Derwent Drawing Pencils

When I first started customizing doll faces, I bought Faber-Castell pencils, as they are suggested by almost every doll customizer. They wouldn't make a mark or it was so light you'd have to do several layers of Mr. Super Clean and penciling to get the desired strength. I sharpened them, thinking maybe they were a little dry. Then I concluded I was in over my head due to my inexperience with doll customization. I have some background in art. I sketch and paint. I also use Prisma color pencils in the artwork I sell. I found the option to paint with them to be cool. So I thought drawing little faces wouldn't be a huge stretch. It is not as easy as they make it look on Youtube. I had to use tons of Super Clean, and layers of Faber Castel to get the desired look. Not to mention, you better be able to see, or you are going to have to get readers and a good light. Months later, after I'd given up, a favorite doll customizer reviewed seven premium artist grade pencil brands. She tested the basic colors of like seven brands. It could be more, it's been a minute since I saw the review. She applied them to different surfaces, blended them and customized a doll head with each brand. Surprisingly, Faber-Castell came in at like forth behind a cheap Alie Express brand. Prismacolor was maybe third, behind a German brand that came second to Inktense, which was number one. Inktense was the best of all on blending, actually showing up and the colors were fuller and more vibrant. Some other pencils lost because even though they showed up the color was light or dull. Or the pencils crumbled or didn't color evenly. Some pencils were way too soft, or way to hard and required a lot of hard pressing. Which depending on what you're doing it could actually scrape the paint beneath. Some left chunks on whatever the surface and you couldn't just wipe them out without ruining the work just done. Inktense is creamy and smooth, but not too soft if you get what I mean. They are immediately stain the surface, with full and vibrant color. Now that I've used Inktense, I plan to invest in getting all the colors they offer. I also like that you can buy these individually. If you don't get these for doll customization, at least get the white. It is unmatched for eyes. It was the best by leaps and bounds in the test. Before I could afford to get these, I bought four whites and just like in the video they didn't disappoint. I will always refer Inktense for doll customization. They layer or draw on top of other colors smoothly. You can even blend them in lighter amounts to change the look of the color beneath. I might be able to do a whole face up without paint. Ooooooh, the white is amazing for putting details in the eyes, and lips, no matter what the final color of them will be. Derwent Inktense beat all the other brands. Faber Castel was surprisingly four or five of high-end artist pencils. Inktense was number one, which no one expected, because I hadn't even heard of them until the video. These are the best pencils and worth the price. Sorry I can't remember the customizer's name or I would have added a link. I wrote all of this because I read product reviews and wished someone had told me before I wasted money on other expensive pencils. Sending good vibes. I hope this was helpful.

Admittedly, I am a very amateur artist. Yet, I have always had a desire to be able to express myself pictorially. To that end, I have read multiple books on drawing and painting in the last 20 years, but I felt I was always handicapped by what I believed to be a lack of small motor coordination. Nonetheless, I persisted. Knowing that one of my failings was a refusal to specialize in a particular area. Thus, reaching all the way back to my roots and my undergraduate education as a Biology major, I decided that I would try to concentrate on "Botanical Drawing." It is not that Botanicals are an easy representation, but it is rather that the majority of Botanicals have the same basic structural elements. Thus, I purchased several books on Botanical Drawings and spent a considerable amount of money on a vast variety of drawing mediums. In accordance to the teaching of the books I bought, I first started with pencil sketches. As I progressed through the books that discussed Botanical representations, it turned out, that my initial believe was in fact true. The very best and most renown Botanical Artists who have written books about how to draw plants and flowers have developed systems and methodologies that have a certain amount of commonality. It turns out, that if one can draw three dimensional representations of cones, cylinders, spheres and a few other special elements, one can make pictorial representations of most Botanicals. Thus, I spent some time perfecting my ability to draw non-Euclidian geometric shapes, which I had learned how to do when I took my 3 semesters of calculus in college. And then, building upon that, I started to move into color mediums. First, I started with colored pencils. Then I worked with 'nu-pastels' and pastel pencils. Then I progressed into Aquarelles. And from there, I started to work with watercolors. But the most impressive medium of all, were these "Derwent Inktense Pencils" which are 4 mm core pencils, but with a special character. While when one uses these pencils to draw, it feels very much like one is using a "soft core pencil." However, there is an amazing, dazzling difference between these pencils and regular soft core pencils. These Inktense Pencils are truly like drawing with watercolor pigments. And the concept is, that the artist uses these pencils and their knowledge or color and form to create drawings that are then bought to an unbelievable level of intensity when they are brushed with water. All of a sudden, what looked like just regular soft core pencil drawings take on an incredible illumination which is even more intense than using watercolor paints. Yet, they have a special character to them that is not present with regular watercolors, be they pan watercolors or watercolors in tubes. They first come alive under the wet brush. But then, rather quickly, they dry to a permanent state, so that additional water no longer changes their hue and beauty. It is so intense, that it defies a written description. Yet, I am willing to attest to the fact that I have never seen anything like it. There are two things that one should know about this medium though before embarking upon giving it a go. The pencils are expensive, but they are worth every penny. And, because of the way they come alive, the precision with which water is added to the dry image is of the most important and delicate process. So much so, that not only is it expensive to buy the pencils, but it is almost a requirement that the artist utilizes the very best brushes to animate the pigments. Personally, I have found that they only brushes that truly are worth using in order to get the most out of this medium are high end Sable Brushes. Personally, I prefer pure Kolinsky Sable and Ussuri Sable brushes ONLY! Many artists are quite familiar with these sable brushes and most watercolor and even acrylic and oil painters swear by sable brushes and will not use anything else. The same is the case when using the Derwent Inktense Pencils. Sable is rare and expensive. Thus, not only are the pencils expensive, but so are the brushes. Yet, the serious artist or even the aspiring serious artist must look upon the expense as an investment. In fact, the more one gets into art supplies, the more one finds that the better supplies are the ones that cost the money. Even the use of a palette made from white china, as opposed to the plastic kind is something that makes a significant difference, as the china does not stain, like the plastic ones do. Nonetheless, I cannot recommend any other medium as highly as I can these special pencils. And Derwent makes a very wonderful version of them. While one can mix the colors before wetting them, it is very difficult to do so after they have been wet and then dried. So, the artist will want to be careful in their selection of the specific colors that they choose and would be well advised to test the colors on another piece of watercolor paper before committing it t their actual drawing so they are sure that they have the right colors and hues. I would whole heartedly endorse these Inktense Pencils by Derwent over every other medium I have yet to try. The artist will NOT be disappointed!

I'm gonna add a "tl;dr" to this for right now. If you're interested, keep reading!! I cannot think of one thing I do not like about inktense pencils, except that I wish there were more colors... But I jump the gun, because that isn't a valid compliant anymore....(keep reading!).... I initially bought the 36 set, but regretted not getting all the colors, so I came back for the 72 set a few months ago (which is actually 71 colors, plus a non water soluble pencil). You can use in the exact same way you would any water color pencil, with a variety of different techniques. YouTube is choc full of tutorials and examples, for those in need of a little direction. The moment you drag the pencil across the paper, it is surely to bring about that blissed out feeling us artists get when using our favorite supplies, but rest assured, the fun has only just begun.... When you hit it with water, it activates and this is when the colors really come alive!!!! Great news for those who seek to sell their work: these are mostly light-fast. Derwent has all the information you need on their site...Of course, this is going to change/vary based on how much pigment you lay down, and how much water you add to spread that pigment around... You'll probably want to conduct your own tests though, based on your own art style. A non-issue if you are using in a sketchbook or journal (just be sure to let it fully dry before closing the pages...talking to you, genie ADHDers! )... I also own the full kohinoor mondeluz line, and all the Albrecht Dürer pencils, and I can say they are equally beautiful, yet very different in some of their properties and at times, in finished looks as well. These pencils are pigment based, and are designed to look like ink.... They behave Like ink on a stick... in the sense that they are permanent, and with even just one layer, the colors are deep and dimensional. If you're covering large areas, you may end up seeing a slight mark from your drying edges, while moving from section to section... But since you can reliably place layer upon layer, upon layer of these without activating the one below, any seams could be covered by saturating the area, melting harsh edges away completely. This means, you can change your mind and change a color, by layering a different one....you can do an entire underpainting of shadows, and then use Albrecht Dürer, or other watercolor pencils, layered over top.... You can do so many things and come up with new ways and places to use them.... They are so versatile, it would drive me crazy to think of all the uses.... Like Bubba Gump, and his many ways to eat shrimp.. I could go on and on... But I will very briefly state my negatives.. They are in no way a reflection of the product itself, they are more a refection of the company's QC, and also of Amazon. 1. The tin has a dent in the corner and it makes it so the lid doesn't stay on. It was most likely dropped along the lines... 2. My set of 72 came with 2 red violets. It took me a min, but I discovered that I'm missing Dusky Violet. There isn't a way for me to contact Derwent through Amazon, nor is there a way to reach out to the seller. I'll rectify those myself, when I have a large enough order, by buying it from blick instead for $1.30 per pencil. When your get to the bottom of my review, I'll order it then!!) Do not buy these open stock on Amazon, they are 10x the price they should be! My suggestion is, if your are in the fence about spending the cash on the full set, it is worth it! It's wonderful these are available open stock, but it's a lot of money. Your best and most valuable offer, is to get the 72 outright, and then you only need to replace a pencil here, a pencil there... That will save you a lot long term, and will also satisfy the part of you that's drawn to colorful art supplies... If you're at all like me lol You can use these are lots of different types of paper, but for maximum layering and best results, use on watercolor paper! The pics I attached are on sketchbook paper. To anyone else out there who LOVES inktense, they just dropped a whole bunch of colors and extended the, I heard, to around 100 colors.. Finally!!!! They are not available yet in the US, nor is there any mention of it on their US website, but they are on the UK site and there are already ppl showing them on YouTube. I hope Derwent at least packages them in a new add-on set.... So, they are coming!!!!! Happy Painting Everyone :) ***It's been a long time since I've purchased my first two sets (at different times, obviously for more colors), and I now have come back to purchase the newest released pencils. Unfortunately, the 2023, 28 new colors are only included in the set of 100 for an additional, whopping $120 more than the 72 set. I think I will either wait to purchase them when the price comes down, or order then open stock directly from blick. I just can bring myself to spend that kind of money. Maybe someone should tell Derwent that these prices are a bit of a slap in the face....I had heard they aren't going to sell the new colors in a set of their own and I think they are missing out on sales here, by not doing that. Unless their intention is to collect all this extra money from their existing customer base, who may only have access to the sets for purchase, or not know that the new colors are around $2.15 a pencil... And that's on the high end. The prices of the single pencils has risen in the wake of the new color release in the spring. If you've had the pleasure of working with the new colors or have the full range of 100 colors already, I envy you (in the best way!!!)...

Great product and exciting to use. Bright color and fun.

Wonderful pencils. Very little color needs to be laid down on the page to get a large vibrant swash of color when wet. Swatched out the colors look wonderful. I don't know why my scanner made Tangerine look so red, it's quite a vivid orange in person, but all the other colors are represented more or less accurately. After swatching I left the sheet to dry for a few hours and came back over the lower-left corner of each swatch with a blank wet brush to test permanence, and you can see on most colors they aren't really as permanent as advertised; I was able to smush around noticeable amounts of ink which had already activated and dried. That said I don't think it's a significant issue in practice. I layered wet-on-dry colors in my test drawing and didn't have an issue with the ink reactivating. Just be aware that it might smear if you overwork it. I did have to be quite deliberate to avoid leaving unactivated pencil marks where I laid down color on the page. You can see in my swatches on around half of the colors I could not work out the pencil marks for a smooth swatch. I did on the other half though, so again, this is an annoyance, but it can be avoided if you're careful. I think laying down color with a light hand is very important. I had good success with working my brush around the dry ink in small pushing circles like I was brushing my teeth. That might not work so well if there's already a dry layer of color underneath for the reactivation problem though. I also found myself applying ink to the brush directly from the pencil tip a lot instead. This works pretty well, but also seems to defeat the point of the pencil form factor in the first place? It's an option, anyway, lol. I wish in a 36 pencil set at least 1 straight color would be a decent base skin tone for African and European skin each. Baked Earth is *okay* for white folks (it's what I used mostly in my test drawing), but it's not amazing, and darker skin doesn't really have a good option. Bark is the closest, but it's really too gray. I would have liked to have a richer or more ruddy brown color (Bright Blue and Iris Blue look nearly identical anyway. Maybe switch one of those out for a nicer brown plz??). Anyway, watercolor is made to be mixed, so it's not a *huge* problem and I'm really just griping at this point. Most of this review was complaining lol, but really aside from those three issues (which all have solutions), this is a really nice set and I love the way it feels to work with! I swear I'm positive on it haha.

Inktense Watercolour Pencils are AMAZING! Lovely colors with which to draw, then you add water and it is like Dorothy waking up in OZ!! I recommend buying the largest set you can afford, it will be worth the $$$. I started with the 24 pack, upgraded to 36 pack (so now have many duplicate colors).Wish I had saved up and splurged on the biggest pack. Photo shows colors included in 36 set. I am new to drawing and painting and these are a great tool for beginners without the steady hand or know how of expert, but think experts would love the magic of these pencils, too. As mentioned in another review, tin they come in does not snap tightly. When I slid into a bag to bring to beach, pencils tumbled out. Have fixed that issue with two large butterfly clips(see photo) to keep tin closed, pencils safe! Only reason for 4 of 5 stars.

These are my favorite pens!! I ordered them awhile back,but just started to use them. I was a little intimidated by them at first as they looked so professional I didn't think I could do them any justice. Ive been coloring for awhile now but mostly i use alcohol and waterbased markers. I hadnt really dived into using color pencils yet,let alone the inktense ones. All my color pencils had just sat on a shelf for a year or more. Then in Feb. I had an accident and broke my hip ending up in a nursing facility for about 6 weeks. Now that i wasnt working and had tons of idle time i thought now would be the perfect time for me to dust off all my stored neverused boxes of Black Widows, Castle Arts, some sets of prismacolors and of course my set of 72 inktense pencils, pack them up and take them with me to the facility. During the course of a couple of days i i colored my first 2 ever pictures with a combination with all of these pencils, the outlining i did with my Faber Castell Pitt Pens which I absolutely love. ( they don't bleed through in my coloring books). Also instead of using water and a brush ( I didn't have one) I uses a alcohol blender marker to activate the color on the the areas I used the inktense pencils on. It worked great!!! The colors just magically jumped off the page. The first Pic is done in the book The imaginary WORLD by Jane F. Hawkins. Almost all of it is done with inktense. Far from professional, but I was pretty impressed with the results. The second one is done in Luna by Maria Trolle. First I outlined with Pitt pens, the colored with BW,Castle,and Prismas, then I layered on the Inktense on the flowers,leaves,tree prongs,the clothes the girl is wearing. The third one I did basically the same thing but alot more was done with an overlay of inktense, the inside of the flowers, the birds, the monkey,and the plant . Like I said by no means professional but I think they turned out alright. I WILL definitely be using these from now on and I definitely recommend them .....even for beginners.

I purchased the Inktense pencils because I kept hearing great things about them in various groups, specifically how vivid they were and how unlike any watercolor pencil out there is. The set does come in a tin, I'm a fan of tins honestly, but I have a minor complaint in that the lid doesn't stay on well at all so I use caution when transporting these anywhere and even kept the box for storage. The leads on these are very thick and are pre-sharpened but are flat on the top, I prefer a precise sharp tip so I don't have to do any additional sharpening right out off the box, but overall they were quite acceptable. My first test was, as always, creating a swatch sheet or color chart. I was a little disheartened thinking how blah the colors just seemed to be and I prayed they would indeed pop when I used water. After my initial chart I created a larger chart to test them out with water, the instant the brush touched the swatch I knew I was in love and would never look at another water based pencil again. I was so awestruck at how vivid the colors are, amazing to say the least. They do dry fast but I prefer that for layering and are so versatile that they can be used on so many types of medium and are permanent. These require very little color to activate so that helps immensely in that your paper, if working in a coloring book, won't curl as much as traditional watercolor pencils do. The only thing other than the tin, is there are no true pastels and some colors are close in huge, I found no actual light pink, it came out more of a red, but I'm new at working with these that I've not gotten a specific technique for proper color down yet, but I'm working on it and I think a recent purchase of watercolor pencils of another brand will actually give me the limitless color we all seek. Super happy with these, these are my personal favorite watercolor (even though they are inks but fit in no other category) pencils I own and I have about a dozen or more of just watercolor pencils along with your traditional oil and wax. Definitely worth every penny.