DerwentColored Pencils, WaterColour, Water Color Pencils, Drawing, Art, Metal Tin, 72 Count (32889)

I love this brand of colored pencil. It works really nicely on its own or by adding a little water and painting. Most importantly you need some water color paper or mixed media paper. A nice way to draw and paint all in one. I wish they gave you a few of the black and white pencils as I went through those the fastest!

These pencils are decadent—smooth texture, saturated color, great as watercolor or not. I purchased these as another means of watercolor. I've used solid and liquid watercolor paint, these are my favorite tool. There is more control, easier to blend.

There are any number of books available with titles like "Watercolor Made Simple" purporting to teach the aspiring painter how to master this art in a few simple lessons or a few short weeks. These claims often collide with reality as the aspiring student comes to realize that only through much practice can techniques like wet on wet, drop in, or double loading one's brush become something attractive and useful. The two problems with watercolor are, of course, the water and the brush. For the beginner, the water seems to have a mind of its own. It goes where it pleases, which is often not where the aspiring artist wishes. The brush does not help matters, sensitive as it is to the amount water, the ratio or water to pigment, and countless other factors.Watercolor pencils overcome many of these problems, and Derwent makes some of the best watercolor pencils around. Naturally, brushes and water are still involved in the process, but the are put off until later in the proceedings. Now, the user can have precise control over where and how much color is applied. Indeed, the user has the option of applying no water at all, using these as colored pencils for portions of the work. Or the user can use them directly with the brush, treating the pencil as a watercolor "pot." All of this flexibility makes this a marvelous medium to work with.For those coming over from colored pencil, these pencils do not have a rich, buttery feel one gets from Prismacolor. Instead, they are a bit on the chalky side and throw off considerably more dust than their non-watercolor cousins. Still, used dry, the color intensity is comparable to Derwent's Studio line, meaning they are perfectly functional as colored pencils.They shine with the application of water--producing intense, translucent color. They can be used to produce a pure watercolor effect or as part of layering process along with regular colored pencils to produce something more like an oil painting. Used this way, the watercolor pencils play the role of providing base layers, which are then hydrated up to the point where finishing layers and burnishing are applied using conventional colored pencils. Gary Greene, a prominent colored pencil author, is a fan of this technique.These pencils are also a great companion with conventional watercolors as well. One technique I use is to rely on the watercolors for washes over large areas where control is not an issue and the premium is on smooth layering or gradation. I then turn to the watercolor pencils for more detailed areas where precise control is at a premium. The result are watercolor works vastly better than anything I could produce with paints alone.By way of (unfair) comparison, I've also used Faber-Castell's scholar line of watercolor pencils. The Derwents produced much more saturated color and fewer visible particles of pigment in a wash. The comparison is unfair because this is Derwent's artist line. On the other hand, it is vastly cheaper than Faber's artist line for the same product.

It was with great anticipation that I waited for these Derwent Watercolor pencils to arrive. We live overseas, so while they were delivered to my friend’s address in the US as scheduled, I had to wait for them to be hand-carried by someone traveling to Senegal. I was not disappointed.I do art journaling and the cheaper watercolor pencils that I’d purchased at Michaels were prone to breakage. Not so these Derwent Watercolor Pencils! This was a huge PLUS in my book. They are easy to sharpen, and do not break in the process!The one drawback that I’ve noticed is that they lose their point very quickly. Two strokes on the paper, and the nice sharp point is no longer there.At first, I was a little disappointed by the colors ~ there’s lots of green in this set and more autumn-like colors. But they’re good for coloring nature scenes.The color spreads out very nicely on paper. And the darker one colors something, the more vibrant the color is when water is added. I don’t think one would want to use them without the water as the color gets a little flaky, and I think the color would rub off onto a facing page. But they work great with a water pen.

Great watercolor pencils with an excellent color range that is unique to Derwent, which I really like. I had no problem sharpening them with my Kum or Alvin/Dux hand sharpener. The wood did not split or break. The colors are beautiful and there is little color shift from wet to dry. The pigment dissolves easily and works best on smooth or hot pressed paper. It does not require you to scrub the paper to activate the watercolor paint. You may see a little pigment dust when laying down color, its best to blow it off the paper into a dish or the trash than swipe with your hand and smear it. Most pencils do this and it isn't a bad thing, it just is part of the personality of your art tool. If used on cold pressed paper with more tooth/texture be careful not to press into the paper with the pencil or the lines will not completely dissolve, which is great if that is the look you going for but not if you want a smooth color flow. According to Derwent most of these pencils have great lightfast ratings, but this is not noted on the pencils or the tin. There is no literature provided with the set, you have to look it up on their web sight or read the one posted here in Amazon. This is probably a personal preference, but I love that the name of the color is clearly printed on the pencils and they are in numeric order, also printed on the pencils, from 1 through 72. For me it makes it easy to do a color chart and then keep them in order for quick color selection. The pencil color paint d on the tip is pretty accurate. Overall this is a great value choice in the category of artist quality watercolor pencils. The color range, quality, and price, make them a comfortable buy and fun to use because you don't have to feel wasteful if you want to doodle with them. While they are not budget or cheap pencils, the price currently being charged is in my opinion a fair price for an artist grade tool.