Etchr Watercolour 24 Half Pan Set Review: Lightfast Paints With Real Range

Introduction

Etchr made a name for itself with well-made gear like the Field Case and the Slate, and its watercolour range follows the same pattern: thoughtfully packaged, nicely finished, and priced for people who actually paint rather than collect gear. The core of the range is the Watercolour 24 Half Pan Set, sold as a “premium student series”, and it is flanked by a Watercolour Pad and a Brush Roll Set that round out a complete starter kit.

After extensive sketching and a finished painting on professional cotton paper, the recurring impression is that Etchr is underselling these paints. The lightfastness data alone puts most of this set in territory usually reserved for more expensive artist-grade lines.

What the Set Includes

The 24 half pans arrive in a sturdy metal tin with a finger loop underneath for outdoor use. Inside there are two mixing areas: a larger top mixing area for colours you use most, and a smaller ridged section underneath for colours you reach for less often. The packaging is genuinely nice, including a “show us your art” insert with a monthly voucher draw, a small sticker sheet, a neoprene microfibre cloth, and a blank swatch card printed on good quality sketchbook-grade paper so your swatches read true.

Each pan ships with a small sticker label halfway around it showing the pigment’s lightfastness and transparency. A smart habit is to peel those labels off and stick them to the underside of each pan so the information stays with the paint.

The colour selection covers warm and cool ranges well: lemon yellow, yellow, orange, soft orange, several reds, pretty pink, royal purple, lime green, leaf green, emerald green, ocean turquoise, cobalt blue, sky blue, Prussian blue, ultramarine blue, umber brown, brick brown, burnt sienna, dark brown, and a black and white.

Lightfastness: Where It Gets Interesting

This is the part that makes the “premium student series” label feel conservative. The paints are rated on the Blue Wool scale, where ratings of 8 and 7 correspond to ASTM LF1, and 6 corresponds to LF2. Of the 24 colours, 21 sit at Blue Wool 8 or 7, meaning 100-plus years of lightfastness suitable for commissioned or sellable work. Two colours rate 6 (LF2, around 100 years), and only one colour, Ocean Turquoise, drops to Blue Wool 5 (LF3).

For a set marketed at students, having 21 of 24 colours in the highest lightfast tier is a strong ratio. A transparency and opacity legend on the tin tells you which colours are opaque, semi-opaque, semi-transparent, or transparent. That does not make any colour better or worse; it simply helps you plan layers, since a colour like Pure White reads genuinely opaque while Cobalt Blue behaves transparently.

Paint Behaviour and Paper Choice

The paints are vibrant when mixed and lay down cleanly. Testing showed Cobalt Blue flowing well on wet paper, opaque colours like Soft Orange holding up reasonably over darker passages, and semi-transparent colours like Lime Green reading almost as opaque as some labelled-opaque colours, depending on how thickly the paint is applied. As with any watercolour, coverage depends heavily on paint consistency and application.

Paper matters here, and the difference is real. Sketches on wood pulp paper came out slightly grainy, while the same composition on 100 percent cotton cold press paper let the paint settle beautifully, with richer washes and more controlled bleeding. Wood pulp paper is pleasant to use and more sustainable, but for a commissioned piece or an original you plan to sell, 100 percent cotton paper remains the better choice.

Etchr Watercolour Pad

The Etchr Watercolour Pad uses 100 percent wood pulp paper that is vegan friendly. The surface quality is excellent for wood pulp, with a soft, almost fuzzy texture that you can feel under the brush, and it handles wet-on-wet work without falling apart. It is a good practice and sketching surface, though the texture reads grainier than cotton paper when colour lays down, so most painters will want cotton paper for finished, sellable work.

Etchr Watercolour Brush Roll Set

The Brush Roll Set comes in a fabric roll printed with the brand pattern and includes a useful spread: round brushes in sizes 1, 3, 6, 8, 10, and 12, a half-inch flat, a three-eighths inch filbert-style brush, a quarter-inch brush, and a number 1 fan brush. The bristles are soft and springy, and the smaller rounds made detailed work like fine branches genuinely easy. The fan brush produced pleasing foliage effects too.

One quirk worth knowing: the size 12 round here is noticeably smaller than size 12 rounds from some other brands, which may simply reflect different manufacturers sizing conventions. If you paint large washes, you may want to add a bigger brush to the roll.

Etchr Watercolour 24 Half Pan Set

As the centrepiece, the 24 pan set is the easy recommendation. It is vibrant, well made, and the lightfastness profile is strong enough for work you intend to keep or sell. Calling it a student set does it a disservice; for most hobbyists and even many commission painters, this covers the palette they need.

Buying Advice

If you are building a watercolour kit, the sensible order is paints first, then a brush roll, then paper matched to how serious your output is. The half pan set and brush roll together make a genuinely capable travel-friendly kit. For final paintings, commissions, or originals you want to sell, pair the paints with 100 percent cotton paper rather than wood pulp, since the paint settles noticeably better there. For daily sketching and practice, the Etchr pad is a friendly and sustainable option that costs less.

Conclusion

Etchr’s watercolour range delivers more than the “premium student” label suggests. Twenty-one of 24 colours sit in the highest lightfast tier, the tin and mixing areas are well thought out, the brush roll offers a versatile and pleasant-bristled selection with the caveat of a smaller-than-expected size 12, and the pad is a solid practice surface. For anyone moving from watercolour pencils into pans and tubes, this set is an easy, confident place to start.