Schmincke Horadam 12 Half Pan Holiday Set Review

Schmincke Horadam Watercolor Review

February 1, 2018

Several months ago, I set out to review Schmincke watercolors. I falsely believed that I could paint with Schmincke for a few weeks to formulate my stance and then exist ready to write this review. So I received a few of their paints forth with Schmincke'south massive 23-page colour chart.

Heed blown.

Schmincke has an extremely large and various option of watercolors, and I found this brand  extremely difficult to characterize. Schmincke offers a almost overwhelming selection of colors from muted to bright, very light to very saturated, and very transparent to very opaque.

To even begin to formulate a valid opinion of these watercolors, I eventually had to request and purchase more of their paints. Through the generosity of Chartpak, Schmincke's U.Due south. benefactor, along with an array of tubes that I constitute on sale and a handful of pans procured from a limited edition ready, I was finally able to build a decent assortment that still just constitutes the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Schmincke'south selection.

Endless hours were spent analyzing & testing Schmincke Horadam watercolors before I felt confident enough to build a palette of colors!

Since my outset Schmincke tester palette was a mishmash palette built from a variety of sources and sets (not the best manner to build a palette simply sometimes necessary on a budget), nearly midway through testing, I ended up pulling from these colors to create a smaller test palette that performed extremely well.

I painted nearly every day with Schmincke paints for several months until I finally felt as if Schmincke and I had reached an understanding. And then without further ado, let'due south dive into the review!

About Schmincke Horadam Watercolors

Logo courtesy of www.schmincke.de

The proper noun is really derived from the original founders, Josef Horadam and Hermann Schmincke, ii chemist who began with the evolution of oil paints in 1881. Not long after, Josef Horadam began creating their line of Horadam Aquarell watercolors, and in 1892, these paints joined the company'southward offerings.

Throughout the years, Schmincke has increased their product line and currently offers a broad diversity of options including merely not limited to oil, acrylic, and watercolor paints along with various mediums, pastels, and even individual pigments so you can create your own.

Schmincke currently offers two grades of watercolors, their professional line of 139 colors is still labeled Horadam Aquarell, but they also offer a "student" selection of 24 colors labeled Akademie Aquarell. They also offer more ways to purchase their watercolors than I have seen in any other manufacturer—all 139 colors are available in 5ml and 15ml tubes as well every bit half and full pans.

This review is just well-nigh Schmincke's professional line, Horadam Aquarell, but when shopping these paints, take care. Both lines' packagings are nearly identical and information technology's like shooting fish in a barrel to confuse the 2. You lot can download a simplified version of Schmincke'southward professional person watercolor chart here.

Expert tip: Hither in the states, I've constantly heard Schmincke pronounced in more means than watercolors, but the two near unremarkably used are shh-MEEK-e and shh-MINK-a. I've decided to speak it similar the Germans and go with the 2nd pronunciation.

My Palette of Schmincke Watercolors

The colors in the palette above are the ones that fabricated it into the last, express tester palette that I mentioned earlier. If you lot're interested in building a palette of Schmincke colors, I think this xv-color palette is a slap-up all-purpose palette.

In the free printable attached to this postal service (meet below), I share my experiences with these colors forth with the additional colors that comprised my original 36-colour tester.

The paints are listed in order of the swatches above, from left to right, top to bottom. Click on the links to view current pricing, availability, swatches, and more.

Top Row:

• 530 Sap Green (PY153/PG7; Amazon/Jackson'southward)

• 784 Perylene Green (PBk31; Amazon/Jackson'due south)

• 483 Cobalt Azure (PB35; Amazon/Jackson's)

• 477 Phthalo Sapphire (PB15:six; Amazon/Jackson's)

• 487 Cobalt Blue Light (PB28; Amazon/Jackson's)

Middle Row:

• 363 Ruby Red (PR254; Amazon/Jackson'south)

• 353 Permanent Carmine (PV19; Amazon/Jackson's)

• 371 Perylene Violet (PV29; Amazon/Jackson'south)

• 782 Neutral Tint (PR122/PB60/PBk7; Amazon/Jackson's)

• 498 Dark Blue Indigo (PB60; Amazon/Jackson's)

Bottom Row:

• 216 Pure Xanthous (PY154; Amazon/Jackson'due south)

• 657 Transparent Ochre (PY42; Amazon/Jackson's)

• 653 Transparent Sienna (PR101; Amazon/Jackson's)

• 672 Mahogany Brown (PBr33; Amazon/Jackson's)

• 665 Dark-green Umber (PBr7; Amazon/Jackson'southward)

Expert Tip:  This list can easily be modified to build a bang-up 12-color Schmincke palette. Just omit ane of the dejection, one of the greens, and either the Transparent Sienna or Mahogany Brownish.

My Impressions of Schmincke Watercolors

My first impression of Schmincke was that these watercolors are Winsor & Newton on steroids! The colors portray a delicate softness that I recollect is similar to WN watercolors, just Schmincke has a chip more disrespect and menstruum, more variance in opaque and translucent colors, and much more granulation in certain colors.

The consistency of Schmincke tube watercolors varied but I didn't discover anything unusual or problematic.

The texture from the tube varies from a liquid to a toothpaste consistency, but all paints dried and rewet with no notable separation or cracking. After drying, a few colors exhibited quite a bit of shrinkage—657 Transparent Ochre, 488 Cobalt Deep, and 494 Ultramarine Finest—but the prefilled pans accept been infrequent.

With further testing and painting, I came to the determination that Schmincke is a very singled-out brand. The pigments are rather finely milled but aren't heavily loaded, so don't expect extreme boldness or a lot of depth, but these paints are richly colored.

Ah for the love of Schmincke! The blossoming on the left worked out well and became an essential element to the painting. The blossoming on the right... non and so much.

Schmincke watercolors dilute and disperse hands in water, and while they are willing to let loose in a very controlled fashion, they do not appreciate a lose manus. In fact, Schmincke is easily overdiluted which results in blossoming and hard edges as it dries. I occasionally thought the blossoms were rather beautiful, but oftentimes the surprises were nasty.

I constantly fought these issues, peculiarly the hard edges. When charging colors wet-in-wet and in glazes and washes, Schmincke popped hard edges all over the page and and so balked if I tried to go back in to shine things over. I learned to leave Schmincke alone.

These quick watercolor sketches & sky studies are examples of my unsuccessful attempts to cover Schmincke's hard edges.

In conclusion, Schmincke is non a paint that appreciates a fiddler and works best in a firm, decisive hand. If you value control and precision, Schmincke watercolors will love you lot. Personally, I'grand a fiddler. I constantly go back into paintings, lift and rewet, and profoundly enjoy messing with my paintings and paints. If this is y'all also, don't say that I didn't warn y'all: Schmincke hates it.

Notwithstanding, Schmincke offers a massive number of colors and, regardless of my struggles, all of my tests revealed that these are well made paints overall. If your painting style fits the description above and you can get a decent cost on Schmincke, they may piece of work well for you.

Expert Tip:  Schmincke still keeps some fugitive pigments in product. Their 515 Olive Green contains PG8. Besides, PR83 is used for 357 Alizarin Reddish, 358 Madder Lake Deep, 356 Rose Madder, and possibly more. To avoid fading and loss of work, I wouldn't recommend the use of these pigments in finished pieces.

Also, I had performance bug with just one color I tested, simply Schmincke's 341 Geranium Blood-red (PR242) was a constant troublemaker. Binders constantly separated out and clouded on every paper I used for testing.

Schmincke Color Info Printable

If you're interested in knowing more about individual Schmincke Horadam watercolor colors, you are welcome to download a gratis copy of my personal testing notes. This alphabetic character-sized PDF contains 5 pages of notes on 35 of the 36 colors* that I tested.

Delight play fair & do not share the PDF or a directly link to the download. Sharing a link or pin to this blog post is just fine. Thanks!

*The 36th colour, Schmincke's 101 Titanium White (PW6), was not included in my notes. Merely only in case you're curious, it mixes and paints simply fine.

Where to Store for Schmincke Watercolors

Schmincke is a widely distributed brand and fairly piece of cake to find here in the States, simply you lot'll pay a premium for this German brand. Even if I absolutely loved these watercolors, I'thousand non sure I could afford them, so here's where Schmincke and I tend to part ways.

Nevertheless, your upkeep may be bigger than mine, or yous may find Schmincke's performance in your hand trumps cost. If so, I'd still encourage you lot to await for the best bargain possible. Besides eBay and clearance racks (I've establish adept deals on Schmincke in both places), beneath are a few suggestions.

Dot Sample Cards
Considering online swatches are highly inaccurate, a great manner to save money on Schmincke is to exam their watercolors and colors prior to purchase. Wet Paint and Jackson's Art both carry Schmincke dot cards.

Jackson's Fine art
Schmincke'southward prices are usually lower in this U.K. shop and Jackson'southward frequently offers exclusive sets, sample sizes, and more than. Their inventory is huge and their international shipping is fast and affordable. (Annotation: If you're American and see an "pending stock" date, European date format is DD-MM-Year.)

Amazon
Prices can vary widely and third political party sellers can be iffy, but with a fleck of intendance, expert deals can often be found on Amazon. It'southward also a fine choice if yous but need a tube or two.

Cheap Joe's  &Dick Blick
Prices on watercolors constantly fluctuate so it'due south always worth checking the usual suspects like Joe's, Blick and other online art supply retailers.

Wet Paint
This store volition also occasionally release express edition sets that can exist a practiced deal... IF y'all like the colors, IF you lot need the tin can, and IF you lot don't listen half pans. Otherwise, pass on this one.

For more than on saving coin along with cost comparisons of meridian brands including Schmincke, see this article & free download.

Overview of Schmincke Horadam Watercolors

Schmincke Horadam watercolors on Hahnemühle Cézanne matt watercolor paper.

I'thousand split in my overall opinion of Schmincke. At that place's no dubiousness that these are beautiful watercolors that are very well made. Many of Schmincke's colors are splendid and accept a soft, ethereal quality almost them that I greatly enjoy.

However in my mitt, I couldn't attain consistently practiced results with Schmincke. While painting with them, I was forced to abandon likewise many paintings midway due to the problems I mentioned higher up. I'm non sure Schmincke works with the way I paint, and their prices are heaven high hither in the States.

Through all the struggles, Schmincke Horadam's quality is and so evident that I'one thousand still rather charmed by these paints. I'm keeping my Schmincke palette because I want to continue to try these watercolors to see if they will eventually "settle" with me, especially as my painting experience and skills grow.

Overview of Schmincke watercolors:

• Extremely big & diverse choice of watercolors

• A broad range of pigments (transparent, opaque, granulating, etc)

• All colors are offered in 5ml tubes, 15ml tubes, half pans & full pans

• Very few quality issues detected

• Bright, clear hues with soft tones

• Not a lot of depth to colors

• Colors disperse on the page unevenly

• Finely milled paints which effect in blossoms & hard edges

Schmincke Horadam Watercolor Giveaway [CLOSED]

I'm giving one lucky reader a chance to try Schmincke Horadam watercolors for themselves! This prize bundle contains a watercolor palette stocked with 14 colors of Schmincke Horadam watercolors along with a beautiful Hahnemühle Watercolour Volume.

A perfect pair!

How to Enter:
This giveaway is open to legal residents of the U.Southward. historic period 18+ with a valid U.S. shipping address. Enter only one time from February 1-4, 2018, using the Rafflecopter entry below. Just follow the prompts for each entry. (Complete giveaway rules & policies are located here .)

How to know if you've won:
A winner will be randomly chosen and notified via entry email within 24 hours after the giveaway ends. Winner must respond inside 48 hours or some other winner will be called.

This giveaway has concluded, but follow me on social media to stay in touch and receive notice of time to come posts & giveaways!

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Source: https://www.scratchmadejournal.com/blog/schmincke-horadam-watercolor-review

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