DANIEL SMITH 285610005 Extra Fine Essentials Introductory Watercolor, 6 Tubes, 5ml, Blue/Transparent/Yellow

Vibrant colors that mix well. After using intro set I will be investing in more Daniel Smith watercolor paints.

These Daniel Smith watercolors are absolutely gorgeous they rewet easily after letting them dry in pan and the colors are vibrant would recommend getting this set 100% cant wait to review more Daniel Smith watercolors :)

I love granulating watercolors and these granulate like crazy (except the pinkish rhodonite genuine). Try using these with rough cotton watercolor paper and the effects are exaggerated. The attached image was made with Mayan Genuine and an orange that I already had. Beautiful color that layers very well and mixes to natural greens with cool yellows. The other favorite is the Piemontite Genuine. Looks just like brick when diluted.

This is a great affordable starter set for people new to watercolor or if you are trying to hone your color mixing. Having the warm and cool primaries allows you to mix just about any color that you want.

Nothing better for the money - rich colors

I’ve been working with watercolor for a year now. I’ve used several different student grade brands of watercolor, most of which are fairly good in terms of color saturation and performance. Having tried a honey based pro brand and now Daniel Smith, I prefer the latter... and yes, pro vs student grade does make a difference with performance. Generally, the DS colors are far more concentrated than the student grade paints, making a tiny amount go a loooong way. Also, the paper (100% cotton) absolutely loves them! That being said, the primatek colors do behave A bit differently than the regular DS paints. They granulate naturally. It’s as if the mineral base sits on top of the paper allowing for streakiness, though that may be from not using enough water in my wash. The colors are subtle, except for the rhodonite, which is a pretty vibrant pink. For beautifully subtle, granulating color, I would definitely recommend these. They do dry quicker than the regular paints. It’s as if they absorb the water differently. I also purchased the essentials set. I swatched and mixed the two sets together (photo attached), which resulted in some beautiful colors. The tubes are small, but not as tiny as other reviewers led me to believe. One of the 5ml tubes will fill a full pan with paint left in the tube. The INTERIOR of the Meeden full pans I am using is 2.8mm L x 1.6 W x .08 H. N. When you break it down by cost, I paid less than $4 per full pan. That’s not bad for professional watercolors. The paints arrived on time and were hand delivered to me at my door. The boxes were taped closed and the tubes were full and unopened. All appropriate colors were in the boxes. I’m quite excited to do more painting with these paints!

Watercolor painting

Too expensive for small size

Perfect starter set. Warm and cool for each primary. Premium paints. Was a gateway to the over 20 other shades I eventually purchased. No regrets.

I ordered these for my brother inlaw he loves painting in his older age, when I received them I checked them out and found one tube was smashed and was replaced in a day .