The new Holbein Luminous Artists’ Watercolours are a playful addition to their range. The addition of these 12 new tubes to the collection of 208 colours gives artists the option to dip into fluorescent, vibrant colour, alongside their classic palettes. From painting the glowing lights of the city, to sunsets, and fantastical landscapes, the potential of these new colours will be enticing for any watercolour artist. I tested the new colours on black as well as white paper, tried mixing to make more muted shades, and experimented with some watercolour painting techniques.
Holbein Luminous Artists’ Watercolours – Sets of 12 available in 5 ml tubes or 15 ml tubes. Also available as individual colours.
A First Look at Holbein Luminous Artists’ Watercolours
Properties of the New Holbein Luminous Artists’ Watercolours
The paints are available in 5 ml and 15 ml tubes, and I tested the 5 ml box set of 12. Like other Holbein Watercolours, they come in a small red cardboard box. The only drawback of this packaging is that it may get easily squashed or damaged if travelling, so I’d decant the tubes into another container on the go.
There’s a leaflet within the set that explains the symbols on the labels of Holbein paints. These are slightly different from other brands, so it is worth quickly reading. Every paint in the set has the same opacity rating of semi-transparent, represented by a small circle with a vertical line through it. Some other brands will use a small square instead to represent transparency, but on Holbein’s labelling it’s for ‘Staining Colours’. All of the paints in the set are semi-staining since the square is half-filled.
Holbein uses a scale of 1-4 asterisks to represent permanence, and again every paint I tested has a permanence of 1, which makes them fugitive colours. It is worth noting that since these are not lightfast, they will fade over time and should be kept out of sunlight. It’s impossible to give a timescale on how long it will take for them to fade since it depends on how they are stored or displayed. Keeping them completely ‘in the dark’ in a book versus hanging in a bright room would extend their life. Either way, artists should be aware that working with fugitive colours means the vibrant finish of your work is temporary in the long term, and should be avoided if permanence matters to you.
Swatching the Luminous Watercolours
I swatched all of the colours on both white and black watercolour paper so you can see how the colours appear. I prefer the effect of their fluorescence on the black paper, and can imagine they would similarly look great on other coloured or toned papers too. The black paper I used has slightly more tooth than the white, giving those swatches slightly more texture.
I found all the paints to have consistent strong colour payoff and smooth texture across the board. On first use, I was immediately surprised by the visual intensity of the Luminous Yellow, as the colour has a glowy effect that I think settles down a little on drying. Luminous Lemon, Luminous Green, and Luminous Pink are true highlighter pen colours, and it was fun to work with these free from the constraints of the pen nib. This may be obvious, but when painting all of the colours on black paper they initially appeared darker and duller whilst wet, and brightened up when dry. This is just something to be aware of if you feel the colours aren’t immediately appearing as they should.
Although I was generally very impressed by the colour range in the set, I was slightly disappointed by the Luminous Blue. On Holbein’s website, the colours are promoted as including a “…fluorescent blue, which is even rarer among fluorescent colors.” It is very difficult to make fluorescent blues in general, unlike yellows and pinks, but when we look at the pigment it contains, it is just PB15 which is Phthalo Blue. Holbein also has another watercolour in their full range which contains the single pigment PB15 – Phthalo Blue Yellow Shade. On the white paper, it appears more fluorescent than on the black paper, where it appears like a nice sky blue.
From these swatches, my favourite five colours in the range are Luminous Orange Red, Luminous Yellow, Luminous Lemon, Luminous Violet, and Luminous Pink. In the following tests, I will specifically experiment with these five colours, to see if they all perform at the same quality.
First I tested my five favourite colours for transparency, by washing them over a coloured pencil drawing. The pencil I used is a Caran D’Ache Luminance 6901 pencil in Bleu De Nimes (135). I think the transparency of these colours is perfect for working with mixed media and would be lovely to apply lighting effects to a detailed drawing. Every colour dried very evenly over the pencil, with no parts pulling away from where it was applied.
Transparency tests
Next, I tested lifting each of my favourite colours, first whilst still wet, and then after they dried down. Perhaps counter-intuitively I found that lifting the colours off when dry was more successful than when wet. I think the wet ones allowed too much pigment to be spread over the area I was trying to clean off. From this result, I’d advise that if you make a mistake with these paints, to allow them to dry first before you lift them off with a clean brush.
Lifting tests
Mixing the Holbein Luminous Watercolours Together
I also tested mixing a variety of the colours from the set of 12, to make some neutral colours. This could be useful if you just had this set with you, or realised you needed more natural colours to balance your work. I really love the results of this test and they proved much more versatile than I initially assumed. From this test sheet, I loved the rich grass green that I made with Luminous Green and Luminous Blue Violet, and the terracotta brown made with Luminous Orange, Luminous Green, and Luminous Violet.
Mixing colours
Finding fluorescent colours in watercolour form is fairly uncommon, unlike the plenty of brands that make them as acrylics, or inks. This is a credit to Holbein for creating a complete box set of colours in this form, which I think has met a gap in the market. They also have a further five Luminous colours in the Holbein Duo Aqua Watermixable Oil range, which may be of interest.
The Holbein Luminous Artists’ Watercolours are a vivid opportunity for watercolour painters to expand their palettes. The complete set of 12 contains the perfect variety of fluorescent colours that are hard to find in watercolour form, and even harder to find in a set this comprehensive. Amongst more traditional colours, the vibrancy of this range could add a punchy finish to works that I think all painters would enjoy experimenting with. Overall I found them to be smooth, highly pigmented, and consistent. Fun shouldn’t be underestimated as an asset to art materials, and this set delivers it.
Further Reading
IUILE Colourshift Watercolours
Black Watercolour Paper Comparison
Holbein Artists’ Gouache Irodori Autumn Palette Review
Shop Holbein Luminous Artists’ Watercolours on jacksonsart.com
