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Your Favorite Affordable Watercolors, now in tubes! Review of Meiliang “Pretty Excellent” tube watercolor paint, PLUS Black Friday Art DEals!

Writer: goldenstateservicesj
goldenstateservicesj
Nov 20, 2023
4 min read

Hi friends! This product has been heavily requested since it was released online a couple of weeks ago for me to review. I had a hunch that it would be discounted for Black Friday (which it is today, woohoo!) so I wanted to prepare an in-depth swatching video for you as soon as I could. I have been recommending the 36 pan set of “Pretty Excellent” aka Meiliang watercolors for the past 7 years as my student grade/beginner/non-precious spare set for travel and now they have a set of 36 tubes so you can refill your set.

Above is the color swatch I did in the video. Overall the colors are a perfect match except for fresh purple being a bit off from its pan counterpart. There is a slight scaling effect in 3 of the yellow-orange colors but overall the quality seems to be just as good. As for the amount of paint, I think you get twice the amount of actual paint in the tubes vs the pans (though some people say a 5ml tube will fill a half pan more than twice I don’t think they account for the water evaporation so I conservatively say 2x the paint.) Anyway, it’s probably more thought and detail than most people put into an inexpensive watercolor purchase but I want you to know what you are buying and if I think it’s worth the money. On to the video!

Pros:

  • Price: the 5ml tubes are about $1 each

  • Quality: High end student grade

  • Colors match the pan version well

  • Pigment, transparency, and lightfast info are included on tube

  • The packaging keeps the paint safe and organized.

Cons:

  • I noticed slight scaling on colors 268, 090 and 103. This effect will be most pronounced when using lots of paint in wet washes. It resembles the silty effect you get when you use a granulation medium. I think it is indicative of excess filler in those colors.

Bottom Line, The Meiliang Pretty Excellent 36 Tube set is a good value for the money. You are not going to find this quality of paint elsewhere for $1 a 5ml tube. That said if you are buying this to refill your pan set but find that you are only using up a few colors you might want to just buy open-stock tubes of similar colors. Currently, Paul Rubens doesn’t offer open-stock tubes and if they did I am sure they would have to be much more costly per tube. So if you just want to refill a couple of colors I would suggest Van Gogh watercolors, they come in 10ml tubes and the quality and feel of the paint are very similar to the Meiliang/Pretty Excellent paints. Of course, you can only get 10 colors for the price of the 36 sets of meilang but the tubes are twice as big. Honestly, you can’t go wrong with whatever way you choose to do, I just want to recommend supplies that people will use because the only paint that is ever wasted is the paint left in the tube:)

Now, here are some Black Friday art/craft supply deals I found today.

If I find more good deals I will add them at the end of my daily blog posts this week. Feel free not to scroll to the bottom of my blog posts if you do not wish to be tempted. Deals are limited time and I do not know how long they will last. If you want to see the deals as soon as I post them then check my Community Tab on YouTube often. You can see all the current deal posts right there. Affiliate links are used so if you purchase through my links I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I appreciate your support but please do not feel obligated to buy anything. Using what you have is always awesome! Happy crafting!

 
 
 

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