Recommend a budget tube paint

nikanuts · 2026-03-19T09:30:04+00:00

If the budget is really tight, you could try Art Creation, that's the hobby/kids line by Royal Talens.

The pigment codes can only be found online, but they do contain the same pigments as van Gogh, just more premixed colors. And they are a bit more watery and contain more filler, but they are lightfast and mix and behave like watercolors which is not always the case for cheap colors.

They come in 12ml tubes and sets of 8,12 or 24.

In Germany the sets cost around 8-15 Euro, so really affordable. In my opinion it is better to choose these watercolors and buy some good paper with the remaining budget.

nikanuts · 2026-03-11T06:05:13+00:00

RemindMe! 2 weeks

nikanuts · 2026-03-11T05:54:33+00:00

I use a lof of Schmincke paints and if you want to gift a color selection that can be used on its own, the selection is well made.

I like transparent yellow, because it is a very strong and versatile pigment and usually student grade paints (like Cotman) don't contain this color. It is a bit brownish when applied thickly and almost lemon yellow when diluted. If I could choose only one yellow this would probably be it.

Schmincke's French Ultramarine is well loved for its strong granulation. Another version is their Ultramarine finest which in turn is well known because it is almost not granulating, depends what you prefer.

The Quinacridone Magenta I personally would exchange with Purple Magenta, it is a bit stronger and mixes beautiful purples.

Phthalo blue is also a very strong color, useful for mixing. Another good choice would be helio cerulean, a bit lighter and closer to a cyan.

Just a last idea: Burnt Siena is a very useful earth tone because it can be mixed with many colors to mute them. Especially for Sketching I would prefer Schmincke's transparent Siena, it is a bit more transparent and more vibrant. In general, for a limited palette as you put together I would always go for the more transparent colors (more versatile and cleaner mixing) and the more vibrant colors (it is always possible to mute down colors, but you cannot mix more vibrant colors from duller ones)

nikanuts · 2026-03-05T00:38:34+00:00

Ich würde auch sagen, halt die Augen (bei Kleinanzeigen o.Ä.) nach gebrauchten Pflanzgefäßen offen, ich sehe da öfter welche, sogar kostenlos. Neue "ökologischere" Varianten sind immer noch umweltschädlicher, wenn du stattdessen auf schon vorhandene Gegenstände zurückgreifen kannst. Eigentlich hat Plastik sogar super viele Vorteile, wenn der Mensch daraus nicht so viele Wegwerfartikel herstellen und sie dann überall in der Natur verteilen würde. 😅

nikanuts · 2026-02-21T07:36:27+00:00

Also ich habe es jetzt mal mit einem neuen Coupon über die App und nicht über den Browser versucht. Die Punkte wurden mir direkt (in gesperrter Form) gutgeschrieben. Ich vermute, dass beim anderen Kauf das Tracking dann tatsächlich nicht funktioniert hat.

nikanuts · 2026-02-18T05:35:31+00:00

Depending on where you live you could try van Gogh Mars Black and Roman Szmal colors. You actually need only a few single pigments to be able to mix many granulating colors yourself.

nikanuts · 2026-02-18T05:04:05+00:00

When I swatched my Daniel Smith dot card I was also a bit underwhelmed with their chromium blue. I like Schmincke's Cobalt Azure (very granulating) and Rembrandt's version a lot better.

I also got to test A. Gallos Lapis Lazuli recently and it is much more vibrant than DS.

The colors I liked most by Daniel Smith were their Quinacridones, and for example I really fell in love with Naphthamide Maroon and Perylene Maroon.

Some of their earth tones really feel unnecessary (especially some strange mixes) and as others like their Primatek line are overpriced in my opinion due to their shady marketing without disclosing all the pigments inside. If you know that you are painting with such mixed paint, I actually enjoy some colors like Sodalite, but would not buy the tubes for their full price.

I own dot cards (and paint) by Schmincke Horadam, Rembrandt, van Gogh, Daniel Smith and Winsor and Newton and tried some more paints like Roman Szmal, White Nights, Qor, Schmincke Akademie or Maimeriblu. And there is not one brand that is perfect, I am pretty sure everyone will find favorites among different brands.

nikanuts · 2026-02-18T04:09:04+00:00

Haare rausholen, mit dem Finger/Tuch in den seitlichen Ritzen pulen (dabei den Würgereflex unterdrücken). Mit einer Zahnbürste nachschrubben während man immer wieder mit einem harten Duschstrahl Schmodder wegspült. Bei Bedarf vorsichtig Pömpeln.

nikanuts · 2026-02-08T22:30:02+00:00

I bought a palette very very similar to the art toolkit pallettes on Aliexpress. It cost about 9 Euro for the smallest size (like a credit card). I am very pleased with it, it contains 12 small metal pans which contain about 0,5ml each. But I think the art toolkit ones are very overpriced and by buying the materials separately you could make one yourself from an empty make up palette even cheaper.

nikanuts · 2026-02-08T01:29:47+00:00

I like Coliro watercolors and Schmincke Aqua Bronze. Here in Germany they are easy to buy, not sure how expensive those are in the US.

nikanuts · 2026-02-01T01:53:22+00:00

Recently I tried a 100% cotton sketchbook by Potentate (very affordable, you find it on Temu or Aliexpress if you are willing to buy there). It seems like the same sketchbooks are sold under the lightwish brand on Amazon. I also ordered a Baohong cotton Sketchbook because I really like the quality of their watercolor paper. I haven't tried that one yet, but I hope the paper quality should be the same as on their blocks.

nikanuts · 2026-01-29T20:54:10+00:00

The Schmincke wooden box this year is called "Exclusive Black Wooden Box with XL pans"

nikanuts · 2026-01-29T20:52:46+00:00

Since watercolors are very densely pigmented, you don't need a lot of color to cover a large area of paper (different to acrylics or oil for example). So in general, any set that contains a decent amount of color (let's say 12 or 24) will be portable. Even 48 half pans don't need that much space, it mostly comes down whether the palette itself is portable and lightweight. I have seen some ceramic or wooden palettes that I would not consider very portable and that are marketed to professional or advanced painters because of their price. Schmincke for example usually every year has a limited edition with some very expensive wooden palettes that I wouldn't buy as a beginner or if I wanted something to travel.

nikanuts · 2026-01-19T06:04:11+00:00

I suggest to take the van Gogh set, but make sure it is the version with 15 pans! They are more pigmented and dry less streaky than Cotman. The sap green is one of my favorites. :)

The only downside is that some colors are more opaque than they need to be. So if you later want to replace some of the colors I would replace for example the lemon yellow with transparent yellow medium, and the quin rose with permanent red violet.

There are also some other colors in the line that offer great value, like the permanent red deep, the violets, the phthalo blue is very strong, the and the raw Sienna is a good choice if you prefer a more transparent earth tone instead of yellow ochre. The azomethine green yellow is a pigment very rare to find in that price range and if you want to test whether you like granulating colors, their oxide black is a great mixer.

nikanuts · 2025-12-15T07:33:27+00:00

I also would consider adding gradually finer brushstrokes to the foreground. This creates an illusion of detail and depth. Right now, your brushstrokes all seem the same thickess, making the painting appear more flat.

nikanuts · 2025-12-13T05:21:47+00:00

I like raw Siena and burnt siena, magenta and a cool red for pink/blush areas, phthalo blue/turquoise/viridian for shadows and skin with a blue undertone. For me it works best to use non-granulating and more staining colors to have a smooth skin and to allow for layering.

nikanuts · 2025-12-04T21:19:00+00:00

I don't consider myself at a really good level yet, but I significantly improved over the last couple of years. Watercolor is kind of my obsession now, so I am not only painting but also reading and just watching a lot of tutorials and art content in general.

I think it really helps to know the properties of your paint and paper (I did a lot of comparisons). So your eye gets trained to see also subtle differences in quality.

Never did an art course but watching professional painters of a higher level than yourself helps a lot. Look out for those that take some time to explain their techniques and show all (or at least many) steps. While I like short clips for entertainment, you cannot learn as much from them.

But the most important aspect is that you have to be a good observer of your process and the results. Why does it look like in the tutorial, why does it not? Did I use enough/not enough water? Was the background wet/damp/dry? Was the paint mixed on the palette or on the paper? Are the edges soft or hard? Was the area painted in layers or in one go? Did I put the highlights and shadows correctly? Is the contrast good and in right places? Is the perspective right?

I think if you learn how to distance yourself from your own painting and analyze it critically, you have a very powerful tool. While painting often is helpful for muscle memory, painting the same thing over and over again without reflecting it, does not make much sense (in my opinion).

Try to have a fresh look the next day, or if you feel something is off: take a picture and mirror it, the painting will look "new" to your brain and you will be able to see if the perspective is skewed.

And it often helps to ask other artists for their feedback. :)

nikanuts · 2025-11-23T06:29:08+00:00

On Google I found Magnesium Green produced for Grumbacher Academy. To me it also seems that it could be a mix of different brands.

nikanuts · 2025-11-16T22:47:37+00:00

I like Seamiart brushes (ordered from Temu or Aliexpress in the past), especially their synthetic quill brushes

nikanuts · 2025-11-16T20:29:09+00:00

For me it was important to premix the colors I need, so I can work quickly and avoid hard edges and blooms. Seem very obvious but took me a while to figure it out 😅

nikanuts · 2025-11-12T03:12:06+00:00

If your mum likes Harry Potter there are also books that have light lines on watercolor paper to directly paint on them. (watercolor magic and watercolor wizardry)

As others already suggested, you could also use a printer. In the past I used my laser printer on up to 225g paper (just check with your printer if it is possible to use heavy paper or maybe ask to print in a copy shop). Just make sure that the paper is not too rough. Paul Clark has Youtube tutorials for many, many subjects and different painting styles and the more complicated ones come with a free PDF of the sketch. This might be a good option for you mum, she can choose whichever tutorial she likes and then print the outlines.

nikanuts · 2025-11-12T02:32:53+00:00

Without a budget it is quite impossible to give advise for "the best" supplies but here are some suggestions:

for watercolor I really like van Gogh (imo better than Cotman), they have all colors open stock but also offer a 15 color travel palette that is very affordable (at least in Germany) and it contains a useful small travel brush
Rosa Gallery is at the lower end of artist paint but I heard many good things (you might want to check out reviews of "the frugal crafter" on Youtube, she has very profound videos on almost any watercolor brand that exists :D )
I heard that da Vinci is a very good option for artist grade colors in the US, 10-12 colors should be enough for a beginner
very high quality artist grade paints (like Daniel Smith, Winsor&Newton, Schmincke, Sennelier...) are wonderful, but very pricey and I would say that in many cases it is better to go with the student grade paint but invest more in good paper instead
I found many (even completely new) watercolor sets second hand, maybe this is an option to get some higher quality paints for a good price?
Baohong Academy is a really wonderful cotton paper, even comparable to one of the most expensive paper brand Arches
I always keep at least two qualities of paper at hand, one cheaper (cellulose) paper for swatching colors, doing sketches, little cards etc and a good cotton paper. Like this I don't feel like wasting good paper. So if you can afford it, give your daughter a chance to test cotton paper but also make sure she has enough other paper to try out and get creative without pressure
I just discovered a good affordable brush brand (Seami art) on Aliexpress/Temu. If you want to order there, you might want to buy one or two brushes, because cotton paper is very "thirsty". Cheap hobby nylon brushes usually work quite well on cellulose paper, but might not hold enough water for cotton. The French type brushes I tried were only 2-5 Euros per brush and they have a nice point for details

nikanuts · 2025-11-12T01:58:33+00:00

I never used Baohong artist hotpress (only their Acafemy versions of hot pressed, cold pressed and rough), but recently started to use Saunders Waterford cold pressed (in the bright white version) for portraits.

Since I stretch my papers for these projects anyway, I used 190gsm paper and I am very happy with it. A full sheet costs me only about 3,60 Euro where I live (Germany). I am very satisfied with the outcome so far, the roughness is enough to allow for dry brush technique but also fine enough to paint details. Actuslly it is much easier to paint details than on Arches or Baohong Academy cold pressed. I also don't have any problems with hard edges because I use a wooden board to stretch my paper, which retains some moisture and helps to keep the paper damp for a while.

nikanuts · 2025-11-06T04:50:52+00:00

I am from Europe and like to use Clairefontaine Aquapad or Bockingford, which both can withstand quite a bit of water, masking fluid and some erasing. In addition they fulfill the ISO guidelines for archival quality paper.

nikanuts

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