SAKURA15262 18-Piece Koi Assorted Water Color Tube Set

I had previously purchased a 24 pan sketch box by Sakura and though I enjoyed the colors and paint quality, I hated all I had to go through to activate a large amount of paint. I gave the box to my daughter an bought these for myself. I love them! One of my favorite art supply purchases yet. The colors are vivid and fun, and the paints are affordable. I'm having a blast with these paints. I love that they are AP certified non-toxic, so if my kiddos get into them they are safe. And if I stick my brush in my mouth (which I catch myself doing sometimes) I don't have to worry about any crazy chemicals or metals in my system.

The colors are so delightfully vibrant! Not sure why people are complaining so much about the blue tones, I don't have a problem with them at all. These are perfect for the 30 paintings I have lined up for the next several months. Good price, arrived within two days of ordering. Definitely suits me wonderfully!My only criticism is that the carmine is the only red in there... and I needed a crimson. And the purple comes out as more of a magenta. Not too big of a problem, because I just went and bought a tube of the alizarin crimson I needed, from the craft store I work at, and I can always just mix the desired purple.I would (and most likely will) definitely buy these again!

I bought this set to get started back into water-color after having used acrylics for years. I have to say, for the price, I'm pretty impressed. The paints are nice, and easy to work with. A couple of minor items that prevented it from getting 5 stars, the brown tube in the set I bought had bad paint (the pigment had separated from the base), and I tend to prefer metal tubes that you can roll up over the plastic tubes, but for aspiring artists new to watercolor (or returning after a long hiatus) it's a good kit to get back into the artform with.

Great for beginners like me! The colors are buildable and vibrant. I squeezed the tube paint into an empty tin, and it takes the paint several days to a week to dry. Some colors don't seem to dry completely. Regardless, all colors can easily be reactivated with water. I have sold a couple paintings to friends using Koi!

I love how creamy the warm colors are when settled and dried. As expected, the prussian blue and ultramarine look very granular when all dried, also affecting the texture when mixing with complementary colors..I wish Sakura based the color set on this 18-tube package on the Quiller Wheel to achieve true complimentary with closest Pthalo / Cadmium substitutes. Vermilion is the only true "orange" between the red and yellow--yellow ochre isnt quite the equivalent of cadmium yellow light.I'd still give it 5 stars for the very good warm colors and that it doesn't have Pthalo and Cadmium colors which are toxic. As I have said, the closest to the Quiller Wheel would be ideal with closest substitutes to Cadmiums, Dioxazines, and Pthalocyanines.

Great paints! I'm taking a college watercolor course, and this brand was suggested by the instructor. She says she was impressed by the quality, and so am I!

These sets are like no other.Outstanding quality for painting for hobby or retail.The fact that there are tubes make them last a bit longer as they can be sealed from air a bit better if you are careful.The pigment is concentrated of course, so you can decide how much water to add, as water color denotes being entirely watersoluble, so the dissolving and opaque to transparent extensive ranges are possible.

Koi watercolors are raved over by many art journal makers and urban sketchers, and they are pretty good for this use, however I wouldn't recommend them for actual watercolor painting. The pan forms are actually dry cakes, not semi-moist pans, contain a lot of filler, and therefore tend to look chalky when dried. The tube form is nicer, but they don't re-wet well when allowed to dry and subsequently used as pans. They are cheap, and colorful and yes, I would recommend them for sketching and art journaling/mixed media work, but for true watercolor painting you can't get a better brand than Van Gogh...these beautiful student watercolors are almost impossible to distinguish from artists quality most of the time. The only reason I keep buying them is that they are more readily available in places like Michaels and Hobby Lobby, and with the 40% off coupon make a good beginners purchase for students. I purchased this tube set because I wanted to pour them into cheap palettes and make up some pan sets for my students and grandchild to use, however, I ended up buying some more Van Gogh a week later because I was so disappointed with the Koi.