How to Choose Between Pan and Tube Watercolors

Here's How:

1. To make watercolor paints, pigment is mixed with gum arabic and a small amount of glycerin for adhesion and flexibility. This is then dried before being put into pans or tubes.
2. Pans are small square cakes of pigment cut into either full pan or half pan size. These are put in small plastic or metal boxes to keep the pan together as you use it.
3. To get paint from a pan, use a damp brush to pick up a little color, then put it on your palette (which can be the lid of a watercolor set or a separate, freestanding one). Add more water here or mix with other colors. You can also work directly from the pan, but be careful not to contaminate it with other colors.
4. Unless you're very good about washing your brushes before getting a new color, a pan can become dirty or contaminated with other colors. Use a damp cloth to wipe them clean.
5. Tube paints contain more binder than pans. This makes them a little easier to mix with water. Tubes are therefore easier to use if you want large areas of color.
6. Tubes are easy to keep clean as you squeeze a little bit of paint from a tube when you wish to use that color. But it also means you may squeeze out color you then don't use.
7. If you don't clean off your palette, you can use paint squeezed from tubes or lifted from pans later as it remains water soluble. (You can also "renew" any pans with tube paint, by squeezing some out into a pan.)
8. Pans are easier to use because you have immediate access to the colors. You don't have to put your brush down, open a tube of paint, and squeeze a little color out.
9. Pans are less expensive than tubes, but tend to dry out over time because they're exposed to the air. They're ideal for small amounts of color and sketching trips.
10. Tubes are easier on your brushes than pans as you don't have the temptation to scrub with your brush to pick up a color.
11. Ultimately, each has its own advantages. Try both and see which you prefer. It may well be a mixture of the two.

Tips:

1. There's a huge difference in quality between student and professional watercolors. Rather buy a few quality paints than a large range of cheap colors.
2. When you replace a pan, remove any bits of an old pan before putting in the new one. Otherwise it won't fit snuggly. Another option is to fill the pan with paint from a tube.