Brand Overview: Roman Szmal

Brand Overview is a series where multiple posters give their opinions on a brand. Thus far, we have covered Schmincke Horadam, Daniel Smith, Winsor & Newton, and Holbein.

Roman Szmal Aquarius is a professional watercolor brand from Poland. The brand was founded by Roman Szmal, who worked for Kremer Pigmente (a pigment supplier) before starting his own brand. Roman Szmal Aquarius carries 220 colors, only three of these are limited edition colors. They offer their watercolors in half pans and full pans, but they don’t carry tubes. Their binder consists of gum Arabic, glycerin and honey. Unlike other brands they give the lightfastness of their paints with the numbers of the blue wool scale, which goes up to 8 for the best lightfastness. 

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Our hot takes and favorite colors

Sandra

I started to really dive into Roman Szmal watercolors, when Hanna told me I can transfer the colors into other pans by scooping them out of their original pans. I bought a lot of their colors by now, because they are a joy to use. They have the most gorgeous separating and granulating colors. And I love that they have unusual pigments in their range. Sadly I can’t use them too much during travels, as they get really soft when I use them daily. And even more so when the air is very humid. 

Favorite colors (which were very hard to pick because there are so many gorgeous colors in this brand):

• Nickel Tungsten Yellow (PY189) is only offered by Roman Szmal. It is an opaque muted granulating yellow. Besides PY159 it is the only granulating yellow pigment that I know of. Its mixes with pinks and magentas are so fun! It’s a really fun color to play with. [Buy Nickel Tungsten Yellow]
• Naples Yellow Deep (PBr24) is a lovely semi opaque, granulating, orange leaning earth yellow. PBr24 is a pigment that doesn’t granulate in all brands. In many brands it’s really smooth and velvety, but in Roman Szmal it has a pronounced granulation. It’s also more orange than other versions. When I want to use an earth yellow, I grab this color or MANS, which leans more yellow. [Buy Naples Yellow Deep]
• Shadow Violet, (PG50, PB29, PV19), is a muted granulating violet. I like to use it as the name suggests: as shadows. These are cloud shadows, shadows on pink subjects and even shadows for brown subjects. Mixed with a yellow, it can give a grey or muted green. It’s my most used color from Roman Szmal. [Buy Shadow Violet]
• November 2024 (PR122, PG7, PB15:3, PBk7) is probably the only mixed dark that I really like. It is more violet leaning than Indigo or Paynes Gray. I like it for galaxy paintings and night skies. 

Colors to avoid:

• Phthalo Green (Yellow Shade) (PG36) is an especially weak version of this color. Additionally it is so soft it likes to leak out of the palette. 
• Carmine Hue (PR221) is a pigment no other watercolor manufacturer carries. And that’s exactly the reason why I bought it. I wish I had not. It is really low tinting and really no fun to paint with. And on top of it is really soft and gloppy.

Lynne

I am a recent convert to Roman Szmal, thanks to Hanna and Sandra. I was initially hesitant to purchase them as they only come in pans and not tubes; I paint primarily from Art Toolkit palettes. However, as Sandra mentioned, it is possible to scoop the paint into other containers, so I took the plunge. I find the paints to be nicely pigmented and for the most part they rewet easily. Granulation and dispersion are excellent (I am a huge fan of both.) They have some unique pigments which are a draw for me as well; so far my inventory is at 39, and I expect that number to grow. One of my initial concerns was the inclusion of honey as a binder and its impact on these paints in humid climates making them prohibitive for a travel palette. In my Northeastern US residence that is not an issue, and on a recent trip to a beach in Mexico, they held up well. I will continue to wrap and pack them carefully as I conduct additional trials.

Favorite Colors:

• Phthalo Blue Turquoise Shade (PB15:4) is a transparent cyan that falls in hue between Phthalo Blue GS PB15:3 and Phthalo Turquoise PB16. It’s a slight difference, but one that allows clear transparent green mixes similarly to PB15:3 and beautiful violets as does PB16. It does not get as dark as PB15:3 but I find it makes a broader range of values than either of the other two cyans. [Buy Phthalo Blue Turquoise Shade]
• Cobalt Cerulean Blue (PB36) is less green than the more familiar (to me) DS Cerulean Blue Chromium PB36 and mixes soft greys that have more weight than the WN PB35 cerulean that I typically use. It disperses nicely and adds lovely blue-grey shadows for stone when dropped into an earth hue like Natural Sienna Monte Amiata or Cyprus Brown Umber Deep. [Buy Cobalt Cerulean Blue]
• Aquarius Green (PY150, PBr25, PB29) is a hue I thought I’d hate, but fell in love with. Another granulating color that disperses easily, it ranges from a deep earthy moss green to yellow-olive washes, and creates various foliage and water shades with additions of yellow or blue. [Buy Aquarius Green]
• Monte Amiata Raw Sienna (PBr7) could very well replace DS Monte Amiata Natural Sienna, a go-to in my palette. Turns out the magical glow that MANS has is not always a plus for me, and I am finding the flatter, more natural sand hue of the RS PBr7 more versatile. Again, dispersion is excellent, and helpful when creating textures on stones or sand on a beach, especially where the water meets the shore. I haven’t tried it in a sky yet, but it’s on my to-do list. [Buy Monte Amiata Raw Sienna]
• Cyprus Burnt Umber Deep (PBr7) is a granulating dark brown that I am excited about. It’s more chocólatey than burnt umber, which I have never been able to love, and the DS raw umber that I use as my dark brown. It makes perfect dark greys and black mixed with ultramarine or indigo. [Buy Cyprus Burnt Umber Deep]

Colors to Avoid: 

A number of hues in the Roman Szmal catalog are similar to those I’ve used in other brands, so don’t especially stand out for me. While I’ve found a couple I don’t love, (Blue Sky, PB15:1+PW4, is a nice cyan on its own, but contains white, which I avoid and Gold Ochre, PY43, is a little dull for my taste). I haven’t run into anything yet that I would recommend avoiding; so far it’s more a matter of preference.

Hanna

So, as the previous two entries here reveal, yes, I have been pushing these paints on everyone on Logan’s discord server, sending out samples and talking them up at every opportunity, in spite of not having been bribed by the company in any way. (Note: I am very open to being bribed in the future.)

Why do I shill for this brand? Because they make excellent paints, of course. It has nothing to do with the fact that I am Polish. Well, maybe a little: when I first got into watercolour, I was very intrigued by this well-reviewed, relatively new brand I could buy in great quantities whenever I visited my parents. (They are cheapest in Poland, and they were cheaper back in… 2023? than they are now.) As a result, I have quite a large collection (105 paints) of Szmals. Last summer I reviewed what I had then: you can see all my swatches there…

…and you will also see some of those swatches recycled here. In spite of my love for these paints, I do not currently have any with me, because I am in humid Asia where, as I learned from experience, some of them tend to become almost-liquid. (Especially the cobalts! The earths, as in many brands, are safe.) This is because they are formulated to be soft and rewettable: most of them (I think not all) contain honey. In general, they tend to be dispersive on the level of DS or Schmincke, and very granulating, especially for a European brand. My lifting tests suggest that they are one of the more staining brands, so very suitable for layering.

Anyway, here are a few especial favourites:

• Strontium Violet (PV62): I love a granulating violet as a “texturizer” for random shadow and “mouse power” mixes, and I like this version better than Schmincke. It is (obviously) easier to rewet. [Buy Strontium Violet]
• Autumn Green (PY150, PG26, PR122): I wanted to include at least one mix, because IMO Roman Szmal produces very useful and beautiful mixes. (See also: Misty Morning, Urban Grey, Ocean Green…) As I keep saying, I do like to mix my own (colour-separating) pigment combos, and I only reach for mixes that are already very close to what I want. I think this mix is just spot on for the foliage of Polish/German trees in late summer. A colour and overall visual experience I find beautiful. [Buy Autumn Green]
• Chromium Green Oxide Dark (PG17): A paint that answers the question: what if Perylene green were granulating and liftable? I really enjoy using this colour in foliage shadows, where the granulation suggests texture and the liftability lets me be a bit deliberate about shape while still using wet-in-wet to create the texture. [Buy Chromium Green Oxide Dark]
• Naples Yellow Deep (PBr24): As Sandra pointed out, the warmest and most granulating PBr24 around, my absolute fave. I like it for skyscapes (it can do a subtle and natural glow, and will mix heavy cloud shadows) and for building texture, especially in Italy.  [Buy Naples Yellow Deep]
• The Cyprus Umber Deeps (PBr7): I like both the Raw and Burnt versions of this, since they are richer and more granulating than most European earth paints tend to be. (Nowadays I usually mix smooth browns as required, so I want my earths to be very textured and able to hold their own with the medium-tinting paints I tend to love.) [Buy Cyprus Burnt Umber Deep, Buy Cyprus Raw Umber Deep]

As for colours I do not like, hmm, this is hard… I am not a fan of the PY154, which seems weirdly sticky. (I tend to use PY151 or PY128.) And some of the earths are weaker or duller than I really want, but I think this is a question of taste: this brand really tries to have an earth for everyone.

Also… Sandra did not mention this, but there seems to be a bit of inconsistency with at least one of the cobalts, PB72. The one I got when I was starting out is a little different to the one she bought after trying my sample. (I feel that batch differences are not that uncommon in many brands, though. Perhaps I should collect all my anecdotal evidence of this into a post.)

Kathryn

Back in 23-24 when I was really getting into artist grade watercolours, Roman Szmal was an important resource for me. It gave me access to a huge array of paint, which was important after doing hours of research into which pigments were the most useful, lightfast, and transparent. I also enjoyed having full pans after using half pans for a long time — there was actually enough time to put the paint through its paces, and I could use bigger brushes.

As I progressed and it became time to restock, I decided that I wanted to save money and hopefully get a higher quality product, so I moved over to brands that I could buy in tubes. In my mind I was “upgrading” my Viridian (PG18), Goethite (PBr??), & Cherry Quinacridone Red (PR209) to Daniel Smith versions with their more intense colour and granulation. Let me explain…

Hot Takes:

• It’s “Chalky”? – I remember feeling it was a lot lighter or more pastel compared to Daniel Smith, especially with colours like Cherry Quin Red and Benzymidazole Yellow (PY154). But on reviewing my old swatches, I found that these colours were not only on par with the transparency of other brands, but much more intense than I remembered. In particular I scrambled to compare my current PR209 against the cherry, as I found it had a wonderful glow that my current pan seemed to be missing. It makes me wonder if the “chalkiness” I remembered is only the appearance it has when wet. Or just that it resists bronzing (going dark, but also dull) compared to alternatives.
• Textural Issues with Certain Paints – I’ve experienced problem rewetting with RS sometimes, particularly in their version of Viridian (PG18) and to a lesser extent their Goethite (N/A) and Cyprus Burnt Umber (PBr7). I’m very diligent about spraying down my pans before a painting session, but I found the viridian in particular would crumble into wet chunks that I’d have to attack with the brush. That resulted in many sketches with paint crumbs embedded with them. In my experience, this is unusual compared to even other brands, like Stoneground, that use honey.
• Might be great for people who find Daniel Smith’s granulation excessive? The usual suspects still granulate, but very gently.
• Great for finding unique colours. I find certain paints like Goethite and Viridian are difficult to find alternatives for, but RS has got ‘em.

Favourite Colours:

• Cherry Quinacridone Red (PR209) – So glowy and nice. [Buy Cherry Quinacridone Red]
• Benzymidazole Yellow (PY154) – bright, cheery and strong. Less transparent than Winsor Yellow, but a great paint nonetheless. [Buy Benzymidazole Yellow]
• Goethite (PBr??) – Uniquely more neutral and less granulating compared to the DS version. Still great for creating darker/more neutral mixes than your average earth yellow. [Buy Goethite]

Colours to Avoid:

• Viridian (PG18) – Not an awful version, particularly if you want a gentler alternative to phthalo green, and don’t like the excessive granulation of the DS viridian. It did let me get my feet wet with the pigment and discover that I liked it. But the textural issues I had were excessive, even compared to other paints that had similar problems. I haven’t encountered this with my other viridian.

Do you have opinions on watercolor brands? We are searching two additional people for their opinion on Da Vinci paints.

Do you have other brands you want to write about that we haven’t covered yet? Let us know in the comments below or contact Sandra @sandravink.art on Instagram.