Winsor & Newton Cotman Watercolor Paint Set, Field Pocket Set, 12 Half Pan w/ Brush, Sponge, Bottle

The media could not be loaded. Several years ago, I decided to follow some tutorials from my high school art book and take watercolors more seriously. I bought quality paper (Strathmore, cellulose 300 gsm; at the time, I wasn't aware of the difference between cotton and cellulose) and a decent watercolor set without compromising my finances. Good watercolors can be quite expensive. So, in December 2016, I ordered this sketch set that was on discount, and I have no regrets. I can proudly say that these were my first watercolors from a reputable brand, even though they are student/academy quality.- The box/presentation: The plastic box doesn't feel cheap; it's very sturdy. However, since the lid doesn't come off, it's sometimes difficult to clean the edge where the hinge of the mixing tray is. To address this, I carefully remove all the half pans and wash the entire box from time to time. It has a small and compact size. The closed box measures 13x6 cm.- Colors / Half-Pans: The colors seemed very good to me at that time, with excellent pigmentation. While they can't compare to professional watercolors, they were a great option for a beginner who wanted to enjoy learning the technique. Many purist watercolorists may disagree with the inclusion of white, but I found it useful for adding details and experimenting with pastel colors. The ability to experiment made it worthwhile to have in the set. The set includes two yellows, two reds, two blues, and two greens, each in warm and cool versions, plus three earth tones. This selection helped me learn how to mix colors to get the shades I wanted. Initially, seeing a palette of 48 colors was overwhelming, but this smaller set was more manageable. I would have preferred if they had included the pigment numbers on the side, but it only lists the color names. However, you can find this information on the official Winsor & Newton website.- Brush: I still have the brush that came with the set, but it's not for daily use. It serves the set's main purpose, which is to make sketches, but I usually painted on 9x12 inches paper (the size of the notebook I bought at the time), so I often used larger brushes. The round brush is of decent quality and good for making details.I'm very happy to have learned the basics of watercolor technique with this set.Below, I will share the pigments for this set, if it helps anyone:- Lemon Yellow Hue: PY175- Cadmium Yellow Hue: PY65, PY97- Cadmium Red Pale Hue: PR255, PY65- Alizarin Crimson Hue: PR206- Ultramarine: PB29- Intense Blue (Phthalo Blue): PB15- Viridian Hue: PG7- Sap Green: PB15, PG7, PY139- Yellow Ochre: PY42- Burnt Sienna: PR101- Burnt Umber: PBr7, PY42- Chinese White: PW5

Excellent purchase for use as a travel watercolor kit. I used it yesterday at home and the design is well thought out, colors are bright, the brush is good quality, sponge is useful, and the three palettes work great. Compact, lightweight and easy to use.

These are the first high quality watercolors that I got. Loved how pigmented and portable they are. The little pencil that comes with it is definitely a plus. Great value for the money you pay. Totally recommended. I add a pictures so you can see how the colors can blend with each other. Also there is a painting, I’m starting so please don’t be hard on me hehehe.

My 11yr old son love this suite. The colors are of high quality, and the whole set works very well and is very portable. We all really like to great color and level of transparency of the color. Color dries fast, easy to use. My son carries it when hiking and can make quick sketches in 10 min with the set without making anything messy. Highly recommend!

It's an ok field set.I'm mainly comparing this Cotman pocket sketch box to the white nights full pan field box: White Night Artists Watercolour... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006FHNE3C?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_shareI have a Swatch comparison to the white nights set in the photos included. Those are 12 full pans for about 23$. This Cotman box is half pans for about 13$.The cotman kit came with a tiny folding brush, but it's not much to write home about, it's like a size 2-4 round. Not big enough to do a wash.The cotman paints don't perform as well. They are clearly student grade. The white nights paints do lay down better.The box configuration is sort of meh, IMO. I tend to like the folding metal boxes more, but I do wish for more variety and portability and haven't found one that makes my heart sing just yet.Side by side, cotman swatches are in the left, yarka/ white nights on the right.I don't find the color white terribly helpful in watercolor. I also don't use black much, but instead prefer paynes or Davy's grey. The White Nights paints have a neutral black which is not as severe as an ivory black, so I guess there's that. The yellow ochre and umber in that set are also more transparent than cotman. I prefer to have sap green over a black, which the cotman set does include. Even better would be to swap Payne's grey for the white in this cotman set.I think the biggest difference is in how much more challenging it was to get the same pigment density in the cotman as the White nights. I had to really work the brush in there with the cotman paints, in addition to pre-spraying the pans and go back more times for paint with cotman than white nights- which are semi-moist, yet dry more quickly after you're done than the cotman. The cotman paints are extruded and have a lot more... filler ... something... that isn't pigment, than the St.Pete's /white nights paints. Those take a wet brush and you're off to the races. But these Cotman paints you have to work at and use a lot of water to get them going and even then, extra water it gets down into sides of the pans, around the paint cakes without dissolving them, but then when you are done, the Cotman pans take forever to dry out.I definitely prefer the White Nights set.Look at the triangles in the swatches. White nights is the right triangle on top. Cotman is the equalateral tringle on the bottom. Wht.nts blended naturally wet in wet. Like a dream -hardly any work from me except to wet the page and ease them toward each other. For the Cotman I had to put brushload upon brushload to get to equally dense colors, moving them into each other and even then, they didn't really want to blend and flow on the page even with an amount of assistance. And the secondary colors were muddier and harder to obtain.Pros on the cotman: smaller kit, sap green is a nice green. Half the price for half the paint and a sort of decently passable brush. Cotman series paints have an array of pallette varieties and styles worth trying out.Yarka pros: bigger pans. A neutral dark instead of a white. Includes a fantastic deep green. Semi moist poured pans Instead of extruded paints.I'd go with the St. Petersburg again in a heartbeat over cotman.

Very compact and perfect for traveling . Only 1 brush included.

Definitely a great choice for me. I used it a lot when painting outside because its so easy to take with you.Its a great price because you can use it a lot before it would wear out. I like the paint and since the case is metal is very durable.The paints are great for watercolor painting since they’re transparent but not watered down.