Holbein Watercolor Review Color Chart Swatch Cards, Lightfast Test, Painting Demonstration

Holbein watercolor is a professional grade paint made in Japan. They use the typical gum arabic binder, with no additional flow additives (such as ox-gall that is present in brands like Winsor & Newton, Schmincke, Roman Szmal etc.). Like many Asian made watercolors, these colors tend to stay where you put them (instead of actively flowing across a wet wash). These stay put more than American or European made watercolors, but still retain a pleasant workability without streakiness. Holbein is most similar in performance to Mission Gold and ShinHan brands.

There are 108 colors in the Holbein watercolor catalog, many of which are multi-pigment convenience mixtures. Their more expensive pigments such as Cobalts, Cadmiums and Viridian tend to be cost prohibitive in the USA/Euro, where the additional cost added to import these paints have resulted in a price too high to be competitive. In Japan these are a very reasonably priced paint. Depending on the color, some individual tubes may still be on the average to high end of normal costs for pro grade paints in your area. I would check the current pricing on Jackson's website, who ships worldwide.

I have had a good experience with all colors I have purchased from Holbein, with no unusual quirks to report. Unlike some brands, each tube seems to be well blended with its binder resulting in a stable paint with minimal binder separation over long term storage.

 

Lightfast test results:

Coming soon.

 

Swatch Cards:

PY175 Holbein Watercolor Imidazolone Lemon Pigment Database Color Chart PY150 PY175 PY154 Holbein Watercolor Aureolin Hue Art Pigment Database PY150 PY154 PY110 Holbein Watercolor Gamboge Nova Art Pigment Database PO48 PY150 Holbein Watercolor Quinacridone Gold Art Pigment Database PR209 PW6 Holbein Watercolor Brilliant Pink Pigment Database Color Chart PR209 Holbein Quin Scarlet Watercolor Professional Japan Swatch Color Chart pv19 holbein quin violet watercolor professional paint color chart swatch pigment PB29 PR122 PBr25 Holbein Mineral Violet water color pigment swatch card image art granulate separate PB29 Holbein Watercolor Ultramarine Deep Pigment Database Color Chart PB27 Holbein Watercolor Prussian Blue Swatch Card    PG18 Holbein Watercolor Viridian Watercolour swatch color chart card pigment PG7 PY110 PY150 Holbein Watercolor Hooker's Green Art Pigment Database PY150 PBr25 PG7 Holbein Watercolor Greenish Yellow Art Pigment Database PY150 PG7 PBr25 Holbein Watercolor Olive Green Art Pigment Database PBr25 Holbein Imidazolone Brown water color pigment swatch card image art granulate separate NBr8 Holbein HWC Van Dyke Brown natural pigment art fugitive water color colour swatch card example lightfast PBk9 Holbein Watercolor Ivory Black Color Granulating Art Pigment Database Swatch Card  

 

Where to buy? USA Blick, Worldwide Jacksons.

 

 

https://www.dickblick.com 

 

If you'd like to see how each color compares to the same pigment from a different brand - check out the pigment database full of swatch cards!

 

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