Disclaimer: I'd like to note that I'm not made of money. Like many of you I struggle to afford the nicer supplies. I'm not saying that right off the bat you should go out and buy ALL THE THINGS. I can say that you should pick a medium to start with (usually colored pencils) and make a small investment in better materials. The Faber Castell and Prismacolor brands are WORTH THE MONEY. If you can't afford it right off save up. I saved up for the nicer supplies before starting in my Bible. I used some cheaper supplies to do tip ins and the like but for something that you're going to be passing down you want to use materials that will hold up to the test of time. This is why I push the better products. In many cases they're also easier to work with for beginners even though they're professional grade products.
The first brand listed is the Sakura Koi (which you've seen me gush about before). The colors are rather vibrant even when watered down. The paint itself seems to be using an ink pigment which makes it less opaque while still offering beautiful and bold color. It also offers a lovely pink and purple along with a bright teal that I use often. This has the least opacity out of all the sets I have (other than the watercolor pencils of course) and is the one I enjoy painting with the most. The container it comes in is compact and easily fits in my purse for on the go painting. It comes with a palette for mixing. I rarely use the colors straight from the pan. I've had this set for several months now and have barely put a dent in the product. It takes very little. They blend very well and the colors once blended are also still very bright. Because it takes such little product with such little amounts of water to get the effect you want it works great for Bible journaling since you're less likely to have bleed and (when used with the right amount of water) shouldn't need to prep. (Please note that I've used this brand exclusively in my journaling and have not had an ounce of bleed with no prep)
Cons: I don't really have any other than price but with a coupon or on Amazon they're pretty affordable. They are rather lacking on colors I can use for skin tones so I'm left mixing my own most times.
The second brand I'd like to talk about is also my most recent acquisition. The Pelikan brand of opaque watercolors are very creamy. I'm not sure if they're powder based or ink but I love how they go onto the paper. A little goes a LONG way. I love how well they blend as well. Seamless and soft. I also like how vibrant even the lighter colors are. They're very easy to work with. The price is great and it even comes with a tube of china white. I'm loving the browns for darker skin tones. I feel I can actually achieve the multidimensional tones often found in people of color that I love.
Cons: Opacity. It's not quite as transparent as the Sakura Koi (of course they're listed as an opaque watercolor set) however its still better than other brands for the amount of product you're getting and the overall quality. I'm anxious to try the transparent palette of this same brand.
Third we have Master's Touch (Hobby Lobby brand). The biggest thing about this is that (for a cheaper price) the quality is ok. The colors are mostly vibrant and easy to work with and the opacity is on par with some of the more expensive brands. They're an ink based pigment. At around $7 for this set of 12 and a pretty nice synthetic brush I think this is a great set for beginners to see if you enjoy watercolor as a medium.
Cons: Quality. They're harder to blend and do not layer well. You're also limited on color and left grasping for straws when you need a pink or purple (which I use often). They have a very harsh scent as well. It also takes ALOT Of water and ALOT of product to get what you want which isn't good for working in the Bible since overworking the page and over wetting will cause bleed. Prep first? No skin tones. Just orange that you can mix with the white and a smidge of red but hard to keep that consistent... and the brown... nah.
Fourth we have the most popular brand of watercolors in the Bible Journaling community. Almost everyone uses and starts off with these watercolors. I'm talking about the bane of my existence. You guessed it! Artist's Loft brand from Michael's. This set is a steal at just a few dollars for a pan of more than 30 bright and vibrant colors. Plenty of skin tones, pinks, purple, blue, green, and yellow. The colors are often vibrant on their own when used straight out of the pan.
Cons: Powder based. This makes quality hit and miss. It's like playing a game of Russian roulette where the quality and opacity of your product is at stake. I've found that half of the colors come out very chalky in the batch my set was made from. They even brush off onto my skin quite easily if my hand touches them while painting. Almost all of them are quite opaque. Once you start trying to blend colors or layer them it becomes a huge mess and lacks the dimension you can get from the more expensive brands. They're also hard to mix to get custom colors as the powder never fully mixes into the water. I don't feel like these watercolors have the staying power that I'd like to see for Bible journaling. These are my least favorite. Please see this post for a comparison on these an the Sakura Koi using the same colors and same painting methods.
Lastly we have the Prismacolor Watercolor Pencils. I've included these in my swatches because a lot of people prefer to use them for large pieces in their Bibles. I'd like to note that (per my experience) I wouldn't use watercolor pencils directly on a page for anything other than shading and detailing. The problem is that, on bible paper, these pencils just don't come out bold at all. There's no grit to pull the pigment from the pencil. If I were to use them for the entire picture I'd color a swatch on a piece of cardstock or watercolor paper then lift the color with my brush and paint directly onto the page. Afterwards I would go in with the colors and add shading or detail then blend out with a water brush. I do believe that the Derwent Inktense watercolor pencils would be much better to use in your Bible and run at about the same price. The colors that come in the 12 pack are very limited. I do like how transparent they are and think that they could be used on tip ins more than directly on the page.
In closing I think it's important to remember that while what we are doing isn't for the glory of others but to the Glory of God most of us are passing our Bibles down to our children or grandchildren. Even if that isn't your plan I'm sure that one day they will see it. I want to use products that will last so that whoever's hands my Bible falls into receives a blessing, encouragement, or help from the verses that have touched me the most no matter how far into the future that might be. While you're in no way obligated to use the more expensive products listed I do think it's important to know what to expect from the different products available in what is one of the most used mediums in Bible Journaling.
As always I pray that you are blessed in whatever God leads you to create and for peace in whatever you may be facing in your life.
