Which watercolor brand is the best? Comparing seven different brands!

It's an EPIC watercolor brand comparison video! We will be comparing, swatching, and testing seven different brands of watercolors today! My beloved Daniel Smith's, QoR, Schmincke, Sennelier, Winsor and Newton, Mission Gold, and ShinHan! I even sacrificed some Arches paper, to really see what these watercolors can do! Which brand wins? Watch the video to find out! Come on in to my Northwoods studio and test some watercolors with me!

Happy creating!

*Correction- ShinHan DOES use the ASTM ratings system and anything with 3 stars and above is good to go!

0:00
0:55 talking about pigment numbers and lgithfastness and the packaging of the paints
9:55 Swatching and testing
33:43 Picking a winner (sort of)

Other YouTubers Mentioned:
Kim Crick

Art supplies used today:
ShinHan Professional Watercolors:

Mission Gold:

QOR:
Quinacridone Magenta
Dioxazine Purple

Schmincke:
Ruby Red Deep
Juane brilliant Dark:
super granulating shire set
Amazon:

Winsor and newton:
scarlet lake:
aqua green:

Sennelier:
emerald green:
cobalt violet light hue:

Daniel Smith
Phthalo green yellow shade:
hookers green:

Winsor and Newton Designers Gouache Ivory black
legion stonehenge kraft paper pad

My every day supplies:

Oil Painting:
Michael Harding oil paints (my favorite oil paints- the best of the best):
Gamblin oil paints (my runner up paint and a little cheaper):
Winsor and Newton Winton oil paint (Best inexpensive but good quality paint for beginners):
Liquin (thinning medium and speeds drying):
Liquin for fine details:
Liquin Impasto medium (for thicker texture):
Gamsol (oderless paint thinner and cleaner):

Watercolor:
Daniel Smith Watercolors:
Arches Hot Press Paper:

Pastel:
My favorite pastel surface is ClaireFontaine PastelMat:

Stabilo CarbOthello Pastel Pencils:

Panpastels:

Faber-Castell Pitt Pastel pencils:

Stick pastels:
Prismacolor Nupastels (set of 36):
Mungyo (good for beginners and cheap!):

Pen and ink:
Favorite ink- Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bombay India ink:
Favorite Dip Pen:
Favorite fine liners- Sakura Pigma Microns:
Favorite paper for ink Drawing- Strathmore 500 Series Bristol Smooth:

My filming equipment:

All music by Epidemic Sound
Affiliate links with Amazon and Blick art materials help me buy more supplies!

[mie...]

I'm not a professional artist, but when it comes to artist grade watercolor paints, in my opinion I don't think one brand is "better" than another as they all have different properties so ultimately it just comes down to personal preferences. I always thought Sennelier was the "best" brand but I just find them too "gummy" and therefore hard to work with, though undoubtedly the colors are very beautiful and I do use them from time to time. Personally my go to paints are Winsor and Newton, and Holbein because of their consistency and vibrancy, and they flow and dry on the paper exactly how I expect/want. I like Schmincke for their super granulating range, and Daniel Smith for their specialty mineral colors which are unique. Isaro do some nice iridescent colors.

[amypanddirtytoo]

Pigments can look completely different based on the size of the granule, how much heat was used in processing it, etc. That is how the same pigment can look completely different in different paints.☺☺

[btwilks]

Thanks for taking us on a tour of various watercolour paint brands that we might never come across on our own. My watercolours have been Winsor & Newton (nowadays it's just the professional paints - I dropped their Cotman once they moved their manufacturing from Europe to China) and Daniel Smith. Oh and I think I also have a single tube of Mission Gold orange somewhere - it came as a complimentary gift with one of my orders from Blick. I'm relatively happy with my two main brands but it's always so interesting to see what's available on the other side (especially whether the grass is greener LOL). Best wishes, Brian.

[verditerthistle]

hi! i’m not sure if you’ve found an answer already, but I know why the winsor & newton aqua green tube is just labeled as “phtalo!”

the reason is that the pigment is pretty new, so it doesn’t have an industry-standard pigment code yet, but it does come from phthalocyanine, which is where the other phthalo blue pigments come from :) winsor & newton just call it phtalo coz there isn’t a specific code, but the chemical compound is phthalo (not sure why they changed the spelling tho lol)

I believe this version of phthalocyanine originated in the automotive industry (so like car paint colors lol). — that’s also the reason why quinacridone gold (PO49) is discontinued. the pigment was mainly manufactured for the automotive industry, and art supply manufacturers bought the pigment to make paints. but since orange cars aren’t in demand, the pigment manufacturers don’t have a reason to spend money to make PO49 (especially since they can make cheaper, more modern orange pigments). and so there’s no more quinacridone gold left for artist paint manufacturers to buy and make paint with :(

[Blick_Art]

We reached out to ShinHan, who confirmed that their PWC (professional watercolors) line is tested according to ASTM standard D5067, the Standard Specification for Artists’ Watercolor Paints. This standard establishes requirements for composition, physical properties, performance, and labeling of artists’ watercolor paints. Hope this helps!

[sophiaemilia]

Greetings from Germany, the German brand Schmincke has the lightfastness rates also on the packaging, these are the stars. 5 stars are the best. And the pigment numbers are always on the tube, oftentimes on the side and tiny. I find them to have a real good quality. The colours are more natural compared to Daniel smiths ones. I don’t kniw how to say it, like not artificially high chroma and bang in the face…. I hope you understand what I mean 🙈
Love your effort to do this giant comparison. I love Sennelier and M.Graham, both honey based reactivate like nothing real. Pigmented and wow. And Schmincke and Winsor & Newton. After so many comparisons and a hell lot of spend money I found these are working for me the best…. It is difficult to find the right thing sometimes…. So thank you for this.

[catherinefannon]

Thank you for the comparisons and opinions. I swatched my watercolor palette yesterday and put it in the thrift store box. It was a very cheap department store set, so not even student grade. I'm going to get a mid-level set of something in the near future. What I appreciate is seeing how the paint looks on the paper both wet and dry, without having to buy anything myself. I learned frugality as a hard and fast rule growing up, and that has not served me well as I've started doing more art.

[annewillis]

Pigments - for example PV19 - are sometimes used in many different colours so it isn’t safe to assume that two different PV19’s can be compared. They may be entirely different colours of pink/red/magenta/violet depending on how the pigment is milled/ particle size/ binders used

[nadinevandenhende]

D Smith has a PR122 and that is Quinacr Lilac, also more Blue based

[aykutgurcaglar]

So nice review. Thank you so much. I tried most of the brands reviewed here. But there’s one thing I need to correct about Shinhan watercolours. Shinhan watercolours represented here are not their artist grade colours and known as SWC however their artist grade brand is named PWC and fully pigmented. I’ve been using pwc for about 5 years they’re both well priced and above the average artist grade watercolours. What I learned so far is it’s best not to stuck a single brand/maker there are so many great makers out there. Last but not the least if you haven’t tried I recommend M. Graham and Holbein. Cheers from Ontario.

[jackieojeda]

😊Hi Amy I am so excited to see this video! I think I can explain why your more messy at art, because there art supplies and we are so excited! Cooking not so much!😅 have a great day!!👍❣

[RaspberryColors]

Daniel smith paints shrink and dry like a brick, lol. They are beautiful just my hardest dried watercolor, I usually spray them prior to painting. Great for travel with no gooeyness.

[designergurl]

Just recently purchased the Schmenke watercolor palette and love it but I think I may need some new brushes because I can’t control my application when I paint it goes everywhere because the brushes are VERY soft.

[diannedupuis]

I got my new Schminke pan set of 24 and they rewet and paint beautifully.

[Nena]

I just bought the Daniel Smith basics. I'd love to try out other brands but I paint as a hobby so it's an unnecessary investment that will have to wait lol. Great video! ❤

[anchesenamonsims]

I think all professional watercolour brands are great and that you can't really say that one is better than the other, because it all comes down to personal preference. I personally love most of them! LOL (Schmincke doesn't contain honey btw, Sennelier does)

[EAlabbasy]

I'm going to buy some Sennelier paint soon and your review makes me more excited to get them 🥰 I only tried schmincke violet and was Amazed by how well they rewet after drying and how pigmented it was! I also want to try their ultramarine finest which is a non granulating ultramarine.
This has been fun espacially that I'm too a messy painter so it felt very relatable to watch you swatch 😅

[ArtBrain]

I don't have any issue with rewetting my Daniel Smith, except for the iridescent and Potter's Pink. The rest are marvelous and I have about 50 tubes I think? Of course, I live in high humidity Seattle, where they're made. I also have the sticks and don't like them as well. Thanks for the review.

[christineosmond]

Great paints! The Shin Han is their student grade, so not a fair comparison. Try the Shin Han PWC or SWC for their artist grade paints.

[christinea]

I love me a good swatching video! Do you have much experience with the daniel smith primatek line you are interested i have a ton of them in tubes id happily send you some to check out!