Can You Use Regular Colored Pencils to Create Art

Yous've been using regular color pencils for a while but desire to expand your artistic outreach. You've heard of watercolor pencils and the actress dimension they lend to paintings. But how are they different, and are they any amend?

Watercolor pencils are h2o-soluble, while regular color pencils are wax or oil-based. Watercolor pencils resemble regular kinds, but when water is added, they create soft effects resembling watercolor paintings. Regular pencils offer a dry, user-friendly medium with intense colors.

In this post, nosotros'll explore these differences farther. Read on to know the intricacies of both media, the factors to consider when ownership, and what brands seasoned artists recommend.

Contents

• 1 Larn the Stardom
• 2 A Notation on Binders
• 3 Characteristics of Regular Pencils
  • 3.1 Advantages
  • 3.2 Disadvantages
• 4 Characteristics of Watercolor Pencils
  • iv.1 Advantages
  • 4.2 Disadvantages
• v A Discussion on the Drawing Surface
  • 5.1 Which Is Easier to Use?
  • 5.2 Why Not Endeavour Both?
  • five.3 Can You Use Watercolor Pencils As Regular Ones?
  • 5.four Can You Use Watercolor Pencils With Other Art Media?
  • 5.5 Can Y'all Utilise Regular Color Pencils As Watercolor Pencils?
• half dozen Watercolor Pencil Tips and Tricks
• seven Recommended Regular Colour Pencil Brands
• 8 Recommended Watercolor Pencil Brands
• nine Terminal Words
• 10 Sources

Learn the Distinction

Watercolor pencils and regular ones are both colored media encased in wood. Simply the way color works and the range of its strength varies between them. Knowing their differences and limitations will improve your fine art and guide you lot in using them to their full potential.

These differences include material (what they're made of), procedure (how they work), and surface (the sheet on which you apply them).

A Annotation on Binders

Nearly colored media accept binders that hold the pigment and transfer it to a surface. The folder is important because information technology tells y'all what methods to use to apply the medium. It also gives you an idea of the pencil's quality, which depends on the folder ratio to the pigment.

The folder defines the blazon of colored pencil. Equally diverse pencil types utilise different binders, the creative person's arroyo is as well different. Agreement the binder and the way it behaves will make all the divergence in your applications and artwork.

Characteristics of Regular Pencils

The pigment inside colored pencils contains a binder of wax or oil. This wax/oil base makes information technology easy to mix and layer colors.

Advantages

• Traditional color pencils are convenient, so they're a better pick for drawing beginners, those who don't similar drawing with watercolor, or people with lilliputian artistic training who like adult coloring books.

• Impatient artists volition appreciate these pencils as they offer instant gratification. They're as well suited to those who engage in coloring to relieve stress.

• Color pencils have deeper, more than vibrant colors and are first-class for drawing fine particular. They can be hands layered and mixed directly on the drawing surface. Colors can become complex later multiple layers have been practical, merely these can exist easily blended with a colorless blender pencil, petroleum jelly, or baby oil. No special techniques are needed.

For easier blending, try tri-tone pencils with 3 colors blended in the aforementioned pencil lead.

• Color pencils have a broad price range for every budget. The cheaper brands have a wax base of operations. Many colorists prefer oil core pencils, though, considering their harder leads are easier to sharpen into fine points for intricate work.

• The nigh valued feature of colour pencils is that their colors can be burnished. Burnishing is the procedure of building up heavy layers of colour on a pencil drawing so that it looks like a painting.

• Normal colour pencils can be used on whatever type of paper, fifty-fifty sparse ones. As they don't leak through newspaper, they're ideal for working with coloring books printed on both sides.

Disadvantages

• Traditional color pencils can be tricky to apply when roofing large areas.

• You tin't lighten colors easily.

• The more layers you lot put on the surface, the harder it is to remove them.

• Their oil/wax bases may exist troublesome if used with other media, particularly wet ones.

• As color pencils are wax or oil-based, they're designed to employ dry. Their binders don't dissolve in h2o-based solutions, so they should not exist diluted in water.

Characteristics of Watercolor Pencils

Advantages

• Watercolor pencils combine the fun of drawing with the pleasure of painting. They can exist used alone as regular pencils or with h2o. Some high-terminate brands, like Faber-Castell Albrecht Dürer and Caran d'Ache Supracolor, are creamy enough to be used with or without water.

You can justify the purchase of these expensive brands by recognizing that one set of these pencils hands takes the place of 2 (a water-soluble kit and a non-water-soluble i).

• Watercolor pencils add a new dimension to artwork, non normally accessible with regular pencils. Adding h2o to a watercolor pencil drawing intensifies the pigment and spreads it over the paper to create subtle flowing effects similar to those achievable with watercolor pigment.

• They also permit you to glaze over an existing artwork the way y'all tin can with watercolor pigment. Both instances evidence these pencils are first-class alternatives for those who capeesh the look of watercolor paintings only are wary of using paint.

• Watercolor pencils offer better control than watercolor paint. With watercolor pencils, you lot unremarkably don't utilize water until you've done your pencil piece of work, and so there's no worry of having the paper dry out too fast.

• Since watercolor pencils are made with a water-soluble pigment binder, applying h2o is a fast and like shooting fish in a barrel way to lighten upwards the colour. This is much more than manageable than trying to lighten up the color of conventional pencils after a thick layer has been practical, which can sometimes be very difficult to remove one time it is on the paper. Achieving a consistent wash needs practice, though.

• Watercolor pencils allow you to dispense colors and modify traditional artwork. They enable you lot to add layers to your drawings, paving the manner for experimentation with fanciful color combinations.

• Watercolor pencils are far more portable and much easier to use than watercolor pigment, as their pigment is like shooting fish in a barrel to lighten.

• They can embrace large areas with just a small amount of h2o—useful when working with skies, h2o, or grass.

• They work well with other media, wet or dry. They can be used on top of the paint, and college-end sets can be used without h2o, making them double-purpose kits.

• Watercolor pencils accept much more than flexibility in mode and range. They're likewise available in nontoxic formats for children's use.

• They tin be sharpened. No need to add water to attain a well-baked line. You don't have to depend on paintbrushes with fine points to exercise intricate details.

• With watercolor pencils, you tin convert a drawing into a watercolor painting. Draw start, then add together h2o later to create a whole new artwork. You tin practise this even with a cartoon completed months ago.

• As they are portable, you lot can bring a express number of colors on the road, yet come upward with a full palette after mixing them.

• They are less expensive and more convenient than watercolor paint.

Disadvantages

• They are more expensive than regular pencils.

• They accept a limited range of colors. Traditional colored pencils in sets of 48, 72, or 120 colors are hands available. Most standard watercolor pencil kits only have between x and twoscore watercolor pencils in a pack.

• The colors of watercolor pencils are not as intense and are harder to blend when dry. This depends, even so, on the brand. Creative person-quality pencils blend improve than cheaper ones. Watercolor pencils are easy to lighten, though, only by adding water. They're appropriate for when you lot want a lighter color or if you want to lift some colors off your painting. You can also apply h2o to create a more than subtle range of color hues.

• Watercolor pencils don't layer in the same way as colored pencils. They can't be glassy either, because watercolor pencils have a unlike folder and belong to a completely different medium.

• Using watercolor pencils means you take to buy watercolor paper and brushes, which adds to art-related expenses. The added flexibility is worth it, however.

• There'southward a higher learning curve associated with watercolor pencils compared to regular ones. They may be challenging and frustrating for beginners. If you lot're intent on improving your creative skills, even so, watercolor pencils tin can be a wonderful addition to your arsenal.

If you want to learn how to apply watercolor pencils every bit a beginner, check out this video.

A Word on the Drawing Surface

Paper quality is essential when working with watercolor pencils. Whenever possible, utilise hot or cold-pressed watercolor paper, which is specifically designed to withstand water use. Every bit it is heavier and more durable, it won't rip.

Capable of holding a more vibrant color, it is platonic for re-working and experimenting with textures. Keeton'southward Office & Art Supply recommends 140# hot-pressed watercolor paper when mixing watercolor pencils with regular ones.

Even if yous don't programme on using water, senior artists recommend working on watercolor paper if yous change your listen later on. For a sturdier surface suited to experimentation with textures, apply high-quality card stock. Watercolor canvas, a recent invention, is designed to keep drawings moist longer.

If you happen to use ordinary paper and information technology is in danger of buckling, record it to a sheet of cardboard, a clipboard, or any flat surface with masking tape, artist's record, or painter's tape.

Ane creative person's recommendation is Yupo, a 100% recyclable, waterproof, tree-free synthetic paper. Information technology has efficient wipe-out capabilities and doesn't need stretching or taping. As this newspaper is water-resistant and doesn't absorb paint similar ordinary watercolor paper, it's ideal for utilise with watercolors. This feature allows artists to create interesting textures that grade equally the pigment dries.

Which Is Easier to Apply?

Regular pencils are much easier to use than watercolor pencils because there are fewer techniques to learn. Once you add water to the pigment of watercolor pencils, several things tin become wrong.

Why Not Try Both?

Neither pencil type is plush if you lot buy ane pocket-size kit for starters. So consider getting both and trying them out. Meet which yous adopt. Perhaps both will work out for you. Many artists combine both (in add-on to other media) to create unique masterpieces.

To help you lot with your choice, the site All-time Colored Pencils has prepared this colour chart that features both regular colored pencils and watercolor pencils. Information technology is in alphabetical club with important metrics in descending guild. It is set up for piece of cake sorting and searching for a particular brand or pencil type.

The Virtual Instructor also offers this colored pencil comparing nautical chart.

Can You Use Watercolor Pencils Equally Regular Ones?

Yes, you lot can utilize them as regular color pencils or with water. They have the advantage of combining the attributes of both colored pencils and watercolor paints. The style the colors alloy is awesome. The application of h2o to a cartoon made with watercolor pencils has the added benefit of the final production resembling a watercolor painting.

Can Yous Use Watercolor Pencils With Other Art Media?

Aye, you can combine the use of watercolor pencils and colored pencils to create various effects in a unmarried artwork. Yous can also utilise watercolor pencils with other compatible media.

Watercolor pencils are excellent used in mixed media, as well. You can combine them with pastels, traditional colored pencils, ink, or other materials you have at mitt. A word to the wise, though: only add regular colored pencils later you've applied h2o to the cartoon.

Tin You lot Utilise Regular Colour Pencils As Watercolor Pencils?

No, you lot cannot because they are made with dissimilar binders and are non designed to work similarly. You can employ them the other way circular, however. Use watercolor pencils as the normal kind. Some artists are content with this. Others, notwithstanding, prefer to ain a kit of each kind because they deliver dissimilar results.

Watercolor Pencil Tips and Tricks

Artist Mark D. Campbell suggests these techniques for making the most of watercolor pencils:

• Employ them like regular pencils to sketch, describe, and blend just actuate the paint with water later.

• Create swatch cards for yourself and for sharing with others. Alloy colors to create new ones.

• Utilize a spray bottle to spray right on top of a sketch made with watercolor pencils to draw out the pigment, thereby creating a soft effect. Subsequently, you can use a paintbrush to depict out the watercolor effect even more.

• Use an X-Acto bract to chip away little bits off the tip of a watercolor pencil and get the pigment into a bit of water to create a nice effect before or after painting.

• Dab a wet paintbrush on the tip of the pencil and depict off the pigment.

• Use water to flick off the tip of a pencil to create a little spatter result, which is a really cool after-consequence in one case yous've completed a watercolor painting—or even before you begin one.

• Wash over specific sections of your work, while keeping other parts dry.

• Wet the paper before yous kickoff drawing or painting. Dip your castor in a cup of water and run information technology over the area y'all are working on. Add together color onto the wet surface with a watercolor pencil.

• Utilize a wet pencil on wet paper for richer colour. Note that colors may bleed together (especially when using a lot of water on paper).

• Layer 2 colors and activate them with h2o.

• Mix and match regular color pencils with watercolor pencils or paint.

• Utilize various tools to distribute pigment and make your fine art more than interesting, such as brushes, sponges, cotton fiber buds, spray bottles, and toothbrushes (for spattered effects).

Recommended Regular Colour Pencil Brands

The Virtual Instructor categorizes his recommendations co-ordinate to the creative person'due south skill:

Recommended Watercolor Pencil Brands

Keeton's Office & Art Supply suggests these top brands:

Seasoned artists usually give the assurance that if you're simply starting, pupil-grade pencils are fine. You lot can ever upgrade to professional quality pencils as your skills progress. These have a higher level of pigment than the pupil-course ones, and so they produce more than vibrant colors and nowadays you lot with more options.

For those starting with watercolor pencils, go with a more affordable and user-friendly model until yous go used to it. In the budget category, both kinds of pencils are in the aforementioned price range. For artist-quality pencils, be prepared to pay a lot more than.

Earlier buying, though, do proper inquiry by checking out reviews (online and in print) and consulting master artists, art instructors, and even interviewing managers of fine art supply stores.

This will ensure your adjacent pencil purchase is the best one for your specific needs. No affair what you choose, always be on the lookout for new types of pencils. Trying them is a fun way to discover more efficient tools amend attuned to your item inclination and artistic temperament.

Concluding Words

Always heard of the adage, "I person's garbage is another ane's treasure?" It'due south the same with colour pencils. What's suitable for one artist may not be for some other.

After discovering the differences betwixt the ii types, it's ultimately a personal choice. And so ask yourself: What do you want from your pencils? What do you plan to reach in your art? Your answer will lead you to the appropriate pencil type. Whether you choose i or both, what's important is what you create with them and the fulfillment that comes with it.

Sources

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