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By far the best watercoloring medium I have found is Peerless Watercolors. They were originally developed over 120 years ago to use in coloring black and white photos and they can still be used that way.
They come in solid "sheets" of color, bound into a little rectangular book, with the sheets of color as the pages. You just touch a wet waterbrush or paintbrush to the sheet and the color gets transferred to your brush. The colors are vibrant, very easy to blend, and have a wonderful transparency. I've found it hard to get true, vibrant color from any of my watercoloring pencils, crayons, or pan watercolors the way I get with Peerless.
To do a comparison I painted little swatches of color with each medium. Many of the pan watercolors ended up looking milky when they dried--I found out that's often the case with the less expensive brands. I also painted swatches with watercolor crayons, pencils, and the Peerless. There was no comparison. Peerless really stands out....and they last forever. The swatches I colored with watercolor crayons and pencils looked so faded compared with the Peerless. I'd love to hear from anyone else who's in love with these!
....and here are some testimonials from several websites...
http://secure.mycart.net/catalogs/ca...showprevnext=1
"peerless dry sheet watercolors can be used for original art work, photographs (black & white or color) slides, greeting cards, rubberstamping and many other projects. They are absolutely transparent and self-blending. Peerless flow smoothly and evenly over most surfaces and when combined will form an unlimited number of shades and tints"
"I LOVE my Peerless Watercolors. I have the basic set, the extended color set and the grayscale set.
Not ONLY will they air dry on matte cardstocks, they also air dry on shrink plastic and glossy cardstocks. You can get some WAY cool effects watercolor on glossy cardstock! (just remember that when working with the glossy cardstock, concerning water, a little dab will do ya!!)
If you have old photos...get a copy (an actual photo, not photocopy) made and you can "tint" the photo itself. The Peerless Watercolors are also fantastic when used on either opaque white or clear shrink plastic, you can achieve a stunning stained glass look with them.
Peerless watercolors are wonderful because of how portable they are. The dry watercolors are basically a sheet of paper which has the color embedded in it. You use a wait brush, waterbrush or even a blender pen to pick up the color off of the sheet and put it on your cardstock. These paints travel beautifully !!! They come in several colors and are quite inexpensive."
"Have you seen the Peerless watercolors? They are the easiest and cleanest water colors I have ever used! The color sheet is a heavy film of highly concentrated pure color. It has intense strength and brightness. The color is coated on one side of a special paper fabric and readily discharges when it comes in contact with water or a (Dove) blender"
By far the best watercoloring medium I have found is Peerless Watercolors. They were originally developed over 120 years ago to use in coloring black and white photos and they can still be used that way.
They come in solid "sheets" of color, bound into a little rectangular book, with the sheets of color as the pages. You just touch a wet waterbrush or paintbrush to the sheet and the color gets transferred to your brush. The colors are vibrant, very easy to blend, and have a wonderful transparency. I've found it hard to get true, vibrant color from any of my watercoloring pencils, crayons, or pan watercolors the way I get with Peerless.
To do a comparison I painted little swatches of color with each medium. Many of the pan watercolors ended up looking milky when they dried--I found out that's often the case with the less expensive brands. I also painted swatches with watercolor crayons, pencils, and the Peerless. There was no comparison. Peerless really stands out....and they last forever. The swatches I colored with watercolor crayons and pencils looked so faded compared with the Peerless. I'd love to hear from anyone else who's in love with these!
I voted for WC but I am not very good at using them. I just can't get the right shading with them that I want. I want to learn the prismacolor pencils and mineral spirits because I love the vivid colors and shading options are awesome. Guess I just need some more time stamping!
Can you sharpen the WC crayons? I love mine, but have been feeling lately like they're getting dull and that makes it tought to color in smaller spaces...
TIA!
JDT
JDT-
I don't ever color in with mine. I either use a wet brush/aquapainter to pick up color directly from the crayon, or I scribble some crayon on plastic and pick it up from there with a wet brush. My crayons many times don't even come out of the box, I just touch them with the brush. I like them because I can get very strong colors. When I want a clearer look, I scribble markers on a sour cream lid and pick up with a wet brush. If you use your aquapainter, it's very portable. I once watercolored all of my Christmas cards over a week or so in my car while waitng to pick up my kids. Just throw your markers, your aquapainters and a lid in a zip lock and you're set.
For conveience I like a blender pen and pencils or crayons. But I really love the look of the pure color pencils and gamsol. I don't share it with customers often since the few I have told do not want to have to get "that stuff" like the stumps and gamsol. But I love the look so much I am thinking of investing in the primacolor pencils.
I voted for the crayons because that's what I use the most, but I could actually say "all of the above" just depends what I'm doing and what I'm in the mood for.
__________________ Julie my gallery
I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Phillippians 4:13
I use several different methods,mostly markers which I scribble on a thick sheet of acetate and then with a damp paintbrush I pick up some colour to use.A good way to get into small areas.I also use my aqua brush, it all depends on the effect I want to achieve.
I have watercolour pencils and fell in love with WC that way, so they get my vote. There are several ways to use them that I have found so far - I use them by colouring in then using a brush to blend, wetting the paper and colouring on to that, and by taking colour from them on a brush and using them on paper.
Do you use any other methods with your wc pencils?
Would love to try the crayons and other techniques mentioned though. Am about to purchase a blender pen and some ink pads so will see what happens then!
__________________ Susan
~ In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths ~
I use blender pens alot because they are lighter than using markers and are easier to control than a paintbrush. I pick up the color from the stamp pad lid or off of a marker itself.
__________________ LizThe joy of the LORD is my strength.Right Brain Madness --My blogProud member of the redDivasKSS certified multi-step stamperFan Club member since 2004
I just scribble with a marker on a styrofoam plate, then use a damp brush or aquapainter. Although with the first stamp I bought, years ago, I bought a set of watercolor pencils, and a pad of waterproof ink. I used the pencils for a long time before I bought any colored ink.
I have the watercolor crayons, but I'm not sure if I'm using them right. Do you have to have the watercolor paper? I have the watercolor brush, but it seems the paper gets too wet. What are some other ways to use the crayons? Help!
I've been using a few different methods lately. I started using WC pencil on dry paper, and then pulling colour out with a paintbrush or aquabrush. It looked okay when wet, but once it dried, I could still see the pencil lines. Then I saw a suggestion of colouring on a piece of scrap and then picking up the colour from the scrap with a wet brush. That worked much better, but I eventually got out my cheap set of tube WC paints. I may buy some more expensive WC paints one day, but lately, I've been intrigued by the Prismacolor Pencils (which I have) and OMS and stumps (which I don't have yet). Then again, I'm also wondering about using the Prisma Blending Markers that I already have in place of the OMS and blending stumps. I've only got a basic (12 pc) set of WC crayons, but I hadn't even thought about using those for colouring a card.
One of these days, I need to do some SERIOUS playing around with my materials. ;)
For the person (hoosiergirl2?) who found their paper got too wet -- don't be afraid to experiment a little and "play" with your WC crayons. Your problem could be your paper, it could be how much water you're using, it could even be part of the technique you're using.
A couple of tips:
Try testing your "paint" on scrap paper before applying it to your good stamped image. If your brush is too wet, you will see it on the scrap paper first and save your good paper. I prefer using WC paper, although I've used normal cardstock on occasion. It usually helps to tape down the paper you're using to keep it flat while painting.
*My painting board is a corrugated plastic board which I "recycled" from political candidate signs left on the boulevards and medians after the election had taken place. The plastic painting board doesn't absorb any water, and can be moved aside any time to free up your workspace. Best of all, corrugated plastic cuts easily with an Exacto knife.
Was in love with the watercolor pencils, until I got the Water color crayons. I was lucky enough to order the complete set right before they retired last year and I'm so glad I did!!!
Peerless
