Top positive review
281 people found this helpful
5.0 out of 5 starsTruly intense color, different than other watercolor pencils
ByGreen Stoneon October 11, 2008
I first bought the set of 24 Derwent Inktense watercolor pencils, and liked them so much I then bought the set of 72 (order the 72 pencil set from one of the art stores like Blick Art at [...] These pencils are different from any other watercolor pencils, in two ways. First, they produce spectacularly vivid & bright colors, which are closer to what you can get with watercolor or gouache than any other watercolor pencil I've tried. Second, as the other reviewer stated, when dry they are permanent, meaning if you wet the picture again, the colors won't run. That might be a positive or a negative for you, depending how you work. Though these colors are vivid and bright, you'll want to still keep your Caran D'Ache or other more traditional watercolor pencils, because one of the drawbacks of this set (even the 72-pencil set) is that lightest shades of many colors are not included or even available in the set. For instance, there is no pink or light blue, no light green, no light lavender. So with the Derwent Inktense you can't really create a very "high-key" picture, one that tends heavily toward whites and light colors, as you can with a Caran D'Ache set. (You CAN do the low-key image, one tending toward the darker tones...)
Although the pencils are ostensibly marked with a colored end to show which color they are, the colors on the ends of the pencils sometimes are lighter than the actual hue produced, so those markings are misleading.
I also have the Derwent Graphitint set of 24 watercolor pencils which I like when I want to produce something of more subdued, earth-tone colors, since they offer a more muted palette. They are great as well!
