What's Wrong with Kuretake's New Granulating Gansai Tambi Watercolor Paints

Get Your Own: https://amzn.to/3yHeGho

Kuretake Gansai Tambi: https://tinyurl.com/3uu93527

Gansai Watercolor: https://tinyurl.com/mvbnp6s8

SHOWNOTES:
Full Shownotes: https://tinyurl.com/ydx3xn5u

First saw these at NAMTA
Purchased on Amazon
Cost more than a set this size normally would
5 colors rather than 6
Designed to granulate


Swatches Mass Tone:
Upon initial swatching, all the colors look kind of the same—until they dry. As they dry, they granulate out, and you can see the colors shift and hints of neon pink and orange.

Wash-out shows some color chromatography

Granulation Swatches:
These are really pretty in granulation swatches, and you can see that there are often at least three colors at play.

Aurora is red and Aurora pink are too similar- a reddish violet vs. a pinkish violet, with neon pink and a bright steal, but aurora orange is interesting as it splits olive green, teal, and orange. Aurora blue has a little purple, orange, and a pthalo-esque blue. And Aurora violet might be my favorite- it's such a pretty color combo of purple, hot pink, and blue.


Fieldtest:
Bookmark:

Trying out that bubble/circle painting technique

It's super simple- I just tried to find round non non-porous things in a few diff sizes, but it'd be super cute with, like, cookie cutters. You apply paint to the rim, stamp it on your paper, and then apply clean water to encourage it to move. The water will encourage granulation.

Something I'm noticing while painting these though is that theres a scaley look to the granulation, particularly the Aurora Red in 'mass tone.'

I also didn't really let each layer dry fully, so there's a lot of reactivation and some muddiness.

Using them like this makes it clear this isn't really a palette that works well together? There are many similar colors, or colors with a lot of similarities, so it's probably more like a gold or metallics palette rather than, say, a mixing palette or a palette that's meant to represent a rainbow. I'm not sure if what I'm saying makes sense to others, but basically, using them all at once like this doesn't really seem to showcase what these paints can do. I mean, everything has a pink or an orange base.

Fieldtest:
Kara Cookies:
ADHD emotions:
Joyful
Spaced Out
Hurt/Angry
Embarassed
Overwhelmed

The lack of variety between two colors in a five-color set is really noticeable, particularly with these emotion cookies, where it would've been really helpful to get some extra splits. I don't know why this set was so expensive compared to some of the other Kuretake Gansai Tambi sets out there, particularly because we only get 5 colors and an empty pan- not sure how Kuretake justifies that (or maybe it's ColArts jacking up the price, would need to dig a bit), it was

Iris Fieldtest:
These get used up fast
Almost more vibrant on cellulose paper
It's really a great option if you want to do spot color or limited color because it brings a lot of pretty chaos to things like florals, but it does reactivate.


Pros:
Really interesting color splits that include hot pinks
Gansai format is easy to use and activate
An interesting addition to Kuretake's lineup

Cons:
Expensive for gansai tambi paints
Entering a market that already has a lot of granulating and supergranulating options
Gets used up fast
Probably not lightfast
Only 5 pans, not the full 6
Many colors are VERY similar and feel repetitive- would like to see a wider color gamut

The Verdict:
I like them, and they're really fun, but I think they're expensive. If you already own super granulating watercolors from brands like Schmincke, these aren't necessarily adding much that isn't already out there. The color splits are really fun for limited-color illustrations, but a wider color gamut would make this set more useful and might better justify the price point.


Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
02:21 Unboxing
07:34 Swatching
14:02 Similar Gansai Watercolors
15:05 Other Granulating Watercolors
18:39 Granulation Cookies
24:14 Fieldtest 1: Easy Bookmark
26:36 Fieldtest 2: Comic Panel Cookies
36:48 Fieldtest 3: Iris Study
42:15 Talking About the Paints
55:25 How they're Presented Online
56:23 Final Thoughts

Music:
A Day in the Village Loop
A Day in the Village Loop Layer Dulcimer
A Day in the Village with Final No Loop
By the Bonfire Intro
By the Bonfire Loop
By the Bonfire with Final No Loop
Calm Intro
Calm Loop
Exploring the Village Loop
Exploring the Village with Final No Loop
Kevin MacLeod- Enchanted Valley
Kevin MacLeod- Folk Round
Kevin MacLeod- Master of the Feast
Knights in Town Intro
Knights in Town Loop
Knights in Town with Final No Loop
Sunny Travel- Nico Staf
Sunset Dream- Cheel
Village Ambient Music Calm Non Intrusive Loop
Village Ambient Music Calm Non Intrusive Loop Layer Dulcimer
Village Ambient Music Calm Non Intrusive with Final No Loop
Village Nights Loop
Village Nights with Final No Loop