Folks who use watercolours I have a question please 🙏 I'm packing shop orders tonight. I notice in feedback I get on my paints, a lot of people say they have a "high pigment load" But I don't understand how you make a paint without as much pigment as the binder takes? So… What does that mean?
If you ever want to see the difference - grab the cheapest kid-paint palette you can get your hands on, and try painting. Prang is actually quite nice, it's the department store off-brand ones that feature remarkably low tinting strength.
I'd go out sketching with a Prang set any day. Some kid palettes that I tried, I couldn't scrub color off the pans with a Brillo pad.
I think it’s a compliment, I would prefer high pigment load as it’s easier to thin & keep a true color. Maybe if the person was wanting something less loaded, then they work in very light colors. Don’t know for sure but I’ve never heard a complaint for high pigment load before.
I will happily take the compliment! 😁 (From other people's replies here, it sounds like some companies are using fillers or more binder to extend the pigment. So fair enough TBH, cos I also prefer paints that are full of pigment not other arbitrary crap 🙃)
Like, if you tried to skimp on pigment & used excess binder, you'd end up with something that would prob take forever to dry? Besides which, binder is a pain in the arse to make & has it's own cost?? I guess you could add a bunch of fillers but then why the fuck bother making paint???
A lot of the watercolours out there are just watery. And chalky. And the colour is washed out no matter how much paint you load, or how many layers you use. Yours are vibrant and dense, even the light colours, but they go on the paper smooth and light and diaphanous, even the more opaque ones.
Well thank you! 😁 I guess the chalky texture would be fillers. I know you can buy cheap fillers like talc, fullers earth, & shitty varieties of chalk, but I've never tried them... Frankly, I never want to. Bleh.
And we are grateful ❤️
And I am grateful for you enjoying my paints 💖
It's not a bad thing, unless a buyer is specifically looking for a chalky finish or a sticky mess.
From everyone's replies here, I'm taking it as a nice compliment (it does indeed sound like some sticky/chalky paints exist out there 😬)
It may simply mean, "as compared to other paint brands", which may contain more binder, and hence be "gummy" as I and my artist friends call them. Winsor & Newton watercolors tend to be gummy, while Daniel Smith watercolors tend to have a higher pigment load.
Ahhh OK. Honest to feck tho, if you tried to skimp on pigment by using excess binder your paint would probably not dry well in the pan and be weirdly shiny, no? That would suck.
Yep, and M. Graham watercolors have done just that. Added just enough honey to their paints that they may never completely dry, and are sticky if you layer some washes on the paper. So pricey, so sticky.
Oh fuck that all the way into the sea. There are some synthetic pigments that are so thirsty with binder, it's hard to get them to dry. I've had to change methods & recipes for e.g. nickel azo yellow & indanthrene blue. But if all their paints are like that? Hell TF no.
I've also seen watercolors that didn't have *enough* binder *coughJazperStardustcough*.
Did that mean they powder off/crack?
YEP
Bleee.
Specifically, the pigment comes off the paper when you touch it. Only handmade paint I've seen that was worse than the stuff I made myself lol
Yeah... the binder is there for a reason! TBF tho, the first few goes at paint-making, I found it hard to get the balance right for binder. But trial & error, that's how you learn eh?
It's probably people being really happy that they're professional level paints. It might be that the paints granulate, though some of us like that!
I would see that as positive feedback. Was it framed as good/bad?
Framed as good & I'm happier to have the compliment! I just wasn't sure why a watercolour WOULDN'T have that, if you get what I mean? Like... The alternatives all sound like they'd suck.
They do suck. I need to buy some of yours!
Legit surprised that there are so many craptastic paints out there (not sure why tho given, yknow, capitalism.) But I'll keep trying to make paints that don't suck! 😂