Yasutomo Niji Watercolor Set Review

My next watercolor review is about the Yasutomo Niji watercolor 18 tube set.  This set is different than my previous sets because the watercolor pigment is in a tube.  To be honest, I had no positive expectation of this product…in fact, when I found it in my disorganized art supply pile, it had never been open, the plastic wrap was still on the box.  I have no memory of purchasing this watercolor set so I suspect my mom may have bought this years ago.  The price tag on the box lists that it was purchased at Hobby Lobby for $9.00.  The packaging on this box is an older version of it, so I didn’t think much of the watercolor would be usable because of the age.  I don’t even know anything about this brand. So, again, no positive expectations.

But, I was wrong.  This brand of paint is actually not bad. It has a nice quality and covers the paper well for the price.  And it has a nice finished when dry; not grainy, but has a full texture.  I also liked the colors that came in this set; especially Naples Yellow.  Some times yellow doesn’t fair well in a cheaper watercolor set but this particular color had nice coverage.

The only thing I encountered a problem was with the paint pigment itself.  Since the paint comes in tubes, the paint is supposed to be soft with a little bit of liquid in the paint so you can just squeeze it out onto a palette and immediately.  Most of the paints, the darker pigments, were already dried out due to the air that was it trapped inside the plastic tube.  So it was basically like the pigment that comes in the trays.  Except this pigment had sunk to the bottom of the tube and you had to squeeze the living daylights out just to get a tiny little bit.  The tubes also don’t help as these are formed plastic tubes (instead of a metal tube where you can actually squeeze the paint up to the top without having too much trouble and there isn’t any air trapped to affect the consistency of the paint.) Not all the paints had this issue though, some of the lighter pigments still had a nice semi-liquid appearance to it so it came out smoothly.

Another thing I experienced that I’m not sure I’m a fan of is the fact that if you squeeze too much out of the tube, and don’t use all of it up, then you have extra left on your palette.  Normally not a problem, but if you don’t have extra palettes and and are limited in space, and you’re testing out other paints you have to wash away the extra paint, wasting it.  And I have a problem wasting paint because I feel guilty.  But with this particular blog, I’m exploring the needs and wants in my sewing room to become a more effective artist.  So, I’m in a conundrum.  What are your thoughts on this?  Do people have this same issue?  Do other artists deal with the guilt or don’t even acknowledge it?  It’s a strange thought, perhaps I’m over thinking this question, but I have this particular type of question and it stops me sometimes from moving forward, creating a mental, and sometimes, physical block.  But, when I think about it, I haven’t actually used the paint until now.  So…logical answer, wash it away so you can move forward.

So, I’ve decided to keep this paint to experiment with it a little more.  If after a few times I use it and I decide I have better paints, then I’ll get rid of/donate this set.  It could go either way.  The only thing, though, that I did was get rid of the packaging.  As you can see in the first few pictures, the tubes come in a large plastic tray that just holds the tubes in place.  Some sets come with a place designed like a palette to mix the paints with water, but I didn’t see this in this set because all available spaces were not level.  In watercolor, you want a level area to mix your paints and add water because it gives you better control.  I also got rid of the packaging because I’m attempting to condense down and organize all my watercolors in one place…BECAUSE MINIMALISM.  I am currently organizing all my paints into a toolbox, which I’ll go over in another post.  But the packaging was taking up way too much space in that toolbox…and out it went.  Which introduces me to another question; how important is the packaging?  In this case, it’s not. The paints’ names are on the tubes.  In this case, I got a pencil case and am currently using this to keep all these particular tubes together.

Overall, these are good paints for beginners. In my personal opinion, there are other paints out there that are better.  So, let’s keep exploring!