WATERCOLOR PAN VS TUBES

Watercolor Pan vs Tubes is one of the many confusing topics that are often discussed or searched on the internet today.

When I started off with watercolours about 4 years back, I didn’t know there were watercolour pans available. I asked my Guru and he told me you will get 20 ml Camlin(an Indian Art brand) Tubes. You don’t even need to buy a full set of tubes. Just buy individual tubes. I did exactly that and continue to do though my choice of brands is now different. This continued for 3 years approx. PANs were not even in my radar. I barely acknowledged them.

And then I happened to join a Whatsapp group and the world of pans opened up to me. It’s an interesting story. I had some Daniel Smith tubes which I did not need and wanted to exchange for some other tubes. Someone was interested but wanted exchange in half pans. And that opened the world of pans for me. Since I didn’t know how to pour and pack I was advised appropriately.

Buy some pans, pour in layers of 2 ( pour the paint from the tube till half the pan is full, wait a bit for it to settle down and dry and then pour till full, and then let the pigment dry for 2 days)

After the paint is dry, wrap it in butter paper and aluminum foil. Why the butter paper or aluminum foil?

So that the paint doesn’t stick to the wrapping material. That is what I did. And that is more or less how it’s done.

To use watercolor in pans you just have to re-wet the pigment and they are ready to go.

The only difference between tubes and pans is that while in the tube the pigment is semi solid (paste), in pans they are solid.

There is absolutely no difference in quality. The only difference is that watercolours in pans go through an additional stage – drying – during the manufacturing process.
Now that we have covered the basics let’s delve a bit into the size, use, pros and cons.

Watercolour Tubes:

Pigment from tubes can be used fresh from the tube in quantities required or can be poured adequately in Palette wells ( I prefer to do that. In that sense it is like pans).

Some artist’s prefer fresh pigment so they squeeze just the amount needed for the painting. Other artists load the pigments in their airtight palette and keep adding fresh paint as and when needed.

An airtight travel palette with paints squeezed from tubes

Masters Like Joseph Zbukvic even go so far as to not cleaning their palette.

The only drawback of tubes as I see it is that if you are not careful about the cap, the pigment will come out and soil the container.

They come in varying sizes from 5ml to 20 ml depending on the manufacturer

Watercolour Pans:

Since they are dry there is no worry of spillage. All you need to do is re-wet them by applying water (or use the spray bottle) and they are ready to go. However some pans may require more effort in taking out paints of consistency required. That can be a turn off, especially if working on larger works.
They come in half pans and full pans . Half pans generally are 1.5ml ( 19 mmx16mmx10 mm)capacity whereas full pans are 3 ml (30mmx19mmx10mm). Generally the pan containers are either half or full pan, some do have combination of both.

Watercolor Pan Travel Palette

All in all this is a choice that is Artist specific. There is no hard and fast rule for using tubes or pans. For larger works it is advisable to go with Tubes. Happy painting

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Saurabh Pramanik is a full-time working professional in the Services Industry and a self-taught
artist. His medium of choice is Watercolours. His journey began with an interesting incident on December 2015 when he
came across some art materials left at home by his wife who was vacationing with the kid.
What began as an exploration to re-live childhood memories has turned into a serious
hobby. He is heavily influenced by nature especially mountains (having grown up in the
Himalayas) and therefore his interests are primarily landscapes/cityscapes.
Being a working professional, most of his paintings are done at night. He is very fond of plein air
& so whenever he can find time and holidays, he fully exploits them for plein airs.

PARTICIPATION

Participated in IWS Kosovo, July 2017. Work was selected by the Jury for exhibit
Participated in IWS, Turkey, July 2017
Participated in IWS India Biennale, Dec 2017. Work has been selected by the Jury for
exhibit.
Participated in a group exhibition ( Panorama) curated by renowned Artist Shobha
Broota, December 2017

EDUCATION

Masters in International Business, IIFT, New Delhi, 1998
B.E., Electrical, IIT, Roorkee, 1996

Contact info:

Email : pramaniksk@gmail.com
Instagram : Pramanik.watercolour
facebook : Facebook.com/pramanikwatercolours
twitter : @pramaniksk

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