After I rated and reviewed the 20 colors in Cotman’s 20x 5ml tube set, I wondered if the colors that are not included in the set were any better or worse. It looked like there were some tantalizing options that were only available in open stock. So this time, I’m reviewing a selection of additional colors that aren’t available in the tube sets.
Once again, I’ve got the colors in tube form, and I’m swatching them from wet.
Color List
Gamboge Hue
Color Slot/Substitutions: Gold
Review: This is as close as Cotman gets to a Quinacridone Gold. It appears to be mostly Nickel Azo Yellow, with just a touch of Quinacridone Coral to make a little warmer. It certainly looks like pure Nickel Azo Yellow in dilute, sharply lemon yellow. My pro grade comparison paint, Daniel Smith’s Quinacridone Gold, also uses Nickel Azo Yellow but it seems to pair it with a more even balance of Quinacridone Burnt Orange, so the resulting mix remains a gentle caramel color throughout its range.
I can’t really hold its failure to be Quinacridone Gold against it. I mean, nobody promised me Quinacridone Gold; I’m just observing that’s what it’s most like. I don’t mind a paint that’s mostly Nickel Azo Yellow. I actually use Nickel Azo Yellow more than I do Quin Gold in my daily life, mostly as a mixer. It mixes great greens with various blues.
Like many Cotman paints, it tends toward being clumpy in masstone, and resists settling into an evenly dispersed matte color as the pro grade so nicely does.
Grade: A-
Cobalt Blue Hue
Pigments: PB29, PW5
Color Slot/Substitutions: Middle Blue
Review: Genuine Cobalt Blue (PB28) is never available from student grade lines because it’s too expensive (and somewhat toxic). This hue is made from Ultramarine Blue pigment (PB29) and Lithopone white (PW5), an inexpensive white pigment often used as a filler. Given the ingredients, I expected that this would look more obnoxiously pastel. Actually, it’s a surprisingly good hue match for genuine Cobalt Blue and even has some mild granulation. The hue is still slightly too violet-toned, as Ultramarine tends to be; this is especially noticeable in dilute, where it looks noticeably less sky-appropriate. I don’t see a real advantage to using this over Ultramarine, but I also don’t think it’s a huge downgrade.
Review: B, but don’t go out of your way to get it over Ultramarine.
Intense Blue (Phthalo Blue)
Pigment: PB15
Color Slot/Substitutions: Cyan
Review: Phthalo colors are strong enough to withstand being student-grade-ified and they’re also cheap, so they don’t tend to get nerfed as much. As expected, this is a nice color that gets good and dark and gives a better experience than most Cotman paints. I like the hue which is somewhere between what I’d expect from Phthalo Blue Green Shade and Red Shade. It is good for folks who can’t decide between the more or less green-undertoned hue. This is quite similar to Cotman’s Turquoise, which mixes in a little PG7 and results in a color that is more like the Phthalo Blue Green Shade.
Review: A, but you don’t need this and Turquoise. Either one is fine.
Indigo
Color Slot/Substitutions: Dark Blue
Review: Although this color is dark-valued, don’t mistake that for being particularly strong; I found it difficult to work up a strong color. I think this is because it is based on Ultramarine, which in Cotman is fairly weak. Indigos based on Ultramarine aren’t my favorite. I don’t love the granulation in it. It also contains Phthalo Blue, which makes it stronger, and also much more green-undertoned. I think this color has a kind of dingy look which I’m not a fan of.
Grade: C-
Payne’s Gray
Color Slot/Substitutions: Black or Gray
Review: This has the same ingredients as Indigo, but I like it better. The balance is less toward the weak and gummy-textured Ultramarine and more toward the black. This makes it stronger. I didn’t like the dinginess of the black in Indigo, but in Payne’s Gray, which is mostly black, it feels more appropriate. I prefer Payne’s Gray to straight flat black for dark values and moody paintings, and I think this Cotman one is reasonable.
Grade: B
Intense Green (Phthalo Green)
Pigment: PG36
Color Slot/Substitutions: Green
Review: Intense Green is Cotman’s name for Phthalo Green Yellow Shade (PG36), as opposed to its Phthalo Green Blue Shade (PG7), which it calls Viridian Hue. Intense Green was disappointing because it didn’t get quite intense enough. Well, I guess it’s intense in the sense that it’s high-chroma, but not quite as strong as I wanted. It never reaches the dark masstone that I want in my phthalo colors. I don’t see a major reason to go out of your way to obtain this one; just use Viridian Hue.
Grade: C+
Raw Sienna
Color Slot/Substitutions: Earth Yellow
Review: I think this one is actually better than the pro grade equivalent. Which is not saying much, because I kind of hate Winsor & Newton’s pro grade Raw Sienna. It is extremely weak and watery, and forms bubbles in masstone. The Cotman color tends toward streakiness, but this is common among Cotmans and is easier to deal with. It’s actually a little stronger than pro grade, though slightly duller/lower-chroma. The pro grade Raw Sienna is so much weaker than the other pro grade colors that it feels jarring to use, but the strength of the Cotman Raw Sienna is in the same general ballpark as the other Cotman colors, so it feels like a more reasonable palette choice.
As far as earth yellows go, Yellow Ochre is stronger, but its opacity can make it hard to deal with. Raw Sienna’s transparency makes it a nice mixer (if one that has a tendency to get lost in mixes); and it has a nice golden glow to it.
Grade: B, but pro grade is a C
Light Red
Pigment: PR101
Color Slot/Substitutions: Earth Red
Review: This Cotman color comes highly recommended by Ron Ranson, and it does not disappoint! It’s very similar to Winsor & Newton pro grade Venetian Red, which I quite like, and they felt very similar to paint out as well. (I don’t really understand the naming here: WN also has color called Light Red which is not as similar – more transparent and orangey. To manage expectations, why did they not call this Cotman color Venetian Red?)
Cotman Light Red, like other PR101 paints in the Venetian/Indian red family, is quite opaque and not super dark in masstone, but dilutes to a soft, gently granulating reddish-brown. The Venetian Red is slightly higher-chroma, but that’s the only difference I can tell, really.
Grade: A
Conclusion
These Cotman colors were reasonably satisfactory, but of course, I chose them open stock based on my own preferences and presumptions about what would be good. Mostly, these ones do not appear in premade sets or palette boxes. As I said in my previous Cotman post, I think if you are at the point of doing a ton of research and selecting open stock student grade colors – which tend to be more expensive per unit than the ones in sets – you should probably just go for professional grade.