Watercolors vs. aniline colors

Are you confused about watercolors and aniline colours, too? At first glance, watercolors are indistinguishable from aniline. We've compared these two popular art mediums and written a brief article about their different properties and uses.

Both types are water-based and they are often considered an easier and less expensive alternative to aquarels, which are more suitable for more experienced artists. They are also similar to aquarels in terms of ingredients. However, there is a noticeable difference in the amount of pigment contained, which is much lower in watercolours than in aniline paints.

Thank you, Eva Špírková, for these beautiful paintings.

Watercolors are suitable for smaller children for two simple reasons. The watercolors sets with tablets of a diameter 3 cm have a larger area with colored pigment, which makes it easier for kids to use them. Another advantage is that their palette contains several different colors and does not contain their shades, which is the case with aniline colors, which could initially make it difficult for young children to understand the color schemes.

We recommend painting with them on heavier paper, for example the Pop Aquarell painting notebook. You can find more valuable tips on how to use watercolors in one of our previous articles talking about painting with this technique.

Aniline colors, also known as "anilines", create a richer and more radiant footprint than watercolors. Originally, they contained the toxic liquid aniline, which this medium was named after and therefore made them less popular among users. Thanks to technological progress, aniline is no longer present in these paints. However, their specific properties remain unchanged.

You can use them not only for painting on paper with a higher weight as in the case of watercolors, but also for coloring photographs, painting on various objects or for decorating Easter eggs.

Share your creating experience with these water based colors with us. Do you prefer watercolors or aniline colors? We look forward to your feedback in the comments below.