Derwent Chromaqua, 72 crayons aquarellables

This set contains 36 water soluble pencils and comes in a tin, giving you a good selection of colours in one package. The presentation looks good, and the tin is a useful way to keep everything together rather than having pencils scattered around a desk or stored loose in a drawer. For someone interested in drawing, colouring or experimenting with watercolour effects, there is a reasonable range of colours to get started with. The main attraction of watercolour pencils is that they can be used in more than one way. You can draw or colour with them as you would with ordinary coloured pencils, then introduce water to soften the marks and create a more blended effect. This gives you the opportunity to experiment with different results without needing to work exclusively with traditional watercolour paints. It can also make the process more controlled, as you can place the colour where you want it before using water to alter the finish. Having 36 colours means there is room to experiment with different combinations, shading and variations in tone. A smaller set can sometimes leave you trying to create every colour from only a handful of pencils, whereas a wider selection gives you more choices to work with. Of course, the number of colours alone does not determine how good a set is, but it does give you a reasonable starting point for different types of artwork. The important question is how the pencils actually perform on paper. I have not tested those aspects sufficiently to give an 100% verdict on the drawing quality. The set looks good, but I would not want to claim that the colours are rich, that the pencils blend beautifully or that they are suitable for professional work without having established that myself. Colour is nice, but it will probably be down to paper and how you use them, and me, I'm a novice in all this. Different people use art materials for different purposes, and the results can depend on the paper and techniques used as well. For now, I can say that the set is well presented and offers 36 water soluble colours in a tin. That is a promising starting point, but the actual performance is what matters most. I would need to spend time drawing with them and trying the watercolour effect before I could confidently recommend them on quality rather than appearance alone. PROS: - 36 colours included - Tin keeps the pencils together - Can be used for dry colouring and watercolour style effects - Good looking presentation and selection. CONS: - Colour quality and blending have not yet been assessed properly, it's harder than I thought it'll be - A bit pricey. Lire la suite

This review is for Derwent Chromaqua watercolour pencils. The set contains 36 different colours. These are soft-core colours, so the colour lays down very easily and you are able to achieve a richer colour without much effort. As I’ve already said these are very easy to lay down the colour. They are also very easy to add water to in various amounts to keep your colours rich or to fade them out. Using the right paper and the right Paint brushes it will be easy to achieve watercolour paintings without any lines left behind from where the pencils laid the colour down dry on paper. The colours also blend together very easily. Your rent is a longtime trusted name in the art supply business. As always, I am happy with this product and I expect that I will use it a lot. The set isn’t so big that you can’t easily carry it around with you in a bag should you want to do some watercolour work while you’re out and about. Just keep some modern colour paper and a few watercolour brushes and some paper towel and you’ve pretty much have all that you need to create completed pieces. The price for this tin of watercolour pencils is £46.99. I do think this is a very reasonable price for this product. These are nice grade pencils for both amateurs and professionals. I do recommend them for amateurs so that they can use a product that’s going to properly allow them to explore their artistic designs. Many of the less expensive brands have a lot to desire when it comes to leaving marks behind the actual pencil cores being too hard and not laying down colour properly, et cetera. It’s better to pay for a well-known brand at a higher quality then to get mediocre pencils at a lower price that don’t let you fully explore your artistic ability. Perfect gift, especially with Christmas around the corner, for anyone who is artistic or enjoys crafting. Lire la suite

This 150 pencil set is a colourists dream. The amount of different shades in this set can provide unlimited results in not just as 'dry' pencils' with layering but also as watercolour shades when you apply water with gentle brushstrokes - or a combination of the two. I found the pigments in the pencil to be quite rich - which is what you want in a 'watercolour pencil', but your desired results do depend on not only the amount of water applied, but also the weight and smoothness of the paper. Each pencil displays it's colour name and colour code on one of the hexagonal sides - should you loose, break or wear out specific pencils fast, you can re-order individual pencils directly from Derwent (at a price of £1.90 per pencil), although for whatever reason, the website relies only on the colour name and not the pencil colour code. I haven't used specific pencils enough to require more than one or two sharpenings, but the initial 1st sharpening gives the impression of good quality cores that aren't going to shatter on you during sharpening like I've experienced on cheaper brands. The set is contained in a nice sized tin featuring 3 trays of 50 pencils each. My only criticism with this set is not with the pencils themselves, but with these actual trays.... I just wish they were made from slightly thicker/more substantial plastic. The trays are a little bit flimsy and I feel that after a number of times removing them from the metal case and removing pencils etc., I'm going to start seeing a few of those 'white' stress lines and creases in the plastic, which ultimately convert into splits and tears. Irrespective, overall, I'm very pleased with these. Lire la suite

Opening the tin makes an immediate impression because seeing all 150 pencils arranged in layered trays feels substantial. At £170.49, you pay £1.14 per pencil, giving you artist grade tools without open stock prices. I tested these over the weekend, filling colouring books and painting loose botanical sketches whilst the kids were away. The pigment dissolves completely the moment a wet brush touches the lines, leaving zero scratchy marks underneath. You get smooth washes, and the soft lead glides across thick watercolour paper without dragging. The pencils have slightly narrower wooden barrels than traditional ranges, which might cause finger fatigue during long colouring sessions if you grip too hard. If you paint or colour to unwind and want smooth colour without pencil grooves showing under paint, this set provides superb value.

This was delivered to me in a basic brown envelope with absolutely no protection whatsoever. not even a bit of bubble wrap. It's a disgraceful way to send any item as fragile as this to a customer. The tin was damaged and broken. I'm just hoping the actual pencils are ok. These pencils cost me £170 . They were also just dumped on my doorstep. The courier never even knocked my door to let me know he was there. By the way, I would'nt even rate it one star. I had to in order to continue.