Daniel Smith Watercolour Sticks are a versatile drawing and painting tool that let you combine the best of your sketching and watercolour techniques. Available in 62 colours made with the same superior intensity as Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolour paints with no clay or wax fillers of any kind.

The full range of 62 colours includes a broad spectrum of traditional hues, Primateks and luminescents. All the sticks are the same price, even the PrimaTek colours, and contain around the equivalent of three whole pans of watercolour.

What are Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolour Sticks?

Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolour Sticks are essentially a dried watercolour paint moulded into a stick form. They’re made from the same high quality ingredients as the rest of their watercolour range, so you can expect the same high pigmentation as you get from their tubed colours. Portable and long lasting, they’re a great medium for artists on the go.

How do I use Daniel Smith Watercolour Sticks?

Daniel Smith Watercolour sticks are primarily designed to be drawn with. Use them dry – like a pastel – to create a broad range of marks and strokes. However, you really unleash their true potential by using them with water. Try sweeping a wet brush over the dry marks and watch as the dry colour floods into the wash. Marks dissolve away quickly and the stick itself is easy to rewet. You can also use a dry stick to draw onto wet paper, or lift colour directly from the stick with a wet brush – like you’d use a traditional pan. In fact, each stick is equivalent to around 3 whole pans. You can easily cut up a stick and press it into an empty pan. This is a fast and economical way to test out a new palette of colours.

Excellent value for money

As mentioned above, each stick is equivalent to a whopping 3 whole pans of colour. The price of every single stick in the range is exactly the same – regardless of the series the colour would usually fits into. This means that a Primatek or high series colour, like Serpentine Genuine, costs you a fraction of what it would cost for a full 15ml tube.

Perfect for Painting on the Go

Daniel Smith Watercolour Sticks are ideal for painting on the go. Their compact, mess-free design makes them easy to pack, whether you’re heading out for a day of sketching or travelling further afield. You can even hold multiple sticks between your fingers as you paint, allowing for quick colour changes and a more intuitive way of working.

Texture

Texture-wise, Daniel Smith aren’t as dry as some other brands. They have a dense, almost tacky texture similar to a watercolour pan. Colours do vary quite a bit in softness. Some almost feel as soft as a kneaded eraser and can be easily shaped. Others are a little harder and take a bit more work to laydown colour.

Pigmentation

One benefit of these sticks over other water soluble blocks is that you know precisely what colour you are using. Other blocks, like Caran d’Ache Neocolor II and Derwent Inktense don’t come with any specific pigment information. While the colours are beautiful and both brands assure users that the ranges offer good lightfastness, there is some reassurance in knowing more about the materials you’re working with. Daniel Smith print all the pigment information on the side of the stick and there is further information available if you click on the colour swatches on our website.

Combine sticks with the rest of the Daniel Smith Watercolour range to unleash their full potential.

Daniel Smith Watercolour sticks are part of the broader Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolour range. Including a total of 266 colours across 15ml tubes, 5ml tubes, half pans and watercolour sticks, the Daniel Smith range offers arguably the most comprehensive and versatile range available to watercolourists.

Not only does their range include colours, there are also a selection of Watercolour Grounds available. Paint these grounds onto almost any surface to transform it into a ground suitable for watercolour painting. You can use it on glass, metal, ceramic, wood and more. Mix and match all the different products to create your own custom collection of colours to suit your painting style.