When I saw you had this set I thought "oh no! she's gonna hate these!" I think the Phoenix has been making the Cotman watercolor for the past few years. I snagged a 45 set of Cotman half pans a few years ago and over the "made in France" text on the box was a made-in-China sticker. The Lightfast (permanence) and pigment info is identical. They swatch out identically (I compared them color for color) Pheonix has 8 additional colors as the Cotman range only has 40 colors (5 are duplicates of oft used color in Cotman) and those do not have lightfast info. I reckon W&N gave Phonix their recipes which had ASTM lightfast testing done because the additional 8 colors do not have lightfast/permanence info. I think this (Chinese factories getting their hands on the propriety recipes from western brands) is the reason that decent watercolors have been coming out of China for the past few years. I think the MIYA diamond-shaped half pan set is the same paint too. The round cake watercolor Pheonix makes are sold at a store "Ocean State Job Lot" and they are decent for 24 colors for $5 but they are the same as the Arteza round cakes and the Lukas studio round cakes which both go for $12-$18 a set. I think they make them for big box stores too. The Ocean State Job Lot carries a lot of Phoenix products from tube watercolors (which are awful, not cotman quality) the round cakes, pastels acrylics and I think oils as well as a watercolor canvas so I think that alone could be the millions of customers claims. I've been tempted to try their "artist grade" tubes but the colors are uninspiring so I've resisted and the tubes at OSJL was so so streaky and weak that I don't want to spend the money. AC Moore use to have a the paint that was identical to Cotman in us and performance that I would bet were made by Phoenix if they are making the cotman tin. I only paid $31 for my set and I am fine with it, they are not the best paint but they are worth the price and way cheaper than cotman for identical paint. Sorry for the book LOL!
Innnteresting. I found them a little stickier than I remembered Cotman half pans to be, but that could just be the humidity down here! A big sticking point for me with Cotman is the price point- I think they're too expensive for student grade. Thanks for the tip- I'll keep this in mind when I'm doing the fieldtest, and at least I'll know how to handle them!
I’m glad you’ve continued reviewing these student grade watercolors 🥰. It’s so helpful for newer artist or artist on a budget to see how they work and get the most they can
Before I watch your review fully, I was going to start my YT with a review of these and a few others like Rosa Gallery (a big yes) and compare to others in the $35-75 range! Now I’m off to watch! (I’ll say this, they’re a LOT lol Ike Cotman colors I have and I’m talking side-by-side swatching of (ahem) a “big” set of those. I cannot tell the difference between them and some Cotmans I bought years ago. I know this: To buy Cotman in half pans they start at $4.99/ea. So$5 x 48 = $248 for my $38.99 investment. Hm? The Rosa? Amazing. But, I’ll save my acting goofy for those soon! You girl!
The Mei Lang, if you take them out of their plastic holders, overflow when pushed hard into half pans. Their lightfastness, along with the Superior 24…quite lightfast. Mungyo has fugitive pigments and are (if the truly made by Prima) then they do have three of the Prima sets in the 48). I own all of the Prima/Jane Davenport. Repeats. Rosa is made in a former St. Petersburg/White Nights facility. Awesome. Awesome…but I like the Phoenix still. Had I gotten them for $22.99 as they were originally…I’d be all, “Yeah!!!” Etcher is good.
Maybe the greater than usual color shift you observed from wet to dry has more to do with the paper and its sizing than the paint. I think pigments soak more deeply into the cheaper papers, losing surface brilliance in the process. I’d love to see paint reviews include side by side, pro grade paper vs budget paper painting samples. But thanks overall for a cheerful and interesting review! The Rosa Gallery watercolors are my favorite for less expensive paints.
I can't find the field test, did you make one? I thought your review style in this video is the most comprehensive and intentionally unbiased yet still kindly to the mfg I've seen so thanks so much, I'm looking forward to watching more.
Update: My artist grade Winsor & Newton’s stay sticky and I noticed you didn’t spritz your palette. That is a must for any W&N paint. W&N doesn’t even recommend putting their paints from tubes into half pans…but we all do…because an artist quality half pan is $9.99 each. Please do a quick update with spritzing. It’s the game changer!!
I wanted so much to enjoy this video.. but the background music is so annoying.. and way too long in the beginning intro (other things to mention, but won't)... I like your subject matter.. but my goodness.. it looks like you have been posting for 9 years or so? What is going on? I would have thought better videos by now.. ... and I really did want to like them, I really did ; (
When I saw you had this set I thought "oh no! she's gonna hate these!" I think the Phoenix has been making the Cotman watercolor for the past few years. I snagged a 45 set of Cotman half pans a few years ago and over the "made in France" text on the box was a made-in-China sticker. The Lightfast (permanence) and pigment info is identical. They swatch out identically (I compared them color for color) Pheonix has 8 additional colors as the Cotman range only has 40 colors (5 are duplicates of oft used color in Cotman) and those do not have lightfast info. I reckon W&N gave Phonix their recipes which had ASTM lightfast testing done because the additional 8 colors do not have lightfast/permanence info. I think this (Chinese factories getting their hands on the propriety recipes from western brands) is the reason that decent watercolors have been coming out of China for the past few years. I think the MIYA diamond-shaped half pan set is the same paint too. The round cake watercolor Pheonix makes are sold at a store "Ocean State Job Lot" and they are decent for 24 colors for $5 but they are the same as the Arteza round cakes and the Lukas studio round cakes which both go for $12-$18 a set. I think they make them for big box stores too. The Ocean State Job Lot carries a lot of Phoenix products from tube watercolors (which are awful, not cotman quality) the round cakes, pastels acrylics and I think oils as well as a watercolor canvas so I think that alone could be the millions of customers claims.
I've been tempted to try their "artist grade" tubes but the colors are uninspiring so I've resisted and the tubes at OSJL was so so streaky and weak that I don't want to spend the money. AC Moore use to have a the paint that was identical to Cotman in us and performance that I would bet were made by Phoenix if they are making the cotman tin.
I only paid $31 for my set and I am fine with it, they are not the best paint but they are worth the price and way cheaper than cotman for identical paint. Sorry for the book LOL!
Innnteresting. I found them a little stickier than I remembered Cotman half pans to be, but that could just be the humidity down here! A big sticking point for me with Cotman is the price point- I think they're too expensive for student grade. Thanks for the tip- I'll keep this in mind when I'm doing the fieldtest, and at least I'll know how to handle them!
I’m glad you’ve continued reviewing these student grade watercolors 🥰. It’s so helpful for newer artist or artist on a budget to see how they work and get the most they can
The palette itself is so pretty 😭 Looking forward to seeing how the paints do in the fieldtest!! Thank you so much for all you do 💙
Before I watch your review fully, I was going to start my YT with a review of these and a few others like Rosa Gallery (a big yes) and compare to others in the $35-75 range! Now I’m off to watch! (I’ll say this, they’re a LOT lol Ike Cotman colors I have and I’m talking side-by-side swatching of (ahem) a “big” set of those. I cannot tell the difference between them and some Cotmans I bought years ago. I know this: To buy Cotman in half pans they start at $4.99/ea. So$5 x 48 = $248 for my $38.99 investment. Hm? The Rosa? Amazing. But, I’ll save my acting goofy for those soon! You girl!
The Mei Lang, if you take them out of their plastic holders, overflow when pushed hard into half pans. Their lightfastness, along with the Superior 24…quite lightfast. Mungyo has fugitive pigments and are (if the truly made by Prima) then they do have three of the Prima sets in the 48). I own all of the Prima/Jane Davenport. Repeats. Rosa is made in a former St. Petersburg/White Nights facility. Awesome. Awesome…but I like the Phoenix still. Had I gotten them for $22.99 as they were originally…I’d be all, “Yeah!!!” Etcher is good.
Maybe the greater than usual color shift you observed from wet to dry has more to do with the paper and its sizing than the paint. I think pigments soak more deeply into the cheaper papers, losing surface brilliance in the process. I’d love to see paint reviews include side by side, pro grade paper vs budget paper painting samples. But thanks overall for a cheerful and interesting review! The Rosa Gallery watercolors are my favorite for less expensive paints.
Optical brightners and escaling? Whats that?
I can't find the field test, did you make one? I thought your review style in this video is the most comprehensive and intentionally unbiased yet still kindly to the mfg I've seen so thanks so much, I'm looking forward to watching more.
Update: My artist grade Winsor & Newton’s stay sticky and I noticed you didn’t spritz your palette. That is a must for any W&N paint. W&N doesn’t even recommend putting their paints from tubes into half pans…but we all do…because an artist quality half pan is $9.99 each. Please do a quick update with spritzing. It’s the game changer!!
I'll spritz em when I do the fieldtest- I don't know why I didn't this time!
I wanted so much to enjoy this video.. but the background music is so annoying.. and way too long in the beginning intro (other things to mention, but won't)... I like your subject matter.. but my goodness.. it looks like you have been posting for 9 years or so? What is going on? I would have thought better videos by now.. ... and I really did want to like them, I really did ; (