Watercolor Paint: The Impact of Quality

Does the quality level of a watercolor paint really impact painting results? Absolutely! In this video professional artist, Jill Poyerd, provides a first-hand comparison of professional, student, and academy grade watercolor paints and discusses what factors contribute to their differences.

To learn more about watercolor paints, check out Jill's online course Foundations for Mastering Watercolor Painting available on:

Jill's Website:

Beginner to Master Art Academy

UDemy

[erinkbeb]

That was super helpful & informative. And your voice is so professional sounding & relaxing at the same time.

[adalbertoperez]

While deployed in Iraq, to keep my sanity, I painted several murals on the concrete barriers that protected our sleeping areas from projectiles, using what I could find. My predominant medium of available materials became Testors model paint thinned with WD40. Not the best option, but more therapeutic and educational than giving up painting for lack of proper materials. So when I see a gallery docent painting with Crayola-like watercolor sets I do not judge, rather I respectfully acknowledge they may just be performing art with what is available.

[madelinegrudens]

As an advanced beginner, I found one professional painter's tip very useful and he recommends getting three great primary colors and a neutral tint, and mix other colors from those. Which allows you to spend money on professional quality paints, without breaking the bank. Good brushes and artist quality paper make a huge difference as well. I wish I heard this advice and saw your video before I spent so much on inferior supplies... But I did learn a lot from cheap supplies and had some fun! Thanks for sharing your knowledge and talent 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩

[pablokalincausky]

Dear Jill, thank you so much for this invaluable tutorial !!! Blessings...

[jacquelineabracadabra]

2:53 "I'm squeezing out a small amount.."

[erikafranca]

One of the best videos about watercolor quality I’ve ever seen. Thank you..

[sweetasbloodredjam]

I'd like to add that it also heavily depends on how you're using your watercolors.
If you want to paint wet in wet, flow, distribution and mixing on the paper are going to be important to you.
If you prefer to work more precise in lots of thin layers, reactivation, opacity and absorbtion are going to be more important to you.

I have a friend, for example, who used to layer her colors and then start mixing in white acrylic paint on the top coats, leading to a sort of guache-like appearance. The resulting paintings were absoluely lovely and had a unique texture to them, the characters almost looking like little figurines.
She did that using the cheapest paints and brushes, from those art and crafts store sets, because lightfastness wasn't a concern as she later scanned her work for print and otherwise kept it protected in maps.

[John_]

Holy Guacamole, I thought I was still in the online course. I forgot this was a YouTube video. This is the best presentation I've seen yet explaining the differences in watercolor paint. All the other courses I've tried to take say, "Use professional paint." Period, end of story. I appreciate the time you spent explaining and SHOWING the differences in paint. I have not seen anyone else do that.
I'm looking forward to finishing your course.

[coughedup]

I need to show this to my parents because they don't get why I buy such expensive paints and they say there all the same, I just hope it'll go well :, ^)

[arigatoespacialsuperadmiti]

This explained to me a lot of things about watercolors, sometimes, in this case, is not completely you, also the quality of the paper, brushes, and paints can make a big difference in some aspects of the painting. Thank you for the educational video!

[KatrinaGressett]

I've been struggling with the whole, "Why should I spend more for professional paint?", question and this was exactly what I needed to see to compare paint grades. Thank you for making this and being very methodical about your comparisons.

[katechaste]

This feels like an art museum curator showcasing extinct watercolours during an exhibition demo. Very calming and interesting to watch

[AllanJayQuesada]

Very useful watercolor resource. The narration is very clear, relaxing and credible. Thank you sharing.

[TheEnteleqia]

Thank you for your patience! I speak spanish, so your rithm and explicit explanation was really clear for me. I enjoy painting a lot with my profesional grade watercolors, when I show my materials, a lot of (young or hobbyist) artist begins with "ah, but i paint with cheaper paints, so that's why you perform so well blah blah i work harder" . I don't understand when they take this info as personal. Dude, we all begin with cheaper brands, then with my hard work I bought something better. We all can buy a couple of more expensive tubes eventually, but it's not an obligation. For example, you make this great video explaining the differences, but it doesn't mean it is a pressure over the people that can`t afford it. Like, if you like your paints just paint using what you like, fine, but this is objective information about binders and pigments, THE END. I loved your voice btw, It's really nice.

[aleahlrb]

Something that I noticed while working on an assignment for class recently and trying out some paint from M. Graham.

At this point, I have only ever used student quality and lower quality paints. I only just started to grab myself some professional tube paints after I found a local art store that sells them relatively cheap. But anyways, in addition to only ever having used student quality paints, I was already expecting to see a lot of backruns on my artwork since I'm already pretty bad with my brushwork and I was using student quality paper, so guess my shock when I actually managed to end up with fairly smooth and equal textures. It even almost made it look like I painted on watercolor paper that had some cotton content.

After rewatching this video, it helped me realize that it was the paint that really helped me. It made me realize what I've been missing out on this whole time.

[carolfrancis]

This made me understand so much about watercolors. I've been using watercolors for a year now using a very cheap set and I couldn't achieve good results with it I almost gave up watercolors. Until I saw your video it really describes the issues I have with the academic watercolors. Thank you so much

[annikamerz]

Your videos are so helpful. I just realised a lot of problem I had handling with aquarelle paint result from the quality of the paint or paper.

[susandavies]

this is the most amazing tutorial on the quality of different watercolor paints - thank you

[jalh]

If YouTube allowed hearts instead of just one thumb up, I'd give this a bunch of hearts. It's thorough, well presented, and easy to listen to and watch. I'm so glad I stumbled onto it and am a new fan of yours. Well done!

[CdnDolly]

I feel like I'm watching a school educational video, like in an art class. LOL