Cotman Vs Van Gogh - My Favourite Student Grade Watercolours

In today’s video I’ll be comparing my two favourite brands of student grade watercolours.
Materials used in this video:
Baohong Academy Watercolor Paper Cold Pressed 200gsm bit.ly/3iPHCcZ
Escoda Perla Round Size 10 bit.ly/2VOjP4t
Cotman Watercolours: bit.ly/3taL6dy
Van Gogh Watercolours: bit.ly/3t6anap
Instagram:
/ jaynathanwatercolor
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#vangogh #cotman #winsorandnewton

[@PaintinHiding]

u know, when you say bye bye at the end, i always say bye bye back 😅🤣

[@adriannabcustomfurniture]

Me too 😂

[@aeli999]

When Oto Kano waves I wave back at her. 😂 I also wave at my villagers in animal crossing. 🤷‍♀

[@justacatwhocantype]

These are both nice brands, and a really good choice for anyone, whether they're just starting out or whether they're experienced and are simply looking for an affordable watercolor. I think Van Gogh has some of the nicer colors, but Cotman has better transparency and flow, so people have to decide what's most important to them. I like and use them both, and out of all the watercolors I have tried (and that's a lot by now) those two are hands down the best picks as far as student grade watercolors are concerned. Schmincke Akademie can keep up with them in terms of quality, but it's considerably more expensive, so Cotman and Van Gogh remain my top picks.

[@TracyIndy]

I think both brands are great as starter paints. Thanks for posting, and it's awesome to see you online. 😊

[@JayNathanWatercolor]

I think so too! I enjoy using both. ☺️

[@silkspinner7010]

Have you ever compared Daler Rowney Aquafine to Cotman?

[@NZ_Art]

Thanks for your video! I didn’t buy Cotman in tubes, so I’ll talk about comparing VN and Van Gogh in cuvettes. Van Gogh is very bright! This is very noticeable, for example, in PG7. I think Cotman is of poor quality. He is pale.

[@CastleMc]

I have sets of both from about 25 years ago and prefer the Van Gogh because they included colors that were not in the Cotman set, like Cobalt and Rose Madder, and because they seem more intense while the Cotman pigments are a bit washed out.

[@thelaribunny]

Thank for the video! Can I make a suggestion? I noticed that Celuean Blue Hue from Cotman has the same pigment as Manganese Blue Hue by Daniel Smith. Can you do a comparison?

[@CandyB843]

I found your channel recently. I want to thank you for all the videos, information, and inspiration! It still amazes me how many talented artists out there put out so much inspiration for free! Thank you for all your videos, but I am LOVING your swatch videos.

[@JayNathanWatercolor]

You are so welcome!

[@MegaAwesomeAnnie]

I've always found the Van Gogh colours to be a bit chalkier somehow whereas W&N feels more transparent to me. Both qualities can be ideal depending on you goals though of course! Thanks for another video Jay!

[@E4Alabbasy]

True, I have a palette containing both brands and use depending on what I'm painting 👌🏽

[@terinagray9447]

They really aren’t bad considering the price difference from the better makes. Love Cotman Cerulean though, might try that! ❤️

[@aeli999]

Lovely colors. I have a couple of tubes of Van Gogh and I quite like them. I don't use them much though.

[@vatiammatri2660]

Thanks Jay. I just pulled out my Cotman studio set and am actually quite smitten with it even though I have artist grade paints. I'm glad you always say nice things about them as they get a bad rap sometimes. I think it's a great option. I also like carrying the sketcher box as it's light and not so precious on the go. Cheers.

[@GONZOFAM7]

I really like my VG. I use Grumbacher Academy over Cotman if my store is out of VG. Have you tried Academy?

[@JayNathanWatercolor]

I've tried a couple of Grumbacher colors. They seemed to be good quality.

[@keepyourshoesathedoor]

I love grumbacher academy, especially with staining colors because they go on vibrant.☺️

[@CJCalvertArt]

I really like using Cotman but haven't tried the Van Gogh paints as of yet. I hear they are nice. Awesome video! Thanks for sharing.

[@JayNathanWatercolor]

Thanks for watching!

[@vatiammatri2660]

Love the Van Gogh too btw, that's a given! Great affordable quality from Royal Talens!

[@awatercolourist]

First comment!

[@JayNathanWatercolor]

🥳

[@awatercolourist]

Yay indeed 😄

[@TracyIndy]

@awatercolourist Congrats, friend. 👏 I'm about 5 hours late. 😞

[@awatercolourist]

@@TracyIndy one day, one day you’ll have your moment in the sun 😊

[@TracyIndy]

@@awatercolourist 🤣 🌞

[@monsoon_magic2874]

Second?

[@JayNathanWatercolor]

Yes!

[@awatercolourist]

Yay!😂

[@annenglish2935]

Always enjoy the swatching of new colors... do you use cotton paper? It looks so smooth. Thank 😊 you! A California Gramma ♥️

[@annenglish2935]

I just saw your reference to the Baohong cotton paper!

[@rdendelacruz4332]

Hello sir!.... Good day!... Wanna ask if cotmans ultramarine is granulating?..... I ran out of ultramarine and i wanna buy a student grade ultramarine blue.....

[@jalsiddharth]

What's your take on the py42 vs py43 ochres?

[@JayNathanWatercolor]

Doesn't make much difference to me. What do you think?

[@jalsiddharth]

@@JayNathanWatercolor Makes a huge difference to me. My first experience was with PY42 (Camlin), that time I had no idea about pigments or such, and remember it feeling extremely overpowering. (Similar to phthalos, the opacity, covering power scared me) and I didn't use it much. - Next experience, White Nights, by this time I have a basic idea about pigments, and I like "natural things" so I opt for their PY43 version. Instant realization about how different these pigments were. Similar to Lazurite vs. Synthetic Ultramarine. The PY43's were easier to handle (like Cobalt Blues), granted they got used more than PY42's, but they surely felt natural (like I felt like I was working with actual dirt than processed dirt). - Recent experience, Lukas PY42, reminded me of my experience with Camlin, by this point I think I've learnt to control it, but all things considered I still like PY43 over PY42 just because it (lol) "feels" natural.

[@jalsiddharth]

BTW if you visit the UK, do hit me up bud! Should be fun hanging.

[@keepyourshoesathedoor]

@@jalsiddharth I know you’re not asking me, but I think PY43s are less opaque and how low tinting strength…I don’t hate that, but I love opacity so it upsets me.

[@agrifona]

I like VG )

[@jonmahashintina]

i dont like the pw6 in that cerulean.

[@geraldeguzman26]

Are you a Filipino?

[@JayNathanWatercolor]

Nope

[@moma-b]

Van Gogh is cheaper and has a wider range of colors afaik.

[@JayNathanWatercolor]

It's definitely cheaper where I am. I don't know if it's cheaper everywhere though.

[@moma-b]

@@JayNathanWatercolor Of course, price is location dependent. I'm in the EU so Cotman and VG are comparable. I have the whole range of colors from VG but only a smaller range from Cotman. VG has a 100 years light-fastness guarantee under museum conditions. Idk, I may be biased but I like VG better, I always recommend that for beginners. 😀

[@OhJodi69]

Cotman is cheaper in the US, and much easier to find than Van Gogh.

[@neophron25]

Thanks for the swatching, I love watching your videos, it's relaxing :-) Question: Why does PR101 occur in burnt sienna and light red (Cotman) as a single pigment and you have two different colors?

[@nebblepoppishire3037]

Late answer from a pigment nerd. Pigment chemistry is a bit complex, and pigments of the same pigment code can vary quite drastically from brand to brand, and natural pigments such as lakes or minerals can differ from batch to batch. Pigment scientists can sometimes find a way to “tweak” a color. My favorite example of this, because the difference is so dramatic, is Pigment Violet 19,- where you can go from the brightest hottest pink imaginable to almost a wine purple-both PV19 though, reason being is this particular pigment has different isomers (alpha for pink, gamma for purple) so by tweaking which isomers are present in a mix, you can change the color. In some cases, like phthalo blue, you can chlorinate it in the presence of oxygen and get phthalo green blue shade (PG7), where as if you do it in the presence of oxygen and bromine you get pthalo green yellow shade (PG36). What humans perceive as color is really the occipital lobes interpretation of the energies released by the transference of electrons from their ground state. PR101 is an iron oxide, so if you manipulate it by heating it, changing hydration states, etc. you fundamentally change the color because you change the electron configurations- but the pigment code doesn’t necessarily differ. TLDR; Pigment scientists can sometimes manipulate the electrons in a pigment in various ways to get different colors from the same pigment.

[@keepyourshoesathedoor]

Different chemicals added change a color. Sometimes the precipitate (the pigment you see and is insoluble in water unlike a dye) is left in heat longer like with burnt siennas vs raw siennas. It is basically a synthetic iron oxide. Other times a chemical is added to change hue like Ultramarine Blue (PB29) vs Ultramarine Violet (PV15).