Shownotes:
Full shownotes here: docs.google.com/document/d/1L...
Purchased from St Louis Art Supply: shop.stlartsupply.com/product...
Paid $36.95
Refills and individual colors available: shop.stlartsupply.com/search?...
On the Kuretake Site: www.gansaitambi.jp/en/
The large 48mm x 28mm pan makes it easy to use larger, thick brushes and color large surface areas in artwork.
Swatching On the Lid
Colors in this set: Row 1: 404 Saffron Yellow, 405 Green Gold, 401 Flax Beige, 16 Ecru Beige
Row 2: 18 Pale Pink, 17 Coral Pink, 19 Potter's Pink, 302 Vermilion
Row 3: 304 Alizarin Crimson, 303 Mauve Taupe, 301 Old Mauve, 601 Grayish Blue
Row 4: 602 Cobalt Turquoise Light, 15 Pale Aqua, 503 Cobalt Green, 502 Billiard Green
Row 5: 506 Shadow Green, 501 Pea Green, 505 Ivy Green, 504 Green Gray
Row 6: 406 Beige Gray, 49 Yellow Brown, 402 Mars Yellow, 403 Venetian Red
Not going to preactivate
These pollute the water QUICK, which is not surprising, they're gofun based, which means they've added oyster shell white. Kuretake mentions handling these like a gouache or watercolor, so probably similar to Shin Han Pass, it might be worthwihle to swatch on black paper as well.
These colors are really pretty, I'm not sure if the slight hint of grey is going to be apparent in the blick swatches, but i'm excited to find out.
Swatching on Blick Studio:
Not a whole lot of granulation, which is pretty in line with my experience with Gansai Tambi, so not unexpected.
Colors are very pretty and obviously aren't very saturated- gansai tambi has plenty of saturated colors in the line. Colors activate very quickly, and if you're not familiar with them, may soak up too much water (absolutely do not need preactivation, do not recommend preactivating). They're going to glob up on your brush if they've absorbed too much water, so just kinda keep that in mind, and you may wish to work with a ceramic palette to help mix your colors.
I'm not going to do color mixing because 1. these are desaturated, pastel colors, and don't really lean to clean mixes, so it would be difficult to judge anyway 2. gansai style watercolor aren't REALLY designed for color mixing, although I've created pieces where i did just that with the other gansai tambi palettes.
Wet into Wet Dab Test:
Wanted to see how these might granulate out
With a lot of water, many of these colors do offer some granulation- i tried to cherry-pick the colors most likely to 1. granulate, 2. granulate in a way noticeable on camera
The colors that have the black additive really seem to stand out and when used wet into wet next to each other, that black tends to pollute the surrounding areas.
Would be interested in seeing the pigment info for this set.
Etegami:
My frustration stems from
1. in a etegami style watercolor, these tend to really goop up, so nuance can be a challenge- these may just be a poor fit for the TYPE of etegami postcard I'm using
2. These are both desaturated AND opaque, which is a combo I struggle to use and control.
Pros:
Very pretty color palette- might be great for like, limited watercolor
Seems to get along well with cottonrag, but we'll dig into that more
Activate quickly and easily
Large pans accomodate bigger brushes
If you like opaque watercolors, particularly pastels, you might like this set?
Cons:
Can't get it dark or saturated enough, like not even as dark as the mass tone, and that frustrates me
Not really sure how this would lend itself to etegami- would love to see some nice examples
The colors that have the black granulation tend to take over and the black leeches out, which pollutes skintones
Verdict:
Honestly, I think I prefer the original Gansai Tambi Palettes to this Art Nouveau palette or the pastel palette I reviewed a couple years ago. While I love the color palette, i struggle to use it in this format-I'm so reliant on the majority of my colors having translucency, which would better allow me to build up my saturation and color.
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:38 The Packaging
01:12 The Palette
03:37 The Listing
04:33 Etegami Examples
06:02 Opening It Up
08:25 Behind the QR Code
13:18 Examining the Paints
16:10 Swatching on the Lid
18:10 Swatching on Blick
21:12 Granulation Test
26:01 Watercolor Bookmark
28:27 Etegami
32:14 Pros and Cons
37:50 Final Thoughts
Music:
Sunny Travel-Nico Staf
The Story of One Life
Inner Light- Kevin Macleod
Morning Mandolin
Dance for the Wind Trio- Sir Cubworth
Angevin 70
Sunset Dream- Cheel