Artist’s v Students’ – different paints, (very) different prices – and a confusing range!

Why are some paints “dirt cheap” while others “cost an arm and a leg”?

Quality obviously but it’s nice to be able to know a bit more. At KennedyArt we have many ranges at very different price points – each has been carefully chosen for a specific reason.

In the artist’s world paints are typically classified as either “Artist” or “Student”. The former are more expensive than the latter and are further complicated by having different colours priced at different levels. Student quality paints on the other hand tend to be not only cheaper bit the same price across the range. Why?

A couple of reasons:

Starting with Artist Colours.

PIGMENTS. This is the first and most obvious differentiation. Pigment is what gives a paint it’s colours. Some are cheap, some are expensive. For example, Red Iron Oxide is a very useful brown, so called because that’s exactly what it is – rust. On the other end we have strong yellows, reds and blues, for example Cadmium Yellow and Red and Cobalt Blue. Cadmium and Cobalt are both base metals, scarce and expensive to process. Hence a tube of these cost a lot more than a tube of Red Iron Oxide. (They are also not environmentally friendly, there will be a future post on worthwhile new alternatives.)

PIGMENT LOADS. Colours tend to have 3 types of ingredients: Pigments, Binders and Fillers. Pigments are what give the colour its strength, binders are what turn it into a colour we can use, and fillers are effectively padding, to get the price down. To keep it very simple the higher the pigment load the higher the colour strength and the higher the price. (This has to be combined with the binders to make a more or less easily usable paint but that’s the subject for another post)

QUALITY of MANUFACTURE. Paints have to have their pigments processed and then combined with their binders and fillers (if used). The pigment processing is the slowest and typically means the pigments are squeezed between rollers. To get it right there isn’t a one size fits all solution. Firstly, the number of passes through the rollers – the more the finer the particles become and the more even the paint is and the more expensive. Secondly different pigments work better with different rollers – some process beautifully passing between steel rollers, some get better results if the rollers are stone. Another area for cost!

Within all of the above different manufactures have different approaches. We have a carefully selected extensive range – each has its different reasons. See below for the features of each.

Student Colours.

With Student ranges none of the above apply – one low price across all the range. Why?

Using the same criteria as above:

PIGMENT. These ranges only use the cheaper pigments. This is why a lot of the colours have the word Hue or Tone after them. Lots of examples but one simple one – Winton Cobalt Blue Hue. Look at the pigments – they are listed as a combination of Ultramarine and Titanium White. Now look Ultramarine and Cobalt on an Artist’s Colour Chart – they are nowhere near each other. What this means is that when you squeeze them out of the tube they look similar but when you use them they loose their strength. This show up most when mixing – mixes of cheaper paints tend to be muddy. (This is especially true with watercolours – watch out for a separate post on this.)

PIGMENT LOADS. Can be summed up as lots of filler, lite on pigment.

QUALITY OF MANUFACTURE. Student colours are turned out en mass without the same care and attention that goes into artists ranges.

So does mean “Artists Good Students Bad”? No – each have their place. As with the Artists ranges above see below for links to our students ranges. The aim of this very short piece is to give you a pointer into the wonderful if confusing world of colours for artists – of all levels. As always if you can get in to our shop we can explain in a way more specific to you, or as we say “a free art lesson with every visit”

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