Winsor & Newton
Winsor & Newton products are famous for their high durability and rich colors. Let’s start with Windsor, which I am most familiar with. Windsor has had two major reorganizations in recent years, one in 2005. Once in 2009, after 2009, the Gewen student-grade products were manufactured in France and were of very low quality, but the artist-grade products were not greatly affected. The two changes were in the same direction. 1. The formula and color of the pigment carrier were changed. Easier to dip and water soluble. 2. Some convenient mixed colors with poor reputation have been removed. 3. Organic or synthetic colors with some new colors added. Winsor & Newton's artist-level introduction is very reliable. It will clarify the famous colors with poor light resistance. It has been proven through experiments without exception. Please read it carefully before matching! Windsor is easy to dye into the paper, so it is not easy to modify. The color concentration is lower than other brands, but the transparency is very high. The average transparency is almost the best in the world! (The real No. 1 transparent is Utrecht, which is not available in China.) After 2005, the filling is more dilute and easier to dip, and the color is more matte when painted, and it still maintains a fresh feeling after drying. The Winsor & Newton color range is small, but the color palette is very balanced on the color wheel, except for the odd color near earthy yellow and emerald green. The brighteners and solvents added to the pigments are kept to a minimum level, especially for the cadmium series. The pigments are divided into large, medium and small tubes, large disks, full blocks and half blocks, and the solids are British-style solid filling. The solid one works great but the cap in the tube is very easy to stick to the mouth of the tube! Paints are very durable, especially in dry environments (only for solids, syrupy liquid paints are not very durable. Solid watercolors consume more paint when they are in a semi-moist state, that is, when they are soft than when they are dry!) ??In short, Windsor Artist Grade is the most reliable watercolor paint. Even if some paints are not lightfast enough or mixed too much, they will be clearly marked in the product description. Many artists around the world (especially Americans) hate the naming of Windsor colors. There are too many xx, too many Windsor xx, and there are also pure British traditional colors such as Turner yellow, but as a British person, I really like Windsor and traditional naming, but Yonggu does use too much.
Shi Mingke
The pronunciation of Shi Mingke is Shi Mingka. Most European and American painters believe that its cost-effectiveness is low, except for endorsement artists such as Joseph Zbukvic and Yuko Nagayama. The Smink color series has 110 colors. It is a single pigment pigment in the early 60s. Its solid canning technology is extremely advanced. It is said to be canned by hand four times and can be used dry and wet repeatedly. However, the tubular canning is not flattering and is very easy to use. Stratification, separation and bubbles occur. My guess is that the main reason is the replacement of some of the gum arabic with cheap synthetic chemicals. The use of (polyethylene glycol) pigments was called second-rate by contemporary American painter Bruce MacEvoy. The argument was that even ultramarine was a mixed color! And microscopic analysis shows that the color contains a large number of colorless particles. The completeness and accuracy of Schminck's public information is very close to that of Winsor and Newton. Although there are so many shortcomings, the characteristics and characteristics of each color are sincerely recorded and published in the chromatographic data. This has to be admired by Germany. responsible. Each box of paint comes with some color details. Schminck's color rendering power is poor (second only to Holbein), and the color brightness is slightly lower than the average level. However, the texture, texture, density, etc. after coloring, the entire color system is surprisingly consistent, which is unmatched by any watercolor paint. I personally appreciate one thing about Schminck, and I believe this is also the main reason why a large number of realist painters are willing to use Schminck!
The lightfastness of SMC pigments is very good. Individual colors that are less lightfast are clearly marked and unambiguous. It is recommended to select colors and read the chromatogram and color information carefully before painting.
Holbein
If this is a Japanese style, my biggest reason is that the colors of Holbein seem to be more vivid. Bright, bright, shiny color, red, purple. These are the feelings this little box brings to me! Turquoise is also beautiful. All in all, the color is very comfortable.
I have always felt that 18 colors are enough. Except for the useless white, there are three greens, three blues, four browns, and one Payne gray. The colors are super bright~
Holbein's The color is very vivid, and the average brightness ranks second in this ranking, second only to Murray Blue. However, it does not sacrifice the transparency of the metallic cadmium color system as much as Murray Blue. The grinding and tube shape are very rigorous, and both are within the standard. Above, the manufacturer claims that its pigments are ground four times and are easy to dip and dissolve. The quality of its pigments ranks among the best among the brands evaluated this time. Its transparency is close to Winsor and Newton Artist Grade (ranked second transparent this time). The color brightness is close to Murray Blue (ranked the second brightest this time), and at the same time, it is the brand with the least dyeing into the paper. However, Asian watercolor also has its inherent disadvantage: medium. The medium content of Holbein is slightly higher than that of other watercolor paints in the same class. The manufacturer claims that the product does not contain ox bile, which makes the rendering ability of Holbein watercolor the worst watercolor paint on this list!
In the full color system, some organic colors with non-traditional colors have poor light resistance, but are extremely bright. If it is not for artistic creation but for commercial art use, you can consider it, otherwise it is recommended not to use it.
White Night
Because the filling technology is very poor, they claim that their pigments are filled in a semi-moist French/Russian style. Let me explain here, French Schennelier The solid pigments are filled in British style. Baiye claims to be a "professional" grade, which is just a sidekick to confuse the concept of artist/professional grade. Although there is no standard for artist/professional grade, large manufacturers generally calculate based on pigment grade, and Baiye does not use any international circulation. All the high-end pigments are native to Russia and do not meet international standards. Of course, you can also say that this is Russian style. Practical results show that its strength is exaggerated. The specific characteristics are as follows: the concentration of color materials is greatly different, and most of the colors are rich and bright. Colors such as cerulean blue, carmine, and colbalt blue are very non-colorful and have the characteristics of too many additives; the entire earth tone system The pigment solution is very turbid, with a lot of precipitation and very large particles (this is also true for some non-earth traditional colors). The other part of the red and purple colors are dull and dull, and dark colors are difficult to dip into. According to the instructions, a large number of commonly used colors such as red, peach, golden earth, squid black, and hook green are all made of color materials that are completely intolerant to light and difficult to preserve. This alone is absolutely unacceptable. ! When using it in painting, please note that almost all light colors will fade or become dull.
Color blocks
Well, the ones I have mainly tried are 12-18-24-45-color sets, not individual blocks. These are mainly 12 colors and 24 colors. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages. 12 colors are more convenient to carry, while color mixing with 18 or more colors is cheaper, so each has its own merit. I have saved a lot of 12-color portable packs, mainly for use when going out. Precisely because the colors available are extremely limited, I will pay special attention to the color configuration. If there is one less color and one more color, it will be a problem whether it is easy to adjust the color. On a small twelve-color palette, the presence or absence of certain colors can sometimes have a big impact. As for the paints with more than 18 colors, the colors are rich and the color mixing is sufficient. Except for a few occasional exceptions, it basically meets the needs o(*￣)￣*)o. You know, theoretically, the three primary colors can produce all colors, but more than 18 colors are purely for the convenience of color mixing. Especially when applying it flatly, the color tone is too little, which is really embarrassing. o(*￣▽￣*)oSo for beginners, it is best to use 18 or 24 colors
Others
The pigment of watercolor paint is one of the most important factors. A single pigment will definitely last longer than a mixture of colors of the same grade. The more mixtures, the more it will affect transparency, brightness, lightfastness, color mixing, etc. To judge whether a watercolor paint is good or not, you cannot just look at the color. Lightfastness is the first thing to pay attention to. .
It is recommended to buy Winsor & Newton and Holbein