Walk into any art supply shop and you will see watercolor paints sold in two forms: small rectangular blocks called pans (or half-pans), and squeezable metal tubes. Both contain the same basic ingredients – pigment, gum arabic binder, and additives. But the format changes how you paint.
This is not a question of “which is better” – it is a question of which suits YOUR painting habits, subjects, and workspace. Many experienced painters use both. But if you are buying your first set, this comparison will help you choose wisely.
Pans are small blocks of dried watercolor paint, typically sold in metal or plastic boxes that double as mixing palettes. You activate them by touching a wet brush to the surface. The paint dissolves and loads onto your brush.
Half-pans are the standard size (roughly 16 x 19 mm). Full pans are twice as large. Most beginner and travel sets use half-pans.
The paint in a pan is the same formulation as tube paint, just dried into a solid block. When you add water, the binder re-dissolves and releases pigment. The drier the pan (unused for a long time), the harder you need to work your brush to activate it – but a quick spritz with a spray bottle softens them right up.
Tubes contain moist, paste-like watercolor paint squeezed onto your palette before painting. The paint is the same pigment-and-binder formula, but with more water content and sometimes additional humectants (like glycerine) to keep it moist in the tube.
Standard tube sizes are 5 ml, 8 ml, 10 ml, and 15 ml. Student-grade tubes tend to be smaller (5-8 ml), professional-grade larger (10-15 ml).
Pans win. Open the box, grab a wet brush, paint. Cleanup is equally simple – let them dry and close the lid. Tubes require squeezing paint onto a palette, re-sealing tubes, and cleaning your palette between sessions.
For spontaneous painting – picking up a brush on a Saturday morning, painting for 20 minutes – pans are unbeatable. There is zero friction between “I feel like painting” and actually painting.
Tubes win. Because tube paint is already moist, you can load your brush with a thick, saturated mixture immediately. With pans, you need to work the brush back and forth to dissolve enough pigment, which takes longer to build up intense colour.
For bold, vibrant washes – where you want rich, deep colour covering large areas – tubes are significantly faster and more effective. If you paint large format (A3 or bigger), the difference is dramatic.
Tubes win decisively. When you need a large puddle of mixed paint for a sky, background, or gradient wash, squeezing from a tube gives you the quantity you need immediately. Building the same volume from a pan takes minutes of brush-swirling – and you risk wearing down the pan unevenly.
This is the main reason studio painters prefer tubes for anything larger than a sketchbook.
Pans win overwhelmingly. A pan set is self-contained: paints, palette, and sometimes a water cup all in one compact box. Tubes are bulky, can leak, and require a separate palette.
For outdoor painting (plein air), travel sketching, and painting on the go, pans are the standard. Pair a pan set with water brush pens and a pocket sketchbook, and you can paint anywhere.
Tubes offer better value per ml at the professional level. A 10 ml tube gives you far more paint than filling a half-pan, at roughly the same price per colour. However, pan sets as a complete package (12-24 colours in a box with mixing palette) are often cheaper than buying the same number of individual tubes plus a palette.
For beginners: a 12-colour pan set is almost always the most economical starting point. Buying 12 individual tubes plus a palette costs more.
Read our paint buying guide for specific price comparisons on brands available in Sri Lanka.
Tubes have a slight edge. Squeezing fresh pigment onto a palette and mixing two colours together produces cleaner, more predictable mixes. With pans, you transfer one colour to a mixing area, then go back for the second colour – and if your brush was not fully clean, you contaminate the pan surface.
That said, careful painters avoid pan contamination with a simple habit: rinse your brush before touching a different pan colour.
Pans waste less. You only activate what your brush picks up. Dried paint stays in the pan for next time. With tubes, any paint squeezed onto your palette that you do not use will dry out – and while dried tube paint CAN be reactivated (it is the same formula as a pan, after all), it is not as clean or convenient as a purpose-made pan.
Both last essentially forever if stored properly. Pans never “expire” – the paint is already dry. Tubes last years in the tube, but can dry out if the cap is not sealed properly or crack if exposed to freezing temperatures.
| Factor | Pans | Tubes |
|---|---|---|
| Setup speed | Instant | Needs squeezing and organizing |
| Colour intensity | Moderate (needs brush work) | High (immediately saturated) |
| Large washes | Slow to build volume | Fast and easy |
| Portability | Excellent (self-contained) | Bulky, needs separate palette |
| Cost (beginner sets) | More affordable as a set | More expensive to assemble |
| Cost per ml (pro) | Higher per ml | Better value per ml |
| Colour mixing | Good (risk of contamination) | Excellent (clean mixing) |
| Waste | Minimal | Some palette waste |
| Best for | Travel, sketching, beginners, quick sessions | Studio work, large paintings, bold washes |
Start with a pan set. Here is why:
After 3-6 months, when you know which colours you use most and have started painting larger, add tubes of your favourite 5-6 colours for studio work. Many painters end up using both: pans for travel and sketching, tubes for studio paintings.
The “pans vs tubes” debate has a third option: use both.
Filling your own pans from tubes gives you professional-grade colour in the convenience of a pan format – the best of both worlds.
There is a third format: liquid watercolors in dropper bottles. These are pre-diluted, intensely pigmented inks. They are popular for illustration, calligraphy, and graphic design work. However, most liquid watercolors contain dyes rather than pigments, making them less lightfast (they fade in sunlight). For fine art painting and archival work, stick with pan or tube watercolors that use real pigments.
Yes, and this is common practice. Squeeze tube paint into an empty half-pan, let it cure for 24-48 hours, and you have a fresh pan of your chosen colour. The paint behaves identically to factory-made pans.
Generally yes. The pigment load, binder, and additives are the same. The only difference is moisture content – tubes have more water and sometimes additional humectants. Once dried on a palette, tube paint becomes functionally identical to a pan.
Volume and intensity. When painting large (A3+) or when mixing specific colours in quantity, tubes are faster and produce stronger colour. Professionals working on small formats (postcards, sketchbooks, studies) often use pans.
Yes, with preparation. Squeeze your colours onto a palette before leaving, let them partially dry, and you have a portable setup. Some painters squeeze tube paint onto a folding palette and treat it like a custom pan set.
Whatever format you choose, the most important thing is to start painting. Browse our watercolor paints collection and pair your choice with the right paper for the best results.
Login with Google