If you watch youtube or shop for watercolour pan palettes on Amazon, you have likely come across Paul Rubens, a brand produced by a Chinese company (Aowen) in Shanghai. I was skeptical at first because it is significantly cheaper than most artist grade brands such as Daniel Smith, Schmincke, Holbein, etc, but because so many artists I trust seem to love it, I figured it must be good. I bought the 48-pan set (half pans) on Amazon at 20% off on Prime day and here is my honest review of Paul Rubens watercolour.
The Presentation
The set comes in a very thick cardboard box, which I appreciate, because you know these days Amazon just shove your fragile art supplies into a paper mailer (no bubble wrap) and toss the packages at your door. I have enough shattered palettes and broken pencils to fear minimal packaging.
The palette is wrapped in a Paul Rubens pink chamois. If you buy any of these palettes from the official Paul Rubens store on Aliexpress.com, you will not get the chamois at all, though you will have a choice for different tin colours other than pink. I personally find this pink to be quite pretty so I don’t mind.
Once I unwrapped the palette from the pink chamois, it really impressed me how well made it is. The palette is hefty, with very thick stainless steel, about twice as heavy as the Meiliang one that I own.
These are half pans, so they are quite tiny (and I have very small hands). It took a while for me to unwrap all 48 pans.
Once unwrapped, the watercolours are quite shiny, which is a good sign. Once you use up the paint, you can refill the pans with your own, as the pans and palette are completely reusable and customizable.
On a side note, a similar empty palette (not quite as hefty) sells for about CAD$25-29 and that’s without the paints.
Although there is no open stock of Paul Rubens watercolour on Amazon, it is available on aliexpress.com. I am not an affiliate nor do I make any commission off this link. It is Paul Rubens’ official seller page and if you purchase from aliexpress, I would recommend not purchasing from third party sellers due to too many horror stories of people being ripped off.
Paul Rubens 100% Cotton Rag Glitter Watercolour Paper (fine grain)
For my first painting with Paul Rubens watercolour, I decided to use Paul Rubens glitter hot press watercolour paper. I have never used anything like it, and was curious how that glitter will translate on the finished look of the artwork.
The glitter particles are large enough to show up under light. The cotton paper is likely not surface sized, as it is not able to hold up after light erasing. It surprised me as even my cheaper watercolour papers are not prone to linting like this.
In addition, I find the glitter slightly distracting when I work under my desk lamp. It created too much glare that I have to move the light completely away from my work.
I painted this cat with Meiliang, Paul Rubens’ student grade counterpart, on the same cotton rag glitter watercolour paper. The glitter does not show very much on the finished piece. If you are contemplating whether to buy this paper, I would say skip it, because you don’t need it.
Paul Rubens Watercolour Review
I followed a tutorial on Let’s Make Art and painted a peacock using Paul Rubens watercolour. The blues I used are mostly opaque though. The paints are very easy to rewet and use, and I enjoy using them. You can tell this is artist grade almost instantly. Meiliang was good, but Paul Rubens is a whole other level.
I did two more paintings with Paul Rubens watercolour. The paints are vibrant and pigmented. They lift very easily and blend well. The paints are not the least bit chalky; in fact, they spread like butter on the paper. The richness and smoothness of the colours are very impressive.
Some things I need to mention:
- The brochure it comes with doesn’t have English, so the information about opacity/transparency may not be apparent unless you refer back to the listing on Amazon. Out of 48 colours, 11 are opaque, 11 semi-opaque, and 26 are transparent.
- A lot of the colours look very similar to each other.
- Many of the blues are not transparent, which I need them to be.
Do You Need 48 Colours?
Because so many of the colours are similar, it begs the question. Do you really need 48 colours?
Personally, I would say no. The only reason why I bought the 48 set instead of the 24 is because of the shade Magenta, which the 24 set(the pink palette version, not the gem stone series) does not have. Because I usually work with limited palettes and mix the shades that I want, I don’t really need 48 colours in a set.
Overall Review of Paul Rubens Watercolour
Paul Rubens watercolours are vibrant, pigmented and lightfast artist grade paints at an affordable price. The packaging is gorgeous, and the quality is high. I don’t think you will regret buying it. Despite many shades being a bit too similar to each other, this 48 set is still a good buy, considering there is no open stock on Amazon. All in all, it is a top quality palette watercolour artists at any level will enjoy.
