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Water-colour pencils - oil-based, wax-based, water-based...???
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Message
Posted
I said at the start of this that I have Faber-Castell WATER_SOLUBLE coloured pencils, I like them but tend to use them in a mixed media form. So I thought it was time I tried an all coloured pencil effort. Examples I've seen of Polychromos and Prizmacolor seem to produce much richer colour than my water-solubles. (Although to be fair..they are pretty good.) Most of the artists whose work I've admired have been using ZEST to blend their Polychromos and Prismacolor work.
Demos I've seen show white pencils being used with ease on top of this. White, for my water-solubles, seems a problem area.
I thought I'd show the picture and list the areas of concern. (Overall, they are a pleasure to use.)
I used Strathmore Coloured Pencil paper (White). I left a few spots of bare paper where I knew I'd need them, but in the end I had to use gouache for the hair and eyes. The white pencil seemed capable only of knocking back colours a little, and was good when blending. I mixed the skin colours dry...building up colours on top of one-another. When I thought it right, I blended them with water. I had a few odd results. In the darker skin areas, which looked right when dry, were FAR paler when I blended with water. Some areas worked well...so I guess the culprits are certain colours. Walnut brown is a likely offender...when mixed with other colours and water it seems to fade away. I had to rework much of the shadows areas. In fact there's quite a lot of building up layers, blending with water, then repeating it.
All this may be the norm, I enjoyed the process...it's drawing, and I like drawing best of all.
So I guess I'm asking of anyone with experience of water-soluble and the oil or wax based pencils...is there a notable difference in quality compared to the water-based version? Also, has anybody used ZEST medium to blend the colours?
It may well be that it's not worth forking out for new pencils. (Although Polychromos and Prismacolour are considered the 'high end' products, and it's best to use the good stuff.) On the other hand, Christmas is looming, and it won't be ME doing the forking out.
I used Strathmore Coloured Pencil paper (White). I left a few spots of bare paper where I knew I'd need them, but in the end I had to use gouache for the hair and eyes. The white pencil seemed capable only of knocking back colours a little, and was good when blending. I mixed the skin colours dry...building up colours on top of one-another. When I thought it right, I blended them with water. I had a few odd results. In the darker skin areas, which looked right when dry, were FAR paler when I blended with water. Some areas worked well...so I guess the culprits are certain colours. Walnut brown is a likely offender...when mixed with other colours and water it seems to fade away. I had to rework much of the shadows areas. In fact there's quite a lot of building up layers, blending with water, then repeating it.
All this may be the norm, I enjoyed the process...it's drawing, and I like drawing best of all.
So I guess I'm asking of anyone with experience of water-soluble and the oil or wax based pencils...is there a notable difference in quality compared to the water-based version? Also, has anybody used ZEST medium to blend the colours?
It may well be that it's not worth forking out for new pencils. (Although Polychromos and Prismacolour are considered the 'high end' products, and it's best to use the good stuff.) On the other hand, Christmas is looming, and it won't be ME doing the forking out.Edited
by Lewis Cooper
Posted
I feel your pain Lewis, although I am not an expert, I was told watercolour pencils when water has been added to the pigment, just like watercolour paint, they will dry lighter and also depends on the amount of pigment in the pencil, so building the colour up in layers like you said, might have to be done several times to get the tones you want.
I have used DERWENT Blender pens for giving a smoother finished, with my DERWENT artist pencils, But I could not tell the difference, and they never seemed to last very long so I gave up with them.
I have never used Zest it, but as you say Christmas is coming so I might try.
I did note on a couple of demos I watched that even with Zest it, multiple layers of pencil, and Zest it had to be used to create the end result.
I have also used a small amount of turps to blend wax pastels, this worked but I was not a fan of wax pastels so I gave up on them. So Zest it might work on the same principles.
Edited
by Alan Beresford
Posted
I'm not a great user of coloured pencils, but any water-based ones are going to dry lighter than the initial wash, and I think most people who paint with any sort of coloured pencil do tend to build them up in layers. You could only achieve the maximum saturation of which the pencil is capable by applying it heavily, and if you do apply them heavily - they break. So layers it is.
I'm suspicious of any pencil claiming to be oil-based - they're nearly all, and possibly totally all, based on wax; even 'oil pastels' aren't made of oil. Nothing wrong with them, necessarily - so long as you know they're not some variant of oil paint.
There is a Coloured Pencil Society - I don't have the link, but have heard of it, and it may be worth seeking them out online to get a few technical ideas. Diana Hudson, who used to post here as Norder, is a dab-hand at coloured pencil - and can be found (under her real name) on Facebook.
Posted
Thanks all. I accept I need to build up layers, I had four layers for the darker skin shadow, when I wet them to blend, I lost all the contrast. So I did it again, this time not dampening some of the layers. In the demos I've watched they spoke of building up layers. So I have to accept what's happening is normal. I need more practice.
Hardly any difference on your chart for Inktense, Linda. I was using Faber, I'm thinking it may be a few colours that fade more. Again, getting used to them helps.
A review I watched said that all coloured pencils have wax, and some oil, and a few other things...marmite maybe? As Robert says, the so called 'oil-based' ones like Polychromos have only 'slightly' more oil than the others. A mix of wax and oil? No wonder I've been reading how artists use a broad mix of pencils, I'd thought the two shouldn't be mixed.
My thought now is...are Polychromos or Prizmacolor going to be any better than what I have?