Brand Overviewis a series where multiple posters give their opinions on a brand. Thus far, we have covered Schmincke Horadam, Daniel Smith, Winsor & Newton, Holbein, Roman Szmal, Rosa Gallery, White Nights and Rembrandt.
QoR watercolors are produced by the company Golden Artist Colors which was founded by Sam Golden in 1980. Sam is known for creating the first artists’ acrylic paint. Golden is an interesting company in that they are 100% employee owned and a mission statement emphasizing their intent to be a resource for artists. To that end, they conduct their own rigorous lightfastness tests, sometimes making decisions about whether to discontinue producing paints with certain pigments based in those results. They produce a newsletter, “Just Paint,” that contains a wealth of interesting information, and their customer service department is very friendly and responsive.
QoR (Acronym for Quality of Results) Watercolors were introduced in 2014. Made with a proprietary Aquazol synthetic water-soluble polymer binder, there are 96 colors currently in the line including 85 traditional, granulating, 4 iridescent and 7 interference colors. With the exception of Ivory Black (PBk9) they are vegan friendly. QoR colors are noted to have a higher pigment load and more dispersive flow, though the degree of flow is also related to individual pigment characteristics. They do not crack in the pan when dried, and reactivate quickly as a result of the thinner binder. QoR watercolors are sold individually in 11 ml tubes, and only in sets, 5 ml tubes and half pans, available worldwide at major retailers including Amazon, Jackson’s and Blick.
Detailed pigment chart with swatches
Article on QoR’s use for inpainting in art conservation
Our Hot Takes and Favorite Colors
Lynne
I’ve been using QoR watercolors for a couple of years, but only recently began painting with a palette made completely of QoR paints. I had picked up a few colors here and there based on recommendations of other artists, and noticed that pretty much each time, the QoR color was more luminous and more fun to use than the same color in another brand I had been using. In my palette, their Transparent Pyrrol Orange replaced Schmincke’s, Quin Violet and Nickel Azo Yellow replaced Daniel Smith’s, and so on. My next endeavor was to purchase the Urban Sketching mini pan palette, and from there I have added miscellaneous colors to build my collection, as well as the 12 Half Pan set. Overall, I love the brightness, even after drying, and how easily they rewet and mix. The spontaneousness of the flow is a draw for me, as I sometimes get surprising results which I find exciting.
My Favorites:
- Nickel Azo Yellow (PY150) is a staple on all of my palettes. QoR’s version deepens to a wonderful gold in mass tone, and lightens to a med-cool yellow. It paints smoothly, and mixes well. I don’t seem to have the “ring” around the edges when I paint wet on dry that I do with PY150 in other brands.
- Transparent Pyrrol Orange (PO71) has a fabulous glow that I find is unique to QoR. It’s a perfect mid orange, very transparent, and mixes a bold, bright red with Quin Violet PV19.
- Van Dyke Brown (PR101) is a deep, granulating brown, less orange/red than burnt umber, but more so than most Van Dyck browns (perhaps the reason for the spelling difference?). Together with ultramarine, it’s a granulation explosion, making wonderfully textured dark neutrals. I usually keep PR101 Trans Red Oxide in my palette along with PBr7 Raw Umber, and this takes the place of the RU nicely.
- Quinacridone Violet (PV19) is bright and cheery with less of a drying shift than other brands I have used. I like it as a partner for Ultramarine Violet PV15 so that I have both a granulating and a non-granulating violet for shadows and to mix with greens, blues and browns.
Colors I Avoid:
- Burnt Sienna (PBr7) is fine if you like a flat earth orange, but I don’t. Full disclosure, I am not a huge fan of PBr7 burnt siennas to begin with; I prefer the hue of PR101. This one has the PBr7 hue, but no granulation to make it appealing to me.
Christer
QoR is pretty new to me. I got my first QoR tubes 5 months ago for Christmas. I tried them out, liked them a lot, and now I have close to 30 colors. They are different than the paints from other brands as they have a different binder which makes the paint flow very easily, and sometimes it can seem like the paint just explodes. I like painting with them a lot.The colors are generally very vivid, and I love using them for florals. At first I didn’t mix them with other brands, but now I don’t mind it. It should be mentioned that they are a bit more difficult to control, but they are perfect for when you want your paint to spread more, and with that, I would not recommend this brand to a complete beginner, since they would make watercolor having steeper learning curve.
My Favorites:
- Dioxazine Purple (PV23): I love this color. Popping purple that is great for florals, skies, clouds, shades. Very versatile and has a good range.
- Nickel Azo Yellow (PY150): It’s a warm transparent yellow. It’s deep and has a good range.
- Permanent Scarlet (PR168): It’s a semi-transparent warm red. Well, the tube says it is semi-transparent, but I would disagree. I would put the hue somewhere between Cad Red Mid and Light. A good non toxic alternative to Cadmium Reds.
Colors to Avoid:
- Payne’s Gray (PB15:3, PBk7, PV19): Very gray. I prefer my Payne’s Gray to have more of a blue tint.
Lori
QoR is the only brand that inspires me to rave to others. What’s so special? The unique binder means QoR doesn’t just move on wet paper, it gallops. This is incredibly exciting for some artists, and frustrating for others. If you expect your paint to sit properly where you put it, take a pass on QoR. If some brands are your grandmother sipping tea, QoR is your teenager breaking curfew and sneaking cigarettes. I tend to lean toward the latter.
I was first introduced to QoR when I received a sample card as a gift. Instead of swatching, I tried a test landscape. The first touch of cobalt teal (PG50) to the paper and I was hooked. Painting a sky with QoR almost feels like cheating. A second aspect is the company claim of less color shift while drying. This is an advantage for my impatient self.
If asked about a downside, QoR can be stubborn. It doesn’t easily lift, so plan accordingly. I painted a tutorial using PV23, dioxazine purple. The finishing touches included lifting out final details. That wasn’t happening. The second is the size and price. The 11 ml tubes are slightly smaller than many other brands. It is still worth it to me. There is some information online that QoR doesn’t mix well or “play nicely” with other brands. I routinely use QoR along with other brands, and when adding details on dry or damp paper, it performs well, like any other brand.
My Favorite Colors:
I am choosing my favorites based on heart, not science. The first two are just vibrant and lovely. For the third, sap green, I looked at my palette for the color that needs refilled the most.
- Cobalt teal PG50
- Dioxazine purple PV23
- Sap Green PG36/PR101/PY150
Colors to Avoid:
- Titan Buff PW6:1. There isn’t anything wrong with it. I simply seldom use it.
Veronica
Hello, I’m Veronica, AKA “The Mysterious V,” and I would like to thank Logan, Hanna, Sandra, and the Idyll Sketching family for letting me fulfill my dream of contributing to a blag. You could say I’m a QoRrespondant. I’m a collector of QoR; a QoRllector, if you will. I am a fan of taking advantage of the “pushiness” of QoR against other colors to make wet-in-wet lightning streaks, and I also like using my QoRllection in a QoR-only palette to just enjoy these relatively smooth, strong colors.
My favorite Colors Are:
- Burnt Umber (PBr7): People often talk about the bright colors in QoR, mostly because they’re very good, but maybe a little because the word “synthetic” in synthetic binder strengthens an association with pop-art hues. Given that QoRrelation, I wanted to be sure to shout out this wonderfully deep, balanced earth. I just love the richness of the color. It is a bit less granulating than other brands but I don’t mind.
- Titanium White (PW6): I believe Logan’s take on this color is QoRrect: I use this bad boy with my mixed-brand palette all the time. It doesn’t crack, it’s opaque, and it mixes lovely pastels. I even made a little palette of custom-mixed pastels with my other QoR colors. I call this my Qouache palette.
- Ultramarine Blue Violet (PV15, PB29): My favorite color is blue-violet and QoR has a convenience hue seemingly just for me. It’s stronger and easier to use than a PV15 Ultramarine Violet by itself, similar to a smalt blue. If this hue makes your heart flutter (QoRonary palpitations? Okay, I’ve gone too far), I recommend picking it up.
Colors to Avoid:
- Ardoise Gray: I was interested in having a single-pigment gray and got a tube of this at one point. It was weak and gummy, so I didn’t like using it. I gave it away.
Logan
Curmudgeon corner! I disliked QoR when I first tried it, and my opinion hasn’t changed. It’s not even that I especially dislike any of the colors; they’re vibrant, transparent, and high strength, all qualities I enjoy. I just hate QoR’s proprietary binder. I find it so much more dispersive than other brands than it is impossible to use in a mixed-brand palette. It also requires using a lot less water than I’m used to. Essentially, I’d have to relearn it like a new medium. When there are so many other brands out there with a lower learning curve, I just don’t see the point.
Exception: For whatever reason, I don’t have the same problem with Titanium White! It feels more like my usual brands (Holbein, Da Vinci, etc.) Perhaps the super-speedy binder and the slow, heavy pigment cancel each other out. It’s a strong white that rewets nicely, and doesn’t flake out of the pan. Useful for mixing up pastels.
Hanna
Veronica is a hard act to follow, but I will try…
I am very attracted to Qor as a brand because they just seem to really care about paint quality. I have asked them dumb questions about lightfastness a couple of times, and they sent back unpublished results; one time, I complained about a colour (PY184, which just exploded all over my palette in a humid climate) and they sent me an apology tube )of a different color of my choice).
As for painting, however… I do like them, but (like Logan) I find that they require me to change my approach. When using other brands, I do a lot of wet-paint-into-wet-paint painting (aka charging): it is how e.g. I mix gradated greens. Qor paints like to flow and/or fight, so when I drop them into each others I often end up with just a flat area of fully-mixed colour, or with some sort of dramatic battleground. After some practice, I can get nice gradients, but it feels more finicky than with other paints, and less “let the paint do the painting”. I think Qor really shines when painting wet-in-wet with no expectations, and then adding details wet-in-dry (so it functions like any other paint).
Also: I would agree that they are bright and intense, with less drying shift in masstone than most other paints, but I do see that drying shift in paler tints. And I think e.g. M Graham is brighter, anyway.
Can I begin with my unfavourite colours?
I agree that the Burnt Siena is boring. I also dislike the Viridian: maybe my tube is just bad, but it contains one of the weakest and most irritatingly splotchy versions of that pigment.
Favourite colours:
Like everyone and their cousin, I like the orange and the purple and the teal. (The whole high chroma set is good, and a great intro to this brand.)
But my special favourites are the granulating greens OTHER THAN VIRIDIAN: PG26, PG17, and PB36. (Warning: PB36 can get runny in humid climates. Not just in Qor,.) As a lover of granulation, I have tried these colours from many brands, and the PG17 and PB36 in particular are standouts for me. They just mix the best textured greens and weird neutrals.
Do you have opinions on watercolor brands? We are still searching for people who have an opinion about MaimeriBlu, Mission Gold and other brands. 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 @sandravink.art on Instagram.