Ultramarine Blue Comparison - Artist Grade Watercolors

[@jrm2716]

Holbein's ultramarine deep remains my favorite ultramarine. Beautiful color with a good amount of granulation. Tfs.

[@JayNathanWatercolor]

Yes! It's my favourite too ☺️

[@tavenchristensen3157]

I can’t believe it, but this time I’m looking for a NON-GRANULATING, finely ground ultramarine blue…. without violet. THANKYOU for swatching this many brands to choose from. It really helps and I think I’ve found the one I want. Probably M Graham :)

[@nadeaner.cowley513]

Schminckes-french Ultramarine is my favorite since Im a granulation fanatic, the more granulation the better, i love texture! When i first started my watercolor journey i was very much into bright vibrant, transparent colors with Zero texture- mostly bc thats what i was led to believe i should like BUT now after experimentation and experience I love texture and sometimes even opaque milky muddy colors, its so funny how much ive changed, i love experimenting with new colors and painting scenes that dont make sense using odd color combos and palettes and always switching it up using new pigments, idk its super freeing. But i also dont show anyone my work, no one, not one person ever (except maybe my 10 year old son)...so i dont have to worry about something not looking good or turning out right, i can just play..sorry to ramble. Huh yea french Ultramarine from Schmincke or ill use M Grahams fast moving Ultramarine for the movement instead of for granulation. Anyway great video and thanks for sharing:)

[@JayNathanWatercolor]

You're very welcome 🙏 It's fun to experiment with different paints and their different textures. It's interesting to hear that you never show anyone your work. I show my work to strangers on Instagram and KZbin but I very rarely show it to anyone I know personally. 😂

[@wulfseig1864]

It's always the ones that don't like to show their art that are amazing. Now I'm super curious. Stay mysterious my friend. 😁

[@jennw6809]

DaVinci actually has three shades of Ultramarine; there is also a French/red shade and a green shade. The green shade, however, matches the regular Daniel Smith. You are right, their regular version is quite on the red side. Great to see the two versions of Schmincke, I've only tried their cobalts. I've never tried Roman Szmal, but it really appeals to me here!

[@hArtyTruffle]

Stood next to that wonderful rich blue from Roman Szmal, the Winsor Newton looks almost like a Cobalt Blue. I make my own French Ultramarine, but if I had to buy mine, it would be the Roman Szmal. Look forward to a time when we can get Roman in tubes.

[@UraniaOfTheGalaxy]

I love M. Graham paints in general, and their Ultramarine Blue is great for mixing, and when I don't want granulation. My second favorite is W&N.

[@magentaindigoart]

Thanks for the update! Love how the Holbein looks. The past few years I have been using Mijello PB29 and loved it. Now I switched to Rembrandt and enjoy it as well. Maybe I’m not that picky as I also have used the white nights and winsor & newton and they all were nice xD I have also made my own french ultramarine paint and its fun to use for granulation.

[@JayNathanWatercolor]

You're very welcome 🙏 I don't think I'm that picky about ultramarine either. I feel every brand has a perfectly useable ultramarine. Even the student grades are fine for me. 😊

[@AlexYorim]

I'm kinda leaning to the non-granulating ones like M. Graham, though that's due to me who previously used acrylic and is now using gouache. The granulating ones like Rembrandt and W&N are gorgeous though; they could make lovely effects.

[@JayNathanWatercolor]

I think I'm somewhere in the middle with my ultramarine. I want some granulation but not too much. 😊

[@cheryllapham6279]

Thanks for this comparison. It was very timely because I accidentally ordered Daniel Smith French Ultramarine which has a heavy granulation versus the small particle granulation and lots of flow in the DS Ultramarine - which is critical to the way I paint clouds. I’m going to try Holbein too on my next order. And make do with the M. Graham I have until then. Thanks again.

[@JayNathanWatercolor]

You're very welcome 🙏 Holbein is not so good if you want lots of flow.

[@PaintinHiding]

schmincke french ultramarine is catching my eye :D glad holbein's looks close enough 555

[@JayNathanWatercolor]

Haha close enough is good enough 😂

[@codiuart]

This Ultramarine Blue color is very new to me, I have never used it before. But after watching your video, I feel very like this blue color, although not as bright as navy blue, but quite suitable for painting the sky.

[@JayNathanWatercolor]

I don't really like using ultramarine in skies. I tend to go for cobalt, phthalo or cerulean blue.

[@cheryllapham6279]

Ultramarine is an incredible mixing color for greens and grays. I think it is a staple for any palette - and I always add a little into sky colors to get better flow and a few hard edges on cloud faces.

[@codiuart]

@@JayNathanWatercolor Yep! I think that's also a good idea.

[@wulfseig1864]

Roman and Holbein from this demo. I do love Daniel Smith's French & regular Ultramarine. Since watching your videos I seem to be enjoying Roman a lot. TFS

[@Christine_R]

I mostly use Ultramarine finest from Schmincke. But only because they are more affordable for me and they are really not that bad. I use it mostly to mix custom violets for my palette. The Winsor & Newton French Ultramarine looks very similar to Schmincke.

[@JayNathanWatercolor]

I might have to visit Germany soon to stock up on Schmincke if they're much cheaper than the UK 🤣

[@Christine_R]

@@JayNathanWatercolor I don't know how much the price deifference is but they are still made in germany and please do some research which store sells tubes. They would be more economical and cheaper than pans. I try to replace Prussian Blue on my palette and use Delft Blue instead but I don't know... I have to mix it with a touch of PB16 to get a similar hue.

[@heelerjustheeler879]

Most reviews of Schmincke by US artists consider it to be one of the very best paints, even tho they are super $$$ here. So it kind of made me giggle that you called them "not that bad." It also made me wonder if they are considered only so-so outside the US!

[@Mr.S65]

Da Vinci and DS 👍🏻

[@BetinaLundkaerJensenartist]

I like the Holbein and the Roman Szmal Ultramarine and I don't have any of these... I like the granulating Schmincke which I have a small tube of ☺️

[@JayNathanWatercolor]

I like the Schmincke too but it might have too much granulation for me 😊

[@NanaBeth1]

I'm content with my Rembrandt but will give the Holbein a try when it runs out. Wonder what Qor's UMB is like?

[@JayNathanWatercolor]

I wonder about all of Qor's paints. I really want to try them 😊

[@NanaBeth1]

@@JayNathanWatercolor As a newbie they are very hard for me to work with. Know you would beautiful things with them.

[@heelerjustheeler879]

The QoR is *extremely* intense in chroma and in the middle of the green- and red-leaning shades. It's really beautiful. I'd say it's medium granulating of the UMBs and it disperses in water a bit more than most (because: QoR!). I have it and love it. They also have an Ultramarine Blue Violet which is a mix of PB29 and PV15 which can really move in water. It seems more granulating, too, but also quite more violet. You can see these in Dr. Oto Kano's video called Warm Blues of QoR.

[@monicapaulista]

For me the Best one is Ultra marine Sennelier .I made a comparison with Holbein, Winston and Newton , Dalbe, White Nights, Rembrandt.And the best is Sennelier

[@jin1022000]

Sennelier gets my vote too. Holbein comes in second.

[@cisp360]

that Schmincke french Ultramarine is my favorite. Too bad it is on the expensive side of the spectrum. Thank you for the comparison. I will probably get some Schmincke French Ultramarine. By the way, I got some Lukas watercolor tubes and I actually like them too.

[@JayNathanWatercolor]

You're very welcome 🙏 I'm happy to hear that you like the Lukas paints. 😊

[@aeli999]

They are all lovely, but my most favorite based only on looks is the Schmincke French Ultramarine. I have Daniel Smith and Da Vinci versions. I might have to switch out for the Schmincke. I knew when I watched your previous video I was going to end up buying Schmincke. 😂

[@JayNathanWatercolor]

Haha! I'm sorry if my videos are making you spend money? 🤣

[@przemekkulesza3242]

Of Aquarius (Roman Szmal) I recommend their new Ultramarine Intense - an almost non-granulating ultramarine blue. I can see you're avoiding Sennelier in your swatches. any particular reason for this?

[@JayNathanWatercolor]

No reason for avoiding Sennelier. They're just not so easy to get here and when they are available they're quite expensive. I will definitely look into that brand in the future. The only paint of theirs that I've tried is the cobalt blue and I absolutely loved it.

[@przemekkulesza3242]

​@@JayNathanWatercolor interesting, in Poland they are similarly priced to Rembrandt and the price is reasonable. I have recently come across a number of opinions that ultramarine from Sennelier is their favorite of all the brands. I, on the other hand, like Rembrandt the most.

[@marcb6444]

I’m more of a Cobalt blue type but I like the Rembrandt. This video makes me want to buy Ultramarine. 😅 Thanks for sharing? 🤔 😂

[@JayNathanWatercolor]

Me too but many people love their ultramarines. 😊

[@etienne7774]

If you can choose only 20 watercolors [from any brand], which ones would you choose? [And any paper].

[@JayNathanWatercolor]

Wow that's a difficult one. Choosing colors is quite a personal choice so this isn't a recommendation. I think I'd go for : Cadmium Lemon Quinacridone Gold Winsor Red Permanent Alizarin Crimson Ultramarine Cobalt Blue Phthalo Blue Red Shade Cobalt Turquoise Yellow Ochre Light Red Indian Red Burnt Umber Payne's Grey Lavender (Holbein) White gouache (Any brand) All Winsor & Newton (Apart from the lavender and gouache) That 15 is already too many for me but If I had to add another 5 to get to 20 I might add a middle yellow of some kind, cadmium red light, Quinacridone Rose (or magenta), Ultramarine violet and burnt sienna. As for paper - If I'm paying I would get Baohong Artist (or Academy) 300gsm cold pressed. If someone else is paying I'd get Arches 🤣

[@etienne7774]

@@JayNathanWatercolor You should test quinacridone colors from daniel smith, etc. Burned umber? I think there would be a better, clearer substitute... you can do the tests, like quinacridone burned orange, I don't know.

[@JayNathanWatercolor]

Daniel Smith make good paints. The ones I've tried are great quality but they're not a brand I would ever buy. The more paints I try the more I realise that all I need are a few basic colors. It's fun to swatch them out and compare but 8 to 12 are enough for me. Then I can just focus on painting.

[@etienne7774]

@@JayNathanWatercolor Maybe I should try holbein, their half the price and maybe even the same quality. Same with brushes, a $15 synthetic brush is not inferior to $150 brush.

[@katriannanonduality]

@@JayNathanWatercolorso curious! how come winsor newton 😂

[@rdendelacruz4332]

I think all of them were a lil bit same from each other..... I mean, theyre have just a tiny difference but all of them were very comparable......

[@bentheben1145]

I like all of the Ultramarines equally tbh this is probably cause Ultramarine is Ultramarine for me lol

[@alejandromorales9516]

I started with Daniel Smith's French Ultramarine which dries waaaaay too hard for me and PB29 is a staple in my pigment so I switched to DaVinci's French Ultramarine which sets better in a pan. I just got Schmincke's which I haven't used much, but I got it thanks to Liz Steel who discovered it will dominate mixes and assert a blue tone (particularly when mixing greys and neutrals), which I find to be an interesting effect. I've also used QoR's regular Ultramarine (which is fine and rewets great) and I have a pan of Roman Szmal's Ultramarine Green Shade which looked nice (very cheery) but I haven't used it much. This posts reminds me my pan of FUB needs yet another top up.

[@JayNathanWatercolor]

I had heard from a few people that the Daniel Smith FUB dries really hard in the pan. I bet it very nice once it rewets though?

[@Doodkapje]

@@JayNathanWatercolor DS FU dries rock solid, shrinks and comes loose from the pan quite easily. I prefer using it straight from the tube or pour Schmincke’s version in pans instead. Color and granulation is on par to my eye, I can’t really tell the difference.

[@alejandromorales9516]

@@JayNathanWatercolor It's fine, but I don't think there's anything special about it that deserves all that work to reactivate (and it's a color I use in most things I do so I need to be able to grab it as needed). If anything I feel like Schmincke's feels more like what I assume Daniel Smith would do in a French Ultramarine since it's very granular and dramatic. Daniel Smith's has great granulation, but I think it's one best used fresh from the tube (I use the little bit I have left that way if I am painting from tubes).

[@edzejandehaan9265]

Ultramarine green shade? That's a new one for me. Afaik real, pb29 ultramarine always leans toward red.

[@Mr.S65]

@@JayNathanWatercolor it rewets easily. You can’t go wrong with DS :)

[@patticake5311]

I love Ultramarine and Ultramarine Deep. I haven't tried the Holbein, but it's really nice, so thanks for the comparison. I'm going to pick up a tube. I already had the M. Graham Ultramarine in my cart at Blick waiting for my next order . Seeing your swatches made me want it more :D Oddly I love Artwhale Ultramarine Deep from their tube set (the set is ASIN B00HUSUDX4 on Amazon), but their paints are not for sale individually. I also own and enjoy the Da Vinci, Mission Gold, Sennelier, Schmincke Akademie, Daniel Smith, and several more brands. Oddly I tried a 48 pan set of Mungyo watercolors the other day, and their Ultramarine was PB27 and PB29, and it looked more like a Pthalo to me - nothing like Ultramarine - but their Cobalt Blue wasn't cobalt - it was PB29, so that worked out okay.

[@JayNathanWatercolor]

I've never seen the Artwhale paints before. Are the rest of their paints as good as the ultramarine?

[@patticake5311]

@@JayNathanWatercolor I like their tube paints, but I wasn't crazy about the pan set. The Artwhale tube paints come in a goofy box, but they're at least good student grade or close to artist grade for most colors. No open stock, though...