Professional artist, Robert Dutton, gives his insight and review of the Derwent Inktense XL Blocks.

Derwent have been busy recently! Behind the scenes they have been creating large format colours for several of their great drawing and painting media. These amazing chunky ‘hands-on’ blocks match the size, shape and feel of the popular Derwent XL Graphite and Charcoal ranges which inspire a direct and expressive approach to drawing and painting.

Exciting new Derwent Inktense XL Blocks as a choice of 12 or 6 colour sets are now available. The freedom and ease at which direct even bigger marks of expression can be made is wonderful. Big format paintings here we come!

Lush is the first word I would use to describe the new Derwent Inktense XL Blocks of colours as being. This versatile medium celebrates the arrival of 12 big chunky colours: Ink Black, Antique White, Field Green, Bright Blue, Poppy Red, Sun Yellow, Payne’s Grey, Leaf Green, Deep Violet, Fuchsia, Tangerine, Mustard. All are exceptionally highly pigmented and useful colours for beginner, student, intermediate or professional artists. 

All 12 Derwent Inktense XL Blocks are applied directly to Derwent Inktense watercolour paper. Dry colours are allowed to overlap. A wet brush activates chosen areas. Once dry ‘Antique White’ Derwent Inktense XL Block is mixed with all colours and overlayed. Superb transparent and opaque layering - just a snapshot of what this medium can do.

Anyone who likes to draw and paint will be impressed by the new larger format XL Blocks. The black and white Derwent Inktense XL Blocks alone create great tonal paintings both large and small in their own right.

The new Derwent Inktense XL Blocks inspire increased freedom of expression for lots of subjects. Being compatible with the full range of Derwent Inktense pencils and Blocks (100 colours in the entire range), painting and drawing has never been as exciting! Big broad strokes of colour to the finest detail are absolutely possible.

Inktense in a nutshell is an innovative painting and drawing medium that acts like ink. The medium creates intensely vibrant colours that are permanent when dry. Exceptional clean bright layering is possible with the medium. Knowing the base layer and glazes won’t move, both thin to thick layering is cleanly applied on many different surfaces. 

Yorkshire Hillside Trees and Stone, en plein air painting using Derwent Inktense XL Blocks with Inktense Blocks and pencils on 300gsm (140lb) Hot pressed watercolour paper 20x22 in (51x56cm). Working dry, Derwent Inktense XL Blocks are comfortably held in the hand and inspire techniques akin to soft pastel when used directly on the paper. ‘Scumbled’ pastel effects are easy to create. Blends of one colour over the other allow pigments to readily mix and adhere to one another in multiple layers. This technique can be applied over coloured supports, white paper or previously applied wash areas.

I’ve used Derwent Inktense XL Blocks with Inktense Blocks and pencils to create this wonderfully expressive painting Yorkshire Hillside Trees and Stone. Combining painted and drawn effects in the same painting is an absolute dream. Lovely clean layering is easy to achieve using Derwent Inktense XL Blocks and they mix beautifully together. Fabulous bright colours as transparent radiant glazes to softer opaque layering (which are lightfast and permanent too) within one medium is amazing. Lovely big swathes of fabulous colours are created in an instant. Using the blocks on their tips and edges, finer lines and linear marks are made too.

Derwent Inktense XL Blocks is a really responsive medium enhancing surface textures and creating lovely colours in so many different ways.

Large format painting

First I grate the Derwent Inktense XL Blocks colours into a powder format. The more pigment in ratio to water, the more dense, darker and opaque the wash will be. More water in ratio to pigments, the lighter the wash. When white is added to any colour more opaque washes are created. A simple grater is an effective tool to create grated powder pigment with Derwent Inktense XL Blocks.

Autumn Mists above Rydal Water - The Lake District, Derwent Inktense XL Blocks with Derwent Derwent Inktense Blocks on Hot pressed 640gsm (300lb) watercolour paper, 22x30 in (56x76cm). Reaching the closing stages, this near completed painting demonstrates just how effective Derwent Inktense XL Blocks are to use for expressive painting on a large scale. Gorgeous big washes of wet-in-wet techniques just blend so beautifully one into the other expressing the diffused misty effects. Other glazed clean colours and dry mark making work perfectly over each other for the creative expression in this dynamic Lakeland painting.

Although the larger Derwent XL Inktense blocks inspire a larger way of working it’s important to know that detail and smaller scale paintings are absolutely possible too. A wet or damp brush applied directly to one of the sides of the blocks picks up colour instantly. The loaded brush full of colour is then directly applied. As the brush travels across the surface, bright clean colours are instantly created with a very smooth lay down of Intense colour.

Derwent XL Inktense blocks are great to use with other media too. Hard and soft pastel, watercolour and gouache interchange brilliantly in a creative layering with Derwent Inktense XL Blocks.

There are so many inspiring creative directions which are possible with Derwent Inktense XL Blocks for both studio or outdoors paintings too. Creativity with colour is an absolute dream with all the Derwent Inktense XL Blocks, especially when combined with Derwent Inkense Blocks and Pencils. My only hope is that Derwent continue to release to market even more of their exciting products in the big volume formats. I’m sure they will - they are all so inspiring and effective to use!

The amazing and versatile 12 colour and 6 colour sets of Derwent Inktense XL Blocks await to enrich your own creativity!

Discover more about the Derwent XL Inktense Blocks on the Derwent website.