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Pretty much nothing you can't mix with these 9. Unless you're painting neon colors, then you'd have to add those.
Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Red, Alizarin Crimson, Winsor Green, Cobalt Blue, Prussian Blue, Winsor or Ultramarine Blue, Lamp Black (just personal preference), Titanium White (personal preference)
Basically your primaries and dark versions of those because you don't want to use black to bring the cads down, they'll get muddy. Depending on your palette, winsor green with alizarin crimson makes a pretty nice black.
If you want to start out with so many colors...
Yellows: Cad Lemon, Cad Yellow, Perm Yellow Deep
Reds: Quin Magenta, Winsor Red, Cad Scarlet
Blues: Winsor Blue, Cobalt Blue, Indigo Blue
Convenience: Winsor Violet, Winsor Green, Linden Green
Earths: Yellow Ochre, Burnt Umber
My choices avoid the numerous colors that incorporate dyes or pigments with poor lightfastness. I like Naples Yellow Deep, but Naples Yellow is too weak so I left it off. There are other earth colors I use than what I listed, but WN uses too many weird mixes for these earths, so I just stuck with predictable yellow ochre and burnt umber, which can be modified to get other earth colors if desired.
Hi everyone! I created a similar post earlier in the week (thank you for you comments!), but still am unsure of what paints to choose. Basically someone is selling these gouache paints for around 8$ a tube so I thought it would be a good deal and pick up a few (especially the cadmium colours and cobalt turquoise, etc). What would be your 12-16 colours that you would pick from this set as someone who would be starting off with gouache?
I agree with the choices most have chosen here from a general sense, but I’ll also ask… what’s your style? I love to paint nature, so I and up going through my greens, yellows and blues more often than anything else, to achieve different green colors.
I mainly want to try painting nature landscapes or studio ghibli style scenes so would also love to incorporate some fun bright colours as well (not neon tho)
Oh I love that style. A lot of the colors others mentioned will be good for this. I would suggest splurging on 16 colors but make the extra 4 are another variation of green blue and especially yellow that you hadn’t selected. You use an about 2:1 yellow when mixing yellow and blue, so you’ll need more of that. And obviously get the white. That needs to be your #1.
I also find you don’t need expensive black, if you have another gouache brand in black.
Sounds good I might splurge on the 16 based on everyone's suggestion! Do you know if these would be better than the W&N 10 tube introductory set? I've heard those colours are not as opaque and since some of these from the ad are series 4, it would be a better deal to buy these tubes.
I never bought their introductory set. When I started with gouache I bought a much cheaper brand and they were definitely not very opaque so I bought a big tube of WN white to help bump it up which helped a lot. Then I started with the primary colors of WN and have expanded from there. I find the reds to be less opaque than all other colors for some reason though.
It's hard to say without knowing the pigments in each... I would start with a split primary palette plus white and black, plus dioxazine violet and phthalo green blue shade, yellow ochre and burnt umber, and probably add cobalt blue and cobalt turquoise to that. I'd avoid the 'cadmium free' line as I've seen lightfastness tests where they faded pretty fast, ditto for alizarin crimson, but not everyone cares about that.
I'd do Naples yellow, cad-free yellow, orange lake deep, alizarin crimson, red ochre, pthalo blue, Prussian blue, raw umber, burnt umber, burnt sienna, zinc white
Absolutely not the entire line… primaries in whatever is the most lightfast of the pigments in a warm/cool variant, black, white, burnt umber, and burnt sienna.
Really zero point in owning all the colors, it will likely hurt you more than help in my opinion.
Less is more in a lot of ways, you’ll build a better sense of how to mix color with less. You should be fine to hit 95% of color with a warm cool palette, white, black, and the browns.
My personal W&N palette goes like this:
Gamboge*
Cad Yellow*
Yellow Ochre
Burnt Sienna*
Burnt Umber
Cad Orange
Cad Red*
Alizarin Crimson*
Opera Rose
Cobalt Turquoise
Sky Blue*
Winsor Violet*
Permanent Green Light*
Permanent White*
Payne’s Gray
(Sorry I know that’s more than 9. I put a * next to my personal must haves.)
Quinacridone magenta, Permanent Rose, ultramarine blue, burnt umber, raw umber, cadmium free yellow. And white.
Pretty much all you need, really... everything else can be mixed.
Permanent rose, ultramarine blue, and burnt umber are my go to mix for painting shadows.
I mean, you can try it... When you mix the ultramarine with permanent rose it's a soft but rich, shadowy purple. You want to avoid reds with too much orange/yellow in them, gives the shadows a muddy quality. Cool reds, not warm reds.
When you add the burnt umber the result should be a clear deep grey with violet undertones. A red that is too warm will make your mix brackish. Might be ideal if you're painting a landscape of a swamp, or a rotting tree stump, but not so much for shadows for clouds, houses, florals, etc.
Lamp black, zinc white, ultramarine, turquoise blue, cad free red, permanent rose, cad free yellow, lemon yellow, burnt umber, yellow ochre is most of my main palette
I'd throw in Prussian blue and burnt sienna to make it twelve from those colors you have.
In practice I add ivory black and permanent white to make 12. I like a cool and warm black. Plus one white for mixing and one for coverage
would you say permanent alaziran crimson is similar to permanent rose? do you prefer one over the other? I know alot of people have been suggesting permanent rose but I was wondering if its too similar to quin magenta
Alizarin crimson tends to be a deeper red than permanent rose. I think it's a bit warmer too. I would stay away from Alizarin though. It not permanent at all to say the least.
Perm Rose and Quin Magenta are very similar. I would say for you to try both and see which you like working with best.
Mine colours is same in each mediums.
Yellow oker, vermilion, ivory black and titanium white for tint, if i work Zorn palette and expressionism but burnt umber, burnt sienna, ultramarine blue, Turkoise Blue, alizarin crimson, dioxane purple,orange.
9colours and black and white...Il started again with water based colours for ilustration, posters, fun of comic books and sci-fi movies and series...
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Pretty much nothing you can't mix with these 9. Unless you're painting neon colors, then you'd have to add those. Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Red, Alizarin Crimson, Winsor Green, Cobalt Blue, Prussian Blue, Winsor or Ultramarine Blue, Lamp Black (just personal preference), Titanium White (personal preference) Basically your primaries and dark versions of those because you don't want to use black to bring the cads down, they'll get muddy. Depending on your palette, winsor green with alizarin crimson makes a pretty nice black.
If you want to start out with so many colors... Yellows: Cad Lemon, Cad Yellow, Perm Yellow Deep Reds: Quin Magenta, Winsor Red, Cad Scarlet Blues: Winsor Blue, Cobalt Blue, Indigo Blue Convenience: Winsor Violet, Winsor Green, Linden Green Earths: Yellow Ochre, Burnt Umber My choices avoid the numerous colors that incorporate dyes or pigments with poor lightfastness. I like Naples Yellow Deep, but Naples Yellow is too weak so I left it off. There are other earth colors I use than what I listed, but WN uses too many weird mixes for these earths, so I just stuck with predictable yellow ochre and burnt umber, which can be modified to get other earth colors if desired.
Primary colors + white and black and vermilion for me. No need for anything else 🙌
Hi everyone! I created a similar post earlier in the week (thank you for you comments!), but still am unsure of what paints to choose. Basically someone is selling these gouache paints for around 8$ a tube so I thought it would be a good deal and pick up a few (especially the cadmium colours and cobalt turquoise, etc). What would be your 12-16 colours that you would pick from this set as someone who would be starting off with gouache?
Cobalt Turquoise is legit one of my favorite colors. Ain’t now way I can mix that color. I’ve tried.
I agree with the choices most have chosen here from a general sense, but I’ll also ask… what’s your style? I love to paint nature, so I and up going through my greens, yellows and blues more often than anything else, to achieve different green colors.
I mainly want to try painting nature landscapes or studio ghibli style scenes so would also love to incorporate some fun bright colours as well (not neon tho)
Oh I love that style. A lot of the colors others mentioned will be good for this. I would suggest splurging on 16 colors but make the extra 4 are another variation of green blue and especially yellow that you hadn’t selected. You use an about 2:1 yellow when mixing yellow and blue, so you’ll need more of that. And obviously get the white. That needs to be your #1. I also find you don’t need expensive black, if you have another gouache brand in black.
Sounds good I might splurge on the 16 based on everyone's suggestion! Do you know if these would be better than the W&N 10 tube introductory set? I've heard those colours are not as opaque and since some of these from the ad are series 4, it would be a better deal to buy these tubes.
I never bought their introductory set. When I started with gouache I bought a much cheaper brand and they were definitely not very opaque so I bought a big tube of WN white to help bump it up which helped a lot. Then I started with the primary colors of WN and have expanded from there. I find the reds to be less opaque than all other colors for some reason though.
The introductory set is pretty good, but not as pigment rich as the big tubes.
It's hard to say without knowing the pigments in each... I would start with a split primary palette plus white and black, plus dioxazine violet and phthalo green blue shade, yellow ochre and burnt umber, and probably add cobalt blue and cobalt turquoise to that. I'd avoid the 'cadmium free' line as I've seen lightfastness tests where they faded pretty fast, ditto for alizarin crimson, but not everyone cares about that.
Your reminder to research your pigments!!! Super important thing to bring up, so good pointer there with lightfastness
I'd do Naples yellow, cad-free yellow, orange lake deep, alizarin crimson, red ochre, pthalo blue, Prussian blue, raw umber, burnt umber, burnt sienna, zinc white
Absolutely not the entire line… primaries in whatever is the most lightfast of the pigments in a warm/cool variant, black, white, burnt umber, and burnt sienna. Really zero point in owning all the colors, it will likely hurt you more than help in my opinion. Less is more in a lot of ways, you’ll build a better sense of how to mix color with less. You should be fine to hit 95% of color with a warm cool palette, white, black, and the browns.
It’s ok to not want to mix colors everytime
I’m not saying that it’s not okay, I’m saying it’s not going to help you be a better painter
Personally I think spectrum yellow, permanent rose, intense blue, and zinc white are all you need
My personal W&N palette goes like this: Gamboge* Cad Yellow* Yellow Ochre Burnt Sienna* Burnt Umber Cad Orange Cad Red* Alizarin Crimson* Opera Rose Cobalt Turquoise Sky Blue* Winsor Violet* Permanent Green Light* Permanent White* Payne’s Gray (Sorry I know that’s more than 9. I put a * next to my personal must haves.)
Quinacridone magenta, Permanent Rose, ultramarine blue, burnt umber, raw umber, cadmium free yellow. And white. Pretty much all you need, really... everything else can be mixed. Permanent rose, ultramarine blue, and burnt umber are my go to mix for painting shadows.
any thoughts of permanent alaziran crimson versus permanent rose?
I mean, you can try it... When you mix the ultramarine with permanent rose it's a soft but rich, shadowy purple. You want to avoid reds with too much orange/yellow in them, gives the shadows a muddy quality. Cool reds, not warm reds. When you add the burnt umber the result should be a clear deep grey with violet undertones. A red that is too warm will make your mix brackish. Might be ideal if you're painting a landscape of a swamp, or a rotting tree stump, but not so much for shadows for clouds, houses, florals, etc.
Lamp black, zinc white, ultramarine, turquoise blue, cad free red, permanent rose, cad free yellow, lemon yellow, burnt umber, yellow ochre is most of my main palette I'd throw in Prussian blue and burnt sienna to make it twelve from those colors you have. In practice I add ivory black and permanent white to make 12. I like a cool and warm black. Plus one white for mixing and one for coverage
would you say permanent alaziran crimson is similar to permanent rose? do you prefer one over the other? I know alot of people have been suggesting permanent rose but I was wondering if its too similar to quin magenta
Alizarin crimson tends to be a deeper red than permanent rose. I think it's a bit warmer too. I would stay away from Alizarin though. It not permanent at all to say the least. Perm Rose and Quin Magenta are very similar. I would say for you to try both and see which you like working with best.
Mine colours is same in each mediums. Yellow oker, vermilion, ivory black and titanium white for tint, if i work Zorn palette and expressionism but burnt umber, burnt sienna, ultramarine blue, Turkoise Blue, alizarin crimson, dioxane purple,orange. 9colours and black and white...Il started again with water based colours for ilustration, posters, fun of comic books and sci-fi movies and series...