Full Pan vs Half Pan Watercolours: What's the Difference?

Full Pan vs Half Pan Watercolours: Which Should You Choose?

If you've been shopping for watercolours, you've almost certainly come across the terms full pan and half pan. But what do they actually mean, and does the size really matter? Here's everything you need to know.

What Is a Pan?

A pan is a small, rectangular block of dried watercolour paint. Unlike tube watercolours, pans are solid and activated by adding water with a wet brush. They're compact, portable, and require no squeezing or preparation — just open and paint.

Half Pans: Compact and Portable

Half pans measure approximately 23 × 18 × 11 mm and are the most common format for travel and field painting. Most portable watercolour sets — from pocket tins to full studio palettes — are built around half pans. They hold enough paint for extended painting sessions and are easy to replace individually when a colour runs out.

Best for: travel, plein air painting, urban sketching, and compact studio palettes.

Full Pans: More Paint, More Coverage

Full pans are exactly twice the size of half pans (approximately 23 × 30 × 11 mm). They're ideal when you use a particular colour heavily — large washes of sky blue or a favourite earth tone, for example. Full pans are less common in pre-made sets but are widely available as individual replacements.

Best for: studio work, large-format painting, and colours you use frequently in big washes.

Can You Mix Full and Half Pans?

Yes — most quality palette boxes are designed to accommodate both formats interchangeably. This means you can build a custom palette with half pans for most colours and full pans for your most-used pigments.

Pans vs Tubes: A Quick Note

Pans are convenient and mess-free, but tubes allow you to load large amounts of fresh, moist paint quickly — ideal for large washes. Many artists keep both: pans for travel and tubes for studio work. You can even squeeze tube paint into empty pans and let it dry to create your own custom pan set.

Explore Our Watercolour Range

Browse individual pan colours and full sets in our watercolour paints collection, or find a complete watercolour set or kit that suits your practice.