Daler Rowney Simply Watercolour Review + Demo

[@michelleaustin2019]

I started watercolor with student grade paint and poor quality paper and struggled terribly, almost giving up and going back to oils. I was given a little professional watercolor set and a high quality paper sample and it changed my mind about quitting. Just my little two cents worth of experience. I’m probably a paint and paper snob because of the experience. Thank you for the video!

[@Dan.B.Artist]

yeah student supplies are a good thing to start with but unless they are of good quality such as the Van Gogh line you can quickly out grow them. If it was a really cheap brand like Reeves then it can be very off putting when you start and the supplies are terrible.

[@CaiCanMake]

I made the mistake of buying these on a whim because there were a lot of colors in it. I put the paints in a pan, and left it to dry on my windowsill, and a week later they still weren’t set. Like you said, the consistency between the paints was all over the place. Some came out of the tube chunky and beady, some came out fine, and some were just straight up liquid. When I tried to do a color swatch, the colors were very disappointing; they were weak, and had this weird chalky texture. When they dried, you could still see the stroke marks left behind. I think the lesson here is that sometimes it’s better to wait a little bit to buy something more expensive, but with so much more quality, than to buy paint on a whim.

[@Vincent-ds3kc]

Same, what's disappointing is my Daiso Japan $1.50 watercolors had more pigment and saturation.

[@sparkraftv2311]

Yeah, my daiso set was way better than the simply set

[@appleknocker56]

Thank you! Ppl got me water - colors for Xmas & were these terrible “watercolors”! No pigment information at all & can’t mix colors if know nothing about what mixes they used! so would like to know how you know pigments were added unless a profession set not cheap student grade & no student should use them as then feel it’s their fault! Not student’s should start using these as will feel it’s their fault when not true & after all the $ spent on cheap WC’s could have bought real Artist grade & for sure will alway double check on any “water colors” as stuff producing today is ridiculous! Plain scamming in my opinion!!

[@MDCampbell]

Terrific review, Daniel. However, I have to say, I bought the DR watercolors for a significantly low price and have to say. Nope. Was very disappointed with them and ended up giving them away to a student. The pigment was weak and the paints felt almost gelatinous. Like you said, some colors were okay, but the consistency between them was all over the place and I got frustrated trying to work with them. I'm glad you have a more positive view on them, but maybe I'm one of those "snobs" who just prefers a higher quality product. LOL!!! :) Thank you for this one! :)

[@OtoKano]

That ultramarine blue made me die a little inside :( The colorshift when dry was drama lama level! Good on you for persevering with a such a hard work paints. Thank you for such a thorough review.

[@janismarie309]

Dr. Oto Kano, I had to laugh when I read your comment about the ultramarine blue. Not at you, however what you wrote. I thought the exact same thing, and I’m a beginner who knows very little about watercolors but researching daily. I believe you’re the same person who has a KZbin channel if I’m not mistaken. If so I have subscribed to your channel where I’ve received great advice...So anyways, I thought to myself I’m no good at watercolors so I’ll just quit. I didn’t however because I luckily found this video and realized it wasn’t me at all. I’ll keep trudging on until next month when I’ll be able to buy better paints. Not sure what to get so if you have any suggestions for me I would appreciate it so very much. I would like to paint a very special painting for my great niece. Her birthday is May 9th and sadly she passed away on the very same day that she was born. This project I have in mind is very important to me so any suggestions would be greatly taken. I live in the States so if you know of any that are sold here with good pigmentation that would be wonderful. Kindly, Janis

[@nickorange4881]

This video is old so no one will probably ever see this comment the shade of the ultramarine blue was okay to me. But it's the finish of the paints that bother me. They look chalky. I saw a picture of these online and it also looks chalky in the online photo . And I wasn't sure if it was lighting or what. But they also look chalky here. :( P.s. I just remembered. I also tried artist loft watercolor and those are pans and look chalky on pan. But it was inexpensive so I gave it a try. And I didn't use them. I always disliked the chalky look to them. And if I touched them. The feel of the chalkyness too. And I think one time I even rubbed my finger on it to see what would happen. And it looked like I had chalk on my finger. -_- paint is not supposed to do that especially watercolor. That was a few years ago. I've since upgraded. Not quite to professional watercolor that be amazing. But maybe a student grade one I think? But definitely better than the last one.

[@ApontyArt]

I've been using this set of paints to learn watercolor (coming from other media) and this video was really helpful to me for understanding what's different between these particular student paints and artist-grade paints that I might buy soon, and your description was easy to relate to my own experiences with them. At one point I was just like "ah good, so that isn't normal then".

[@Dan.B.Artist]

Glad it helped. Yeah these are very good paints haha there are much better student ranges out there, I personally recommend van gogh or cotman paints.

[@appleknocker56]

I found out after getting them as a Xmas present! Truly frustrated me & not telling person who gave to me throwing away as probably better trying to paint with real jelly!

[@grim3337]

these watercolors are really nice actually. some of them are somewhat .. chunky? but you can easily break chunks with some water.

[@EveBolt]

It's a bummer these aren't awesome.... but the Aquafine sets are rather good! It's still my #1 recommendation, I love the small 10 colors tin! And I admire your patience with these Simply paints, I would've gotten so mad XD

[@shirayuucchi4031]

Thanks for the review and confirming how I feel about this Simply range. I bought these when I had my first watercolour lesson for school about 10 years ago, and even as a total beginner I was baffled as to why it wasn't behaving like how watercolours normally should. As others have mentioned, it was gelatinous and sticky and I really disliked how it spread on the paper. Because of that I struggled and couldn't paint my watercolour assignments properly and it made me so frustrated and even thought I was just not cut out for watercolours. Luckily I had also bought some tubes of W&N Cotman. I love them to bits and I still use them till this day, I will always recommend them to anyone who wants great student grade watercolours 😊

[@Dan.B.Artist]

I also like cotman paints they're definetly better than the Simplys.

[@becky8193]

Thank you! This was thorough but not too wordy. I actually feel informed. Keep up the great work!

[@Dan.B.Artist]

Awesome, thank you!

[@WhoCaresAlisha]

I bought these because I wanted to get back into art after stopping years ago. I got them on sale for $4.97! Thanks for your thorough review.

[@pikkuoo]

It took me awhile until I realised that you are one of the rare ambidextrous people I know. Wow, there's a talent! ☺ Thanks for the review. It really is a pity how big a jump there is from the student grade to the Daler Rowney Artist's paints; in my humble opinion the brand are only hurting their reputation. 😞

[@Dan.B.Artist]

haha I always smile when people notice, it's one of those things I dont really think about. I have a couple of their artist range and they are beautiful and really good value.

[@pesto12601]

Thx.. passing on these.... saving for more DS shades... might was well forego a lunch out and buy a good tube of color!

[@LilGagaChick]

These are nice if you only have 15 bucks to work with and your mom won't take you anywhere but Wal-Mart. Very doable but at one point they hold an artist back once they reache a certain skill level.

[@michellesmith2420]

I liked them but I am a beginner and purchased a decent paper . When l understand it more I will need to upgrade but for the price it will do for now . Great video 🌞

[@screamingattrees8422]

I recently just got into water color and got this set from walmart today. I was confused on why some colors were chunky and some were liquid. I want a different set but my dad gets mad if i dont use the art supplies i have (im 13) so I guess I'll just have to wait a month or two to be able to get a different set.

[@Dan.B.Artist]

Im sorry that youre stuck with these. They are challenging to use but you can get good art using them. Good luck.

[@prishavrinda2208]

Dude rn I am in the EXACT same position as you

[@moma-b]

@@prishavrinda2208 Paint something big and use up all the colors. 😎

[@askialuna7717]

As far as I know the Simply colors are the cheap hobby series of Daler Rowney. The Student Series is Aqaufine.

[@MalamikArt]

Your audio has gotten significantly better! It's great! I agree on giving student grade a shot, and am certainly no paint snob, maybe just the opposite. I love to root for the smaller guys. :) Great and very fair review and super cute bear painting :)

[@Dan.B.Artist]

Thanks for letting me know! I've been struggling with audio for a while. Glad you enjoyed it.

[@EveBolt]

I agree! The audio is good! :)

[@diasmall0205]

I have a set of 12 that were just for fun... some colors act like they have gelatin in them. Very odd. But still fun to play with.

[@Dan.B.Artist]

Yes they're great for practice.

[@LanaGoesArt]

The chalky paints are so common in germany for student paints, but awful to paint with. You did the best possible with your illustration.

[@c1224w]

LanaGoesArt one of the famous chalky product from Germany is Lukas........ even the 1862 artist grade is kind of chalky,

[@LanaGoesArt]

I never tried Lukas, but the student grade paints aren't sold as watercolor paints (aquarell) but as watersoluable opaque paints (Deckfarben - not gouache!) usually, so I tend not to buy them. But I still have a set left from my time in school...

[@askialuna7717]

@@LanaGoesArt As far as I know this is not student quality, but scholar / hobby quality for the elementary school.

[@shaniahhains337]

I have used the 24 set of this brand I am 12 and I even find they are hard to work with the paint runs out quickly you’ll find yourself refilling them often. And i find the browns to be weaker but if you let them sit in water it will be a lot deeper and they take a long time to dry and I find with 2 layers it tends to lift but if your just starting out these are okay but I prefer artist grade but if that is out of your price range something like Gansai tambi set is great

[@drmilimiliy9343]

These should be fine for beginners. Cheaper materials make painting feel less like a big deal and I am more inclined to practise more. I think practicing as much as you can is important for beginners. Of course the more advanced painters should go for the professional colours papers etcs. But for beginners like me, I have come to realise that you just cant buy your way into becoming a good painter. :-)

[@Dan.B.Artist]

It's very true, a good artist can make good art with poor materials but a poor artist can't make good art with expensive ones. That being said some materials have their limits

[@notamanstudios4408]

B it's like 12 bucks for a 24 set You get what you pay for

[@shallremainnameless1998]

It's kind off odd that Daler Rowney could only supply you with a few of the pigment names. I've never used the Simply. I have a little tin of ten Aquafine half pans which I really enjoy using. They're not chalky at all. I like the Aquafine Burnt Sienna A LOT. It's PR101 and PBr7 and is probably my favourite Burnt Sienna even over my Artist paints. You made a great job with the paints and I like the picture you painted definitely won't be buying the Simply.

[@moma-b]

I bought Aquafine first then made a mistake buying the same Simply set thinking they are the same. Total waste of money. This "paint" is not sufficient for painting.

[@radioactiveferrets]

I got the smaller box of six tubes from Walmart one day a few months ago so I could make a portable custom palette from a small pack of wax melts. After letting them dry for two weeks, they were still very tacky and hard to rewet. The paints I got are lumpy and require a TON of water for any sort of good workability and the red gets very streaky and shows brushstrokes. They also give me lifting problems when trying to layer. These paints now sit in the bottom of my watercolor box virtually untouched except for when I need white

[@Dan.B.Artist]

Oh no, I similar story here. I always feel guilty when that happens even though it isnt ultimately my fault.

[@premanandalaishram1009]

I saw artist mixing the burnt umber and ultra marine to give beautiful grey but mine turn out muddy steaky gelatinous. Yes with daler rowney student grade watercolor

[@krabfingers8473]

I got two 24 tube sets of this, I cry. I thought it was my awful skills at following watercolor tutorials but then realized it’s the paint. However, I have found a way to use them! With another watercolor cake set I’ve kept forever (literally a decade old and still works decently damn) I load up my brush with a concentrated amount from a cake and mix it with the tube paint. The chalkiness from my wc cakes lessened the effect of that gelatinous feeling and made it more pigmented. If the pigment rubs off on my finger when dry I add some diluted glue.

[@krabfingers8473]

It’s sad you need to think outside of the box with poor quality paints like these, but use what you have, right? I’m hoping to buy some Holbein watercolors this year, they are surprisely affordable at this one art supply store in Singapore.

[@Dan.B.Artist]

Usually I agree with the mantra it's not the materials that makes good art but the artist. In some cases such as these paints it's the other way around, sometimes really poor quality materials really hinder you and can lead to lots of frustration.

[@janismarie309]

Hi there, these paints were purchased for me by a friend, and since I’m a beginner, I thought I was doing something wrong. I decided to look them up on their website and there was your video. My paintings are turning out the same way as yours, well truthfully a bit worse. I actually felt bad for you. You seem like such a kind person, and I felt bad seeing your frustration doing layer after layer and same results. No one should have to use a watercolor straight out of the tube! Your end result was quite wonderful though. Good idea doing it out of the tube like you did. I can’t get better watercolors for a couple of weeks, so I’ll try what you did. Can you suggest a good brand because I’m having a bit of a hard time trying to figure this all out. If you can’t I understand. I live in the States so I’m not sure if some of the paints in your country are sold here. Thanks again Janis ✌️✌️

[@Dan.B.Artist]

I'm glad you enjoyed my review and appreciate the same struggles. Yes these paints are hard work. It depends on your budget. For professional paints which are pricer I recommend Daniel Smith, sennelier, m Graham as they are more affordable in the US, schmincke, rembrandt and winsor and newton are good but will be more expensive. Try jacksons that I've linked in the description box they are in the uk but shipping is affordable to the US. If you want something cheaper I really recommend Van Gogh or white nights water colours. They are classed as student grade but they're really high quality. Avoid cotman and any dollar store paints.

[@janismarie309]

Penholder Art, Thank you so much. You don’t even know how happy I’m that you’ve helped me. I’ve asked a couple others but no reply. I’m beyond happy 😃 I just looked up Blicks on my computer, and to my surprise we have an actual store only 10 minutes from my house. I never knew this, and have lived in Michigan my whole life lol. Beyond happy about that..actually EXTREMELY happy. I was getting my supplies from Michaels the only craft store I knew of, and they seem to be very limited on what they carry. Also, in my opinion overpriced even with their coupons. I know where I’ll be shopping from now on. All the supplies they carry are all high end even student supplies and decent prices YAY!👍 where about do you live in the UK? I’ve been doing my family tree, and actually found 6 cousins I never knew existed. My family is from Lossiemouth Scotland some live there some of them moved to Highcomb (I believe that’s correct spelling) England. Will be heading “across the pond” early next year, to finally meet my 2nd cousins❤️ We have become very close and so excited to see them and beautiful UK. Thank you again. As they say in the States..You Rock😎 Janis✌️

[@Dan.B.Artist]

@@janismarie309 I'm glad you found my advice helpful. I am from Southern England. I hope you enjoy your trip, Scotland is beautiful.

[@MeowMeowKapow]

The two greens inclusion is even more of a strange choice when you consider how.....weird that sap green performs. And the insufficient labeling is also a really weird choice but I guess somewhat normal for student paints. Bravo for fighting through it because frustrating painting experiences make me want to eat my own face off.

[@Dan.B.Artist]

Yeah Daler Rowney really confuse me as a company they have great and consistent artist grade supplies but pull dollar store stuff with their student grade supplies. The thing that kept me going was I just wanted the darn thing finished! :)

[@MeowMeowKapow]

Penholder Art I mean.....Canson’s range is also a bit crazy. They make Arches, but they also make Canson XL and Canson Montval papers. I’m coming more and more to the realization that there are companies whose divide between pro and student probably started quite a bit closer, but as time went on they grew worse and worse in student grade and SOMETIMES grew better in pro grade. There are few companies who actually seem to take pride in providing pleasurable tools on the cheap end because they want us to suffer in order to convince us to spend! I’m in a weird mood right now and feeling a bit confused and disappointed in materials, I guess.

[@federicofreiria3450]

Good review, precise and complete

[@Dan.B.Artist]

Glad it was helpful!

[@artgirl6784]

Got the same brand of watercolors to 24 package ones and they have the names of the colors on these tubes.

[@YenDraws]

Normally , I am using the mission gold watercolour. When I am not able to get the colour from the artist grade( limited colour), I will use this on some portion on the sketch. It looks ok for me though.

[@Dan.B.Artist]

It's more than fine for sketching 😁I've recently tried mission gold paints. They are so vivid!

[@srfurley]

Despite my age (65) I am only a beginner. I have used the Simply colours, but only in pan form, not tubes. To be honest, I don't think I would really recommend them, there are better ones available for a not much higher price, such as Winsor & Newton Cotman or Dayler Rowney Aquafine which I would rather use. Some of the colours in my Simply set are better than others, the green is particularly bad, while the red is much better; I cannot remember the exact colours. I find that in very cheap brands tube colours are sometimes better than pans. the long narrow pans, about 12 x 30 mm, in brands such as W H Smith, Reeves and Crawford & Black seem to be particularly bad, hard, poor colour and chalky. Some of the other Crawford & Black (from The Works) art products are actually good, despite the low price. I do find that the quality of the paper makes more difference than that of the paper though. I am only interested in students grade colours, not artists ones.

[@Dan.B.Artist]

Thanks for sharing your experience. If you're looking for a good affordable student brand I can recommend Cotman or Van Gogh Watercolours. If you have a little more cash to spare I could also recommend white nights or Roman Szmalz, they are both artist grade but are more affordable than some brands.

[@sacredrose5477]

I have these but found them very sticky with not a lot of pigment. I would probably use these to teach a beginner but not for any of my professional work

[@amyortiz3854]

I just finished swatching these colors and for 4 dollars at Wal-Mart I really liked them of course when I first squeezed it out of the tube it was a little chunky but I fixed that with some water also they were quite pigmented

[@Dan.B.Artist]

I'm glad you're enjoying them! They make great starting paints.

[@davidjackson7974]

Some student quality paint are just as good as artists quality if not alittle better I like the aquafine range of Daler Rowney especially the tubes never used the simple range watercolours before

[@Dan.B.Artist]

I've never tried the Aquafine paint, I've heard good things about it. In my experience some student brands come close but none are going to beat an artist line, unless the line is particularly bad. The major difference if that student paints, even the good ones, contain a lot of filler to extend the paint to make it cheaper so they wont be quite as strong as an artist line. The good student brands are the ones that dont add to much filler and that use good stable pigments.

[@oliverstillkindaexists5980]

I use this brand a lot for acrylic painting but I feel their watercolors aren’t that good I also think any brand can have good acrylics so

[@wmmatthew83]

Yeah to do layers with this watercolor you have to use a workable fixative

[@Dan.B.Artist]

Ouch, that's way too much effort for paints like this!

[@wmmatthew83]

Yeah I understand that. if you dont add much water it is pretty much gouache

[@bozmundarts2614]

well... aquafine is their actual student grade of daler rowney... that's the scholar grade... but maybe the best one of scholar grade....

[@joppakat]

i also received 2 sets of this paint as gifts--the colors seemed okay--color strength is poor when dry. sap green and cerulean and ultramarine were worthless--they dried in plasticy cloudy shapes--i repeatedly contacted dr to ask--maybe i got a bad lott--to date i have gotten zero response. quite disappointed for sure. unsatisfactory even for student grade.

[@Dan.B.Artist]

It's a shame they never responded.

[@ektamehandimagicindian1999]

Awesome

[@oliverapopovart8902]

No. They might be the worst. Certainly worst among the ones I tried. Thank you for your review :)

[@MsVanorak]

Well . . . . I think I'd have a go with the W.H. Smith Let's Create children's qaint rather than faff about trying to get a result with those! I have the Let's Create coloured qencils and they are as qigmented as Marco Raffine! I think it's a marketing strategy to lower the quality of student watercolours to get you to buy the more costly stuff. But some kids art equiqment is better because they use bright colours that will keeq them entertained. Of course they are dye based and will fade but that is only a qroblem if you want to frame and disqlay - otherwise with a sqritz of UV sqray fix, shut away in a sketch book they will be fine.

[@Dan.B.Artist]

it depends, generally artist paints have lightfast and stronger pigments making the paint more reliable and sturdy over time but I agree student paints have their place.

[@michaelwardrip1894]

I bought these on clearance at Walmart. They're pretty bad. I haven't tried other brands yet but I can tell they're bad. All the exact same issues with the same paints as the video creator. I get a lot of problems trying to layer, and they dry much lighter. I can confirm: these are frustrating to work with.

[@davidnash8586]

I just bought some instead of my normal horribly expensive Winsor and Newton Series 4 and they are diabolical....like toothpaste and with absolutely no ability to do a millionth of what a proper paint does ! All twenty tubes will go to my grandchildren and one day I'll apologise to them !

[@Dan.B.Artist]

Daler Rowney do have an artist line which is pretty good if you were still looking for paints from them.

[@mspeonydoodles7889]

If you are reading this, just don’t buy this set. I think Daler Rowney is cheating poor kids and students out of the little money they have for art with this set. It is total crap. I think you can make good art with affordable paints, but not with CRAP. You will be much better off spending a few extra dollars on cotman pans or Marie’s extra fine if you like tubes. They are not the best, but they won’t make you cry when you swatch them.