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Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Wednesday Trend: Derwent Inktense Watercolor Pencils

Hi, everybody!  Newbie Trendsetter Carole, here, and today, I'm going to show a quick and dirty way you can get in on the watercolor trend!  Watercoloring stamped images is making a big comeback, but if you're a bright and bold color lover like me, you're loathe to abandon the vibrancy of your alcohol ink markers.  Fear not, fellow stampers - this is one situation where you CAN have it all!

Derwent Inktense Watercolor Pencils (which are available online through a variety of art supplies sources) allow you to have that wispy, soft look of watercolors with the vivid intensity you've come to expect from your Copics.  What's the difference between the Inktense pencils and the other watercolor pencils? Well, according to the Dick Blick website, "Derwent Inktense Pencils are as versatile as watercolor pencils, but with a firmer texture that allows them to perform with the brilliant intensity of traditional pen-and-ink." Thanks, Dick! :)

After Christmas, I'd accumulated enough points on my Amazon account to allow me to obtain a set of 72 Inktense pencils for the low, low price of nuttin'.  Here's what the case looks like:


And here are the purty colors...


Now, before I get started showing you what these bad boys can do,  I want to warn you that I know NOT what the heck I am doing with these.  I've only messed with them once before.  This is truly the blind leading the blind, thus, whatever I can do with these?  You can do, too, and very likely you can do better! 

With that disclaimer out of the way, let's continue.  I stamped TSG's ever popular Sweet Pea image onto watercolor paper with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, then selected three pencils to work with.



I lightly shaded the petals of the flower with the lighter of the purpley-pink pencils:



I took my waterpen and started pushing the color around with the brush...


Nice and bright, don't you think?  Next, I let it dry for a couple of minutes, then I layered on the darker fuscia pencil at the base of the petals...



Then it was time to work on the stems.  First, I traced over the stems with the green pencil, then went over the lines with the waterpen.  Big mistake:


Look at the gloppy mess of green!  I decided I had to start over.  The good news is, in as little time as this process takes (the water does so much of the shading and blending for you), it wasn't a biggie.  This time, I took my brush to the pencil itself and then very lightly lay the color onto the stems:


Much better!  And here's the finished project:


Obviously, I need to work with these pencils A LOT more to develop any sort of proficiency with them, but I do really like the depth of color they deliver.  We all get a little tired of using the same old products to create with, so I think it will be a lot of fun to have the Inktense pencils in my crafty toolbox.

What do you think?  Have you been on the watercolor bandwagon this whole time, or are you hopping back on after a dry spell, like me?  Or, is watercoloring one of those crafty trends you're going to take a pass on?  I'd love to hear your thoughts.  And, if you have any questions for me, just leave them as a comment as I will be coming back to this post over the next week to respond.

Thanks for taking the time to hang out with me for a spell today!

15 comments:

  1. I absolutly LOVE Inktense watercoloring. This is how I do all my coloring... ( i dont have copic yet :( .. key word yet) If you add a little of perfect pearl to water yout picture would be all peraly perfect! Love what you have done with the poppies.

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  2. Carole, you're to hard on yourself. I think this is lovely. If you hadn't made a point of saying you don't know what you're doing I would've never known. Looks great! Jean ~

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  3. I love watercoloring! I've never tried the inktense, but I hope I get a chance to someday - they look like a lot of fun. Right now I do most of my watercoloring with Distress Reinkers and Tombow pens. Fun fun fun! Thanks for a great tutorial!

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  4. This looks gorgeous Carole! I have always loved the look of watercoloring, but haven't done it in some time! Thanks for the inspiration to dig out the watercolors ;)

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  5. Gorgeous card, Carole and your story is just a fun! Loves ya, girl!

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  6. I think this is beautiful! What kind of paper did you use? Beginner? Don't believe it!~

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  7. With the exception of your first stems, you did great! I have never done anything the "first time" and done that well. You will be a master at this in no time!

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  8. Really pretty card, Carole! I love the image you chose to work with, and fuschia is my favorite color. I have regular colored pencils, watercolor crayons...now I have to figure out if I need watercolor pencils...

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  9. Thanks for your TOOT-orial, Carole. Glad to be along on your water-colour adventure. Can you share the exact water-colour paper you used? Merci. I have a small set of water-colour pencils from Close to My Heart, but think these new Derwent INKtense (clever name) pencils look intriguing!

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  10. You done good. Wouldn't have known you were a newbie with them if you hadn't said. I agree with Dick...nice intense color in a pencil. Thanks for the enabling!

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  11. where did my comment go?
    Great job Carole! Wouldn't have known you were new to using them at all. I agree with Dick--loving the intensity!

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  12. Fabulous tutorial Carole!!! I have the 24 set of Inktense pencils (drooling a bit at all the purty colors in the 72 pack, lol) and I LOVE them! I haven't tried pulling color from the lead yet. I'll have to try it next time I use them!

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  13. I am just starting with these pencils. Your project came really nice!

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  14. I absolutely love watercolor pencils. I started with the cheap Crayola and then nicer brand, then branched out with the Prisma color ones. Not too long ago I learned of the Inktense pencils. I'm now waiting to receive my 72 color tin from Amazon. Can't wait til they get here!

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  15. What I really love about these is that they are permanent once dry! Unlike other watercolours that can be manipulated over and over again

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