Watercolour Pencils

The Derwent Watercolour Pencil range combines the precision of a pencil and the beauty of watercolour. This great product features a solid watercolour core housed inside a handy woodcase; a convenient alternative to traditional paints! With this pencil you can experience the best qualities of a pencil and a paint as it can be used both wet or dry. The colour strip can be applied to both wet or dry paper to create a range of stunning effects. Strokes of colour can be left dry or water can be added and manipulated with a brush or spritzer to produce a variety of textures. Colour can also be lifted directly from the pencil by applying a wet brush to the tip! The soft texture of the core also makes the colours easy to blend and layer, meaning you have an infinite palette of colour directly at your fingertips. The way in which you add the water can also create a vast range of different effects from bold strokes to delicate washes.

Compared to the Inktense pencils, the colour of the watercolour pencils is much less bright, so they are ideal if you like to do more subtle watercolour paintings.

In this range there are currently 72 classic colours available, which retain their full intensity however they are applied to your artwork. They certainly are a very versatile product that can be used for any number of artistic applications!

The soft texture of the core makes them easy to blend and layer and you can create a variety of effects by adding water, from bold images to delicate washes. Watercolour pencils are not permanent so once the colour is dry you can re-wet it and move it about again.

Derwent watercolour pencils are available individually and in tins of 12, 24, 36 and 72. Wooden boxed sets of 48 and 72 are also available.

Ten Top Tips - by Graham Brace

Create your own dry and wet colour chart to aid your colour choice.
Use the tip of the pencil like a water colour pan to increase colour tone and density.
To widen your colour choice, experiment with different colour combinations. Great fun and full of surprises!
Create intense colour marks by applying dry pencil over wet washes.
When over-drawing with dry pencil on a wet area, ensure you use a blunt tip to avoid surface damage.
To produce texture or mottling, scrape flakes from the tip with a craft knife or rub the tip over a sandpaper block, allow settling and dissolving on a wet area of paper. Alternatively flick colour off tip with wet toothbrush.
When working dry on wet, regularly clean your pencil tip by scribbling on dry paper to minimise unwanted colour contamination.
Allow wet areas to dry completely before overworking finer detail with dry pencil.
Lift out highlights and unwanted colour with a plastic eraser or battery eraser.
Experiment with a natural sponge or wet cloth over dry marks to blend colour and create washes.

Watch the Videos

In this clip professional artist Fiona Peart demonstrates the properties of the Derwent Watercolour Pencil by drawing shells. During the clip Fiona shows various techniques including scraping the colour to create textured effects and using dry colour on wet paper.

You can also download a project sheet where Fiona will guide you through the process of creating drawing of a lovely harbour scene.