Paul Rubens Artist Grade Watercolor Paint, 48 Colors Solid Cakes with Portable Metal Box for Artists, Beginners, Hobbyists, Students

LANGUAGE SOLUTION: I just want to preface this with saying, people, the color/pigment info is in English on this exact listing, in the images (NOT the Product Description, but at the TOP of the page within the image slideshow.) Reference the pigment info on the half pan wrapping with the pigment listed in the third image on this listing page! If the wrapper for the sky blue says "PB36" with a number “8” in the next line, look at the image and you'll see that the Sky Blue color is indeed that exact color with having PB36 as a pigment and a Lightfastness of 8. Do that for each color.I have an image that can help as a guide in this review. You can also use your phone camera with a translator to translate it in English for you.Trust me, I was lost at first but it was not hard to realize that the brown color with PBr7 and PR101 and 8 on its wrapper was the "Umber" color in the color chart image on this listing. Don't let the language distract you from testing out whether the paint was worth your buy! The language isn't the selling point, the paint is! Returning the paint because the language is Chinese and just because PR is a Chinese brand is.. kinda weird.With that, hope my review below helps!_______________This watercolor set is really amazing for the price! Originally, I was going to buy $100+ worth of watercolor tubes and supplies, but I decided on getting this 24 set after coming across some videos reviewing it. I noticed that PR sells two versions of the 24-set in their "Professional" line. The one I bought has metal-based pigments with Cadmium and Cobalt, and doesn't have a white.It's wild how amazing this set is for the price listed. PR probably adds some sort of white filler in the colors, and it may be noticeable to some experienced watercolor painters, but it didn't hinder the vibrancy and saturation of the colors. The colors are easy to blend, they don't mud so easily and they don't patch up on the surface either. Compared to other cheap watercolors around this price, the fillers are honestly barely noticeable (if there are any fillers) and it's like painting with more expensive professional grade watercolors. Fillers are a big deal to me (esp with gouache, i'm *very picky* with paint w/o fillers, opacifiers) and I'll tell you these paints are worth it if you are a beginner.Pros of this set are that the colors are vibrant, they rewet easily and go on smoothly. The color selection is great, but the Madder Red is made with PR177 and it's not a lightfast pigment. Kimberly Crick tested the lightfastness of these pigments on her website, and the Madder Red fades. Prussian Blue PB27 is also a pigment that fades, but I appreciate that the company didn't rate it a 7 or 8. The Indian Yellow (PY83) is given a 7, but the pigment used fades when diluted throughout many brands. These three colors are absolutely gorgeous but I would relegate it to sketchbook work if you worry about lightfastness.Fugitive pigments/pigments prone to fading are listed below (tested by Kim Crick):1) PY83 Indian Yellow2) PR177 Madder red3) PB27 Prussian Blue (fades in strong light, but recovers in darkness, tread carefully)4) *NOTE* PG36 PY12 PR101 PW5 Tree Green in this set is prone to fading, but the same color listed elsewhere in the PR Watercolor catalog lists Tree Green with PG7 PY3 PR101 PW4 (lightfast pigments, PY3 being less lightfast but okay), but to be safe I put it away.A little extra info: I modified the palette and removed the Coal Black (PBK7), Paynes Grey (PB15, PB29, PBK9) and the Pozzuoili Red Ochre (PR101), and replaced it with a full pan of Zinc White, and a half pan of Titanium White (both whites were from another brand). Later proceeded to remove the Prussian blue, Indian Yellow, Tree Green, Violet, Scarlet, and Madder Red and will replace them with similar colors from this same Paul Rubens brand (the replacement colors were bought from another website). Also put away the Burned Sienna because the hue can be mixed with Umber and Burned Brown.Fun fact, an extra half pan can fit in the middle slot of the palette, but sideways.Overall, this set is great, and vibrant colors and clean mixes it makes for the listed price makes it even better! If you want to use it for professional work, I believe using a scanner to reproduce the image, replacing the fugitive colors with lightfast alternatives, or removing the fugitive colors entirely and using just the colors that are actually lightfast will suit you well. If you are using this product for practice, sketchbook works, or for projects that don't require lightfast paints, this will be absolutely perfect. I do not regret purchasing this set, and from a person that hasn't painted with watercolors in a long time, this made me fall in love with the medium again!____________UPDATE:In order to shorten the (now gone) updates, I'm just gonna recommend some palette changes.Colors I replaced (replacements are lightfast)1. PY3 Lemon Yellow —> PY35 Cadmium Lemon Yellow (virtually the same color but lightfast)2. PY83 Indian Yellow —> PY110 Permanent Dark Yellow (virtually same color but lightfast)3. PR123 Scarlet —> PR254 Chinese Red (Ferrari Red, more vibrant counterpart, lightfast and reliable)4. PV19 Red Violet —> PR122 Magenta (very lightfast according to handprint’s tests, more saturated than PV19, makes better purples with Ultra Blue)5. PV23 Violet —> PV15 Ultramarine Violet (more lightfast and more saturated)6. PG36 PY12 PR101 PW5 Tree Green —> PG50 Cobalt Green (less dark valued but completely lightfast and a nice green)Other colors I recommend adding are1. PY150 Nickel Yellow (a duochrome yellow, earthy in masstone, but becomes a vibrant lemon-mid yellow when watered down. Nice for green mixes and painting light)2. PB36 Cobalt Turquoise Light (lightfast and vibrant color, great for sky blues, sea tones and green mixes)3. PW4 Zinc White & PW6 Titanium White (not a watercolor purist, white is okay to use. I bought different brands. PW4 for mixing and PW6 for highlights. Don’t overuse these)Other colors I removed but didn’t replace1. PR177 Madder Red (gorgeous color but not lightfast at all. Recommend it for sketchbook use)2. PB27 Prussian Blue (beautiful color but lightfastness is iffy. Recommend it for sketchbook use)3. PG17 Chromium Green Oxide (oddly enough this usually lightfast color fades in this brand, but like Prussian Blue it regained its normal look after some time away from light. Very iffy, so removed)4. PB15 PB29 PBk9 Payne’s Grey & PBk7 Coal Black (you don’t need to remove them but I do recommend mixing your dark colors without pigment black)

First off I am not sponcered, and I am not a professional artist. Professional equating to making a living at art. I'm intermediate at best.Now that's not to say that my work is bad. But I always felt like my work needed better quality supplies or tools. The song and dance (advice) from many other artist's is that supplies don't matter, if they don't then why do so many of these same people use expensive supplies? (I believe this to be a partial truth.) I often feel like they tell us this because they want to make poor people like me or budget artists feel better. Or you know novice artists too but that's another story. I'm glad I sucked it up and bought quality supplies this last year. It's a dream come true.Advice that is good. While it's true that better supplies won't make you a better artist, they do make your life easier, and you have to fight less problems, it does also enhance your work but not for what you think on a personal skill level. If you're not sure you are going to like a particular media or stick with it. Buy cheap and test it out first then you won't be at a hard loss. (I suggest maybe Paul Rubens do a single testor or sample pan for people to try out.)(Or you buy a small batch from them as a concession.) It's okay to do this if you're not ready to invest. You will usually know really fast if you want an upgrade or want to stick with something. I almost gave up on watercolor because of cheap supplies but realized I did this on purpose to put my feelers out for the media and that cheap wasn't a reflection on other products like this.I'm a novice in watercolor and already desired something better. Just with my search sheet alone I felt 100 times better and knew I was going to be able to learn faster having supplies that actually work.I spent a year doing research on supplies. Watching YouTube sponsored and unsponsored reviews, read articles, etc... This is a product that really does earn it's reputation. Not to mention, this may sound weird but in this case, you can trust Chinese made, or Asian on its affinity for watercolor and calligraphy.You can tell this company takes pride in it's work.I strongly recommend buying this product because after just comparing my crappy $13.00 watercolor chalky paints... Lol I could list off a large list of why you should buy this product but I'll keep the list concise instead of going on too much longer.1. Activation Time Shortened2. Less water needed.3. More pigment pickup, only need to wet a small area. A little goes a long way.4. Vibrance, Saturation, and Quality5. Better control over amount of paint used and how.6. Easy to use.7. Quality case, snaps, and removability.8. Wonderful color palette.9. Bonus on the special presentation, boxing, packaging, etc.. It made me cry to open it. It was like a dream. It felt very... Designer but not lame cheap designer. The cloth was a massive bonus too!10. Fast shipping even without Amazon Prime.11. The test swatch card. Huge deal for me.Also so you are not caught off guard the actual pans are about the size of a dime/penny. Half pans. It might seem like a little, but I have a feeling judging based on how little you need to use that it will last a long time, and that the price is fair.You will not go wrong on this brand. I wish I could rate this higher because there was a massively noticable difference between my cheap paint and these.I do have 1 question. The swatch card that came with it. Is this an indicator of your paper quality too? I noticed you sell paper. That paper is fantastic, it was a dream to work with.Thank you Paul Rubens!(Edited to include update: New image sample landscape piece. Confirmed the control and use, vibrancy is outstanding! I'm a novice watercolorist and it's been a huge blessing having higher quality tools. I can't stop talking about these!!!)Edited to add a better art example. ♥️

Very happy with this new glitter palette. Used it a few times for painted Christmas Cards, but look forward to exploring more projects in the new year.

Really love this set 💖It’s as advertised - didn’t disappoint!

Great for the money. Easy to reactivate with water, better with Windsor and Newton colours that I have. The colours are sheer, vibrant and most are single pigments. The best part of this is the metal tin. It is sturdy, beautiful and could be used over once the paints are gone , I plan to re-use it. There's just a couple of things artists should know. 1) The paint information is all in Chinese. They do include pigment numbers and lightfastness, but you will have to look for them. They are on the side of the paint pots. 2) I have bought four orders of paint from Paul Rubens. I got the glitter set, the two sets of Shi Yun and the 24s. I have no complaints for all of them, but I was disappointed that the emerald green had sparkles in it. I have done research of reviews for the 24s and no one has mentioned sparkles in the emerald green or any other . Since I have so much of Paul Rubens paints and they all have been excellent except for one, so I am going to assume that it was one batch that was contaminated with their glitter paint. Overall I would purchase again.

Die 24 Glitzer Aquarellfarben haben eine sehr gute Qualität. Sie sind metallisch schimmernd und haben einen unaufdringlichen Glitzereffekt.

Arrived really fast, beautifully packaged, love the product, colours are beautiful