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Watercolour pencils
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Message
Posted
I first tried watercolour pencils when they first came on the market about 25 years ago. I didn't like them.
I've bought another set (Derwent), hoping they have been improved. But no they haven't. The colours are weak, the pencils are still scratchy when you draw on paper. Adding water from a brush doesn't make the colours any better. The washes - if you can call them that - are uneven and the pictures produced look crude.
What do other members think?
Posted
Not especially keen on the ones I've tried - it's difficult to get intensity of colour, although I had some success (of a modest kind...) when using them with ordinary watercolour paint, to make marks on a damp surface, or in one case to add highlights which I'd forgotten to reserve: whereas paint, even thick Cadmium Yellow, tends to sink into the pre-applied wash, and watercolour pencil Cad Yellow stayed where I wanted it to and remained bright.
I think you'd do well to look out the works of Wendy Jelbert - she tries all sorts of techniques and has written about them, and I remember seeing an article of hers in, I think, the Artist - may have been Leisure Painter - featuring w/colour pencils plus other things; it wasn't specifically about the pencils but incorporated them.
Posted
No I don't like using them as I find it shows the lines which you can't get rid of. I have used them as others have said, for adding highlights or veins in flowers but on their own they are not intense enough for me. I am now trying polychromos pencils - though they take such a long time to do!
Posted
If I can copy and paste it, this is one I think where I used a little watercolour pencil, in the gorse flowers - sort of works? I may have used a little in other places too, but this is a few years old now and I can't remember. Just to show that it doesn't need to be intrusive or leave obvious spots - or I think it doesn't....
Posted
Thanks for all your views.
I'd bought the watercolour pencils because I often paint/draw outside in pencil or ink with watercolour washes. To do this you need a palette, a mixing area, water in a jar etc. It all gets a bit messy especially painting in a location with lots of people about. You can eliminate the water in a jar by using a water brush, although it's hard to get it clean as you switch between colours.
I thought using the watercolour pencils with a waterbrush would be the solution. Unfortunately it's not, the pencils are still as unsatisfying as the first set I bought many years ago.
I wonder if I should have bought Derwent Inktense pencils instead, a friend of mine said they were good.
Posted
Syd has reminded me, I won some Caran D'ache stuff at last year's Patchings Open and amongst all of it were a box of the Museum Aquarelle pencils he mentions. They really are the best on the market, quite expensive I think but the quality is fantastic; I did a whole series with them highlighting local places of interest in my area, just very quick sketches done on the spot and they were so useful and easy to carry around etc.
This was one of the many, it's Ingestre Hall which is almost on my doorstep, of Jacobean origin and was once used as an art college. Drawn directly with a rigger and ink, no guide lines so a bit on the skew in places and those Museum pencils for colour, well worth a try in my opinion.
Edited
by alanbickley
Posted
Sylvia, I've got a watercolour kit similar to the one you mentioned. In certain locations it's still a bit cumbersome to use, which is why I bought watercolour pencils. I've also got a tiny 6 colour Alwyn Crawshaw palette, about 3" by 5", I might have another go at using it.
Alan, the watercolour drawing and the washes are excellent. I didn't know Caran d'Ache Museum pencils were so good.
Posted
If you love working with mixed media or trying to develop your skills and techniques with watercolors, then you should treat yourself with a set of watercolor pencils because they are worth it.
They are incredibly versatile, allowing you to unleash your creative freedom whether as wet or dry coloring pencils. Moreover, these pencils are an excellent starting point for those having a hard time controlling and making precise applications with watercolor brushes.
Edited
by Mimi Richman
Posted
There's an embedded link here, which I've just noticed. But it does take you to an appropriate web-page without pushing just one brand. There's a YouTube demo by Charles Evans using watercolour pencils - I have several different makes, and they are indeed worth playing with: especially those, inevitably somewhat more expensive, which contain real cadmium pigments - practice is needed to get the best out of them. I see I aid much of that at the time this was first posted - except I'm rather happier with them now than I was then; but what happened to Syd Edward's post that made me laugh ...? Can't find it.
Posted
Syd Edward
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Posted 8 Years Ago
Icnnot see myself ever using coloured pencils .if pastel yes but ise nothing clever
about wetting the point of a pencil to get a type of watercolour.Water and pencils are
not happy with each other and it can ruin a pencil if the water gets to the glue that holds the two strips of wood that enclose the colour strip Whats wrongwith a paintbox?
The colour sticks are not so bad but a lt messier than the humble Pbx . As for the wax
crayon type and that crosshatching business I left that behind at school and it is not my bag now. Some people like them.
syd.... :-) :-)
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