Review on DANIEL SMITH Watercolor Set - Alvaro Castagnet Watercolor Set - 10 Tubes, 5ml, 285610016 by Hannah Curi

I'm not a professional, but I draw a little and did a lot of research. I started with Koi Pan watercolors, then tried tubes, then moved on to the Polish brand Renesans (yes, that's how it's spelled) and even tried M Graham, a quality honey-based brand. But Daniel Smith knocks them all out of the water. Koi was good for a student class, but frustrating to use. When I learned that using good quality paints and papers can be crucial in learning to paint, I started to innovate. I tried Renesans and it was nice but a little too shiny in areas with a lot of color after drying. M Graham was slightly less glossy and very pigmented. But Daniel Smith was great! Firstly, there are 10 colors in this set and the choice of colors is very suitable for beginners. If you're looking for a few other colors to complete the mix, I'd recommend adding a fairly light pink and a lovely purple. And if you're not a purist, white gouache in case you forgot to add highlights (try M Graham white gouache as Daniel Smith doesn't make them). The colors are strong and can be processed very well. I'm not expert enough to explain why these colors are so easy to work with. But she. I just don't have the problems with them that I had with others. And although M. Graham's watercolors were beautiful, once dried, the color was not the same. The end results seem to come out better with Daniel Smith's colors. And one thing I've learned from all of my research (and my experiments) is that if you use quality paints like Daniel Smith and quality paints, you'll make progress much faster. Paper such as Arches cold press paper, 100% cotton watercolor paper. Every artist has their own preferences as to what style of paint they like, so your preferences may not match mine, but this is a great set to get a feel for what Daniel Smith's paints are like. I bought this set of 10 paints for $55 with free shipping and it was a great deal compared to buying the paint tubes individually.