Review of Etchr 24 Half Pan Watercolour Set | Etchr Watercolors
Review of Etchr 24 Half Pan Watercolour Set | Etchr Watercolors
In this review we take a look at the Etchr 24 Half Pan Watercolour set, we also take a look at the Etchr Watercolour Brushes they also set in a roll. I have to say that I am by no means an expert on watercolors, I have however really worked hard testing various watercolors on the market from artist quality to student quality, travel sets and studio size sets; I have also tested a lot of watercolor papers as well as really working hard on my watercolor skills to hopefully help demonstrate the paints in the best way possible.
In the name of transparency, Etchr sent me the watercolors however I purchased the brushes and the Etchr Sketch book myself, I will be reviewing the Etchr Sketchbook separately very soon as this is a product I believe needs more than a brief skip over.
Etchr 24 Half Pan Watercolour Set Characteristics
Etchr first introduced themselves to the art world with a series of bags that were aimed to help artists out and about on location, I was fortunate enough to have had the opportunity in reviewing their Etchr Field Case and the Etchr Slate. If you would like to know more about both products you can click the relevant links to my review, one thing that really stood out about both products was the incredibly high quality of both, I use the Field Case every single day, I go nowhere without it, it is like my security blanket.
Based on my previous encounter with Etchr products, I was expecting high quality materials and on first glance I was not let down. I know a lot of people have no interest in the packaging, but I think it helps to show from the exterior that this is a company that pays attention to detail and hopefully this will filter through to the actual product.
The exterior box is strong and sturdy with a magnetically sealed flap, on opening the box you are presented with a selection of literature, stickers depicting the Etchr logo, just some fun concepts to jazz up a sketchbook and a sheet for swatching out the actual paints.
On opening the box, there is a message on the inside, enticing the artist to share their art work with the Etchr family, I like this as it shows the company are trying to create a community. The message expresses for artists to upload their paintings using the hashtag #etchrpaints but this also enters you into a chance of winning a voucher towards you next Etchr product.
There is also a beautiful sentiment about how important art is to the well being of humanity, I am not sure if this is inserted for reviewers or if this is a general message across the board, regardless, if it is just for reviewers, we still spread the message via our reviews and it is a message I very much stand behind given my own story. Finally there is a sheet for creating swatches and this is made from excellent quality watercolour paper. Very often swatch sheets included are on cheap materials and do not represent the product at all when applied.
Next there is a black microfibre cloth wrapped around the actual tin and on removing this you are presented with a beautiful plain black tin of watercolor paints with the company name on the bottom left corner. There is a card sleeve wrapped around the tin showcasing the company name and their logo, there is also a phrase highlighting that the paints inside are “Premium Student Series” , I will cover more about this further into the review, but this is something I am confused about.
On removing the sleeve and opening the tin you are presented with 24 beautiful colored half pan gems, each pan is wrapped in paper which depicts the color of the paint as well as the lightfast rating, opaqueness and pigments used. The lightfast rating that Etchr has used is the Blue Wool scale and in the interest of speed I have added an image showing both the Blue Wool and ASTM lightfast ratings and what they mean in an equivalent sense.
As mentioned, each pan is wrapped in paper loaded with information, when I removed mine, I stuck them on them on the underside of each pan, this is simply to help remind me if and when needed what the pigment name is. The swatch provided can also be folded up and placed inside the tin for future reference when painting.
The first bit of information on the pans to note is the transparency and opaqueness of each pigment, this is not a scale of good or bad, just simply if the paint is opaque or translucent as some watercolors are. An empty circle illustrates a transparent pigment, a circle completely filled in illustrates the pigment to be opaque, a circle with a Line through the middle illustrates a semi-transparent pigment and finally a circle half filled illustrates a semi-opaque pigment.
You will be able to see in the YouTube video a demonstration of this very test, were I use a pigment from each of the scales and paint them over a black line, this helps to demonstrate the opaqueness or transparency of the selected pigment. I will talk more about the lightfast information and pigment information in the performance section of the review.
On the underside of the tin there is a loop attached to the tin allowing the artist to insert a finger through and therefore providing a much more steady and stable grip whilst painting and in particular mixing. Also on opening the tin, you are presented with four large mixing areas on one side and eight smaller mixing areas on the opposite side.
Etchr Watercolour Brushes
I decided to purchase the roll of Etchr Watercolor Brushes after I heard from Etchr and knew they were going to send the watercolours out to me for review, I thought I might as well go the full way and make it an all out Etchr affair.
The roll is made from a black fabric with a ribbon around the middle to tie and secure the roll when storing it away. On the front of the roll the Etchr logo is printed in the familiar orange which stands out beautifully against the black background.
On opening the roll the inside is covered with smaller white Etchr logos, I have to be honest, there is an appearance of Louis Vuitton about the design, not that I have ever owned a Louis Vuitton or ever been able to buy my wife such a product, but I have seen enough of them about to see the similarities, thankfully the prices are polar opposites.
The brushes are neatly and securely in their own slots and a separate piece of fabric covers the actual brush head, protecting them in transit or placing in and out of a bag. The actual brushes are quite striking in appearance with their mat black handles and the contrast of the orange brushes.
The selection of 10 brushes comprise of six round brushes, a No.1, No.3, No.6, No.8, No. 10 and No. 12. two flat brushes 1/4 inch and 1/2 inch, one angle brush 3/8 inch and a fan brush No.1. The brushes themselves are synthetic however they feel incredibly soft.
The brush handles each have the Etchr logo printed along the middle and on the end of each handle is a flash or orange, again making for beautiful contrast between the mat black lacquer used, the orange brushes and the end of the handle as well.
When using the brushes I primarily used the No. 12, 10, 1, 3 and 6 and I loved the effects I could achieve with them, they held an awful lot of water which in turn meant once loaded up with pigment, I wasn’t finding the need to constantly go back and forth to the palette. I really enjoyed the brushes and was so happy I purchased them. I would like to just note that I have purchased a range of watercolour brushes over the last few years in the interest of knowledge, learning and becoming a better reviewer. I have experienced fairly expensive brushes, more Students quality brushes and brushes from the budget range. I only mention this to provide context when talking about the quality of the Etchr brushes.
Etchr Watercolor Paints Lightfast Information
As I mentioned on the Etchr pan label, there is lightfast information as well as pigments used for the paints and this is where my confusion comes in regarding the Premium Students Series, which I understand they mean the top end of Students quality, but I think Etchr are under selling this product but of course if I am missing something please feel free to help me understand.
Of the 24 pans, 15 of them are rated 8 in the Blue Wool, that equates to LF1 in the ASTM, 6 of the paints are rated 7 in the Blue Wool scale which is also LF1 in the ASTM. That so far is a total of 21, 100 plus years lightfast rating. 2 of the paints are rated 6 in the Blue Wool Scale which is LF2 and only 1 pan is rated 5 in the Blue Wool Scale which is LF3 in the ASTM.
Obviously, most artists would say only use LF1 or 8 and 7 in the Blue wool scale, but some artists will say using LF2 pigments can also be acceptable which is of course 6 in the Blue Wool scale. Depending on which train of thought you adhere to, 23 of the colors in the Etchr set are good enough for commissions or submitting to a gallery.
However, even if you only want LF1 paints, you still have 21 paints of 24 that can be used and in my mind I can’t see any reason why the Etchr paints can’t be categorised as artist quality. I know that in the Luminace range and Faber Castell Polychromos, a lot of artists are happy to use both the LF1 and LF2 but nothing below.
Etchr Watercolor Paints Performance
When it came to the performance of the Etchr Watercolours I really wanted to put them through the test but before doing so I created a swatch on student quality watercolor paper, but it still gave me an understanding of the paints and how they were going to behave.
As you can clearly see from the image of the swatch there is a beautiful range of colors supplied in the Etchr Watercolour set. I also wanted to make sure that I showed you all the pigments used to create the colors and so below I have created a list.
Pure White - PW6 / Lemon Yellow - PY3 / Just Yellow - PY35 / Mighty Ochre - PY42 / Llama Orange - PY150 / Soft Orange - PO20 / Simply Red - PR108 / Rouge Red - PR177 / Sweet Red - PR123 / Pretty Pink - PV19 / Royal Purple - PV23 / Lime Green - PG36 & PY74 / Souless Black - PBK7 / Dark Brown - PBr7 & PBK7 / Burnt Sienna - PBr7 / Brick Brown - PR101 / Umber Brown - PR101 & PBr7 / Cobalt Blue - PB28 / Sky Blue - PB15.3 / Prussian Blue - PB27 / Ultramarine - PB29 / Ocean Turquoise - PY101 & PB17 / Emerald Green - PG7 / Leaf Green - PG17
To find out which pigment is opaque or translucent check out my YouTube video review where I help to demonstrate this, sometimes to see the test is easier to understand. I decided to paint a few small sketches with the Etchr Watercolors in an attempt to fully understand the watercolours before doing my final piece, these where done in an A6 Watercolour pad.
I also completed a couple of sketches in the small A5 Watercolor pad that Etchr sent to me with the paints, however, despite the paper being of excellent quality, the paper was made from Wood Pulp as opposed to say a 100% Cotton paper. This type of paper in my opinion really makes the paints behave in a very different way to the same paints on 100% Cotton paper.
The final sketch you can see is a much smaller version of the final piece and this was as I say a trial run for the final piece. I really enjoyed getting to know the paints by doing these small loose sketches and will be following this format in the future. I did add the sketches to my social media platforms as I finished them so if you are not already following my on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, you can do so by click the links.
The final image which you can see here was painted on Canson Heritage Watercolor paper 100% cotton and it was such a gorgeous paper to use, very similar to the paper in the Etchr Sketchbooks which I will be reviewing individually very soon along with the Canson Heritage paper.
I was really happy with the finally outcome and as you can see the Etchr watercolours are so bright and vibrant, if you watch the speed painting of this piece as well as my YouTube video review they will help you too get a better feel for how the paints behave in wet on wet and on dry paper.
Etchr Watercolour Pricing
Unfortunately I was unable to locate any prices for the Etchr products on review here in the European Amazon stores that I normally visit, however, you can order these items directly from Etchr as they ship globally. I have provided a link so please check out the site if you are interested in a product.
Here in the UK to purchase the Etchr 24 half pan Watercolor set you can expect to pay £49 which given all the information I have provided and the testing I have done, I think this price is well worth it.
To purchase the roll of Brushes in the UK you will pay approximately £47, I am not as familiar with watercolor brushes and I think this is a very personal preference any way, but I thought the price was reasonable and I love them.
For artist in the US to purchase the Etchr 24 Half Pan Watercolour set you can expect to pay approximately $47 again I think this is a good price for good quality highly lightfast watercolour paints.
For artists in the US if you wanted to purchase the 10 Etchr Watercolour Brushes in the roll you can expect to pay approximately $49
For artists in the UK the Canson Heritage paper is approximately £26 A4 and for artist in the US the same paper, slightly larger than A4 will cost approximately $51
Etchr Watercolour 24 Half Pan Set and Etchr Watercolour Brushes Conclusion.
I have to say, when I was sent the watercolours, I really wasn’t expecting much at all, I knew that the Etchr Field Case and Slate were high quality items, but I just thought this was Etchr trying to get into a market that was very difficult to break into and that they should just stick to the amazing work they had done with their bags.
Once I started swatching the paints I knew I was very wrong. I know that Etchr have more than likely purchased these paints from a factory somewhere and so in that respect they are perhaps like another set of watercolors paints elsewhere, but this happens a lot in the art world as it cost so much money to actually set up you own factory and start mass producing pencils, paints etc.
I really loved using the brushes as well and thought they held a lot of water and paint which prevent loads of visits to the palette. In combination the paints and brushes and not to mention the Etchr Watercolor Sketchbooks work seamlessly together. Etchr are creating not only a wonderful eco system of artist products, but they are also trying to embrace their customers and create a community an Etchr family if you will.
As always I have created a YouTube Video review of the products on review here, as well as a speed painting of the final piece I completed in aid of helping to demonstrate the Etchr Watercolor Paints. finally if you would like to inspect the artwork in more detail and in your own time, I have added a page to The Art Gear Guide with still images of the artwork from start to finish, simply click on any image you want and it enlarges, allowing you to see close up brush strokes and colors.
