When I was a young beginner artist there were 3 classifications for watercolors and pretty much all other paints- children’s, student or classroom, and professional. Professional were the best. Student was generally close to professional grade with more filler and less pigment. Children’s was well, a crapshoot of non-toxic pigments and fillers. Then came the addition of craft paint- usually acrylic and made with fillers and UV resistance (sometimes) and created to be affordable.
Recently I’ve been thinking about this and mentally adding additional layers to this hierarchy.
I think that the professional level has stayed the same. Pro level is pro level- high quality pigmentation, labeling of MOST of that pigmentation, and an expectation of certain behaviors of that paint. In the case of watercolors: re-wettability, a certain amount of movement on the page, and an understanding of how that color will behave when mixed with other colors.
Children’s colors have also stayed the same.
It’s the middle level that I think has fragmented more than anything else. Student grade was often a heading where you would pick up a color that maybe you didn’t expect to use all that often but needed it for a specific project. It’d be the same color but with a little more filler and less punch than the professional version. Now we have a whole new level of interest in the affordable version of professional colors. We’ve got Arrtx, Lightwish, Funto, Grabie and Paul Rubens entering the field with colors that are vibrant and labeled with pigment information, but also not always.
As well as incredibly aggressive marketing, but that is a discussion for later.
There are a number of brands that “white label” their products from the same factory (Superior) in China. (The Frugal Crafter Lindsay Weirich talks about this often.) I’ve seen a number of videos where the review makes note that the labeled pigment information doesn’t seem accurate because a pigment isn’t granulating or mixing as it should. OR the paints are labeled non-toxic but the label on the paints are for a known toxic pigment. (I wish I could link to the video where I saw this, but I can’t remember. It was either TheFrugalCrafter or The Mind of Watercolor or Liz Chaderton.) When the reviewer reached out, the seller was able to say that no it wasn’t the toxic pigment and it was mislabeled.
A new label that I’ve created in my head is “Adult Coloring Book.” This label is for paints that are somewhere between professional and student grade and have a million convenience colors in their package. I’m specifically thinking of the viral watercolor, marker, and colored pencil sets with particularly aggressive marketing. I’ll use Grabie as an example. They went viral a few years back with a metal tin loaded up with 100+ colors, a pencil, water brush and brush bundle that was affordably priced. The initial reviews focused on the intensity of the color and how well they rewet. One of my interns had been gifted with a set and used it primarily for adult coloring books.
None of the reviews I saw focused on how well they did or did not mix, because they focused on the use of the colors for pattern making, coloring books, and other styles where mixing colors wasn’t needed nor wanted. It wasn’t until the Grabie kits got into the hands of actual artists where the reviews started to discuss the mixing of the pigments. Those reviews were okay.
I myself got my hands on the Grabie 12 color mini watercolor set and I have been remarkably impressed. The colors respond mostly as expected but there are a few colors that aren’t right. The cerulean blue doesn’t granulate and is a shade too dark. It’s much more of a peacock or tropical blue than cerulean. It does mix with raw and burnt sienna to make a nice gray, so it’s probably a Pthalo or Ultramarine blue mix.
I was actually really impressed by the Grabie paints- they rewet REALLY well and were decently pigmented for the price. The price was incredibly affordable especially when compared to other brands that are in the student spectrum.
Another example, I picked up a few seconds from The Art of Soil, another Instagram seller of handmade paint. There’s a lot to like with their colors- made from soil and earth based pigments. Except when they aren’t. And you don’t really know when they aren’t because they don’t disclose their pigment information except to say that the pigment is commercially available. They rewet well and work fine. They are only available in full sets, which makes them an expensive choice. There was a texture issue in some of the paint that I just can’t work with. It was both chalky and paste-y. It just wasn’t for me.
To me both Grabie and The Art of Soil paints sit somewhere in that student grade realm of good enough for students but also not quite where I’d feel comfortable making art to sell from them. I believe these paints are designed with a specific consumer in mind- someone who likes art, is looking for a good deal (who isn’t) and isn’t planning to create art for sale. Maybe these consumers are focused on making patterns in their sketchbooks, making art journals, or adult coloring books. These consumers also tend to have a bit more spending money for art materials- it’s less of a hobby and more relaxation for them.
Anyway, I think that the aggressive marketing means that a lot of people who are outside of their target audience get their advertisements. Which I think leads to disappointment and frustration towards the materials.
Aggressive marketing isn’t a new thing, but it is now heavily prevalent in the art and craft world. Several creative creators (SketchesNScrubs, Frugal Crafter, and others) have called out several brands- Lightwish, Arrtx, Ohuhu, and Paul Rubens for being overly aggressive in their timelines and required talking points for free product. From various videos I’ve watched, the aggressive tactics seem to get even more, aggro, when it’s a sponsored post.
I think what all these new companies want is to sell their products at the prosumer level- that is to people who expect and want pro level of material experience but with a slightly lower price point than true pro materials. I think this could be accomplished without the aggressive marketing and through honest labeling. If a product is quality it will stand up to good honest and thorough reviews and it doesn’t need the company harassing content creators into crunch timelines for reviews. Giving creative creators crunch and hard line marketing deadlines means the creators end up making videos that praise the product and damn the company. Which in the long run ends up lessening sales because no one wants to support a company that their favorite creator says treated them badly.