2 is Better than 1? Does SeamiArt Watercolor Still Suck? Travel & Professional Watercolor Palettes

Shownotes:
Way more info in the full shownotes: https://tinyurl.com/yc6j6ur6

Professional Set:
Get your own: https://tinyurl.com/5n8rwskn

In a loose plastic bag
Black enamel unhinged paint box
Plastic liner interior- better quality than I expected
Pans are individually wrapped and labeled
Travel brush seems half decent
All in all, kinda impressed so far.

Travel Set:
Get your own: https://tinyurl.com/3ecwkfup
The mini watercolor book is SO CUTE, but the perferation is like, a quarter of the page.
The Gel Pen and the inking pens are kinda a joke- the inking pen STINKS like permanent marker, which most artists know isn't particularly archival.

Professional Set
List of colors in shownotes

Swatching:

Looks like there's a lot of optical brighteners in these, they shifted color quite a bit when spritzed with water.
Color seems to flood into the wash area- not the soft gradient, but just a color fill, pretty similar to what I've seen with other dye-utilizing watercolors.
These muddy the water fast and significantly, I'm changing the water b/w every 6 colors.
The color layout of this palette doesn't really make sense to me chromatically, BUT you can opt to change the colors as you wish.
I also find it surprising that this palette didn't come with a swatch sheet color map.
These really look like they're dye based. That said, I feel like they ARE an improvement over that other SEamiArt set, but that set was AWFUL.
Maybe I should challenge myself to try to paint something with a watercolor set I hate...

Color mixing:

Optical Mixing:
Some of the colors reactibate and move rather than glazing. I guess they're not particularly watersafe.

Atomic Mixing:
Fairly easy to mix together good secondary color mixes.

Lift Test:
Yep, everything lifts about the same.

Travel watercolor Set:
Starting with their color map
Spritzed with water
Some color shift- optical brighteners?
Because the swatch colors are next to each other, I'm alternating and giving the initial swatches time to dry.
It's surprising that this kit came with a swatch card, but not the 'professional' set.
The 'ochre' is weird, no granulation at all? Doesnt look like it has any opacity? This is a dye basd color for sure.
I wanna note that if I dislike the colors in this set, I'm just going to pry them out and use the palette.
So far, these seem pretty similar to the Seamiart 'professional' palette.

Swatching on Cottonrag:

They swatch ehh ok? I think they dried out some after swatching on their swatch card, because they're not as saturated and I hadn't bothered to reactivate them.
Comparing the swatches side by side- I'll show yall later- I'm not actually sure these two really share a palette- there aren't many colors in common, which is kinda strange.

Color Mixing:

Optical:
Not great at this.

Atomic:
They do mix, but they're far less saturated than the 'professional' line

Lift Test:
These all lift about the same.
The mini palette itself is pretty great, wipes clean easily, and might be a good buy empty.


Comparable Palettes:
Professional:
Similar Value:
Meeden watercolors
Might be a bit better than the 'professional' giorgione watercolors.
Artibox

Better:
MozArt Komorebi watercolors
Paul Rubens
Travel:

Similar value:
Amy Tangerine Palette
Sakura Koi 12 color palette (actually that'd be a bit better)
HIMI

Better:

Empty acrylic and wooden palettes would be my recommendation over this one.
Superior watercolor watch
Paul Rubens Travel watercolor palette
Or make your own/fill your own with PR tube watercolors

Pros and Cons:
In the full shownotes

The Verdict:
Not for me


Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
01:37 The Palettes
03:03 On AliExpress
13:25 Unpacking the Professional Palette
16:26 Unpacking the Travel Palette
24:35 Talking About The Palettes
27:57 Unwrapping the Pans
32:25: Swatching the Professional Palette
38:54 Color Mixing
40:53 Lift Test
42:09 Travel Palette
42:18 Talking about Mini Palettes
46:31 Swatching on Their Card
47:57 Swatching on My Paper
48:56 Color Mixing
50:26 Comparing the Two Palettes
53:48 Wet into Wet Test for Professional
54:55 Accessories
1:07:01 Trying out the Mini Book
1:08:07 Compared to the Original SeamiArt Palette
1:09:04 Reswatching the Original Palette
1:10:44 SeamiArt on AliExpress
1:15:47 Compared to Other Palettes
1:17:14 XileyW
1:18:17 Original SeamiArt
1:19:15 Himi Diamond
1:20:15 Meeden
1:21:16 Georgione Pro
1:22:22 Artibox
1:23:22 Better Palettes
1:24:51 MozArt Komorebi
1:25:51 Paul Rubens
1:27:00 Meiliang Pigments
1:28:50 Travel Palettes
1:31:15 SeamiArt Mini Palette
1:32:07 Amy Tangerine
1:33:09 Sakura Koi
1:33:55 DIY Options
1:37:45 Pros and Cons
1:41:43 Who are These For
1:44:43 Prying out the Paints
1:45:56 Final Thoughts

Music:
Sunny Travel- Nico Staf
Windswept- Kevin MacLeod
Tranquility- Kevin MacLeod
Inner Light- Kevin MacLeod
Sunny Looks Good On You
The Story of One Life
Sunset Dream- Cheel

#travelwatercolor #travelwatercolorpalete #SeamiArtWatercolor