Caran d'Ache Gouache Studio 15 Assorted Colors Set in Metal Tin

Beautiful paints, vibrant colors, and they don't dry out like gouache tube paints. But like other gouache, they do not blend like watercolor (nor would I expect them to). The pans have plenty of paint and it is an excellent price. Would recommend.

Really nice quality student grade paints for a decent price. I plan on taking this with me to sketch, and plan on using the pans up completely to learn with before going with a more “pro” set. These do have their limitations and the pans are quite thirsty, but I can work around that. And who knows, I may not upgrade, and just buy more of these for print works only. They are that nice, and you get all the colors you need to mix a trillion other colors.

I had ordered these by mistake. I meant to order the gouache in a tube but it was too late to cancel. However I’m pleased despite the mistake. These are fun to use and have a nice range of colors. The pans are big and watercolor pencils look good with it too. A happy accident.

When I first saw this gouache set, I was surprised by the moderate price point considering it's Caran D'Ache. Most Caran D'Ache art supplies are very expensive, with the exception of their children's art supplies. And the manufacturer retail price of this set is only fifty cents higher than the Fancolor Tempera set for children, which has the same tin box, colors and brush. So to be honest I am unsure if the two differ in formula at all or if the two sets are just the same paints marketed to both children and artists.What I do know is that this is a good quality "designer gouache" set, that can definitely be used by artists and professionals as long as you don't expect pigment information or lightfastness. If you want those qualities like in artist grade watercolors, you'll need to find a brand that makes artist grade gouache paints.It took a bit of a learning curve to get used to these paints because I'm used to gouache in tubes, but I've grown to really like them. Sure, you can't do thick, impasto techniques like you can with tube gouache, but I was surprised with the opacity I could achieve with them on a black background, by having the patience to add water to the cakes and mix them into a thick, paste-like consistency. It's not quite as opaque as acrylic gouache but it's definitely workable. Additionally, they work beautifully as traditional watercolors, they don't really flow or bloom as dramatically as good watercolors do but they're transparent and don't mix muddy and that's all that really matters. It looks like the gouache pans have barcodes on them which suggest to me that you can buy separate pans (?), even though I wasn't able to find individual pans for sale anywhere on the Internet, so I don't know what the deal is with that. You could buy a set of the tubes to refill, but the largest set is a set of 12 and it doesn't include the gray or warmer yellow, and instead includes a violet (that this set should have had, imo). Kind of bizarre.There's only a few flaws that don't make this the ideal gouache set to me:1) I would've preferred a selection of more traditional artist colors. It seems like the color selection is more focused on vibrant primary colors, and I can't tell if this is because it's catered to more of a graphic design/illustration than an traditional artist market, or because these are repackaged paints for children. They don't necessarily mix muddy, but if you're used to working with other brands of artist paints these colors will feel more reminiscent of the Crayola watercolor set you grew up with.2) And not all the colors are all that useful. That gray in my opinion is completely unnecessary, you can mix it easily with the included white and black. I would've swapped it out with a cool-toned brown (like a sepia or something), which would help so much in painting nature and skin tones, since the only two earth tones in this set are very warm.3) There's a lot of dead space in the box. If you were to take out the plastic insert and just put the cake gouaches, tube of white gouache, and brush in there, you'd find that you can fit everything neatly in one half of the box. So really this tin is twice as big as it needs to be for no reason. This totally could've been a travel-friendly set and just isn't for no sensible reason, most likely because this is (possibly) a repackaged children's gouache set.I still totally recommend this set for students, designers, and illustrators, as long as you're in the position where investing in a few tubes of artist grade gouache seems less attractive than this all-in-one package.

After looking around for a "good" set of gouche, reading reviews I decided to get this set. Mainly I liked the idea of pans, it is cleaner and so convenient, since they dry out fast once you are done you can just close the lid and go. But I was worried about the consistency, the opacity and their ability to cover. I am rather new to this medium and so far I have been using those jelly cups gouche, which is the reason I started looking for something else in the first place. Those work fair enough but they are so messy, so streaky and the container weights a ton, so ugly! Okay enough, lets go back to these ones :-). I understand this is not an Artist quality gouache and that some people are concerned about their lighfastness of their pigments, although some claim to have contacted the company and have been told most of the colors in these palette have a very good lightfastness except for a couple of them. (Purple and the pinkish one) In my case I am not concern about their lighfastness, since I want to use Gouache for paintings and Illustration mainly in a sketchbook.Since this set has such good reviews from fellow artists who do Gouache, I figure I give them a try. They are not expensive and you have plenty of colors to play around for a while. They are not Windsor and Newton designers Gouache, or Holbein etc nor should we compare them to them, but they are great for what they are, good for practicing, learning and sketching. The brush which comes with it is simply awesome!! If you are picky...maybe get the Windsor and Newton (big) white tube of Gouache and you are set for a while. The little white gouache which comes is fine but probably not as good the Windsor and Newton, anyway at one point rather soon you will be out of white so then get yourself W &N.I am very happy with this choice, I know I will have to get Windsor and Newton Designer's Gouache anyway if I want to do the "real thing" as for Illustration, but this set is still a must have if you like plein airpainting, sketching or like to take your paints with you. The box is large but very sturdy, still way better than carrying tubes, palette, knife etc. So there it is, I recommend this Magic Red Box of Wonders to all of you kids (from 3 to 90) who like painting and stuff. You won't be sorry!*I almost forgot you see I have cats....they walk all over my paints, drink my watercolor water, knock palettes, chew brushes...another reason I am dreading buying tubes or don't do Oil or Acrylic anymore. But this one I can simply close the lid, I have lids for the water, mixing palette etc LOL. You know, I stand a minute from my desk and they mess around with everything. You know what I am talking about if you have cats or dogs :-) Now If your dog runs away with this box the paints will still be good for you to use hahahaha.

LOVED these basic colors!

These reactivate almost instantly. Highly pigmented, smooth paint makes for easy plein air work. I used to take a palette with fresh tube paint, but it wasted a lot of paint when it would mold if I kept it too long. Drying the tube paint was ok, but some colors crack to bits and others take too long to reactivate. I am loving these paints!!! Caran d’ache makes some of my favorite supplies.

I LOVE THEM!!!! Buy them! Lol