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Derwent Inktense
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Message
Posted
Has anyone any experience of these pencils? I came across them a few days ago and was struck by the blurb on the box which says that once wetted and allowed to dry they can be overdrawn and re-wetted without the first wash being disturbed. I wasn't thrilled by the selection of colours but bought a box and the claim seems to be true. I'm wondering whether the colours are fast. Even if not they seem to be ideal for leaving in the car with a brush and bottle of water.
Oh dear! I've just found that they have been around for years and there are plenty of comments on them in the forum. My apologies.
Edited
by Kenneth Parkes
Posted
Thank you Sir, they certainly live up to the in(k)tense pun. I was looking up my most recent sketchbooks for ideas, the pages were dated early 1980s! I suppose I'm lucky to be able to sharpen the pencils. I do wish I hadn't thrown my old Artists away, today's are so busy that opening them is like crossing the road. Now where did I leave that ox gall?
Posted
I went to a day’s course on using them, which was really informative. They recommended making a chart of the colours, both wet and dry. I have found this to be the best advice as the colours sometimes come out quite different to how it looks while in the pencil.
The usual method of application is applying dry and then spreading the colour with a wet brush, but there are other possibilities. You can shave off some colour and mix it with water and apply with a brush or wet the paper first- at your peril as you will not be able to remove it.
It is recommended not to dip your pencil in water as this will compromise the “lead”. I have a set of 36 and this provides a good selection of blues, greens and browns; not much cop for portraits though. I have heard that they are best sharpened with a Derwent pastel pencil sharpener as this will provide a point that is not too pointy and therefore save your pencil usage. I believe that they are lightfast too when dry. Hope this helps.
Posted
Yes it does, thank you. I've been constructing colour charts for my choice of watercolours, both mixed and applied one on another when dry, which is what interested about the Inktense pencils. My colour vision is poor and the charts have woken me and I feel I am seeing better. I should have paid more attention to Hans Shwartz years ago. The other enlightenment is taking seriously the tendency of primaries to veer towards one of the other primaries and the difference between mixing "close" primaries and "distant" ones. Getting excited, I need to lie down.
Posted
I've just been fairly lightly creating blocks of colour with the pencils on a Daler-Rowney 150g/sq.m cartridge bound A6 sketchbook which I bought about six years ago. They are no longer made but the present black bound sketchbooks are equivalent, just not so nicely finished. The book had spent the night in the car so since we had a hard frost I brought it in this morning to warm up. After washing each colour patch I let the washes dry and then propped the book open against a heater to thoroughly dry. A light application of Sea Blue on the lower half of Sun Yellow and Poppy Red has lifted yellow and red and carried it down below the colour block to give me green and purple. A wash of water on Deep Indigo released more colour than If I was using standard water colours. Am I doing something wrong? I know that too heavy an application of colour prevents it from "curing" properly but my colours are little more dense than Gillian' and nowhere near Bari's. Your thoughts would be appreciated.
Posted
Hard to answer this without seeing it, but any watercolour pencil - and perhaps especially these - can release a frightening amount of colour the minute you add water. However - you can limit this, with more water, or even blotting out (which may not be an advisable technique if you rely on it every time, but can be very useful when you're getting to know your materials). Practice resolves these issues - and that's probably all you need: play with these things, on different papers, in different strengths, push the colour around, drop spots of colour into your washes, tease them with a pointed brush, even add a bit of salt (though: that rarely works for me: when it does, it's brilliant).
Technical questions can be answered, more or less - but when it comes to actually putting paint to paper, in whatever form you do it, nothing on earth beats your own experience. Over around 50 years, I've read dozens of books, seen dozens of films, studied with a number of professional artists .... well; two.... but my own experiments, plus reading to get the basics about colour, tone, brushwork, taught me more: and don't take this to mean I've got it right, 'cause - I haven't! But it's been fun aiming to get there.
Harry Patch ( last man standing)
Posted
Thank you gentlemen for your advice. I've just spent a couple of hours copying a poppy picture but using different amounts of pigment. I have managed to get the reds strong enough by successive washes though the greens could be applied in fewer, stronger layers. Oddly Bark and Ink Black seem to stand heavier layers. I think I had better concentrate on the watercolours for now and relegate the pencils to the car but with a heavier "not" pad, the water is playing havoc with my sketch book.
Posted
Water on cartridge paper can be employed - but with great care! Or indeed, havoc, of a peculiarly moist character, is what you end up with.
Watercolour pencils can be used with watercolour paints, by the way - on the heavier paper you'd normally use - and often are: get the best of both worlds.
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