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I see that Amazon has a great deal on Derwent brand Inktense and Watercolor pencils today. I am thinking of jumping in and trying them. I have two questions. One is which would be better for card making...the Inktense or plain watercolor? I am liking the Inktense pencil idea for the. Bold colors...but not very experienced with water colors yet.....
My other question would be can I use these on regular card stock or do I need to use watercolor paper with them?
I figured I could get some good advice from all the talented, experienced people here on SplitCoast. Thanks in advance for any guidance you can provide.
I have Inktense and regular watercolor pencils and the pencils that you decide upon will largely be based on what look or effect you are going for. You may want both LOL..........
I'm a watercolor novice myself. In my limited experience, 'regular' watercolor pencils result in a more muted/pastel color and Intense pencils can provide lots of color punch (as you note in your post).
As for paper, I highly recommend that you use watercolor paper instead of cardstock because the watercolor paper is made to handle such a wet technique. I started out using cardstock and got iffy results; moving to watercolor paper has really made a difference for me.
I particularly like Ranger's watercolor paper because it is smooth on one side and textured on the other side so one piece of paper provides two options. Generally if I'm using a stamped image, I use the smooth side of the paper.
HTH!!!
__________________ "May your mind whirl joyful cartwheels of creativity." - Jonathan Lockwood Huie.
Last edited by QueenOfInkland; 01-02-2014 at 09:19 AM..
The price at Amazon is amazing. I picked up a big set of Inktense pencils too. I have about 44 of the pencils now, but couldn't pass up the price.
As to which set is 'better' (watercolor pencils vs. Inktense ink-based pencils)... they're different, so it's hard to compare. In terms of versatility, Inktense pencils win in my opinion... they can be used dry, blended with a solvent (OMS or other), or blended with water. They're fun for a variety of techniques, too. If you want a more muted look with them, you can pick up a small amount of pigment from the pencil tip with a wet brush.
That being said, I often use both pencil types together, or paint with watercolors and add deeper shading or other effects with Inktense.
If you're not going to blend them much with water and a brush, you can get away with using heavier cardstock... if you tend to blend more or want to have several layers of color, watercolor paper is a safer choice.
I'm attaching a picture to show how they're labeled - I just write directly on the stump, and each end has its own color family. I have a set that I use with solvents and a set that I keep dry for pastel pencils. They're just stored in my pencil holder.
I got my Inktense pencils last week and had to come back and say that I do like them but I have to change my watercolor method. With other watercolor mediums I could come back and do more blending if needed but once the Inktense coloring is completely dry you can't do anymore blending. Now I have to make sure I'm completely happy with the blending before they dry. Not a big deal, just a change in the way I'm used to water coloring. another benefit is that the colors do not have the chalky look - very bright and pretty and it added some colors I didn't have.
I'm thinking I'm going to love that they do dry permanent when I use them with mixed media mediums as there will not be any unwanted bleeding. But first, I'm going to try Gamsol. More fun...
They definitely work differently than watercolor pencils. You may like the control of OMS better, just know that the results after blending aren't as vibrant as when you blend with water. I love that versatility though! They're also beautiful layered or blended dry without a solvent.
Didn't know you can use inktense with solvent. I will have to give it a try. Love using the solvent with regular colored pencils, so this will be fun! Thanks for sharing!
They definitely work differently than watercolor pencils. You may like the control of OMS better, just know that the results after blending aren't as vibrant as when you blend with water. I love that versatility though! They're also beautiful layered or blended dry without a solvent.
Thanks, once I get back home from this boring business trip I'm going to try OMS next and plain blending.
Derwent inktense & watercolor pencils
