My Favorite Watercolor Paints by Brand

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It’s all very well for me to do Color Spotlights identifying my favorite version of each color, but it can be hard to collate and use information when you’re standing in the watercolor aisle at the art store. Every shop seems to carry different brands. I’ll find myself with a rare chance to stock up on, say, Holbein open stock on sale, unable to remember which colors I actually preferred from Holbein. So I’ve made a list of my favorites by brand; and I thought I’d share it with you! Revised October 27, 2024.

A few caveats:

  1. This list is subjective, my preferred colors per brand, which may or may not be yours. Click through individual colors to see the Color Spotlights comparing other brands and explaining my reasoning. 
  2. I haven’t tried every color, so there could be missing options. See all the colors I’ve tried on the Color Slots page.
  3. I haven’t tried every brand. Some big ones are notably absent. Sometimes this is due to location, availability, cost, format (I prefer tubes to pans), or ingredients (I have tended to avoid honey-based paints because they don’t stay hard on my travel palette.)
  4. The brand lists are roughly in standard order, yellow to red to blue to green to neutrals, not in order of preference.
  5. Brand lists do not make up a complete or good palette; they contain every color I like from a brand and none of the ones I don’t, without filling in any gaps or streamlining overlap. For complete usable palettes by brand, see Single-Brand Watercolor Palette Ideas.
  6. There are more colors listed than you need. The fact that, say, Pyrrol Red (PR254) is listed under Holbein merely means that I think Holbein’s is the best Pyrrol Red I’ve tried, not that it’s necessarily a color you must have. There are a lot of palette-slot duplicates — colors that are so similar that you don’t need both. I’ve starred (⭐) colors that I use most frequently.

Favorite Colors By Brand

Da Vinci Artists’ Watercolor

Especially beautiful earth tones and granulating blues; good all-around basic brand for most colors. This is also my default brand for a lot of “good in any brand” colors. Da Vinci appears to make Cheap Joe’s American Journey and Opus Essential Watercolours, so you can swap those brands one-to-one.

Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolor

Originally my go-to brand, still my favorite for several colors that (I believe) are especially good in this brand (or maybe I’m just used to them).

  • ⭐ Hansa Yellow Medium (PY97) – Bold banana yellow, good for fall
  • New Gamboge (PY97, PY110) – Warm yellow, useful in triads
  • ⭐ Hansa Yellow Deep (PY65) – Vibrant orange-yellow, more orange than NG, good for fall
  • ⭐ Nickel Azo Yellow (PY150) – Transparent dispersive glowing yellow
  • Pyrrol Scarlet (PR255) – bold lightfast red-orange, not one I use often but very common in split palettes
  • ⭐ Perylene Red (PR178) – my pick for a middle red, a bit more muted than PR254 but mixes better
  • ⭐ Quinacridone Red (PV19) – currently my Quin Rose alternative of choice! Deep and warm but still pinky. More distinct from Quin Magenta than Quin Rose. DV Red Rose Deep is also good.
  • ⭐ Quinacridone Magenta (PR202) – more muted than a PV19 rose, warmer than a PV19 violet; good for muted deep red-violet mixes; I use this in my autumn palette
  • Carbazole Violet (PV23) – a bit on the dull side for a PV23, I find this easier to use in shadows than most. If you want a bright PV23, I like WN Dioxazine Violet.
  • ⭐ Indanthrone Blue (PB60) – more moody and purpley than most brands, one of my favorites and I only like it from DS
  • Phthalo Turquoise (PB15, PG36) – Not PB16 but a blend of Phthalo Blue GS and Phthalo Green YS that I find very pretty. It’s easy to self-mix and not as “triad-able” as a blue, but I just like it.
  • ⭐ Phthalo Green (PG7 Blue Shade or PG36 Yellow Shade) – Pretty similar brand to brand, but I find DS nicely bold; they don’t nerf it to match the other colors’ strengths
  • ⭐ Rich Green Gold (PY129) – a bit bolder and less brownish than most PY129s
  • Quinacridone Gold (PY150, PO48) – one of the only ones still using PO48
  • ⭐ Monte Amiata Natural Sienna (PBr7) – gorgeously granulating yellow ochre or raw sienna alternative
  • ⭐ Transparent Red Oxide (PR101) – intense, granulating burnt sienna alternative. My favorite! Great mixer, makes lovely rust/tree bark texture. DS Burnt Sienna Deep is a good mixer too, but more orangey (less red) and not granulating.
  • Lunar Earth (PBr11) – wildly granulating special fx paint, great for granulation fans
  • Quinacridone Burnt Orange (PO48) – pigment discontinued worldwide but DS still offering it. Glowing earth orange, mix with PY150 for Quin Gold, lovely glazes; kinda weak.
  • Quinacridone Burnt Scarlet (PR206) – pigment discontinued worldwide but DS (maybe) still offering it. Transparent deep red-brown, nice mixer, kinda weak.
  • Deep Scarlet (PR175) – my pick for a PR206 replacement (DV Perylene Red is also good)
  • Perylene Maroon (PR179) – gets reliably dark

Holbein 

Holbein Artists’ Watercolor

MaimeriBlu Artists’ Watercolor

Schmincke

Schmincke Horadam Aquarell

Winsor & Newton 

WN Professional Watercolor

WN Cotman Watercolor (Student Grade)

If you want student grade watercolor (e.g. because it’s cheaper), this is a good brand and a good way to try various colors. They are all going to be less intense (more binder/filler, less pigment per ounce) than a professional artist grade, but that may just mean you have to use more paint. When working with student grade paint, I find painting from the tube more satisfying than using dry paint.

Here are my picks for favorite Cotman colors that I still have affection for after moving to artist grade.

  • Lemon Yellow (PY175) – if you can afford to go for artist grade for yellows, I would, as they can be weak/watery in student grade, but I like the hue of this one which is the same as my pick Winsor Lemon. Cadmium Yellow Pale Hue is a similar alternative which is a mix of PY175 and middle yellow PY97. (No Cotman color actually contains cadmium.)
  • Cadmium Yellow Hue (PY97, PY65) – not really like Cadmium Yellow (it is transparent, not opaque) but a nicely balanced mid-to-warm yellow that is similar to SH Indian Yellow or DS New Gamboge (and tbh maybe more useful since it’s not as orangey).
  • Permanent Rose (PV19) – same hue as WN Pro Permanent Rose; weaker than pro grade but still good from the tube.
  • Purple Lake (PV19) – still my favorite hue for a quin violet, with no equivalent in the pro line. (WN Permanent Magenta is much bluer)
  • Intense Phthalo Blue (PB15:3) – Phthalo/Winsor Blue is so strong that it’s just fine in student grade; if anything being a bit weaker makes it easier to handle. To make it even weaker (e.g. for skies) consider Cerulean Blue Hue, which is also made from PB15 and formulated to be less intense.
  • Prussian Blue (PB27) – Pleasant deep/muted hue. I like this hue better than the pro version for some reason, but this is just aesthetic preference. Noticeably weaker compared to pro – definitely one to paint from the tube.
  • Viridian Hue (PG7) – this is Phthalo/Winsor Green Blue Shade, see note above on phthalo blue.
  • Intense Phthalo Green (PG36) – an economical way to try Phthalo/Winsor Green Yellow Shade.
  • Raw Sienna (PY42, PR101) – A pleasantly warm earth yellow, suitable for underpainting.
  • Burnt Sienna (PR101) – A smooth transparent red oxide, similar to DV Burnt Sienna Deep. Useful mixer.
  • Light Red (PR101) – Ron Ranson-recommended earth scarlet/red.