Etcher Watercolor 24 Half Pan Set Review: Premium Student Paints With Real Transparency

Introduction

The Etcher Watercolor 24 Half Pan Set arrived with unusually good packaging for this price class: a sturdy presentation box, the set wrapped in a soft velvety cloth, and a proper metal tin rather than plastic. Etcher markets it as a “premium student series” set, which raises an interesting question about where it actually sits between student and professional grade. After spending time with the paints, the answer leans firmly toward the impressive end of that spectrum.

First Impressions and Packaging

The tin itself is a genuine highlight. It is well constructed, feels like a quality metal case, and should hold up to years of studio and travel use. Each half pan arrives individually wrapped, which keeps everything clean in transit, and the included swatch card is printed on 100 percent cotton paper so you can see exactly how each color behaves on good watercolor paper before committing to your own stock.

Pigment Transparency and Lightfastness

This is where Etcher earns real praise. The swatch card lists the pigment number for every color, whether it is fugitive, and Etcher’s own transparency rating. Most colors sit in the six to eight range on the company’s lightfastness scale, with most rated an eight and a few sevens. Most paints are single pigment, with a few mixtures such as the lime green and the umber brown.

What stands out is that the labels are honest. If a color says it is transparent, it really is transparent; if it says semi-opaque, it behaves that way on paper. That level of disclosure about what is actually in the paint is still rare in this segment, and it is good to see a brand taking a lead here.

Standout Colors and Mixing Behavior

Swatching through the set, several colors immediately stood out: the Sweet Red, Llama Orange, Royal Purple, Cobalt and Sky Blue, and a genuinely lovely Burnt Sienna. The set covers essentially every color a watercolor painter could want in a compact 24 pan format.

The paints go down light and mix with themselves beautifully, without streaking or blotching. The Cobalt Blue is a perfect example of how cleanly these pigments flow and blend. One caveat worth noting: some manufacturers add brighteners or color enhancers, and there is no way to verify Etcher’s formulation from the outside. The pigment numbering and transparency labels are still a strong sign of good practice.

Things to Consider Before Buying

A few small nitpicks are worth knowing before you order. The presentation box has a magnetized front flap, but nothing indicates it opens that way, so you may find yourself trying to slide the box out of its sleeve before realizing the flap simply lifts. A small “open here” note would fix this.

Second, there is no ASTM safety rating or non-toxic notice on the packaging. Since this is marketed as a student grade set and students can include children, a clear non-toxic statement would add real confidence. Finally, the individual pan wrappers are less fiddly than some premium brands but still a bit awkward, and most people simply throw them away. A small color and pigment label printed on the side of each half pan would solve that permanently and keep the information with the paint.

Buying Advice

Overall, this set is genuinely impressive. The build quality of the tin, the presentation, the paint performance, and above all the company’s transparency about pigment content make it easy to recommend. It performs better than many student grade paints tried over the years, and better than some artist grade paints as well, which is saying a lot for a premium student series set.

If you are a student, a hobbyist upgrading from very cheap pans, or even a working artist who wants a reliable travel palette with honest labeling, this set fits well. Just keep the pan wrappers if you want to double-check pigment numbers, and be gentle feeling around that magnetic flap the first time you open the box.

Conclusion

The Etcher Watercolor 24 Half Pan Set is an all-around fine product with only a handful of minor suggestions for improvement. Strong colors, clean mixing, a quality metal tin, cotton paper swatch card, and unusually transparent labeling make this an easy recommendation for anyone stepping up in watercolor.