Reddit reviews Kuretake GANSAI TAMBI Watercolor Handcrafted, Professional-Quality Pigment Inks for Artists and Crafters, AP-Certified, Blendable, Show up on Dark Papers, Made in Japan (36 Colors Set)

First off, that's so thoughtful!

I'm no expert by any means. I am very much a beginner with not much to show for it, but I got into watercolor in a roundabout way through calligraphy and hand lettering. Now, despite only putting in some months experience, I have poured hours into finding a nice starter set for myself, so hopefully I can shortcut some of this for you.

I respectfully disagree with the other commenters. As convenient as national chain hobby shops are, they are pricey for that convenience, and I rarely find people who know a lot about one thing versus a little about a lot of things. The only exception I've found to this near me is Jerry's Artarama, but that might be different where you are. If I'm in a pinch and I can't wait the two days for shipping, I will only go into a Michaels or Hobby Lobby if I am armed with one of their 40-50% coupons. Even then, 9 times out of 10 it is more expensive than ordering via Amazon for the materials I am looking for. Additionally, since they can only carry so much inventory, I only find (1) the most basic (cheap in price and quality) items or (2) very famous names.

Watercolors can seem very expensive if you're measuring price per mL, but remember that high quality pigments are meant to be diluted with water, and a little bit goes a very long way. Watercolors are also meant to be mixed! Your SO will want to learn about color theory as she goes (tons of great youtube classes on this too), so that also means to start she doesn't need a massive set. So long as she has most of the primaries she will start coming up with all the colors she needs for her project. Additionally, as she gets more into it, she might find that while she likes her set from X brand, she likes the burnt sienna from Y brand, and the french ultramarine from Z brand. Getting tube colors + an empty watercolor tin will give her a strong base to start painting right away but the flexibility to add her own colors piece by piece as she plans more projects and paintings. Also, when tube paints dry in the tin (you can rewet them/reuse them later), they become portable, giving the same convenience of pan sets.

This was my starter set from [calligraphy] (https://www.amazon.com/Kuretake-Picture-Letter-MC20-36V/dp/B001MPA6W4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1511058329&sr=8-1&keywords=kuretake+gansai+tambi+watercolors). I love the pigments, but in retrospect I could've gotten by with WAY LESS colors. In retrospect, I should've gotten something like this with a tin. Remember, the tin doubles as a mixing palette. Daniel Smith is a very popular American brand, but surely not the end all be all. Windsor & Newton, English brand, is also popular, and they have a fairly good "student" grade line called Windsor & Newton Cotman where you can save some money but not skimp out on too much quality.

Watercolor is almost exclusively done on paper. Now, since water and paper generally don't mix, you'll be concerned with the "pounds" of the paper. For everyday practice, many watercolorists are comfortable with 140 lbs spiral bound pads of cold press (meaning it's a bit rough in texture, not smooth). I like spiral bound because you can flip through and work on a few different concurrent projects (for the love of god, make sure they're completely dry first though q.q). These will buckle and warp with very heavy water application. Final projects, or anything meant for professional scanning and printing or super heavy wet work, you will probably be buying 200 lbs+ paper as needed. These can be bought in blocks/pads or as single sheets. As the pounds go up, so does the price.

Brushes! These can also get very pricey, but as with the pigments, there may be some sense in it. Higher end brushes are affixed with either natural or synthetic (or a mix) of hairs that (1) hold more water than cheap brushes and (2) keep the hairs from falling out into your paints or painting. I personally use Windsor and Newton brushes, but I don't have a lot of different types yet, and that seems to be fine to learn on. A round brush goes a long way, as you learn to put down a lot of color or very fine lines depending on how much pressure you put on the paper. As a starter set you might get two round brushes in two sizes like a 4 and a 12.

Finally, while there are lots of artists in Art Fundamentals, I might post this specifically in /r/learnart or /r/watercolor for more insight. Most of us here are working on constructional drawing with pen and paper, not necessarily painting.

watercolors LINK

we starting to use it in art schools and continue to use them in art academy. they really are good. no need to dig deeper in more expensive, pro watercolors.

fancy watercolors (i personally love them, but really, basically fo fun, mixed media) LINK

watercolor pad LINK

that's my choice. would highly recommend this producer, really great absorption, thick paper, different formats available. anyway, it's really good.

brushes is really very personal choice, depends on technic and such. I like this one LINK great for miniature work. You can look for some squirrel hair brushes in local store orLINK , they are good for starters and for wet painting.

EDIT. fanart sample where all those stuff used at once :P

$100 will get you pretty far! obligatory ymmv, a lot of supplies depend on what and how you paint (do you paint large or small? do you paint outside a lot and need a travel kit? and so on), etc, etc, but here is how i would spend the money:

• paints
  
  kuretake gansai tanbi, 36 color set - the best set of watercolors i have used and relatively cheap, the colors are vibrant, mix well, and set beautifully.
  
  
  
• paper
  
  probably where most of the money should go after upgrading your paints. i like the strathmore 500 series and the canson papers for sketching and learning. other higher end brands that are recommended a lot are arches, bee paper, and fluid 100. definitely try out both hot press and cold press, people usually develop a preference but one is not necessarily better than the other.
  
  
• brushes
  
  honestly, brushes are not that important as long as they are not frayed or shedding. i've seen tons of professionals use and recommend this cheap set by grace art. i also like the princeton neptune brushes.
  
  
• extras
  
  if you still have money left, i would suggest trying something cool like metallic and pearlescent paints if it interests you. or use the money towards other mediums if you want to branch out.

I think they're a great starter kit. You get a wide variety of colors. The problem with them is that there are mixed opacities -- sometimes two colors right next to each other on the color wheel might be different. One green could be opaque, one could be transparent.

I used them exclusively as my travel palette until I started to build out my collection of professional colors.

My absolutely favorite "set" is the Kuretake Gansai Tambi set ($29 on Amazon). Keep in mind, these are Japanese style, so they will be richer in color, but I absolutely love how brilliant everything is. This was definitely my workhorse at home while I was building out my professionals... but truth be told, sometimes I still go back to these because I love them so much.

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EDIT: Adding some links to works myself and my sister-in-law have done with them, so you can see the richness.

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I currently use kuretake watercolors with these brush pens and I think they’re pretty solid. It’s not a huge investment and I think they’re a good starter pack for casual water colorists.

I highly also recommend clipping your pages and having maybe a hair dryer handy so your pages don’t warp from getting too wet.

Rubbing alcohol - I have no idea! I think it does break down the colours but USE IT GENTLY because you can bleed right through paper if you're not careful. My mom showed me how to do this when I was young and just learning how to use Prismacolours.

Generally when needing to fill something with solid colours I'll use a circular motion for even coverage rather than line-shaped strokes, but yeah, that's basically the idea.

Currently the lighting on the picture is kind of undefined - you have shadows underneath things, but light plays in strange ways and reflected / refracted light also does weird stuff. This tutorial kinda explains things better than I can: http://theartcenter.blogspot.se/2010/03/sam-nielson-painting-process.html - Basically, you want to think about where your primary light source is, how the material you're colouring will interact with that light, and then the shape of what you're colouring. Rimlight is the white around the edges of say, Lugia's wings.

I will recommend these watercolour sets because I LOVE them: http://www.amazon.com/Pelikan-Color-Opaque-Watercolor-Set/dp/B00170ZSLS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462365768&sr=8-1&keywords=pelikan+watercolours Used them for years. They're student grade but I love how they work. Make sure you're using sturdy paper!

I am using these watercolours currently: http://www.amazon.com/color-Kuretake-picture-letter-Unleashed/dp/B001MPA6W4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462365862&sr=8-1&keywords=japanese+watercolours They're flipping fantastic, if not a bit more expensive.

LMK if you have more questions / need more clarification. :D

At this moment I'm using Kuretake 36 colour set. https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B001MPA6W4/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_apa_i_W0EBCb4TNW996

I've recently gotten into painting Japanese watercolor postcards on etegami paper. Etegami painting is supposed to be a relaxing experience where clumsy is good. Plus, as postcards they're fun to mail to friends and family.

https://www.jetpens.com/Akashiya-Etegami-Postcard-Size-Paper-Gasen-Paper-Pack-of-10-Sheets/pd/4720

(You can get the size you need)
https://www.amazon.com/Kuretake-Picture-Letter-MC20-36V/dp/B001MPA6W4/

actually that was the brand of paper I got


my paints are Japanese

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kuretake-Gansai-Japanese-Watercolour-Paints/dp/B001MPA6W4