Winton Oil Color:Good enough?

[gogidolim]

I used up my Artisan paints and I spent more than 150 USD to buy new paints and some brushes. I tried to build a cadmium and lead-free palette, and some of the colors in Artist's Color were too expensive.

From my own experience, Winton paints worked just fine to me. The reason to buy more professional paints was to get Winsor Red and Winsor Yellow. And I was wondering if any professionals and/or serious painters using Winton paints. In most cases budget paints are very inferior to more professional grade paints. But in case of Winton oil paints, I can't really see the difference. If there's a significant difference, what is it?

EDIT: I did some research and many people have no problem with Winton paints. I am not worried about the permanence too much because I want to paint on cardboards/cheap canvases for practice. And I also plan to do a lot of master copies.

[Suncut]

For what it's worth I've done all my paintings with winton oils during the time I've been studying, and they're what our teacher's recommend for budget paints.

I've gathered from the teachers that it's easier to get really bright color mixes and purer colors when using more expensive paints. I've been thinking about switching to beckers when my paints run out little by little so I can compare. Winton gets the job done tho.

[Elwell]

They're crap, but if you can't tell the difference, go ahead.

[Slothboy3000]

They're crap, but if you can't tell the difference, go ahead.

Now I'm intrigued. In what way are they crap, and if so, which oil paints are good to get?

[That fat kid]

Now I'm intrigued. In what way are they crap, and if so, which oil paints are good to get?

Invest in some Old Holland, Holbein, or WIlliamsburg paints and find out.

[Aphotic Phoenix]

Now I'm intrigued. In what way are they crap, and if so, which oil paints are good to get?

They are stiff and full of fillers for one thing. Texturally Winton reminds me of cream cheese.

[JeffX99]

They're crap, but if you can't tell the difference, go ahead.

LOL - yep!

If you're serious about what you're doing then use professional materials - paint, support, easel/equipment - especially paint and brushes. Even the best oil painting brushes are very inexpensive compared to your time and effort.

There are two main reasons:
1 - inferior materials can be a hindrance and interfere with learning.
2 - these amterials are not all the same - why learn with inferior materials and figure out how they work then have to adjust later?

This is if you know you want to pursue a particular medium of course - if you're just experimenting then it doesn't matter too much.

I like Utrecht paint personally - Old Holland, Sennelier and others mentioned are good also.

[Elwell]

Winton paints are pumped up with fillers, and not only in the expensive pigments; the cheap colors like ivory black and earths are also full of extenders, to keep the tinting strengths relative. I'm with JeffX, if you want good, relatively cheap paint, Utrecht is a good choice. Any artists' grade paint is going to be fine, I'd hold off on top shelf brands like Old Holland, Williamsburg, Blockx, Holbein, etc, until you're really sure you can do something worthwhile with them.

[Aphotic Phoenix]

Although it might be overwhelming, this thread: http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=877 spans 9 years (and 20 some pages), and discusses paint preferences between brands including consistency, pigment load, quality, pricing etc.

[Slothboy3000]

Cheers guys, I'll give Utrecht a go.

[Bhrazz]

I started off with Winton as well. Difference I notice was the colors mix. High quality paint is much easier to mix.

Like they said, winton are ''creamy'', with high-quality brand you can stretch lines much longer than the crappy one.

For glazing I can assure you that the high-quality are WAY MUCH better.

And if you someday to roll up your painting for transport more chances it will crack with the Winton.

Maybe you are not seeing a difference because you didnt try.

Do like I did. Painting with Winton for now, buy a couple of tubes or each colors every month, after a while you will have your pallette completed and you will see the difference.

[jvgig]

As a student/hobbist, winton paints have caused me few hardships. Sure if you compare them side be side to an artist grade paint, there are differences, mostly in favor of the artist grade, but when you are going through tubes of paint without any form of monetary return on paintings that will most likely be stuck in closet/drawer/portforlio for the rest of your life, then who really cares.

Since paints are expensive, especially nice ones, I started by buying a basic range of 6-10 big Winton tubes. this will allow you to spread out your artist grade paint purchases. As I finish a tube, I replace it with a higher quality paint. Saves money on what comes down to practice paintings and gets you ready for when you actually understand the media and can start creating serious paintings