Watercolor Tubes vs Pans for Beginners: Differences, Pros & Cons

What Are Watercolor Tubes for Beginners?

Watercolor tubes are small, toothpaste-style tubes filled with moist and ready-to-use paint. Many studio artists prefer this format because you can load a large amount of pigment onto your palette in a couple of seconds. Squeeze, add water, and you have a rich, saturated color ready to work straight away.

Beginners often assume tube paint has to be used wet every single time. Plenty of artists squeeze their colors into palette wells, let them air-dry completely, and then reactivate them with a wet brush, exactly like pan paints. That approach gives you fresh, moist paint whenever you want it, plus a reusable custom palette that builds up over time.

Tubes also make mixing far easier for large-scale work. A full sky wash across a wide sheet of paper needs a generous, consistently mixed amount of color, and scrubbing that much pigment off a small dried pan is slow, tedious, and uneven. Squeezing out a blob of tube paint and thinning it to the right consistency takes seconds.

Watercolor tubes come in toothpaste-like tubes filled with pigmented and ready-to-use paint. 

Pros of Watercolor Tubes

• Watercolor tubes provide fast access to strong, highly saturated pigment.

• You spend less time scrubbing a dried paint cake and more time painting.

• Watercolor tubes produce rich color from the first squeeze, making it easier to learn how paint behaves on wet paper.

• It is easier to judge how much water each color needs.

• They give you full control over paint consistency, whether you want thin glazes or thicker, more textured details.

• They make it easy to mix large amounts of paint for washes and backgrounds.

Cons of Watercolor Tubes

• It is easy to squeeze out more paint than you actually need.

• Excess paint from watercolor tubes can dry out and crack if left on an uncovered palette.

• The caps can become stuck if dried paint builds up around the threads.

• Accidental squeezing can leave paint on your hands, clothes, and other supplies.

Colors included in Tobio’s Kits extra paint refills

What Are Watercolor Pans for Beginners?

Watercolor pans are small cakes of dried pigment, solid or semi-solid, that sit in compact plastic wells. They are the format most people picture when they think of a classic watercolor set, that familiar row of little color blocks lined up in a hinged tin. You activate them by loading a wet brush across the surface and picking up pigment as you go.

Pan sets are tidy, self-contained, and need almost no setup, so you can open the tin, wet your brush, and start painting. That simplicity removes a lot of the friction that slows new artists down before they even get going.

Pans come in two standard sizes, full and half, with half pans being the more common choice in portable sets. Most sets include a hinged lid that doubles as a mixing palette, and many fit comfortably in a jacket pocket. When a single color runs out, you can usually replace that one pan instead of buying a whole new set.

Pros of Watercolor Pans

• Watercolor pans are highly portable, with many sets being smaller than a smartphone.

• They come in one sealed package, with no loose tubes or paint that can leak in your bag.

• They produce very little waste because your brush only picks up the amount of paint you need.

• There is no excess paint left to dry out on a palette between painting sessions.

Cons of Watercolor Pans

• It takes longer to build up enough pigment for large washes.

• Repeated scrubbing with a wet brush can wear the surface of the pans unevenly over time.

• Colors often appear slightly less vibrant than the same pigments used from tubes.

• Achieving the same color intensity as tubes requires loading more paint onto your brush while using less water.

• Neighboring colors can contaminate each other if you are not careful.

• Frequent brush rinsing between colors can interrupt your painting flow.

Watercolor Tubes vs Pans: Comparison Table

New Painters Get Started Faster with Tobio's Watercolor Kit

The Tobio’s Watercolor Kit comes with 12 heavily pigmented watercolor tubes and other necessities to help you get started with painting. 

There is no wrong choice between watercolor tubes and pans. Tubes give beginners a faster way to achieve rich color, learn water control, and mix paint for everything from small studies to broad washes, while pans reward simplicity, tidiness, and portability. If your goal is to build confidence quickly, tubes offer the most flexible starting point. 

At Tobio's Kits, we put tubes at the heart of our starter kit for exactly that reason. Along with 12 watercolor tubes, you get cotton paper sketchbook, a wooden palette, and the other essentials in one box, so you can start painting with confidence from your very first session. Shop the Tobio's Watercolor Kit and paint your first page this week. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you put watercolor tubes into pans?

Yes, and it's one of the best techniques a beginner can learn. Simply squeeze tube paint into an empty palette well and let it air dry completely, which may take 24 to 48 hours depending on humidity. Once dry, the paint can be reactivated with a wet brush anytime.

How to mix watercolor paint from pans?

Load your brush with water, pick up pigment from the first pan, and bring it to an empty section of your palette lid or a separate mixing tray. Rinse your brush thoroughly, then pick up the second color and mix the two together on the palette surface. Never mix directly in the pan wells, as this is how colors get contaminated and your set gets muddy fast.

What is the biggest mistake beginners make in watercolor?

Using too little water is one of the most common and most limiting mistakes beginners make. Watercolor is a water-based medium: water carries the pigment, creates smooth washes, and allows colors to blend naturally on wet paper. When there isn't enough water, paint sits stiff and streaky on the surface, blending becomes almost impossible, and the natural luminosity that makes watercolor so beautiful simply disappears.

Do you mix watercolor paint tubes with water?

Yes, watercolor paint tubes are too concentrated to use straight from the tube for most applications. Squeeze a small amount onto your palette, then add water with your brush to thin it to the consistency you need. For light, transparent washes, use a lot of water relative to paint. For rich, opaque-looking coverage or fine details, use less water and keep the mix thicker.

Is the Tobio's Watercolor Kit suitable for beginners?

Absolutely, Tobio's Watercolor Kit is designed with beginner artists specifically in mind. The included colors are selected to give new painters a versatile, well-rounded palette without being overwhelming, and the quality of pigmentation is strong enough to produce vivid, satisfying results from the very first painting session. It also comes with a handy palette and water brush.

*Disclaimer: Tobio's Kits watercolor supplies are designed for ages 6 and above. As with all art materials, paints are not food-safe and should be kept away from the mouth. Best suited for beginner to intermediate painters. Visit Tobio's Kits to explore our full range of art kits and find the right set for you.