Van Gogh Watercolor Paint Set, Plastic Pocketbox, 12-Half Pan + 3-Half Pan Bonus General Selection

This is my favorite of all of my watercolor palettes. The paints are high quality and so is the included brush. There is ample space for mixing and blending colors. It’s great for traveling and has a nice variety of colors in a compact amount of space.

Im an experienced watercolorist. I studied art in college, but after years of not painting, I picked it up again. I have tried a large variety of paints from cheap to expensive, from liquid to pans to tubes etc. So far these paints are my favorite. I’ll admit that I stayed away from them because the name is a bit cheesy and I felt like they may be poor quality. I mean who buys paints names after a ridiculously famous artist? It’s like buying a frozen entree named after your favorite chef. You know it’s not going to compare to the real thing. Anyways, after reawakening my love for watercolor I started off with some paints and was not getting good results. I honestly thought it was because I was so out of practice. But I just wasn’t happy with my pieces. The colors seemed too fake, too bright and I couldn’t get a lot of texture and detail. I was having a lot of trouble manipulating the color so I decided to change my paints. I went through 6 other brands of paints and none gave me the results I was looking for until I tried these. To me, the most important thing about WC paints are three things. Transparency, workability (I’ll get more into that later), and color tones. Transparency is a given. Chalky watercolor is just the worst. You’ll never get good results if you cannot easily layer your colors. Workability: now this is where things get tricky. I really like the ability to be able to lift my color off the paper if it does something I don’t like, or to create highlights. I also like the ability for colors to bleed a bit and form natural textures as that’s what makes watercolor unique as a medium. This paint does just that. You can always go back in and rework areas etc. I will warn that the reds do tend to bleed more than the other shades so keep that in mind. Some people don’t like this. Some prefer for the paint to stay put where they left it and like to be able to do washes right over painted areas. With the van gohs, this is difficult. As the paint will react to any moisture it’s introduced to, even once dry. But I like that you can rework areas multiple times. If you like something more stable, try the Windsor newtons. They tend to stay put more; or you can try India inks which are waterproof once dry. The last thing is color shades. I like natural looking colors. Shades that are too bright or almost fluorescent are very off putting to me as your work can end up looking like it was done with crayolas. The shades in this set are great. They are bright, don’t get me wrong, but they are natural looking. The only flaw with this set is a lack of a true violet shade and a good magenta. I do a lot of florals and find that you can’t mix a good purple with the red and blues provided in this set. Nor can you get a good magenta. So you may need to buy a couple of extra tubes in those shades. Other than that, these paints are excellent. Very good quality, fantastic workability and gorgeous, true-to-life colors.

As an aspiring watercolor artist, I recently had the pleasure of working with the Van Gogh Watercolor Paint Set in the Plastic Pocketbox, specifically the 24-Half Pan General Selection. To say that I was impressed would be an understatement. This set is a pocket-sized treasure trove for artists, offering a blend of quality, convenience, and creativity that has the potential to inspire both beginners and seasoned artists. The quality of Van Gogh watercolors is unquestionable. Each half-pan of paint in this set boasts vibrant, highly pigmented colors that glide smoothly onto paper. The consistency and intensity of the hues are simply stunning. Even diluting the paints with water retains the color's brilliance, making it easy to achieve the desired transparency or opacity. This set is a testament to the superior craftsmanship that Van Gogh is renowned for. One of the standout features of this set is its portability. Housed in a sturdy, pocket-sized plastic box, it's the perfect companion for artists on the go. The half-pans can be easily removed and placed on a palette, and the lid can be used as a mixing surface, which is a thoughtful touch for those who prefer to mix their colors. The compact size makes it ideal for outdoor painting, urban sketching, or simply carrying your creative tools wherever you go.

Wife absolutely loves this set, and for what she does, I believe it. The colors are vibrant and bright, easy to use, water clean up. The quality of this is stunning.

[Updated] Editing and removing most of my original review in which I was thoroughly unimpressed. I think a large part of that was unfair comparison, as my first swatching effort for the VG (Van Gogh) paints was on cellulose paper, and I typically swatch on cotton. This does indeed seem to be a fantastic student grade set. It is NOT the same quality you’d get from Daniel Smith professional paints, but honestly some/many of the options in this palette perform better than the Windsor Newton Cotman student paints I have, or even the WN pro paints. After spending a lot more time with this paint set, I’d say it’s worth purchasing especially if you’re starting out your watercolor journey or want a nice set for kids, teens, or students of any age. My 3 and 10yo now prefer this set to the others they’ve used (Crayola, Jerry Q 18 color set, Winsor Newton Cotman pocket set, Sennelier Aqua-mini, and Qor intense). They seem to prefer this one because of: -the intensity of the pigment load -the variety and selection of colors provided -the nice deep mixing wells (6) -the vibrancy of the paints when in use As a parent, I also appreciate that this set: -doesn’t have the common toxic components of cadmium or cobalt (it’s said to be fully non-toxic but I didn’t research this independently) -it has the option of a split primary: a cool and warm yellow, a cool and warm blue, and a cool and warm magenta/red (great for learning color theory and mixing) -the travel case is well designed, with the brush handle doubling as a way to lift out the mixing tray -many of the colors are single pigments (this is supposed to help for color mixing) One weird thing I noticed was that the ultramarine deep did not provide nice mixes (compared to other pro brands I’ve tried). Just something of which to beware. Also the Prussian blue is not much different than the cerulean (just slightly darker); I might swap out this one for a different pigment/color, at some point. The cerulean closely matches the color of Daniel Smith’s manganese blue hue, which is a great color option, so I’m glad to have this version of cerulean in the Van Gogh set! Note that I didn’t include all the included colors on some of my swatch pages.

I am so blown away by these paints! I’m a long time artist, but a relatively new watercolorist. I bought these as a “guilt free” set to learn new techniques, traveling, and sketchbook work instead of using my expensive paints. The paints were all nicely wrapped, I will say they were a bit hard to get out of the palette fully wrapped, but once you get them started they were much easier. The wraps had the names, and all of the pigment information you would expect to have on better quality paints. I really appreciated that the color numbers were printed on the pans too, so no need to label them for reference in the future. These colors just melt when you touch your brush to them, they are an absolute dream and need no pre-wetting is needed. They are pigmented, bright, translucent, easy to mix, and an all around amazing set to work with. I’m also enjoying the flow of these paints with wet-on-wet techniques. The paint flows so beautifully, and dries without any heavily settled pigment anywhere. I will say that most of these are two pigment mixes, 21 in total, leaving 15 single pigment mixes. I haven’t found this to be an issue with mixing. I have mixed a lot with these, and always work off of a “dirty” palette, and have had no issues with muddy colors. Since many of these mixes are simply convenience colors anyway, they can be very helpful to a newbie watercolorist. I love these so much I’ve actually purchased the entire set of refill tubes to go with it once these run out. As I’ve worked into more artist grade paints these are still a set that I grab and use fairly often, and it’s my #1 go to for a travel palette. I’ve found this set to be very good at glazing and lifting for the most part. The colors do lift well when you’re working with it. They can lift quite easily when there is a lot of pigment down regardless of how long it’s been drying. However if you are glazing to change the overall color it’s not terrible. If you are glazing to add shadows or something, it can be a little frustrating, I would recommend building up this shadow along with the values of the object together.. The most problematic thing about this set won’t be a problem to most, and that is there is a limit to the amount of paint that can be laid down on to the paper. This is mostly true for cheaper papers, and is when your have a really thick concentration of paint (almost mass tone). The first few washes are perfectly fine, but too many, or if one layer has a high concentration of paint it can fill the tooth of the paper leaving a shiny look to the page. I’m assuming this has something to do with the binder they use. It would indicate a lot of binder, but how this paint acts feel quite contrary to that assumption, so I really don’t know why that is. Like I said, this isn’t a problem with most applications since it wouldn’t be used at such a high concentration. It is however, an occasional issue with blooms where all the pigment is pushed to the edges. Pros: - Travel palette is great quality, and has room for a brush. - Comes with a pretty decent #6 round brush - Excellent pigmentation - Beautiful wet-on-wet flow - Re-wets effortlessly - Can buy refill tubes when these run out! Tubes run about $5, but can be found on sale for $3. - The pans come coded for you!! They’ve printed the color number so you don’t have to write each one individually! - 15 single pigment colors - No mixes with more than 2 pigments - Great learning, and mixable set without muddy colors - Excellent light fast ratings - Almost the entire set is translucent! If I’m nit-picking 8 of them are slightly opaque, it really is minimal though - Not at all chalky - Glazes and lifts well Cons: - 21 two pigment colors (A pro for those who enjoy convenience mixes though!) - Pigment buildup can leave a shiny look to finished work, similar to how too much color pencil would look I’m trying to think of more cons, but I really can’t. I would highly recommend this set, even at a beginner artist level.

I don’t usually write product reviews, but y’all this palette is absolutely fabulous!!!! 😍 The color choices are unique, and the consistency and quality of the paints are phenomenal!!! Plus, the palette itself is lightweight, has a removable section for extra mixing space, and looks and feels of good quality materials. Even the little travel brush that is included is decent! If I could change one thing about the palette design, I would use the space between the top two colors where they have placed the name, to be indented (like the mixing wells, to hold a sponge or a bit of water. Some of the colors are a bit opaque and a couple seem to granulate slightly, both of which I love! They blend beautifully and lay down with ease. I have A LOT of different watercolor brands (pro and student grade) and palettes, and this little guy is one of my absolute favs!!! 🤩😍 Buy this palette!!! You will NOT be disappointed!! 👍🏻

Love the muted color!