July 19, 2023 |

Understanding Watercolor Pencils

What are Watercolor Pencils?

Watercolor pencils (also known as water-soluble colored pencils) look very similar to traditional colored pencils. Both have a solid core of color that is made with a combination of pigment and binder. Both encased in wood and can be sharpened to a point.

^{Lyra Rembrandt Polycolor Pencils}

But watercolor pencils are made with a water-soluble binder, which means that when water is added to a dry drawing created with these pencils, the water dissolves the binder to create a watercolor-like paint. This paint can be moved and manipulated with a brush just like traditional watercolor.

What are the Benefits of Watercolor Pencils?

Color Saturation

Adding water to dry watercolor pencil often makes colors appear more intense and saturated. This is because when the pencils are applied dry, the color isn’t evenly distributed across the paper. Depending on the texture of the paper, the pencil will create a thicker layer of color on the high points of the paper’s texture and a thinner layer of color (or no color) on the low points of the paper’s texture. The tip of the pencil can’t reach all spots of the paper evenly, so the resulting layer of color will look uneven and textured. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing; many artists like the grainy look of dry colored pencil and choose textured papers for exactly this reason. However, when water is added to dry watercolor pencil, it dissolves the binder and allows the pigment to fully spread across the paper more evenly. The white specs of the paper are filled, and the even distribution of pigment across the paper creates a more intense color with a stronger visual impact.

Keep in mind that the amount of pencil applied to the paper will also affect the saturation of the color when wet. Below you can see a comparison between watercolor pencil that is dry vs. after water has been applied. One sample is shown with a light application of pencil and the other is shown with a heavy application of pencil. The heavier the pencil is applied, the more saturated it will look after water has been added.

The amount of water applied to the dry pencil will also affect the final appearance of the artwork. When only a light application of water is applied, the water does not completely dissolve the binder, so the resulting color will still have some of the original dry pencil strokes and texture. But when more water is applied, it allows the binder to dissolve more thoroughly. This results in color that appears smoother with less pencil strokes.

Color Mixing

Watercolor pencils also help to achieve smooth and complete mixtures of color. When mixing dry watercolor pencil, one pencil color is layered over another. The two colors do achieve some amount of mixing, but the colors can’t completely mix due to the pigments being “trapped” within the binder. But when the colors are blended with water, the binder dissolves and allows the pigments to thoroughly mix. This creates a mixture that looks smooth and uniform.

Versatility

Watercolor pencils can be used wet or dry which makes them an extremely versatile medium. You can apply dry pencil, add water, and then apply more dry pencil once the paper has dried. You can repeatedly go back and forth between wet and dry applications until they reach the desired effect in their artwork. This back-and-forth allows for a unique combination of both drawing and painting techniques that can all be achieved with just one product.

What Other Application Techniques Can Be Used?

Watercolor pencil does not need to be applied as dry pencil to dry paper. There are a number of other methods for using these pencils that can create a wide variety of visual effects.

Applying with a Brush

Like traditional watercolors, you can load your brush with wet color and apply it directly to the paper. To do this, you need a piece of scrap paper (preferably something heavyweight like watercolor or mixed media paper.) Apply a heavy layer of dry watercolor pencil to your paper, creating a separate swatch for each color you want to use in the artwork.

These swatches of dry watercolor pencil will act as your watercolor pans. You can wet your brush and load it up with the color you want to use. Then, you can use this loaded brush to apply wet paint directly to your artwork, just as you would with traditional watercolor. You can also mix colors on your palette before applying them to the artwork.

You can also load the brush with color directly from the tip of the watercolor pencil. To do this, you would wet the brush and then rub it across the tip of the pencil to fill the brush with color. This method works better with smaller brushes as it can be difficult to load up a large brush from the small tip of the pencil.

Drawing on Wet Paper

Watercolor pencils can be used directly on wet paper. For this method, you would wet your paper first and then draw on it with dry watercolor pencil. When the tip of the pencil hits the wet paper, the water will activate the surface of the pencil tip, but it won’t dissolve the tip completely. The resulting marks will be somewhere between wet and dry; they’ll have the intensity of wet paint but will still have a bit of the texture of dry pencil. This method creates bold strokes and allows for easy blending and mixing on the paper.

_{Paper = Strathmore 500 Series Heavyweight Mixed Media, 350lb/570gsm, 100% cotton}

Dipping the Pencil in Water

You can also dip the tip of the watercolor pencil directly in water before drawing on your paper. This method dissolves the outer layer of binder and creates lines that are somewhere between wet and dry. The color will be intense, but it will still have the grainy texture of dry pencil.

Watercolor pencils are a unique medium that give artists the capability of easily transitioning from drawing to painting. The variety of wet and dry application techniques gives each artist the ability to experiment and truly make the medium their own.

The pencils featured in this article are Lyra Rembrandt Aquarell Watercolor Pencils: