Cretacolor Aquagraph Water Soluble Pencils
Cretacolor Aquagraph Water Soluble Pencils.
Not that long ago I reviewed the Cretacolor Pastel Pencils, I had wanted to review them for quite some time and I had eventually got round to achieving my goal. However, whilst researching the Cretacolor Pastel Pencils, I discovered so much more about the company and some of the absolutely amazing sets they have on offer.
I was of course well aware of Cretacolor and quite a few years ago I reviewed the Jerrys Artarama Soho Colored Pencils which are in fact the Cretacolor Colored Pencils, which is the only reason I have yet to review the Cretacolor Colored Pencils. That being said, on performing my research, I found so many amazing sets from Cretacolor which I would like to skirt over very quickly before getting to the actual review.
I have no idea if Cretacolor have always had these amazing sets in which case I have failed the Art Gear Guide audience miserably, or there has been a huge rebranding or cosmetic surgery being performed of already popular Cretacolor sets. I want to show just a few of the sets that I really hope to review in the coming months as I think they look fantastic and certainly sets that a lot of artists would be interested in.
On the video review I talk about a few of the sets but I only want to highlight two of them on this written review. The first set is the “Tattoo Sketching Set”, as you can see from the image depicting the contents, Cretacolor have teamed up with Molotow, a fantastic marker company and fine liner company. I think their concept for this set is excellent and will probably draw in a lot of younger artists.
The next set is the “Urban Sketching Set”, this is very similar to the Tattoo set in that they both come in tubes and they both provide a few items from Molotow, This Urban Sketching set looks incredibly comprehensive to me, given all the items in the set, there is not too much that you couldn’t do. I think they are both excellent sets and check out my YouTube video review to see more.
Cretacolor AquaGraph Colors Pocket Set Characteristics
As the title suggests, this is only a small set of pencils, however, don’t over look them based on their small set size, they have an awful lot going for them. There is only 6 pencil in the set which we will take a look at further into the review.
The set comes in a pocket size, sturdy tin with a cardboard sleeve on the exterior. The cardboard sleeve sports all the information about the contents, including some artwork depicting the performance of the pencils. On removing the sleeve you are presented with the tin, which has embossed on the lid the company name and logo “ Brevilliers Cretacolor “; although quite a simple design it is actually quite regal looking.
The Cretacolor AquaGraph barrel is round sporting a gunmetal grey appearance with a metallic silver print. The core of the AquaGraph is a generous 3.8mm, encased within a well balanced and weighted 7.3mm barrel. The core of the Cretacolor AquaGraph pencils sharpener incredibly well and considering a water soluble core, holds its point quite well.
Along the barrel there is printed the companies name “Cretacolor” which is closely followed by a print of the pencils model “AquaGraph”, right beside this is printed the color name. A little further along we see the core grade which is “HB”, the AquaGraph although a water soluble pencil, they are actually water soluble graphite with a sublet hint of color. Of course there are pencils like this on the market already such as the Derwent Graphitint, however the Cretacolor hold their own in this category which we will see further into the review.
After the graphite grade is printed, there is a number which corresponds to the color inside the pencil core. The final piece of print on the barrel is where Cretacolor are from which is “Austria”, after this there is a white silver band separating the barrel from the half inch long pigment identifier capping the barrel off. On the opposite side of the barrel the is a bar code along with an alpha numeric number.
Cretacolor AquaGraph Pocket Set Performance
When working with a set of pencils of this size, I really had no idea what kind of art I was going to create, I searched through some stock images and after quite a while, I finally found an image that I thought would work well with the set; however, after I started the art and seen just how strong and vibrant the colors were in the pencils I started to see a lot more potential for them.
In line with the set being a pocket set, I didn’t want to get out a large watercolor pad and try to dray anything elaborate, I wanted to keep the theme going and so I used my Etchr Watercolor Sketchbook. I used the Cretacolor AquaGraph Water Soluble pencils just as I would out and about, in the form of a lose sketch with color.
Before starting out with the artwork I completed a swatch of the colors on the Etchr watercolor paper so that I could see the colors as they would look in the actual sketch. As you can see from the image provided, the colors are really so clear and given that they are graphite with color added, I was really quite shocked.
The colors that came in the set as you can see is white, Blue, Red, Green, Brown and Teal, as you can see the White has no HB grade on the barrel as this is the only pencil in the set that is obviously not graphite. As I mentioned, it wasn’t until I started the artwork that I realised the full potential of the set and this was purely due to just how vivid the colors are.
I also provided a speed drawing of the artwork however, if you watch the speed drawing you are going to see that when I completed the background of the art, I used a small graphite block. I am only mentioning it here because I am sure if you see the video you will want to know what it was I was using. It is from Portugal and it is called Art Graf, it comes in a few different formats but essentially it is water soluble graphite, but it is incredibly strong.
As you can see from the image I painted a simple lantern, I used the blue and the Teal to provide an old style turquoise metal lantern, using the brown and the red to give the appearance of rust in certain areas. You can see that the red is not your traditional red and more of a plum color, but it lends itself nicely to some nature art genre you might want to try.
Once the pencil is applied in its dry format, there really is very little variation from each pencil, as is very often the case with so many graphite colored water soluble sets. When the medium is activated with water, this is when the real magic happens and what appears to be quite dull marks, transform into deep rich colors.
Once the medium is applied and water is applied to it, all of the medium dissolves and transforms into a watercolor like puddle of paint. Quite often with lesser quality water soluble pencils, after applying the pencils in their dry form, the pencil strokes often remain after water is applied, the Markers of a high quality pencil for me is when the pencil strokes completely disappear on activation.
The white pencil is only really to be used for light highlights and so I have added an image here where I painted a layer of the green pencil and let it dry. After the paint had dried I applied the white pencil in its dry format and then I lifted some white from the pencil core using a damp watercolor brush. Once I lifted the white from the core I applied it to the green paint and you can see the clear difference. In its dry format the white pencil is not very opaque, but when lifted directly from the core with a wet brush, it looks quite opaque.
Cretacolor AquaGraph Pricing & Lightfast
With regards to set sizes, in this particular range there is only the set of 6, however as I mentioned earlier there are many Cretacolor Sketching sets which I hope to review for you at a later date.
Here in the UK if you wanted to purchase this excellent wee set you should expect to pay approximately £12.48
For artists in the US you can expect to pay approximately $12.90 for this Cretacolor AquaGraph Set
For artists in Europe you can expect to pay approximately €14.40 for this Cretacolor AquaGraph Set
Openstock
You can actually purchase the pencils in the Cretacolor AquaGraph set open stock, although this is a small set, I think the fact they can be purchased open stock is more to do with the vast array of Cretacolor Sketching sets available.
I was unable to locate any information regarding the lightfast ratings for the Cretacolor AquaGraph, however I have emailed Cretacolor and if they get back to me I will of course update the review.
Cretacolor AquaGraph Pocket Set Conclusion
There is not much more to be said about this gorgeous wee set, I am sure it is pretty clear that I loved this set, the Cretacolor AquaGraph is the perfect set for any artist to take with them out and about. Sat in a cafe people watching, simply sat on a park bench doing a spot of urban architecture or even walking in the countryside sketching landscapes.
The set on its own is more than capable to creating beautiful pieces, however it is also the perfect companion for any artists field bag. When I first purchased the set, I did so on the back of viewing the many other amazing Cretacolor Sketch Sets, but I was really shocked at just how versatile a small set of 6 water soluble graphite pencils with a hint of color could be.
If you would like to know more about the Cretacolor AquaGraph Water Soluble Pocket Set, you can check out my YouTube review by following the link, also if you would like to watch the YouTube speed drawing video of the artwork come to life you can follow this link. If YouTube is not your thing I have added some still images to The Art Gear Guide where you can check out the artwork in your own time.
