Camlin Kokuyo Artist's Water Color - 20ml Each, 12 Shades

I have a lot of watercolor paints, low- and high-end and these paints, are, AMAZING!!! Not only are they the best at this price, but I have to tell you that they are just as good as the top brands!!! Attached is a swatch I did on Arches cold press watercolor paper. The top are the 12 colors of this set, and the bottom are my “best set” from Windsor & Newton professional and Daniel Smith. You need to know that one 15 ml tube from my “best set” can buy this entire set of 12 20ml paints, and I can’t tell them apart!! Take a look at the burnt sienna and ultramarine, my two favorite colors. Soooo beautiful! This is just crazy. It is true that there is no pigment or lightfast information on the tubes or package, and I have not checked if they have it on their website. But who cares?! Seriously, for this price, such vibrant and highly pigmented paints, 20ml, I can do whatever I want without feeling guilt of “wasting” anything. The paints do have a strong smell but it doesn’t bother me at all and it is certainly less than oil paints. I did let them dry on a palette as some of the reviewers suggested and the smell went away after a few days. I’m going to buy their 5ml 24 color set too. I don’t really need it but these paints are just too good. The only weird thing is neither set has any purple/violet. Maybe purple/voilet pigments are particularly expensive? Anyway, I am SO HAPPY that I found this hidden gem!!!

This set is beautiful. I have tried most of the brands on the market. For the cost, these are excellent! They are a larger than average size, very generous and well pigmented. They dry and rehydrate well, and lay down on paper beautifully. French ultramarine is a bit granular but I find this true of most brands. The paint shave a smooth but thick consistency, much better than the watery and separated texture of some other brands. The tubes are aluminum and feel nice and weighty. Being metal they are pretty durable. The caps are large and textured and easy to use! No fiddling with small caps. They blend well, mixing and creating lovely gradients and hues during wet on wet. It's a lot of fun to drop colors on the page and see what happens! For a beginner or even someone who simply likes to practice a lot, I think these are a fantastic deal. I paid for them at full price and will buy them again in the future.

I like these paints a lot because they have a lot of personality and are highly pigmented, but they are not for everyone. They have a strong chemical smell somewhere between acetone and Elmer's glue. They are not very transparent. They use several fugitive pigments. But, given the price, given the size of the tubes, and given how pigmented the paint are and how enjoyable they are to paint with, I still think this set deserves five stars.

My main product over the past couple decades has been M Grahams, Windsor Newton and Sennelier, so I know what professional grade works like. At sixteen dollars for twelve standard-sized tubes, the price point for Camlin is consistent with CHEAP sets. With cheap watercolor you get chalkiness, weak pigmentation, cracking when dried in the pans, poor mixing, bad granulation. This product dries nicely and reconstitutes instantly to produces brilliant intense color. I love the way they blend. Granulation is pleasant. Zero problems with this paint on all fronts. Since I often teach watercolor, I will be recommending this set as a must-have product for new students warry of spending ten bucks a tube. At the same time, I am having no problem creating professional quality work with it, as well, so it's in my box to stay.

The paint stinks straight from the tube, and, contrary to other reviews, still stink after drying in the pans. No where near as strongly, but enough to make me not want to repurchase. They do paint nicely, and are a great price - especially for the amount of paint. I'll likely use these to paint outdoors where I won't notice the smell when I open the tin and be able to simply enjoy the paints.

Wow! After detaching these out I couldn’t believe how professional they look. And they are NOT chalky when dried. Mixing with them is great. The only thing is I can’t find the pigment number information on the tube or box but I’m definitely allowing my students to use these instead of the Winsor Cotman. I read on the answers to questions they they were single pigments but I’m not 100% sure, but it’s seems like it could be true.

I bought these as suggested by a fellow artist. I found the colors very nice with reasonable light-fast ratings. If any beginner artist are looking for a good starter set to try out with many mixing options this would be one to try

Love this set !