Winsor & Newton Artisan Water Mixable Oil Color Paint, 0.4-oz (12xml) Tubes, Set of 10

These paints behave like traditional oil paints and are nearly as pigmented as the artist's grade traditional oil paints by W&N. They definitely seem more pigmented than the Winton grade. There's an issue with extra oil being in some tubes, and some tubes not being 100% filled upon arrival, but none were tampered with, it just seems to be filling issues. Still, the paints perform wonderfully and this set is great for beginners. The tubes are SMALL, less than 1/3 of what a normal small tube contains.The color selection is very good; you get warm and cool versions of green, blue and red, but only one real yellow as the warm yellow is very orange heavy (cad yellow hue). You will run out of white before all the rest for sure. The earth and skin tones are rich but the selection is not full so keep that in mind if you want to do portraiture. Color selection is mostly missing Burnt Umber, Van Dyke Brown, Sap Green, Prussian Blue, Mars Black, and a Warm Yellow like Winsor Yellow but you've got everything else you'll ever need. The paints dry a significant amount of time faster than standard oil paints, most are touch dry within 36hrs. The paints are a bit stiff so always work lean to fat; add in turpentine or water-mixable solvent (or water) and gradually add more water mixable medium (I use fast drying medium) as you add more layers to the painting.Washing up is a breeze, but if you use solvent, as you should be, the paints will leave behind some sludgy residue inside the deep bristles of the brushes which can harden and bind the bristles if you don't wash it out so you'll need Masters Brush Soap to fully wash them out at the end of every session since these paints will not fully dissolve into solvents like traditional oil paints do.Ultimately if you want to avoid toxic solvents, want water-washable paints, and want something with the rich chroma and varied hues of oil paints but with faster drying and less expense, give these paints a try!P.s. the French Ultramarine is particularly good. So good that I ordered a 200ml tube to keep on hand because it is better than most brands artist grade versions at a tiny fraction of the cost. It's not as good as W&N artist grade french ultramarine, but it's literally less than 1/3 the cost.

This water mixable oil is still oil painting but it is made with modified linseed and safflower oil and mixed with pigments. It seems that for the same brand they are different qualities or different painting series due to the pigment concentration. I like the basic colors of this water mixable oil set which despite its very affordable price contains 10 bright and viscous colors which are Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Yellow Hue, Permanent Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Red Hue, Cerulean Blue Hue, French Ultramarine, Phthalo Green (Blue Shade), Yellow Ochre, Burnt Umber, and Titanium White. I bought a few extra colors like the Payne's grey or the sap green but just with this set you can already make a few mixtures!The first time I started to paint with this new medium (at least for me)I must say I was surprised by the thickness of the painting because for whatever reason I expected it to be not as thick as oil!However it is thick but you can use water, which works perfectly, or a non toxic diluent from the same brand to obtain thinner layers (diluent is not that cheap but fortunately you need only a few drops to obtain a very satisfying result). It is better to start with thinner layers because it takes a few days to dry, even if it seems a little bit faster than "normal" oil painting (at least it is my impression but it should be verified)so be patient! Once you have finished to paint, you just have to clean your brush with soap if you want it to last longer...I am still experimenting the product in order to be more familiar with it but I must say that with mixable oil painting you do not want to switch back to oil painting. In general, I think that water mixable oil has all the oil painting qualities without its big disadvantage: in effect, no strong odor, and consequently no headache, and no allergy anymore...it is safer for human and animals and more, it is a good attitude/gesture for our beautiful planet! Think of all the turpentine badly and wrongly poured in the sinks...I saw a few books are on the market which explain how to deal with the water mixable oils but personnally I want to practice again and again to get more comfortable with the medium first.

These are some of the best paints.

These paints really do work nicely without having to use toxic chemicals to clean up. Probably my only complaint is they are a little thick so I use a mixing medium to make them the consistency I prefer. But I am happy with this brand and will continue purchasing it! And this was a great starter set to try the brand out without huge expense.