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

thefrugalcrafter Lindsay Weirich

Nov 20

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!

Inktense 72 pencil set 56% off https://amzn.to/47DESWD
Faber Castell 120 Polychromo colored pencil (cheaper than I've seen it in years and $20 cheaper than the great deal last week! Sorry to be cryptic, Amazon won't let me say exact prices) https://amzn.to/3R6mmAx
Derwent Chromaflow 72 set https://amzn.to/46vhs4U
Paul Rubens professional watercolors sets of 48 and 24 half pan are 21% off their normally low price with prime exclusive deal https://amzn.to/49GNCNw
Meilang 36 and 48 pretty excellent watercolor pan sets are 36% off (this is my beginner watercolor pic. I use it in classes, you can't beat it!) https://amzn.to/3MQKhBy *the tube 36 set I reviewed yesterday is 20% off too! https://amzn.to/47gslIO
Winsor & Newton Cotman field box https://amzn.to/3G9z4Zk
ART WHALE has 20% off tube set of 24 https://amzn.to/3QNxhOl and 48 pan set https://amzn.to/3R603uO
Grabie set of 9 synthetic squirrel quill brushes: https://amzn.to/3sHPzbO *you can break this set up for 3 gifts!
Artegria has their watercolor brush sets on sale 23% off, they are well worth the full price! I use these in classes too! https://amzn.to/3SOgdu4 and https://amzn.to/3R51pWW are my picks
Strathmore Visual Journal watercolor and bristol are still 69% off: https://amzn.to/3sIXcyK
Sennelier oil pastels 46% off https://amzn.to/47Cutug
Derwent intense pan paint set of 24 is 26% off https://amzn.to/3R64lCB
Caran Dasche Pablo pencils set of 80 is 34% off https://amzn.to/3GaBqqN
Prismacolor 132 colored pencils https://amzn.to/47DjC3a
Gansai Tambi 48 watercolor set is 49% off https://amzn.to/3R64FBj
Singer heavy-duty sewing machine with extension table: https://amzn.to/49UXC5Y
Not really art/craft related but the Bissell Little Green is 28% off, it is epic for cleaning cloth furniture and stuff you can toss in the washing machine and rugs: https://amzn.to/47gslIO
Sakura Koi Field box watercolor set of 24 50% off with free micron 3 pack fineiner bonus: https://shrsl.com/4bbu3
Free Pitt Pen black set of 4 with purchase of new Faber Castel dual brush pitt pen set of 10 (20% off) https://shrsl.com/4bbu7
Davinci Watercolors are still 60% off: https://shrsl.com/4bbup and up to 60% on other Davinci products too: https://shrsl.com/4b7mn