if you choose wisely, you can save. May I add that it's not that we are cheap, but, well yeah WE'RE CHEAP because creativity comes with a price & we want to keep painting and experimenting.
OK. I just got rid of some of my prejudices about Cotman, caused by my fellow painters who insisted on the best at all cost. I will replace my W and Newton with Cotman as I use them up. Thanks for the tip!
I'm so glad you did this,I've always used cotman watercolors. I gind that they're pretty good.and since I'm a intermediate artist i find they're much more affordable. For me.
*Kelogsloops uses the Cotman range. (For those who don't know, he's a young artist from Australia and has a youtube channel.) His art is DEVINE! And so .. I thought, if they're good enough for him, they're good enough for me.(Not to mention other artist such as Ron Ranson and Chien Chung Wei). The only thing I would like to know is how lightfast are they? (I would love to see a test).*
Thank you for this. I started with Cotman paints, and then got the artist quality ones. While I love artist quality paints, I don’t feel as freely experimental with them as I do with the Cotmans, which means I learn less. I also find some of the travel sets in Cotman are really well designed. I especially like the setup with the two water bowls and the water bottle. Am not so crazy about the colour selection. I added a blob of pthalo blue to complete the split primary collection. Like the fact that there are so many single pigment colours in the range. Van Gogh student paints are also nice, but there are too many premixed colours in the smaller sets for my taste. Good review. I always enjoy your point of view on things.
Great idea Patrick. I will look forward to your results and commentary. I'm especially looking forward to hearing what you have to say about paper. Thanks again!
Thanks for this! Honestly, I understand that professional grade paints and paper is much better, and you get what you pay for. But that makes watercolor a very expensive hobby; and if this isn't your bread and butter, the cost of paint becomes unjustifiable. I'm glad you were able to upload an honest view on UA-cam, and say that some Cotman's are "good enough". It's reassuring for beginners and hobbyists on a budget. PS: I've found the Cotman Pthalo Blue to be amazing too.
Your welcome I really do love cotman the more I use them the happier I am. I havent tried the Pthalo Blue I may swap it out for the Prussian blue at some point. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Hello Patrick Sending greetings from vancouver bc Canada. I have been using cotman watercolours for 10 years and love them. They are transparent and pigmented enough to produce beautiful glazes that shimmer. So okay they may not be as pigmented as more expensive brands but the colours are vibrant. There is nothing wrong with being cost conscious. l find there is great freedom in using paint that is not so pricey. Freedom from worrying about wasting alot of money, freedom to just play. or experiment. Using expensive paints can be stressful and can impede creativity especially if you are an experimental painter like l am. I do use quality paper though [l think that matters more].. Enjoyed watching your video as it re- affirms my choice. Purple lake is my favourite cotman colour. So beautiful. Wishing you lots of fun creative times with your cotmans...........
Always used Cotman colours myself, for about 30 years now, mainly for the reason you stated, way to expensive for the average joe (being just a part time painter) I don't sell paintings, but I do give them away. A good review
Thanks Old Timer I am pleased you found it interesting. I think I stated in the video that I used Cotman around 12 years ago to teach students they seemed to work fine then. Going to do more of test today in some kind of painting to see how they perform.
I’ve used the Cotman range for years and it’s pretty good. However, I switched to Daniel Smith recently and the difference is huge. DS is much better, but at a price
I am such a fan of W&N's small professional tubes. They are so well pigmented that they last forever and not much more than Cotman. I think the scare comes when you start looking at how much a Daniel Smith tube can cost even as beautiful as they are.
Agreed W&N are superb and your right the artist quality tubes are very well priced.. Never tried Daniel Smith not sure they would make me paint any better.
Nice video! These kind of videos can be a little helpful to new painters for information and discussion. There are so many brands of watercolors to choose from that it can cause great insecurity trying to choose the right brand. 1 US gallon = 3785.41ml. People should keep in mind that if the paint is $1 per ml it would cost $3785.41 per gallon! Some of the artist grades of watercolor paint are $1-3 per ml. Completely outrageous in my opinion. I actually prefer Reeves Watercolour over Cotman and the so-called "artist/professional" watercolor brands. People that choose to go with the artist grades have to choose fewer colors because of the outrageous cost. They will say that they prefer having fewer convenience colors because they can mix the primaries to make the secondaries, and achieve greater color harmony. To each their own-personally I would rather have 18 or 24 premixed colors for the price of one artist grade tube of paint. Paints that work well do not need to have real sapphires, rubies, and emeralds ground up in them anymore because of advances in chemistry. Plus Reeves Watercolours are non-toxic because they don't contain iron oxide, nickle, cadmium, cobalt, etc. BTW I know that Winsor & Newton ad Reeves are owned by the same parent company now, but the individual brands are still manufactured according to their traditional formulas. Spend your money on quality watercolor papers and brushes, and not outrageously expensive watercolor brands.
There are some student grade paints that are fantastic like van gogh or daler rowney aquafine. White nights is a low cost professional brand that is wonderful. I use van gogh student paints often mixed in with my professional paints, however cotman and i had a bad relationship, most colors (not all, i have a a tube each of mauve, indian red and turquoise that are lovely) arent vibrant enough and always have to be prewet heavily for a good color payoff and the drying shift is the worst in any paint i have used. We dont have to break our wallets with professional grade paints when there are good lightfast alternatives, but i had to work harder than necessary with cotmans and painting shouldnt be frustrating. This of course is my opinion and there are lots of them.
Hi Patrick, Cerulean, in my opinion is a convenience colour, it's so easily mixed from cobalt blue with just a touch of winsor yellow. I avoid Cadmium colours because of their opaqueness preferring Winsor yellow and Quin red, they are very good mixers, have you tried them?
Thanks for your comment Chris. I think I'm stuck in my ways. The colours I chose have been with me since i started to paint. Will experiment more with different colours in the future. I've made a note of the ones you recommend. Many thanks.
I have a tube of Cotman Cer. Blue Hue. Good hue, but awful texture. Its glassy, slightly opaque and very sticky, even when diluted. I do not like the way it behaves on the brush... like glue. It even separates in the tube. Doesn't look like it has any white pigment, though, but maybe a bit too much dextrine as filler. Itdoesn't behave like a true cerulean which is granulating and heavy, pushing other pigments away. The true hue is perhaps more of an effect-hue, great for mixing with others to push and granulate. The hue colour is pthalo-based, so they are very different paints. Maybe I have an older Cotman formula?
The Intense Blue and the Gamboge (Hue) are excellent in the Cotman range. The Permanent Rose is fine as a primary red. Not sure about the other reds and other yellows, though. They seem a bit dull, especially the pan varieties. Maybe there is a difference in how they behave in pan and tube form? Earth colours should be fine. Great review, by the way! Would like to see a review on DR Aquafine, as well. Have heard its quite good. I have only tried the Aquafine Gouache by now, and they're absolutely fine! Personally I would recommend the Talens van Gogh brand as it is, in my opinion, somewhere between artist and student in quality and rather affordable. Maybe as good as artist quality, but with fewer pigments in the line.
I have always used Cotman but don't like the naps. For the most primary's it is a good paint straight from the tube. I combine them with artist quality for special pigments.
What about the longevity of the paints? By which I mean both the 'light fastness' (degradation by UV Light over time) and the longevity of the paints themselves. I have an old set of professional half pans that must be thirty years old. They're still moist and I can still 'activate' them with a splash of water. I'm wondering if the Cotman range would last as long...
Regular watercolors, like Cotman, will generally keep for many decades as long as they are stored properly. The only thing that may happen is that if they are in a tube they could dry up, but then you can just cut them out of the tube and use them like pan watercolors. As for lightfastness, the Cotman paints use pigments that are all reasonably lightfast and can also be found in their artist line. They do not include any fugitive pigments.
Hi Babra I agree I'm really enjoying using Cotman colours right now. So far I cant tell much difference other than there is a little more binder mixed in than in artist quality. Thank for taking the time to comment.
Another budget friendly brand is Van Gogh. They perform also very nice and rich colors. It is the student version of the professional brand Rembrandt. Made by Royal Talens. I really love painting with them. I do have a pocket box of cotman and it is a very similar quality, maybe the van Gogh is a bit stronger pigmented. Here in europe, belgium, these are very affordable.
thank you so much for your in depth review :) i also agree that we don't always need to fork out on artist grade paints. may i ask if you have any experience with the cotman intense blue (phthalo blue PB15), do you think it's red shade or green shade?
I just don't think there's any real difference tbh, we're all too easily seduced by branding and snobbery, Ron Ranson used to say inexpensive paint is good enough so there it is...
Sir, is it cadmium red pale hue or cadmium red hue? I am learning a lot of colour mixing from you. So I am a little confused about red colour you are using. I checked on jackson online and it is showing more orangy tube of cad red pale than yours. Please clarify my doubts. Thank you Sir.
He is using Cadmium red pale hue. Cadmium red pale hue is VERY orange. I have one that came in my kit, but I really don't like it as a red at all. Mixed with ultramarine, it makes an odd, dirty blue-gray.......but burnt sienna with ultramarine makes a much better range of grays. I'd get the Cadmium red hue, and Alizarin crimson, and burnt sienna.
WOW I’m shocked to hear that watercolours are expensive in the UK - In Australian the cost of watercolours, watercolour papers & brushes is at the very least DOUBLE THE PRICE of what they cost in the UK...I buy ALL my professional watercolours, watercolour papers AND brushes from either Jacksons or Ken Bromley otherwise I would not be able to afford to paint. Even Cotman watercolours are unbelievably expensive here...
Here is the USA, Cotman by W&N for what's in the tube isn't that much less than the artist grade made here in the US like M Graham, Daniel Smith or DaVinci. I suppose it depends on where you live. The lowest price for a 15ml tube of M Graham is $8.79 in US currency. They even raised the price a few bucks in the past two years. It was only around $6 something. Also Phthalo blue's (PB15) are not that expensive in artist grade. Cotman Cerulean Blue is not made with Cerulean . It's made with Phthalo blue. Cerulean is a very expensive pigment. This is the beauty of student grade paint because real Cerulean is actually a cobalt pigment that is toxic and never used in student grade. Safe for kids and the environment.
Cotman paints are as good as the best watercolours 50 years ago. Look at paintings by Rowland Hilder, John Piper, Stanley Badmin, they used paints that were possibly inferior to these. I use both qualities at the same time, the artist quality are stronger, but some of them can be too strong for my liking.
Philosophy speaking, nothing is permanent. Life itself isn't, and perhaps there is some poetry to the ephemeral nature of a painting. Also, I like justifying my cost-sensetive nature with pretty words. Lol.
Hi Patrick. I’ve noticed that some UA-cam watercolour experts, like yourself and Lindsay Weirich of The Frugal Crafter, say ‘colbat’ instead of ‘cobalt’. Is that how it is pronounced?
Please don't dumb us viewers down, some of us like a challenge .Teach us how to haggle prices down in the art shop! Get a discount on buy 10 get 1 free!
Hi Gary not sure what you mean by “dumb us viewers down” You won’t haggle the prices down in my art shop and I certainly don’t fancy buying 10 tubes of cobalt blue either. Thanks for your comment.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with Cotman paints. Being a retiree on a fixed income, I'm not going to be too "fast and loose" with high priced paints, but I want good outcomes, which I get with Cotman, no problem. What's the fun in being afraid to express yourself because you don't want to 'waste' your paints? Ron Ranson used them his whole painting career and he did alright, didn't he? I'm looking forward to the brush video. Also, when are we going to do a livestream painting session again? Thanks for these videos, Patrick. Have a good one!
I agree there proving to be pretty good so far will be testing out a bit more thoroughly today. I didn't realize Ron Ransom used them, if they're good enough for me there certainly good enough for me. I was finding the price of artists quality just to much have my fingers crossed the Cotman paints can deliver i am sure they will. Will live stream shortly, maybe early next week. Thanks for your comment, Margaret.
Issue is, the Cotman have changed and are made in China now.
I found that understanding how my paints react to different brands of watercolor paper and water from my brush helped my paintings more than the color/vibrancy or if you want to say student/professional or cost/brand of the paints. Also as a newbie to watercolor lightfastness is not as important because my paintings are not quality, yet. I feel like UA-cam focuses on the wrong aspects of this wonderful hobby. My advice; buy the paints that you will use with an unburdened heart. Also practice practice practice. If you want to make fifty square swatches on ten sheets of watercolor paper do it. Learn how your paints mix together, learn how to make your paint move and what causes blooming, and why scrubbing yellow and blue together on the paper makes green but dropping naples yellow onto cobalt blue creates a gorgeous sunlit sky. Find out all the lovely Grays/neutrals created with complementary colors. Great video. Cotman is a fine paint. Also pro tip, go with tubes, always more cost efficient.
I think Cotman are great paints. Out of the student grade paints, they are amongst my favorites. I know a lot of people insist that Cotman are poorly pigmented and chalky, and the reason I tried this brand was to see why so many people dislike it so much. - I was so pleasantly surprised, they're not bad at all! I enjoy using them.
I have a bunch of Daniel Smith and Schmincke colors, but really appreciate your approach with this. As someone new to watercolor, I feel like sometimes "teachers" make the consequences of using anything but artist grade supplies sound so dire that many people give up because they can't afford to spend THAT much. I know the cost I most struggle with is PAPER and I know it makes a huge difference (more than the paint). It's hard to practice with all the "good" stuff when there is this big counter in our brains ticking off the money spent for every brushstroke or practice painting. :-). I'm looking forward to your examples done with these paints.
Great video Patrick. Its very hard to get an honest view on youtube about Cotman watercolours. Most people dismiss them instantly without even trying. Yet some of the greatest artists use them like Guan Weixing and Chien Chung Wei!
I have been using Daniel smith and Holbein but am seriously considering going back to Cotman. I just can't afford or justify the cost, especially as Im not regulary selling paintings!
The earth colours I can't tell apart at all from Student and Artist quality. Maybe Cobalt seems a little less intense , as I had to keep squeezing out more pigment to get the amount of intensity but thats not a big deal.
Anyone out there you will not be less of a painter if you use Cotman.
You say it all in your post-Gary. I think there is a lot of paint snobbery around. Possibly some people are under the illusion the more expensive the paint you squeeze into your palette the more credible you are. Over the coming weeks, I'm going to put the Cotman to my own personal test will also be sharing the videos here on youtube. My budget won't run anymore to artists quality paints so I'm praying the Cotman come good! Thanks for your comment Gary.
Pure Watercolour Patrick Ley-Greaves brilliant Patrick.
Let's prove the doubters wrong!
Chien Chung Wei is wonderful! However he has changed to Holbein with in his own palette line now.
Yes, you're right about that, it is quite difficult to find a useful and honest review of the Cotman paints on here. So far, out of the dozens of reviews of these paints, I have seen two or three that really looked at what they paints are like. I ended up trying out Cotman paints because I wanted to see what it is that people dislike so much. I had heard so many bad things about them, that simply did not line up with what I saw when I looked at pictures that I knew were painted with Cotman watercolors, so I had to try them out for myself. I was super pleasantly surprised. I think Cotman are good paints, they do exactly what they are supposed to, and I cannot, at all, confirm those typical claims about them being chalky, poorly pigmented, insanely difficult to activate, etc. I honestly do get the feeling that many of the negative Cotman reviews/comments are not so much a result of genuine opinions, but of people trying to say what they believe will make them sound like super experienced painters with high standards.
I've had a similar experience with these (:
If you choose the right colors, it's one of the best student grade paints out there.
Thank you for this excellent review and explanation ^_^
Liron Yanconsky what do you believe the right colors consist of in this line for good mixing :)
Yes, that is what I say, cotman are one of the best student grade watercolors out there. So many people don't like them, but I think they are great. I initially tried them simply to see why so many people don't like them, and I ended up finding an affordable watercolor that I love to use!
Having "graduated" to expensive artist quality paints, I still find myself reaching for the Grumbacher Academy paints I started with. I do have a few Cotmans from back then but preferred the Academy for vibrancy. Thanks Patrick (I'm Patricia) for a much needed take on this subject.
I've been using W&N Cotman's since I've started the love for watercolor, my art work and my Urban Sketch book is always very colorful, people ask me how can I do things like that. So that means to me that this watercolor paints are not that bad for being student paint quality. This video is good information thank you for sharing :)
I come from a background of very large abstract oil paintings and have been finding the conversion to watercolour painting quite challenging. Having seen many watercolour painters on UA-cam I particular like your free style of painting and your very engaging teaching.
I've spent a lot of time (and money) experimenting with paints, brushes and papers, and moved from cheaper student paints back to W&N or Danial Smith's professional series, but have minimalized my palette considerably. Now I can mix pure vibrant colours or a range of harmonious quieter hues from just three primaries which mix well together although I do allow myself the luxury of a a couple of "convenience pigments". I shy away from opaque colours, non permanent and as far as possible, staining pigments.
So my way of saving on paint is cut out the superfluous hues.
One thing that has been a huge surprise to me is the difference a decent quality paper makes. With oil or acrylics it doesn't really matter what the ground is but the difference from a "practice/student" quality paper to Arches is light years apart - something I discovered after nearly a year of frustration and heartache using cheap practice paper.
Chris Moon. So true. Its the paper that makes the biggest difference. I remember the excitement I felt the first time I used good watercolor paper. It was a W/N 140 lb. YAAAAY!
Arches was such a shock for me to use when I first tried it; such an upgrade in quality. Sometimes when a painting comes out well I ask myself: Was it me or the arches paper? Colors look so magical on it.
Also, may I ask what the primaries you use are?
I have a small obsession with interesting triads :D
Thank you, thank you, Patrick! What a needed video. I do a lot of watercolor sketching with pen/ink/wc, and the prices of watercolors for my needs are outrageous, yet, as you suggest, an artist still wants paints of some quality, not like tinted dishwater. The reviews on UA-cam seem to be for the most expensive paints which I cannot afford at sometimes as much as $22 for a 10 ml tube. The prices for some of the travel pan sets are appalling. I have a travel pan set from Cotman that works just fine. I look forward to seeing your paintings using Cotman colors.
Hi Patrick thanks for another great video. I got into Watercolour after reading Ron Ranson s first book. He recommended Cotman 21 ml tubes which I get from ken Bromley £4.69 each. I’ve never used anything else so I can’t compare them, but I find Cotman paints ok. As Ron said “ I can squeeze plenty of paint out without worrying about wasting an expensive paint “ as far as I know Ron Ranson used Cotman paint all through his career as an artist thanks again.
Just right this video Patrick especially for newcomers to watercolour painting. I am a hobby painter in both acrylic and watercolours. I started out with Cotman watercolours and as I progressed and got better and better at my work I thought that I should be progressing to artist quality paint, and so I did and it was very expensive and a mistake on my part. That was a few years ago. I have since reverted back to Cotman watercolour paints and I still think that as far as I am concerned they are the bees knees for quality and price. I will never change again, so for any new or budding artist they are good quality and give lots of satisfaction.
I always use Cotman and am very happy with them. They're a great saving. Thanks Patrick
I am pleased also, looking forward to painting with them today, possibly a landscape.
Nothing wrong with Cotman colours - I also like the Rembrandt brand, which is somewhat more expensive I think. The downside of this brand (Cotman) is that the colours based on metals for artists' use - i.e. the cadmiums, and cobalt - are hue colours in the Cotman range; I quite like the Cotman Cad yellow hue, but it doesn't have the opacity or strength of the pure pigment, which you'll get in the artists' range. So (I'm not primarily a watercolourist, mind you) what I do generally is to buy the cheaper ranges of colours for, eg, the umbers and ochres, plus French Ultramarine, Prussian Blue, Pthalo Blue or Green, Viridian, and splurge the money on the metal-based paints. In oil paint - the difference in quality really IS noticeable, for the most part: but - not always.... you get to learn which colours you can buy in cheaper formats, and which you need to have in a higher quality. But - that's another subject: and you can spend an awful lot of money on oil paint if you're not careful! You can also save money in w'colour with synthetic brushes, rather than the vastly expensive sables, and with mixes of different types of hair.
I have and love artist pigments, but still use Cotman almost everyday in my sketchbook. I find them superior for working with a waterbrush, too.
Good video, Patrick. Cotman is a very good student quality brand. I started out using this brand and still do along with artist quality paint. Love your simplicity of palette colors and mixing. Thank you for putting out these videos! Very helpful!
Thanks Vicki I am pleased it helped out. Seems like more people are using Cotman than i realized. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Pure Watercolour Patrick Ley-Greaves You're welcome! Cotman has a sketchers pocket box. Comes in half pans. Takes a bit of water to activate the colors. I prefer to use the Cotman tubes. Happy painting! Thanks again!
Another very good student paint is Grumbacher Academy, and it's very inexpensive in the US where I am. I also follow a professional UK artist who uses nothing but DR Aquafine, I've never used that one myself but his work is gorgeous. I would suggest if you are going to buy student grade buy tubes.. put them in pans if you must.. or buy that nice travel pan set and refill with tubes as you go. They seem to perform better and are more cost effective. Also take the time to read the info on your brand so you can choose the best colors based on pigment vs color name, and if there is a weak color in the line check the others to see if you can just swap brands within the price range.. there is nothing saying you can't mix brands. If there is a custom color you have to have from high end buy a tube.. but save on all those workhorse shades at the same time. I totally agree regarding too many artist instructors who take the position of $$$ or nothing. It just isn't feasible for so many people, it's almost to the point of class discrimination, it just discourages too many. Same issues with paper, which is a better investment of limited funds than the paint. There is a gradient of bad to good to best in anything. We need to have more discussions regarding "good enough".
The comments, as well as 5he video, are very helpful. As Liron says, if you choose wisely, you can save. May I add that it's not that we are cheap, but, well yeah WE'RE CHEAP because creativity comes with a price & we want to keep painting and experimenting.
OK. I just got rid of some of my prejudices about Cotman, caused by my fellow painters who insisted on the best at all cost. I will replace my W and Newton with Cotman as I use them up.
Thanks for the tip!
I revisited my Cotman recently and am very pleased. Good topic and video.
I'm so glad you did this,I've always used cotman watercolors. I gind that they're pretty good.and since I'm a intermediate artist i find they're much more affordable. For me.
Thanks Katie will be testing them out today in a simple painting to see how they look and feel so far very promising.
*Kelogsloops uses the Cotman range. (For those who don't know, he's a young artist from Australia and has a youtube channel.) His art is DEVINE! And so .. I thought, if they're good enough for him, they're good enough for me.(Not to mention other artist such as Ron Ranson and Chien Chung Wei). The only thing I would like to know is how lightfast are they? (I would love to see a test).*
Ha, I went looking for him based off your post but I was already subbed to him 😀 I obviously need to re-explore his channel!
Ha.... watching this video again a year later and I was attracted to your comment... yet I see I’ve already replied to it before 😂😂😂
Thank you for this. I started with Cotman paints, and then got the artist quality ones. While I love artist quality paints, I don’t feel as freely experimental with them as I do with the Cotmans, which means I learn less. I also find some of the travel sets in Cotman are really well designed. I especially like the setup with the two water bowls and the water bottle. Am not so crazy about the colour selection. I added a blob of pthalo blue to complete the split primary collection. Like the fact that there are so many single pigment colours in the range. Van Gogh student paints are also nice, but there are too many premixed colours in the smaller sets for my taste. Good review. I always enjoy your point of view on things.
Great idea Patrick. I will look forward to your results and commentary. I'm especially looking forward to hearing what you have to say about paper. Thanks again!
I bought the same 9 tubes after watching your video , they look great. ( on good paper . You cant save money on paper though ) Thank you.
Thanks for this! Honestly, I understand that professional grade paints and paper is much better, and you get what you pay for. But that makes watercolor a very expensive hobby; and if this isn't your bread and butter, the cost of paint becomes unjustifiable.
I'm glad you were able to upload an honest view on UA-cam, and say that some Cotman's are "good enough". It's reassuring for beginners and hobbyists on a budget.
PS: I've found the Cotman Pthalo Blue to be amazing too.
Your welcome I really do love cotman the more I use them the happier I am. I havent tried the Pthalo Blue I may swap it out for the Prussian blue at some point. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Hello Patrick Sending greetings from vancouver bc Canada. I have been using cotman watercolours for 10 years and love them. They are transparent and pigmented enough to produce beautiful glazes that shimmer. So okay they may not be as pigmented as more expensive brands but the colours are vibrant. There is nothing wrong with being cost conscious. l find there is great freedom in using paint that is not so pricey. Freedom from worrying about wasting alot of money, freedom to just play. or experiment. Using expensive paints can be stressful and can impede creativity especially if you are an experimental painter like l am. I do use quality paper though [l think that matters more].. Enjoyed watching your video as it re- affirms my choice. Purple lake is my favourite cotman colour. So beautiful. Wishing you lots of fun creative times with your cotmans...........
Always used Cotman colours myself, for about 30 years now, mainly for the reason you stated, way to expensive for the average joe (being just a part time painter) I don't sell paintings, but I do give them away. A good review
Thanks Old Timer I am pleased you found it interesting. I think I stated in the video that I used Cotman around 12 years ago to teach students they seemed to work fine then. Going to do more of test today in some kind of painting to see how they perform.
I’ve used the Cotman range for years and it’s pretty good. However, I switched to Daniel Smith recently and the difference is huge. DS is much better, but at a price
I am such a fan of W&N's small professional tubes. They are so well pigmented that they last forever and not much more than Cotman. I think the scare comes when you start looking at how much a Daniel Smith tube can cost even as beautiful as they are.
Agreed W&N are superb and your right the artist quality tubes are very well priced.. Never tried Daniel Smith not sure they would make me paint any better.
Nice video! These kind of videos can be a little helpful to new painters for information and discussion. There are so many brands of watercolors to choose from that it can cause great insecurity trying to choose the right brand. 1 US gallon = 3785.41ml. People should keep in mind that if the paint is $1 per ml it would cost $3785.41 per gallon! Some of the artist grades of watercolor paint are $1-3 per ml. Completely outrageous in my opinion. I actually prefer Reeves Watercolour over Cotman and the so-called "artist/professional" watercolor brands. People that choose to go with the artist grades have to choose fewer colors because of the outrageous cost. They will say that they prefer having fewer convenience colors because they can mix the primaries to make the secondaries, and achieve greater color harmony. To each their own-personally I would rather have 18 or 24 premixed colors for the price of one artist grade tube of paint. Paints that work well do not need to have real sapphires, rubies, and emeralds ground up in them anymore because of advances in chemistry. Plus Reeves Watercolours are non-toxic because they don't contain iron oxide, nickle, cadmium, cobalt, etc. BTW I know that Winsor & Newton ad Reeves are owned by the same parent company now, but the individual brands are still manufactured according to their traditional formulas. Spend your money on quality watercolor papers and brushes, and not outrageously expensive watercolor brands.
Thank you, Patrick - I am SO looking forward to you using Cotman paints and doing easier scenes for poor me:)
There are some student grade paints that are fantastic like van gogh or daler rowney aquafine. White nights is a low cost professional brand that is wonderful. I use van gogh student paints often mixed in with my professional paints, however cotman and i had a bad relationship, most colors (not all, i have a a tube each of mauve, indian red and turquoise that are lovely) arent vibrant enough and always have to be prewet heavily for a good color payoff and the drying shift is the worst in any paint i have used.
We dont have to break our wallets with professional grade paints when there are good lightfast alternatives, but i had to work harder than necessary with cotmans and painting shouldnt be frustrating. This of course is my opinion and there are lots of them.
do you have colour recommendations for the daler rowney aquafine? :)
Hi Patrick, Cerulean, in my opinion is a convenience colour, it's so easily mixed from cobalt blue with just a touch of winsor yellow. I avoid Cadmium colours because of their opaqueness preferring Winsor yellow and Quin red, they are very good mixers, have you tried them?
Thanks for your comment Chris. I think I'm stuck in my ways. The colours I chose have been with me since i started to paint. Will experiment more with different colours in the future. I've made a note of the ones you recommend. Many thanks.
I have a tube of Cotman Cer. Blue Hue. Good hue, but awful texture. Its glassy, slightly opaque and very sticky, even when diluted. I do not like the way it behaves on the brush... like glue. It even separates in the tube. Doesn't look like it has any white pigment, though, but maybe a bit too much dextrine as filler. Itdoesn't behave like a true cerulean which is granulating and heavy, pushing other pigments away. The true hue is perhaps more of an effect-hue, great for mixing with others to push and granulate. The hue colour is pthalo-based, so they are very different paints. Maybe I have an older Cotman formula?
The Intense Blue and the Gamboge (Hue) are excellent in the Cotman range. The Permanent Rose is fine as a primary red. Not sure about the other reds and other yellows, though. They seem a bit dull, especially the pan varieties. Maybe there is a difference in how they behave in pan and tube form? Earth colours should be fine. Great review, by the way! Would like to see a review on DR Aquafine, as well. Have heard its quite good. I have only tried the Aquafine Gouache by now, and they're absolutely fine! Personally I would recommend the Talens van Gogh brand as it is, in my opinion, somewhere between artist and student in quality and rather affordable. Maybe as good as artist quality, but with fewer pigments in the line.
I have always used Cotman but don't like the naps. For the most primary's it is a good paint straight from the tube. I combine them with artist quality for special pigments.
Thats always a good solution Phil to combine the less intense pigment with artist quality. Will be testing them out today in a painting session.
What about the longevity of the paints?
By which I mean both the 'light fastness' (degradation by UV Light over time) and the longevity of the paints themselves.
I have an old set of professional half pans that must be thirty years old. They're still moist and I can still 'activate' them with a splash of water.
I'm wondering if the Cotman range would last as long...
Regular watercolors, like Cotman, will generally keep for many decades as long as they are stored properly. The only thing that may happen is that if they are in a tube they could dry up, but then you can just cut them out of the tube and use them like pan watercolors. As for lightfastness, the Cotman paints use pigments that are all reasonably lightfast and can also be found in their artist line. They do not include any fugitive pigments.
Patrick, in my early days I used Cotman paint and they were fine. If you have to use student grade these are the best.
Hi Babra I agree I'm really enjoying using Cotman colours right now. So far I cant tell much difference other than there is a little more binder mixed in than in artist quality. Thank for taking the time to comment.
You might want to try ebay for your paint purchases. I get incredible deals there; in fact, I never buy paints anywhere else!
It’s hard to find Cotman paints here Patrick. I’Ve used in the past and thought they were very good. Have to find online.
I bought mine online Libby off Ebay. Looking forward to seeing what they can produce.
They are readily available on Amazon.
Another budget friendly brand is Van Gogh. They perform also very nice and rich colors. It is the student version of the professional brand Rembrandt. Made by Royal Talens. I really love painting with them. I do have a pocket box of cotman and it is a very similar quality, maybe the van Gogh is a bit stronger pigmented. Here in europe, belgium, these are very affordable.
thank you so much for your in depth review :) i also agree that we don't always need to fork out on artist grade paints. may i ask if you have any experience with the cotman intense blue (phthalo blue PB15), do you think it's red shade or green shade?
Cotman Intense Blue is Phthalo Blue green shade.
@@OhJodi69 thank you so much!
I just don't think there's any real difference tbh, we're all too easily seduced by branding and snobbery, Ron Ranson used to say inexpensive paint is good enough so there it is...
Sir, is it cadmium red pale hue or cadmium red hue? I am learning a lot of colour mixing from you. So I am a little confused about red colour you are using. I checked on jackson online and it is showing more orangy tube of cad red pale than yours. Please clarify my doubts. Thank you Sir.
He is using Cadmium red pale hue. Cadmium red pale hue is VERY orange. I have one that came in my kit, but I really don't like it as a red at all. Mixed with ultramarine, it makes an odd, dirty blue-gray.......but burnt sienna with ultramarine makes a much better range of grays. I'd get the Cadmium red hue, and Alizarin crimson, and burnt sienna.
WOW I’m shocked to hear that watercolours are expensive in the UK - In Australian the cost of watercolours, watercolour papers & brushes is at the very least DOUBLE THE PRICE of what they cost in the UK...I buy ALL my professional watercolours, watercolour papers AND brushes from either Jacksons or Ken Bromley otherwise I would not be able to afford to paint. Even Cotman watercolours are unbelievably expensive here...
Very helpful, thank you!
Here is the USA, Cotman by W&N for what's in the tube isn't that much less than the artist grade made here in the US like M Graham, Daniel Smith or DaVinci. I suppose it depends on where you live. The lowest price for a 15ml tube of M Graham is $8.79 in US currency. They even raised the price a few bucks in the past two years. It was only around $6 something. Also Phthalo blue's (PB15) are not that expensive in artist grade. Cotman Cerulean Blue is not made with Cerulean . It's made with Phthalo blue. Cerulean is a very expensive pigment. This is the beauty of student grade paint because real Cerulean is actually a cobalt pigment that is toxic and never used in student grade. Safe for kids and the environment.
Hello Patrick 😁
Thank you Reynalyn for your continued support.
7Re5$ynalyn Jainga 7
They are 8ml tube..right??
Thank you.
Your welcome. Thanks for dropping by and watching my video.
Nice!
Cotman paints are as good as the best watercolours 50 years ago. Look at paintings by Rowland Hilder, John Piper, Stanley Badmin, they used paints that were possibly inferior to these. I use both qualities at the same time, the artist quality are stronger, but some of them can be too strong for my liking.
Prussion blue is considered to be not lightfast ,tfs
have paintings on my wall that are almost 30yrs old haven't noticed any fading yet. In another 30 years I wont have to worry!
They will have been well-conserved in the V & A!!
Philosophy speaking, nothing is permanent. Life itself isn't, and perhaps there is some poetry to the ephemeral nature of a painting. Also, I like justifying my cost-sensetive nature with pretty words. Lol.
Buy your Watercolour Paint online or in store at "The Range" cheapest place ever to purchase Winsor & Newton paint and brushes.
Hi Patrick. I’ve noticed that some UA-cam watercolour experts, like yourself and Lindsay Weirich of The Frugal Crafter, say ‘colbat’ instead of ‘cobalt’. Is that how it is pronounced?
Serilium blue
Lemon yellow
hi patrick
Hi Genelyn thanks for dropping by.
Pure Watercolour Patrick Ley-Greaves your welcome ☺
Good paints for what you pay for.
Cadmiem red
Pigment rose
Please don't dumb us viewers down, some of us like a challenge .Teach us how to haggle prices down in the art shop! Get a discount on buy 10 get 1 free!
Hi Gary not sure what you mean by “dumb us viewers down” You won’t haggle the prices down in my art shop and I certainly don’t fancy buying 10 tubes of cobalt blue either. Thanks for your comment.
Wow, don't know where you live, but there's no such thing as haggling prices down for art supplies in the USA.
Cotman paints are chalky and dry pale. Van Gogh looks much better.
They don't look pale or chalky in this video...