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I am new to stamping and the group, so please forgive me if this has been covered in previous posts. I tried to find something but could not.
I am hoping to make baby announcements for my upcoming little one. I have been wanting to try watercolor and thought this would be a good opportunity. I bought the watercolor pencils because it seemed like the cheapest option to get start and try out this technique. My problem is that I HATE all of my attempts thus far. I can really see the pencil lines, so to me it just looks like slightly soften pencil rather than a true watercolor.
Is there something in my technique that I am missing or is this method just not the best for getting a true watercolor look?
I had that problem too. I gave up on watercolor pencils and now I use watercolor crayons from Staedtler that I bought at Joann's with a coupon. I use an aqua pen and touch the tip of the pen to the crayon (to pick up the color) and then color on the paper. Do you use watercolor paper? I am about to search on that subject as I don't know if that would make my watercolorings look more uniform.
Are what are you using to blend them? Blender pen or Paint Brush with water? I found that this was the case too for me... I like blending the pencils with my blender pen, but you have to move fast and often.... when i use the brush, I get more water more quickly and it tends to blend better.
My suggestion is to use a piece of scrap Cardstock first.... try using a darker pencil mark and use both the blender pen and brush and blend out the color to get the coverage you are looking for.... It takes just a bit of practice, but once you get the hang of it.... you'll love the controlability of the pencils. I love them now.
I also love my water color crayons too. They do blend nice and easy, but don't give up on your pencils.
I LOVE my watercolor pencils, BUT only when I scribble on a piece of CS first and then pick up the color from there with my aquapainter. Try that, I think you'll like the results MUCH better. HTH
I was using a brush with water. I thought it would have a softer look than the blender pens. I was planning to buy an aqua pen for the full set of cards when I buy the rest of the supplies for the cards. For now I was using some scrap vanilla cardstock I have left from the holidays.
I have the pencils too and i use the blender pen. i try to color a dark outline along the stamped image then blend inwards for shading i will sometimes color a dark patch of the pencil then draw it inwards so the patch is dark and the rest is lighter...make sense?
pastels also do a really nice job of the 'watercolor' look as well as squeezing you inkpad before you open it, then use the blender pen to pick up the ink from the lid...good luck!
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The pencils were one of the 1st SU! purchases I made - I still like the look I get with them, different from watercoloring with ink or crayons... I use the blender pens with the pencils as it is a little easier for me to control, going over an area a few times seems to help with the pencil lines. Another thing that helps me is to use the sides of the pencil tip to color in instead of the sharp end... that way my initial lines aren't quite as harsh. Sure love my watercolor pencils!! HTH
Someone did recommend that I dull the pencils down a bit. They were new so I thought maybe that didn't help. I tried to shade using the side but the pencils seemed too hard to be very effective.
If you hold it with the side almost parallel to the page that will make it a bit easier to get gentler shading... sort of hard to describe but hope that makes sense and helps a little... don't give up, they really do give a VERY nice effect... I really don't like to keep these too sharp tho for that very reason. I use the tip of the blender pens to work the color into the smaller areas and keep the pencil shading/coloring in the larger areas... the suggestion abt working the color into the middle is also really great! I tend to try to shade with one side darker than the other to give it a semi-dimensional look... HTH!
This technique works with crayons or pencils. Instead of coloring the paper with the crayon/pencil, use a waterbrush directly on the crayon/pencil to pick up color. Then "paint" with that. You can make the color as intense as you like.
Works for me
Look in "Downloads" there is a great tip for how to use an aqua painter that has some great tips. None of them use watercolor pencils but the techniques can be used with water color pencils.
The brush to the pencil seems to work best for me. When I use a blender pen on the paper itself it seems to be hard on the paper.
Although I find blending the colors harder if you take the brush straight to the pencil. I wonder, except for price, what the advantage of the pencil is if you take the brush straight to the pencil?
A huge key to watercoloring is using watercolor paper. The colors "float" on top of the paper for a bit so if it is too intense...you can soak it up. And the paper doesn't flake if you go over an area too often. You can get awesome results with pencil, crayon, ink, blender, aqua painter....(whatever your preference) with watercolor paper. Give it a try. hope that helps. Enjoy watercoloring!
I love my watercolor pencils. I use cardstock and the blender pens and don't have a problem with lines. I use the sides of the pencils often so I don't press so hard, maybe that's why I don't have lines - not sure!
Is there a good source besides Stampin Up? Their watercolor paper is awfully expensive if you are making many cards. My demonstrator also said she has had more luck with the confetti paper than the plain paper for watercoloring.
Watercolor Pencil Problems
Water color crayons
