Your best watercolor for painting

Watercolor is much more than just a simple paint. It is an artistic expression medium used by small and large artists, and is practiced with great subtlety on paper. If you are a lover of this art, whether you are starting out or are a professional, you are in the perfect place to learn about watercolor and find the best watercolor for painting.

In this guide, we will provide you with all the information you need to paint with watercolors, including the materials you will need, the proper techniques, where to buy your supplies, and other recommendations that will help you create spectacular watercolors.

With our tips and tools, you will be ready to explore the full potential of the watercolor technique. Let’s get started!

What type of watercolor are you looking for, which one to use?

There are several types of watercolors available in the market, and to make your search easier, we have classified these paints into two groups: Watercolors in Pans and Watercolors in Tubes. In this guide, we will provide you with all the necessary details so that you can make an informed decision and have the best possible experience with the watercolor technique.

To get a detailed view of the differences between watercolors in pans and watercolors in tubes, click on the images shown below. You will find detailed information about these two watercolor presentations that will help you decide which is the best option for you and your artwork.

What are the Best Watercolor Brands in the world for Painting in Pans? Analysis on Quality-Price Ratio for 2024

At ACUARELASPINTURAS.com, we offer a wide selection of watercolor paint brands for beginners, enthusiasts, intermediate and professional levels. We provide detailed reviews of the best brands in the market, with information about their features and advantages, so you can compare and choose the watercolor that best suits your needs and budget.

Below, we present a selection of reviews of the best watercolor paint brands in pans. Click on the images to get all the information you need to make an informed decision and buy the best watercolor for you at an affordable price.

Start exploring the wide variety of options we offer at ACUARELASPINTURAS.com!

Come in and explore the selection of products with special prices for a limited time.

Comparison of the Best Watercolors for Painting in 2024. Opinion

In the following table, you can see a comparison of the best professional watercolor brands and which watercolors to buy to get started.

Opinions on Schmincke watercolors

Opinions on Winsor & Newton watercolors

Do you want to buy a professional watercolor online? Catalog of the Best Deals and Discounts.

This is a selection of the best types of watercolors on sale on Amazon

What is the best watercolor brand? The bestsellers

Are you looking for the best brands of watercolor paints with incredible offers? You’re in the right place!

Among the most outstanding professional brands are: Schmincke, Winsor & Newton, Sennelier, Rembrandt, Maimeri, Van Gogh, Daniel Smith, Holbein, and Mijello, among others.

Your best watercolor paint for painting

In this selection, you will find the best-selling and highest-rated watercolor paint brands by artists, which will help you choose the paint that best suits your needs and budget. Click on the link below to see the complete selection, click HERE.

Don’t miss out!

Professional watercolor paint brands use unique pigments and formulas, which make them exclusive by offering purer and cleaner colors, making a difference in your artwork.

Do you want to know a little more about this wonderful art? Let’s go!

In the market you can find various paint presentations such as watercolor sticks, liquid, watercolor pencils, and watercolor markers. In this article, we will talk about two presentations of watercolors used in Fine Arts, such as:

Watercolor paint set in pans and watercolor paint in tubes.

Your best watercolor for painting

Brands of watercolor paint sets in pans or godets

These paints in the form of cubes or pans are agglomerated, pressed, hard and dry pigments that come in boxes and can be purchased in sets of 6 or individually.

There are many recognized brands in the market such as Daniel Smith, Schmincke, Sennelier, Rembrandt, Winsor & Newton, Maimeri, and Van Gogh.

Simple and affordable watercolor sets in pan format

Watercolor pan sets with a basic selection of colors are an excellent option for painting outdoors, making quick sketches, and taking them with you everywhere thanks to their portability and lightweight. With their range of hues, you can create magnificent urban landscapes, capture nature in motion, and even paint moving architectures and people.

In addition, these watercolors have the advantage of being more affordable due to their size. As they are dry, they last for years and are used to paint small or medium formats. One thing to keep in mind is that you should pick up the color with a clean brush to avoid color mixing, although if this happens, you can easily clean it with water and a clean brush.

The colors dry on the palette and can be reused at any time, allowing you to save on the use of watercolors.

Unlike pan watercolors, tube watercolors are wet, liquid, but thick. They come in tubes and are available in different volumes. They are useful for doing detailed work and are used for painting larger formats, as you can easily mix larger amounts of paint.

They have the advantage of not getting dirty because you don’t touch the inner paint. The drying time once applied is longer than with pan watercolors. You have to be careful because they can dry out if not properly covered or over time, and it is very difficult to recover them.

The variety of vibrant colors is splendid and you can buy them separately. They are available in the same formulations and brands as pan watercolors.

What type of watercolor is best to start painting with? Pans or tubes?

Now that you know the differences, advantages, and disadvantages, either one you choose is good for painting, you just have to ask yourself and define:

What format or size do you want to work with?

If it’s a small format: use the pan set. If it’s a large format: use tubes.

Will you use them frequently? Use tubes, or just occasionally? Use the pan set.

Where will you use them? If you’re going to use them outdoors, use the pan set.

As you can see, it depends on the use you want to give them. In conclusion, it is recommended to have both presentations of the same brand, immerse yourself in the beautiful art of watercolor, and practice with all the presentations to be able to choose the one you like the most.

You can also mix both presentations in your paintings, that is, use both pastilles and tubes on the same paper you are using for your artwork.

Within the world of watercolors, there are professional and beginner quality levels, which is due to the quality of the pigments, their components, and all the properties that characterize them.

The price and brand indicate whether they are professional, although you can find excellent quality and priced watercolors for academia.

One important property of watercolor is good anchorage or staining, which means it has a good volume of pigment, and the price will depend on the quality of the pigment.

What materials do I need to paint with watercolor?

For both professional and beginner artists, the materials are the same. The most important thing is to buy the best quality possible for each material. This will make learning easier, give you better results, and prevent frustration. So, go ahead and have courage to learn your new technique!

Guide to materials

Guide to Materials. We will show you a guide to materials that you need to practice this wonderful technique and we will detail them to help you have a broad knowledge of each one:

Set of watercolor paints in pans or tubes, round brushes, special watercolor paper, rigid support or board to fix the paper, adhesive paper tape, masking fluid (not indispensable), gum arabic (not indispensable), mixing palette, water containers, absorbent paper to dry, cotton cloth to dry, solvent for cleaning and watercolor dryer or hair dryer.

What brushes to use in watercolor?

The best brushes for painting in watercolor are those that have greater elasticity, flexibility, softness, and great capacity to absorb water. Additionally, the longer the hair bundle of the brush, the more capacity the brush has to absorb paint.

All these characteristics are combined in the round brush made of Marta Kolinsky hair, which is considered the best and most appreciated, although it is the most expensive one. Well taken care of, it can last you a long time.

There are other natural hair brushes, but none better than those made of Marta Kolinsky hair, such as red sable or white sable, squirrel, or ox ear.

The round brush made of Marta Kolinsky hair, in addition to the aforementioned characteristics, has the property of immediately recovering its shape and tension after applying the paint.

It is recommended to have it among your painting materials.

Cheap brushes

There is also a cheaper and high-quality alternative, which are brushes made of synthetic fibers that imitate natural hair or mixed brushes made of synthetic fibers and natural hair. It is important to check that the brush does not shed hair.

A very important tip in painting practice is to keep brushes clean and dry after finishing, never let them dry with leftover paint.

Round brushes are used to apply washes and make details, depending on the number, it is important to have several numbers, that is, several thicknesses: small, medium, and large.

There are several brands of brushes on the market to choose from such as: Da Vinci, Escoda, Raphael, Winsor & Newton, Van Gogh, Gauguin.

What kind of paper should be used for painting with watercolors?

When it comes to watercolor paper, we must consider that it is another key material for our technique. There are several brands on the market that can help you achieve what you want, which is simply a happy result, so you don’t have to worry!

What we need to know is that the paper is the surface on which we will paint with water and pigment, so it must be thick enough to absorb the water and fix the pigment, but it shouldn’t be too thick either so that it dries just right during the time we are working on the artwork.

How to choose the right paper for watercolors

Choosing the right paper for your watercolors can make all the difference in the final result of your painting. From texture to thickness, every aspect of the paper plays a vital role in the outcome of your work. Want to know more, click HERE

How to Prepare Watercolor Paper: Stretching and Gluing

Proper preparation of the watercolor paper is essential to achieve a surface that is flat, stable and able to withstand the moisture of the paint. This ensures that the paint is applied evenly and that the colors blend properly. In this article, we will present some tips and techniques for preparing watercolor paper: Stretching and Pasting. Want to know more, click HERE

Cotton paper for watercolor painting

Watercolor papers are basically made of cotton, in greater or lesser amounts. The greater the amount of cotton, the higher their quality, as they absorb moisture better. They also come in cellulose.

They are classified by their weight in grams per square meter, ranging from 185 g/m² to 640 g/m². The recommendation is to use papers of 300 g/m² or more cotton content. This paper has the ideal thickness for your practice. You can control the curling and drying time, but there are other weights that you should also try.

Texture of the paper

Watercolor papers also have different textures, such as rough, fine, and satin. Each one has its properties and contributes to the beauty of the final result.

What’s important is to try and choose the one that you like to work with and the level of detail you desire. In this case, we recommend fine-grain paper for its versatility. You can achieve details and also work on large areas.

Format of the paper

When we talk about formats, we refer to the size of the paper, which you can get in sheets and blocks, depending on the brand. If we’re talking about blocks, there are several sizes available, both for working at home and for taking with you on excursions.

There are blocks glued on all four sides, which are ideal for travelers and nomadic artists. The sheets don’t need to be stretched beforehand and withstand moisture very well.

Some of the brands of watercolor paper are: Arches, considered the best, Canson, Hahnemuhle, Van Gogh, and Guarro.

What is doing a color test and how to do it?

Before starting your artwork, when you have bought your first set or when you buy any color, it is recommended to make a small color sample:

by loading the brush with diluted paint and rubbing it on the paper from the darkest color to the lightest or transparent tone, letting it dry and then you can see the final color after it has dried.

Usually, new sets come with a watercolor paper marked with small squares, which is perfect for doing this test.

What is the technique of watercolor? How are they used?

We will show you some tips to start painting in watercolor, you only need a little patience, the desire to learn, persevere, let yourself go, and enjoy every step of the process.

12 Simple Techniques to Get Started with Watercolor Painting

In this article, you will learn the basic steps you need to know to get started in watercolor painting, create great works, and the tools you need… Let’s go! Click HERE.

How are whites achieved in watercolor?

The use of white pigment in watercolor, or white watercolor, is a highly debated topic with different points of view. Each artist or practitioner of the technique may like to use white pigment or not, and I believe it should not be a single criterion.

Let’s discover how it works and you decide whether to apply white color in your work… Let’s go! Click HERE.

What is watercolor?

Watercolor is an artistic technique that uses water-soluble paint to create images on paper. Both the paint and the technique are called watercolor. This medium of expression is used by both professional and beginner artists and offers a wide range of creative possibilities.

By applying the paint to paper, effects of transparency, luminosity, and delicacy can be achieved, making watercolor a unique and fascinating artistic medium.

Origin

Watercolor, whose name comes from the Italian acquerello, as an artistic technique, is a very ancient pictorial practice. It is believed to have originated after the invention of paper in China. This technique emerged in Europe after Fresco painting, and its peak and maximum splendor is attributed to the great German artist Albrecht Dürer in the 15th century. The first school of watercolor was born in Germany.

Characteristics of watercolor

The most prominent feature of the watercolor technique is the transparency of the colors, which are achieved by overlaying layers of color with both free and controlled expression, resulting in unpredictable outcomes.

The paint is made up of natural and synthetic pigments, it is water-soluble and applied on a flexible support such as paper, which is white in small, medium, and large formats. When it dries, its colors become lighter.

What is watercolor painting?

Watercolor painting is the result of mixing natural or synthetic pigments, wetting agents, and a binder made of gum Arabic.

If you want to learn this fabulous technique, we want to share a secret with you: the quality of all materials is key to making learning easier and getting better results. That’s why it’s recommended to paint with the best materials you can afford, even if you’re just starting out.

Watercolor pigments

Pigments are the components that provide color, they can have varying levels of staining or tinting power, ranging from opaque to transparent. This characteristic depends on their origin and composition. They can be classified as:

Organic pigments

Organic pigments are those that contain carbon (C) in their chemical composition and are obtained through chemical processes of living or once living matter (such as petroleum distillation).

These pigments are characterized by their transparency, low coverage, but with greater color strength and brightness, such as cyan, which is a saturated sky-blue intermediate between blue and green, magenta that ranges from intense pink to saturated purple, and a wide spectrum of yellows, among others.

Inorganic pigments

Inorganic pigments come from non-living elements and therefore do not contain carbon (C) in their composition.

These pigments include minerals obtained from the earth, metal salts, and iron. They are characterized by being opaque and matte, more stable to light, and have better coverage, such as white and colored pigments.

White pigment

White pigment is inorganic and opaque, resistant to light, and has great coverage capacity. Among the most prominent are Titanium Dioxide and Zinc Oxide.

White watercolor

White watercolor is not a recommended color for watercolor painting, due to its characteristics that we will see later. Although there is a white watercolor called Chinese White, which originates from zinc oxide.

Colored pigments

Within inorganic colored pigments, there are:

Natural colored pigments

Natural colored pigments are those extracted from minerals without modifying their structure through chemical processes. They are pigments in their natural state, found in the earth, extracted, cleaned, and purified. They are becoming increasingly scarce, such as ochres, earths, among others.

Synthetic colored pigments

Synthetic colored pigments are not natural and are obtained from chemical reactions on metals. However, due to the scarcity of natural pigments, their use is increasing. They are characterized by being very resistant to light and opaque, so it is advisable to use both natural and synthetic pigments.

Synthetic pigments are classified into:

Cadmium pigments

Cadmium pigments are bright and clean colors, such as yellows, oranges, and reds.

Pigments from other metal oxides

Pigments from other metal oxides are obtained from Iron Oxide, such as earth, ochre, dark red, and Chromium Oxide which are colors ranging from pink to green passing through yellows, reds, oranges, and purples.

Pigments in Professional Watercolors

The most recognized watercolor brands use mixed pigments and exclusive pigments, the latter of which characterize the brand and stand out in their color palette, offering purer and cleaner colors, which make a difference in your artwork. Generally, professional artists look for the best pigments within their preferred brands.

Some of the most outstanding professional brands include: Schmincke, Winsor & Newton, Sennelier, Rembrandt, Maimeri, Van Gogh, Daniel Smith.

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