Artwork
Watercolor pencils are a versatile art medium that combine the beauty of watercolor paints with the control of a pencil. They’re designed to be used both dry and mixed with water, making them a unique creative tool to add to your art arsenal.
If you’ve ever wondered “How do I use watercolor pencils?”, we’re here to answer all your questions. Keep reading to learn more about these portable painting tools and how you can use them to create beautiful works of art.
More watercolor content you’ll love:
Get started with watercolor pencils with this step-by-step tutorial from resident artist Paige Webb.
Learn how to use watercolor paints with Academy artists Hannah and Stephen! This free, 10-part course covers everything you need to know about watercolor paints and also touches on some key watercolor pencil techniques.
What are watercolor pencils and how do they work?
Watercolor pencils look similar to colored pencils, but they’re made with water-soluble pigments and binders rather than wax or oil. They can be sharpened to a point just like traditional colored pencils, but when activated with water, the binder dissolves and creates a fluid, watercolor-like paint.
Watercolor pencils can be used dry, or you can add a touch of water and watch the pigment transform. Here are the different techniques you can try, all of which we’ll delve further into later on:
- Use watercolor pencil dry for regular sketching or coloring
- Use watercolor pencil with a brush dipped in water
- Dip a watercolor pencil in water
- Use watercolor pencil on wet paper
- Lift color directly from the tip of your watercolor pencil
- Use watercolor pencil to add detail to a watercolor painting
What makes watercolor pencils so fun, versatile, and convenient to use is that you can choose your favorite technique or try any combination of the above. When you activate them with water, the paint created can be moved and manipulated with a brush just like traditional watercolor.
Watercolor pencils vs. watercolor paints: which should I use?
Although you can achieve similar effects with both products, there are key differences between them when it comes to making art. Below, we’ve highlighted the characteristics of both to help you decide which medium works best for you:
|
Watercolor Pencils |
Watercolor Paints |
|
Can be used wet and dry |
Only used wet |
|
Can be sharpened for fine detail |
Can use a small brush for fine detail |
|
Increased vibrancy when wetted |
Instantly vibrant |
|
Faster drying time |
Slower drying time |
|
Easy to add new layers quickly |
Drying between layers takes time |
|
No palette for mixing |
Easy to mix colors |
|
Portable, no mess |
Requires more setup and clean-up |
Benefits of watercolor pencils
Versatility
Watercolor pencils are a versatile medium, offering the flexibility to draw and paint with one tool. Artists can easily go back and forth between wet and dry applications, adding more dry pencil when the paper has dried or adding more water to transform their pencil marks. This allows for a unique combination of drawing and painting techniques, giving you the best of both worlds with just one tool.
Portability and convenience
Watercolor pencils are compact and easy to carry, making them ideal for sketching on the go or for artists who prefer a more mobile setup. You don’t need a palette to use them as all the mixing happens on paper, which means they don’t require much clean-up.
Adding detail
The ability to sharpen watercolor pencils to a fine point allows for precise and detailed line work, which can be challenging with traditional watercolor paints.
Unique effects
Coloring with watercolor pencils means you can create effects that you can’t with traditional colored pencils.
For example, adding water to dry watercolor pencil typically makes colors appear more saturated and intense, especially on textured paper where a pencil can’t reach every bit of white space. When the binder in a watercolor pencil is dissolved, the pigment spreads across the paper more evenly, which is great if you’d prefer to avoid a grainy look in your artwork.
You can also mix colors more effectively than you’d be able to with colored pencils, as the pigments can mix more thoroughly and create a smooth finish when the binder is dissolved.
What materials do you need to get started with watercolor pencils?
You only need a handful of materials to use watercolor pencils:
- Watercolor pencils
- Watercolor paper
- Pencil sharpener
- Paintbrush
- Water
- Paper towels
How to use watercolor pencils
There are so many ways to use watercolor pencils, and it’s worth experimenting with different techniques to find your favorites.
Here are a few foundational tips to keep in mind before you start:
Using the right surface
Watercolor pencils work best on watercolor paper, which is specially designed to absorb water and prevent buckling. Stretching your paper helps prevent warping and is especially useful when you’re ready to move beyond practice and start creating more polished pieces.
We recommend:
40 Sheets Watercolor Sketchpads 9" x 12"
60 Sheets Watercolor Sketchpads 5.5" x 8.5"
40 Sheets Watercolor Sketchpads 11” x 14”
Top tip: Head over to Castle Arts Academy and learn how to stretch paper in lesson 3 of the watercolor paints course.
Planning out your artwork
You may choose to plan your artwork by lightly sketching an outline in pencil on your paper. Be mindful that pencil marks will show through lighter colors, so you won’t want to use too much pressure!
Controlling intensity
The more water you add, the more transparent the colors will become. If there’s too much water on the page, it’s easy to lift away the excess with a paper towel. More intense colors can also be created by pressing harder when sketching.
Mixing colors
Layer two or more colors dry, then blend them with water using a paintbrush. It’s easy to create smooth transitions, and you can experiment by overlapping shades to create custom hues. You may want to try swatching, mixing, and layering colors on a scrap piece of paper to see how they react to water and how they mix together.
Adjusting your work
Even after your drawing dries, you can reactivate the pigments by adding more water. Watercolor pencils are a very forgiving medium as they make it easy to adjust and correct your artwork!
Watercolor pencil techniques
As mentioned earlier, there are several techniques you can use with watercolor pencils, and they can be used alone or with other media.
Using watercolor pencil dry
Watercolor pencils are vibrant when used on their own, simply drawn straight on to paper without any water. When used dry, watercolor pencils can be blended with non-water-soluble pencils, so you can use them alongside your favorite colored pencil palettes. You can also use them dry on top of dry watercolor paintings to add detail or texture to your work.
Using watercolor pencil with a paintbrush
The most common way to use watercolor pencils is to color with the pencils first, then dip your brush in water and swipe over the top to blend. With this method, you can layer different colors to blend and create custom shades.
You can also try blurring solid lines by dissolving them in water or dragging your brush away from your pencil marks to achieve more translucent marks on the paper.
Dipping your pencil in water
To create bold, expressive marks, you can carefully dip just the colored part of the pencil into the water and use that to color. Try not to dip the wooden part of the pencil as this can cause some damage to the structure and make the pencil turn ‘gummy’, but this is a great technique for small, vibrant pops of detail. Just let it dry and re-sharpen to regenerate the pencil.
Lifting color from the tip of your pencil
For fine details, simply wet your brush, collect pigment from the pencil nib, and apply to paper. Using different sized brushes depending on the level of detail required, you can dip the brush into water, pat off the excess and then swipe the brush onto the colored part of the pencil to pick up the pigment and apply to the paper.
This technique means you can use watercolor pencils in a similar way to watercolor pans, painting with a brush as normal. If you’re a fan of this method, you’ll love our woodless watercolor pencils, as they’re made up of pure color and binder so nothing goes to waste. You can even break the shavings down with a wet brush and apply the color straight to paper!
Using watercolor pencil on wet paper
Make dry pencil strokes on wet paper and see how the color reacts! Lines will lose their sharpness and colors may appear lighter. You can also try using a moistened brush to add more water to your lines, making them thicker and more blurred.
Using watercolor pencils with watercolor paint
Watercolor pencils are a great addition to traditional watercolor paintings. You can use them for underdrawings, so you don’t have to worry about graphite pencil lines showing through, or use them to add finer details to your paintings that are difficult to achieve with a paintbrush alone. Watercolor pencils are also excellent for adding texture to your paintings – try using them dry to add interesting marks to your work.
Tips for success when using watercolor pencils
If you’re a total beginner with watercolor pencils, these top tips from our resident artists will help you get started.
Paige: Swatch the watercolor pencil colors before you use them to get an accurate representation of the colors and have a practice piece of paper to the side to test color combinations and blending before applying to your art.
Hannah: Protect your highlights. To allow the shine of the white paper through, carefully map out where you need the highlights to be before getting stuck in with colors.
Steve: Stretch the paper before using any medium involving water. It’ll keep your work flat and save any buckling as you’re going.
Excited to experiment with watercolor pencils? Explore our full range of watercolor pencil sets and discover how much fun you can have with this versatile medium.
Products used in this blog:
Share: