- Ellie Taylor
The June 2019 SketchBox and Review of Koi Watercolors
For June the Basic SketchBox featured Koi Watercolors. I had purchased the 48 pan travel set of Koi Watercolor earlier this year and I thought I would review them with this box. For those who want to try these out for themselves, I have included my Amazon Affiliate links down below.
The art on the box was created by Kaiah Brackett.
Cutie Boots said, "Open it! Open it!, It has Koi in it!"
When we opened the box there was Koi in it, but not the fish kind! Cutie Boots was terribly disappointed.
The first group of items were four 12 ml tubes of Koi Watercolors. The colors I received were Burnt Sienna, Deep Green, Deep Yellow, and Pale Orange. You can get an 18 tube set of Koi watercolors for around $28.20 on Amazon.
Then there was one more watercolor tube, but this was an 8 ml tube of Winsor and Newton Cotman watercolor. This color was Payne's Gray. You can get a set of 12 tube Winsor Newton watercolors for $29.37 on Amazon.
Next there was a Kingart Inkline pen. This was a black ink pen with 0.8 mm nib. This pen is available in a pack of 6 for $7.99 on Amazon.
To help paint with watercolors there was a long Zig BrushH2O waterbrush with a detailer brush tip. This one retails for around $8.82 on Amazon.
Finally there was a sample of Ampersand Aquabord. This is a board covered with a fine clay coating. When you put watercolors on this surface, the water is sucked out and the paint retains a thick texture. This sort of gives your painting an acrylic look and you can varnish it with an acrylic spray to seal it. You can get these in a pack of three 5X7 inch panels for $8.79 on Amazon.
Then there was the art supplies list, a print by the artist of the month, Gris, and a SketchBox sticker.
The 48 Pan Koi Watercolor Set
Cutie Boots said, "Surely there's fish in this box! It says there's Koi in it!"
"What do you mean it's not fish? I thought Koi were fish!", he said. Poor little guy. He just couldn't find any fish. But don't worry, he got some for supper though, so he was happy.
Sakura has a travel set of 48 watercolor half-pans. It comes with a water brush and one sponge. They also have sets of 12, 18, 24, 30, and 48. These sets range from $9.96 to $35.47 on Amazon.com.
On the back of the box all the colors in the set are listed with their names and numbers. It also shows how to attach the watercolor tray and fill the water brush.
The set comes in a white plastic box with hinges.
When you open the box, the watercolor palette tray fits on top of the pans and can be lifted off easily.
Inside there are two slots for the waterbrush and a sponge on the right side for wiping the brush. The half-pans are labeled with a number. You can put the palette tray in the top lid or leave that space for a small piece of watercolor and use it as a mini easel.
The little round holes are where the palette tray fits on the case. It can fit on the right side, left side, and the bottom.
Doodlin' Time!
The KingArt Inkline pen makes nice thin lines and it was waterproof so you can use it in conjunction with watercolors and not worry about ink bleeding. The tubed Koi watercolors are nicely pigmented and slightly transparent. The Winsor and Newton Cotman watercolor tube seems to be slightly more pigmented than the Koi watercolors. The Kuretake Watercolor Brush seems to make thin lines just like a script or liner brush.
The Sakura Koi watercolor 48 half-pen set had a nice spread of colors starting with white, yellows, reds, pinks, purples, and blues. There were some really pretty blues in this set.
There was also a nice range of greens, browns, grey, and black.
'Girl on Dragonfly'
From Art Nouveau Design book
by Ellie Taylor
I drew a picture from my Art Nouveau Design book of a girl on a dragonfly and I used a fairly thick mixed media paper. I used both the Koi watercolor tubes and the half-pans. Then I added the ink details with the Kingart Inkline pen. In my opinion, the Koi watercolors are a nice set for journaling and plein aire painting. In my previous post, I reviewed the Daler Rowney Aquafine watercolors and they seemed to be a little more pigmented than the Koi watercolors. The Koi watercolors are not as lightfast either so they are probably best used in sketchbooks where they are not exposed to light.
If you want to check this box out, SketchBox offers two subscription levels: the Basic Box for $25 plus $5 shipping and the Premium Box for $35 plus $5 shipping in the US. Shipping is $10 to Canada and $15 to all other countries. SketchBox has a list in their FAQ of the countries that they ship to. Check them out through my referral link. https://getsketchbox.com/refer/Elean-IFGGOHVY