Various Brands of Watercolor Pencils
I was reading an article at WatercolorTalk about keeping or recreating whites in watercolors. (I stumbled across this article while looking for something else and it looked like an interesting topic that I know a little about but never really thought much if any at all about incorporating into my watercolor painting habits. Many times, that is the very best way to learn new things about anything.) Then I was reading tips about it at Fountain Studio and thirdly, I read more at Watercolor Magic - I hadn’t really thought much about keeping or discarding whites in my paintings … usually I am just looking for colors, shapes, objects, realistic abstracts or abstract realism. Any whites in my watercolors are probably pure accidents that were totally unplanned and just happen naturally as I paint. Generally, all of my watercolors are like that .. I do very little pre-planning for watercolors … now in oil painting … that is a different story entirely … sometimes I do a lot of planning but part of the joy of watercolors to and for me is the spontaniety of letting things happen and just going with the “flow”.
I remember the very first time I ever tried watercolors. It was a mess! It didn’t help that I was trying to use children’s pan-type watercolors (and way too much water!) with a haystack bristle type brush (I wouldn’t use one of those today even for touching up spots on walls) on newsprint-type grade paper. That is not a recipe for successful watercolor painting … for me anyway {laughing at self}. Yes, I was a child the very first time. And many successive times too … no one was going to give me professional grade artist tools for anything back then … perhaps that is why I use professional art tools with my grandson so he knows how they work and how they feel compared to the children / hobbist / student grades available?
Recently, my daughter & I had a conversation about the watercolor pencils I bought my grandson for Christmas last year. I bought him a set of Prismacolor Watercolor Pencils last Christmas (set of 36).
I had my own set of 36 Prismacolor pencils that I gave away early this year to the next door neighbor because I got ones I like better last fall (I love my Staedtler Karat Aquarell Pencils - set of 60 (the only place I could find the set of 60 was at Cheap Joe’s online) [I also have a set of 24 that I got last fall] & I want to get a set of the Staedtler Watercolor Crayons to try too.
I have a set of 24 Cretacolor Watercolor Pencils (I keep these in the car for sketching, drawing, painting any time any where.) The box of 72 Cretacolor watercolor pencils is VERY enticing to me! I’ve tried the Derwent Watercolor pencils and they are very similar to the Cretacolor pencils - both are good medium soft pencils that are good to use - the Staedtler Karat are softer and I like the mushier feel in the studio but both Derwent & Cretacolor are great pencils that I like, especially for traveling and being on-site for sketching - they do not break hardly ever even for me and they have a great feel to them. I’m considering buying the Derwent set of 72 for myself later this year - maybe in the fall - I would like to have a good set of full color watercolor pencils that I like and trust that are a bit harder than my Karat pencils. The Karat pencils for me anyway work best in the studio at a desk … the Cretacolor & Derwent work better for me out sketching or to carry while traveling.
The reason for the discussion with my daughter was that my grandson has never opened the Prismacolor pencils I bought him for Christmas. I mentioned to her that I was going to have to buy him a different set of watercolor pencils because he doesn’t like the brand I bought for him. I knew that meant he doesn’t like how they work - when given the option of using my pencils, he always chooses my Staedtler Karat watercolor pencils here at the house. Previously to me getting those, he had been perfectly happy (except for all the broken leads & sharpening) to use the Prismacolor pencils that were the brand I bought him at Christmas - I just hadn’t paid attention to the fact that he would no longer use them after I got the Karat pencils.
My neighbor loves the Prismascolor watercolor pencils - the fact they are harder instead of softer means they hold a point better for him since he does a lot of drawing with them and only adds a very little amount of water … they work really well for him! He uses other brands too for the same reason I do … to get different effects in different ways with them … I add tube watercolors to some of my watercolor paintings that start with watercolor pencils … my neighbor adds ink or acrylic paints to his sometimes … it depends on what we are trying to create what materials we use.
According to my daughter, my grandson is a kid so it makes no difference to him if he has good watercolor pencils or not and he wouldn’t know the difference. I told her that yes it does make a difference to him. I told her to ask him if it makes a difference to him and if he notices how each works differently between the brands.
He came in the room while we were talking about it and I asked him if it makes a difference to him how the pencils feel whether he wants to use them or not. “Of course Grandma” was his answer. His look at me was like, “What a dumb question Grandma” - he’s been using my professional tools / paints & brushes & paper for a very long time … he knows as well as any adult artist would know what he likes and what he does not like.
When my grandson was a toddler still painting with finger-paints on newsprint on his big red plastic easel that I bought for him at the toy store … one of the things he hated the most was how the paint ran and dripped everywhere making a mess and would not stay where he put it or where he wanted it to be. Even then, he knew what he was trying to achieve and how the materials were not cooperating with him. How at 9, nearly 10, years old could he not know the difference between watercolor pencils that do what he wants vs ones that sort of do what he wants them to do?
Watercolor supplies matter to artists … we all have our preferences based on how they feel and work based on what we want and need them to do and how they perform for us. What works well for me does not necessarily mean the same will work well for you. I can tell you how they feel and why they do or do not work well for me … but you need to try them to find for yourself which are right for you, your style of painting and how you work.
Enjoy painting! Have fun!
