Coloring is not my strong suit. I’ve always struggled with choosing what coloring mediums to use when I’m creating an artwork. Mostly, I use oil paint because I find it easy to control. The problem is- the brushes are a pain to wash afterwards. Also, the fumes of turpentine and oil paints can be irritating. So I am always in search of the perfect art medium to add colors to my artworks.
As I was perusing the art supplies at National Bookstore one time, I found boxes of Faber-Castell Watercolour Pencils stacked up in the colored pencils section. This product looked exactly like colored pencils except they’re not, I later discovered. And since the brand, Faber-Castell has only ever been good to me, I bought a box.
Now, there are different sizes of boxes. I chose the smallest one I found since I was only trying it out. It contained 12 watercolor pencils and cost around PhP 80.00. This contained the color ‘light flesh’ which is essential in artworks illustrating people. I couldn’t wait to try it!
I found out that you can use Faber-Castell Watercolour Pencils in 2 ways- as colored pencils and as watercolor. When used as a colored pencil, you will notice right away the thick and strong leads. The quality is better than other brands, as expected. The pencil is smoother and glides better on paper and the colors are more vivid. You can even out the colors by using cotton buds.
To use as watercolor, color as usual and then touch with a slightly wet brush. Amazingly, the water-soluble colors already on the paper dissolve into radiant watercolors. Since there are only 12 colors, I experimented by blending various colors and it worked! What I also like to do is dip the pencil into a tub of water before applying it on paper. That way, I get the rustic effect that I like.
What differentiates this product from your normal watercolor is that you use less water so your paper won’t get too crumpled which is my number one problem with watercolors. Moreover, applying too much water on paper dissolves the paper itself, not with Faber-Castell Watercolour Pencils. In my experience, any kind of drawing paper is safe to use with this, although, heavy grade papers are recommended.
For me, the best thing about Faber-Castell Watercolour Pencils is it’s not at all messy. The brushes can be washed with water afterwards. It’s so clean and convenient to use and it hasn’t let me down.