Winsor & Newton Cotman Watercolor Paint Set, Sketchers' Pocket Set, 12 Half Pan w/ Brush

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

The Winsor & Newton Cotman Field Pocket Set is perfect for artists on the go! The 12 half pans provide vibrant, mixable colors, and the included brush, sponge, and water bottle make painting convenient anywhere. The compact design fits easily into a bag, making it ideal for plein air painting or travel. Overall, this set is high-quality, portable, and perfect for both beginners and experienced watercolor artists — highly recommended!

This is a great set of watercolors, and I love the built in palettes for mixing and diluting. The range of colors has even more than I need, the colors look great, and it was a great upgrade for me as I use a travel cotman palette for portable use, but wanted a larger set with more colors for home use. This is still quite portable and I take it to different rooms and outside very often, but it is definitely not a pocket sized kit. That said, I think it will last me a loooong time and I like that I can replace any pans that I use up so that I won't have to replace an entire kit (this is true of all the cotman sets I've tried). I've attached a few paintings I've made with these watercolors. I do usually use Sakura Pigma pens with them just due to my style My favorite thing is that the inner palette is EASILY removable for cleaning. I've had others where it's almost impossible to snap off the palette. This one you just hold it at the right angle and it lifts right out.

Nice set of mid grade watercolors. I love pan colors. Call me crazy. Tubes are a pain and dry up anyway. I also love to wallow in a full pan of paint. Lol. Travel well. Decent space to mix. Decent brush included.

A very nice do all field set. Very bright and warm. Colors are vibrant and load easily to brush.

I have been learning the art of watercolor and wanted to try out tube paint. This set is amazing. Vivid colors, mixes well and is fun to use. Winsor & Newton has quickly become my favorite. I have purchased pan sets from this brand as well and feel the quality of their products is fantastic.

Loving these paints! Colors are rich and they are easy to apply. Just wish I had gotten a larger set!

Excellent delivery and the product was exactly what they wanted for their trip to Ireland. He is an artist and wanted something easy to use, travel with, of an excellent quality, the paint consistency is very good, texture was very good.