Aquarius Watercolor Paints Review | Roman Szmal 🎨

[@brzoskwinka86]

It is Roman Szmal, "SZ" pronounces like "sh" in a word "wash" ;) /Shmal/. And "szmal" in Polish means money/dough;) These watercolors are premium, I love it. Greetings from Poland 😘

[@anjapinkau3737]

Fascinating sketches! Thank you for sharing. The video is already 3 years old, but since nobody mentioned it in the comments, I'd like to add: The "mummy" in "Mummy Transparent Red" has nothing to do with "mummy/mom = mother" but comes from "mummy = embalmed corpse". In the 19th century they ground mummies into powder and used the powder for all sorts of crazy things, among others they made paint of it. Nowadays, of course, "Mummy Red" is made from an earth pigment, it just has the hue of the old morbid paint. I have it in my Roman Szmal palette, too, but because of the history behind the name I don't really want to use it. Stupid, I know. 😅

[@Granny9054]

Very nice pigments. It's like they change temperature with concentration.

[@nonamepainter]

Yes Roman's nik azo yellow glows bright lemony yellow when thinned out but it is so warm it's almost brown at mass tone.

[@hlk01]

Quick tip, put them in the freezer for a little while before opening. Makes them easier to unwrap. I'm glad you tested colours I don't have lol. Well I do have the mummy red. Lovely paint.

[@1Letter23Numbers.]

Ty for this tip👍

[@JestemGlonojadem]

I'm so happy to see that more and more artists enjoy Aquarius watercolours! I think your opinion was very fair - they meet every standard of professional quality paints :) For anyone interested, they are quite cheap in Poland. The majority of their earth tones costs about 2 USD each, the price of other colours is a bit higher, but they are very affordable overall. I expand my own collection whenever I have the chance, can't wait to get my hands on that Mummy Transparent Red, haha. Inspiring work!

[@gorway7]

Hi Liron, I do like that blue, in the pan and on paper, that Ultramarine Light looks very much like a Cobalt blue.

[@michelleosborne8951]

An empty square is transparent and a slash is semi transparent.half blackened out is semi opaque and all blackened or is opaque..I think it’s important to note the blue is ultramarine “light”. Not regular or deep.

[@rkurbatov]

These paints are excellent and not because of the price. Tremendous set of colors, mostly one pigmented, including the rare ones. Paints are highly pigmented and dillute easily. Pans are full, so for the small price you get a lot of high quality paint. They are also wrapped well unlike other pans that stick to wrapper and leave paper on paint.

[@LironYan]

Yes! One thing I noticed with these is how they didn’t chalk up / crumble, which could also be a great indication of quality.

[@MOSQUIROW3]

@@LironYan mm..? ?... ? ?.. ?.? ? .?. ?.? ?? ? ??? ? ?. . . .... . .??? ? ? . . . . . ..

[@chedoodles]

I love these paints so much. I'm in love

[@kasiananananaa86684]

I love your reviews, they are so straight forward! I'm thinking of buying either Roman Szmal or Rosa Gallery, which one would tou recommend most? I know both of them are great, but im looking for a smooth finish, as I love to paint portraits :) I've got a Sennelier set already, but I'd like to expand my collection :)

[@LironYan]

Thank you ☺️🙏🏼 Both are excellent. But for a smoother finish, I think Rosa Gallery works better (:

[@petergamble6318]

Thanks for the review Liron, very helpful as usual. I've got the Aquarius five-pack coming in the mail next week and I cannot wait! I see some compelling undertones in that Nickel Yellow.

[@ngocthaodrawing]

your painting of people are impressive. the olive and violet are so beautiful. this pallete is so lovely.

[@bearshthebear2202]

That aquarius red reminds me of Alizarin Crimson💕 so lovely

[@juoz]

Yea, it looks like Alizarin Crimson to me too

[@418SurferGirl]

These paints are wonderful. I love the colors, some transparent and others with granulation. Thank you Roman for sending them! They aren't available in the U.S. still :(

[@LironYan]

So happy you enjoyed the review ☺️ I included a link to Jackson’s, I believe they should ship to anywhere in the US? And it could possibly end up cheaper than other brands as they are very cost effective (:

[@JoAnneMOwens]

I have ordered these fabulous paints from Jackson’s Art in the UK, they ship to the US! I was thrilled when I discovered it as I had wanted to try these for over a year. Now, I am buying a little at a time and building a wonderful collection!

[@lynnebell5425]

Thanks Liron. I have looking at these for awhile. They seem to be a very nice paint for the price.

[@LironYan]

Indeed great price (:

[@1Letter23Numbers.]

Was on Jackson's Art and came looking for a review of these guys. Saw you made a review and of course I clucked! I enjoy your videos. TY for the demo and review, I'm going to buy some, including 4 of the ones featured here. Hope you're staying healthy, safe, and still painting. Greetings from the USA.

[@otodidact6134]

Professional lightfast quality paints? If so that is very interesting, they look beautiful, thinking of adding these to my paints.

[@LironYan]

Indeed! And from what I can tell they are lightfast, it seems Roman knows what he is doing, and he focused on using very stable and resistant materials (:

[@rkurbatov]

@@LironYan yeah, seems like he's switched on pigments :) Unlike another polish brand, Renesans, he provides all the information - whether it's staining or granulating and lightfastness scale has 8 grades with the least grade having 5 (as far as I remember) for several paints while most of them are 7/8 or 8/8.

[@otodidact6134]

@@LironYan That's great! They're on my list now! 🙂🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

[@ThingOfSome]

The uneven, "rough" surface on the paint in the pans comes from wax residue left over from the wrapper, not from the pigment. The texture becomes more apparent after water is put on top. After some use, this wax residue comes off, though.

[@cindyhorton6980]

I've heard of this brand and wondered about them. Now I know! Thank you!❤️

[@annettefournier9655]

Thanks Liron. Lovely colors. Good price too.

[@suzalasuzala1135]

are there fugitive ratings on these?

[@mald379]

I love my aquarius paints! Theyre very affordable here, in Poland, even all their cadmiums and cobalts so I took this chance to take test them out because i never used cadmiums before. Turns out I dont like them as much and I'll stick to their more modern pigments ;) The good thing is that I didnt feel bad for buying them because they were so affordable and i finally know my preference! I like the cobalts better, and honestly their Cobalt teal is as good as Winsor Newton one, they look and feel the same. As for how liquidy they are - the worst I had was Natural sienna, but it has set down over time after opening it and I dont have that problem anymore.

[@LironYan]

That’s amazing! So happy you love them 😁 I actually really need a teal / turquoise color - so I may get that one too 😉🎨

[@rkurbatov]

I've got Quinacridones Gold (PY150+PO48) and Orange, Titanium Buff (the real PW6:1, not just mix of PW6 and PBr7), very bright (and pretty similar) yellows - PY61 and PY184. There is interesting violet PV37 (another form of PV23), very convenient green (though actually black) Perylene - PBk31, winy colored perylene PV55, gentle cerulean (PB35) and ultramarine pink (PR259), prominent scarlet (PR168). I liked all of them. Honestly, I even prefer them over Rembrandt and Mijello which are too gummy as to me. Just nothing to complain for :) Probably, the only problem is they are not so widespreaded - I had to wait for a two weeks to get them in Lviv (that is 35 km near the Polish border - it's easier to get them directly in Cracow :))

[@rkurbatov]

And as for cadmium... They are opaque - that can be useful sometimes. And they are bright enough though not as bright as modern yellows, oranges, and reds. On the other hand, they mix surprisingly well. F.e. PO73 is very saturated orange but it mixes pretty bad, weakening the mixture while you add another paint. And cadmium mixes remain on the saturated edge of the color wheel, keeping the same high saturation while you move from lemons to reds. You need to weaken them by using the opposites quite often. I put them all in so-called 'old fashioned' palette with Naphtols, real Aureoline, and Alizarin, Prussian blue, Cobalts - they match that company much better.

[@mathilda6763]

I think they used actual ground up Egyptian mummies both animals and people to make a brown transparent paint... it was called caput mortuum but I think mummy transparent red is probably meant to be a modern, less ethically questionable version of the pigment. there's also a caput mortuum in the aquarius line...maybe they vary in opacity? I hope we can all agree how messed up and respectless that was it to the Egyptian people and their history... I donT' want to think about how people first got the idea.

[@Angayasse]

I was waiting for this review for so long!:)

[@oscargorski6480]

Ohh, these are my favourite!

[@nateburrito7914]

Hey there! I know perhaps the digital art media may not be the best for water color simulations. Is it possible to give us a review of the Autodesk sketchbook? It's free in mobile devices and maybe try out the painting brushes see how it is

[@LironYan]

Hmm, interesting- I’ll check it out! (Never heard of it before 😅) Thank you 🙏🏼

[@maddalenamarchetti1861]

Molto bene ,bravissimo!

[@Bushy-73]

Looks like that red will leak all over if not stored flat, just like the SAA red

[@LironYan]

It's a bit different. Hard to explain - but the SAA red is SOFT and fluid in a leaky way. This one is more "sticky", if that makes sense. It takes a little more force to do what feels like "stretching" it. So I don't think it will be as leaky as SAA. Though I love SAA's red regardless 😂

[@mariusvaiciulis5072]

sz, cz, rz in polish is like sh, ch, zh in english.

[@miraxterrik]

I'm so lucky I live in Poland:D

[@LironYan]

Wow! That would be ideal for getting these 😁

[@miraxterrik]

@@LironYan already ordered a bunch :D

[@larrymarshall9454]

You forgot to mention that they're CHEAP!! Full pans for $4USD.

[@rashone2879]

OK, I was wondering.

[@joannaplichta9677]

You pronounce it like shmahl, more or less.