Derwent Watercolour Pencils Review

In this review we take a look at the Derwent Watercolour Pencils, I have to say that in this review I will be doing a lot of grovelling and seeking of forgiveness from Derwent. Way back when I first started this website and YouTube channel, back when they were called “Colored Pencil Reviews”, I started the website reviewing products from the angle of a new comer.

Back then I reviewed a Derwent Watercolor Collection set, a 24 set comprising of 6 Inktense pencils, 1 water soluble graphite pencil, 8 Watercolour Pencils, 6 Aquatone woodless water soluble pencils, a watercolour brush, sharpener and eraser; a total of 24 items. However, my knowledge and understanding of paper and the actual product just wasn’t strong enough, certainly not what it is today, ten years of research, testing and artistic practice.

So, with ten years worth of reviewing under my belt, talking to paper companies, watercolour companies, testing, demonstrating, creating art etc, I wanted to return to the Derwent Watercolour Pencils review of which my initial review was not favourable at all; but with much better understand of surface and products, I felt it was only right to give the Derwent Watercolour Pencils another shout and get down on my knees, asking for forgiveness from Derwent.

Derwent Watercolour Pencils Characteristics

As you can see, I am reviewing the 72 count of the Derwent Watercolour Pencils, this is Derwent’s largest count for this set of pencils. The artwork on the front of the tin is a beautiful water scene and perfect representation of the overall palette.

The Derwent Watercolour Pencil is a slimline pencil, identical to the Derwent Studio pencils, not just in size but in barrel color as well. The core is 4.1mm, housed within the 7.2mm hexagonal barrel; many artists prefer hexagonal barrels as they don’t roll all over the studio table, falling on the floor and shattering the core.

The barrel of the Derwent Watercolour Pencil is a dark Ultramarine colour, with silver leaf print along one side of the barrel. Any print that is silver leaf or gold leaf, metallic colours, can be really difficult to read, especially under certain light.

The first printed word is “England”, home of Derwent in the heart of the Lake District, the most beautiful place on earth in my humble opinion. Further along the barrel the company name is printed “Derwent” and this is followed by the word “Watercolour” and an icon of a watercolour brush, indicating what type of pencil you have in you hand.

Finally toward the end of the barrel we see the pigment name, again in silver leaf. The iconic Derwent diagonal flash separating the barrel colour and pigment identifier, on this pencil is silver. Every Derwent pencil has the same diagonal flash except they sport a different color for different pencils. It is so iconic, the actual Derwent Museum building looks like a giant Derwent Graphite Pencil. On the end of the Derwent Watercolor Pencils there is a half inch pigment identifier making pigment selection visually easy.

On opening the tin we are presented with the first layer of pencils, one thing I absolutely love about getting a brand new set of pencils, is the fragrance of wood as soon as the tin is opened. The first layer starts with the yellows, into the oranges, colors like spectrum orange and Orange Chrome. Next we see the reds, along with a few soft pinks, into the violets, Imperial Purple, Dark Violet and Red Violet Lake; leading in the blues with the gorgeous deep rich Delft Blue, Cobalt Blue and Prussian Blue.

The second layer is exposed on removing the first layer, here we see a few light blues, aqua blues and then into the greens, my favourite color family and Derwent provide some of the most wonderful greens throughout their sets. Water Green is a gorgeous light Green, Sap Green and Olive Green among my favourites; next we lead into the earth tones, again a beautiful selection and finally into a few greys.

As always the first thing I do is complete a swatch and for this swatch I completed it on an A3 size of St Cuthberts Mill Hot Press paper. Before applying the Derwent Watercolour Pencils in their dry format, I applied a thick Black line through every swatch block as this will help to display the level of opacity or opaqueness.

As you can see from the image supplied, this swatch of the Derwent Watercolour Pencils in their dray format, some colors are quite opaque which is visible over the black line, colors such as Primrose Yellow, Straw Yellow, Rose Pink, Pale Peach, Sky Blue, Turquoise Green,, Water Green, Grass Green etc.

The next swatch displays the the Derwent Watercolour Palette in its activated state, having water applied to dry pigment, turns the dry powdery layers into rich vibrant watercolour paint. As with the dry swatch, some colors are quite clearly opaque.

Derwent Watercolour Pencils Performance

As I mentioned, my first review of the Derwent Watercolour Pencils, almost Ten years ago when I first started out in art, was not very favourable. However, this was simply down to my lack of knowledge and understanding of important elements such as, the quality of the paper being used, the brush I used and so much more.

Bearing my previous experience in mind, when I first started to create the swatches, I really wasn’t expecting to enjoy the experience, but this was a million miles from the reality. I was amazed at how soft the pencils were as I lay them down in their dry format on the, Hot Pressed St Cuthberts Mill, 100% Cotton watercolour paper.

When it came to activating the paint with water and my No.8 Round, da Vinci, Colineo; the results really were remarkable. I have discovered over the Ten years of research and knowledge gathering of art supplies, that the indication of a high quality watercolour pencil is all the paint activating with water, leaving no visible pencil strokes under the paint when dry. As you can see from the swatch, no pencil strokes are visible.

Next I created a small piece of art and on this occasion I decided to paint a simple Robin Red Breast. I was once told that when you lose a loved one and a Robin appears to you, it is a sign your loved one has come back to say hello and they are okay. As you may or may not know, my Dad passed away two years ago now and at the time of trying to decide what to paint, a little Robin landed on my Rose Tree just outside my studio.

I created the painting on the new Etchr Watercolour Paper Block which is 100% Cotton, a product I will be releasing an individual review for. But what I can say is the paper is of incredible quality and so using the Derwent Watercolour Pencils on it was a total joy.

I must admit, I need to work a lot harder on creating art with watercolour pencils, my watercolour skills have improved over the years of practice, but although watercolour pencils and watercolour tubes are essentially the same medium, they are also very different. Nevertheless the final painting of the Robin helps to highlight the pigment strength of all colors used. Throughout the process I applied the pencils in their dry format directly onto the paper and then used clean water to activate the paint on the paper.

I also used the Caran d’Ache Aquarelle Palette to mix colors and add directly to the painting for the final few layers. All in all, no matter the technique used, I was seriously impressed with the Derwent Watercolour Pencils and all the way throughout the process of creating the swatches and artwork, all I thought was how much of an apology I owed Derwent.

I also created a real time demonstration on my YouTube video review of the pencils where you can watch by checking out The Art Gear Guide YouTube Channel. The demonstration showcased applying several applications of watercolour pencils and here you will be able to see the high quality of the pencils.

Derwent Watercolour Pencils Lightfast Information.

Derwent use the Blue Wool Lightfast scale for their Watercolour Pencils, the Blue Wool scale ranges from 1 to 8 as opposed to the ASTM Lightfast scale which ranges from LF1 to LF5. However the scales are reversed, LF1 is equal to the highest lightfast and LF5 the lowest, Blue Wool 8 is the highest and 1 is the lowest lightfast grade. Quite confusing, especially if you are new to the art world.

LF1 is equal to BW 7 and 8 - LF 2 is equal to BW 6 - LF3 is equal to BW 5 and 4 - LF4 is equal to BW 3 and BW 2 - finally LF5 is equal to BW 1. You can see the scale comparison in the image provided, however I do have one discrepancy with 4 of the Derwent Watercolour Pencils lightfast grading.

In total, out of 72 colours the lightfast grading is as follows, Blue Wool Lightfast 7 - 8 = 30 pencils, Blue Wool 6 = 9 pencils, Blue Wool 4 - 5 = 13 pencils, Blue Wool 2 - 3 = 12 pencils and Blue Wool 1 = 8 pencils. It’s important that you don’t get too bogged down with lightfastness unless you are selling you original art. For those artists that will only use the highest lightfast graded pencils in their art, 39 colors can be used out of 72.

The discrepancy I have is that 4 of the colors are graded 3/4 on the Blue Wool scale, but as you can see, 2 and 3 is one grade on the Blue Wool with 4 and 5 being another grade. So colors grade 3 and 4 doesn’t make sense, at least not from the conventional Blue Wool Lightfast scale.

Derwent Watercolour Pencils Set Size and Pricing.

As with all Derwent pencil sets, there is an excellent range of sets available. All 72 colours are available open stock, you can also purchase a blister pack of 6 watercolour pencils. You can also purchase a set of 12, 24, 36, 48 Wooden Box Set, 72 tin and a 72 Wooden box gift set.

Derwent Watercolour UK Pricing ( Amazon )

Here in the UK, to Purchase the Derwent Watercolour set of 12 it will cost you approximately £15, to purchase the 24 set of Derwent Watercolour Pencils it will cost £36.99, the 36 set will cost approximately £58 and the 72 set will cost approximately £99. There are two wooden gift sets, a 48 set which will cost £119 or the 72 wooden box set which will cost £156.

Derwent Watercolour US Pricing ( Amazon )

For artists in the US you can expect to pay the following; for the set of 12 Derwent Watercolour Pencils it will cost $24, for the 24 set of Derwent Watercolour Pencils it will cost $44.52, for the 36 set it will cost approximately $56.66 and for the 72 set you can expect to pay $110. For the 48 Wooden Box set of Derwent Watercolour Pencils you will pay approximately $99.82 and for the 72 wooden box set you will pay approximately $174.02

Derwent Watercolour Pencils Conclusion.

I really enjoyed using the Derwent Watercolour Pencils, I feel like an absolute idiot for producing my first review of the pencils, over 10 years ago and not really understanding the importance of paper etc. It was a terrible mistake on my part, given the importance of providing detailed and well researched reviews for potential artists researching the product and of course for the company.

The quality of the Derwent Watercolour Pencils in both dry and wet formats was exceptional. Although I need a lot more work regarding my water soluble pencil skills, the final outcome of the artwork shows the vibrancy of the pigments along with their high quality.

The only issue that one may have with the Derwent Watercolour Pencils is the lightfast grading, for those pencil artists selling their original artwork, they will be only able to use either 30 pencils graded 7 and 8 from the Blue Wool scale or LF1 on the ASTM. At a squeeze 39 pencils, graded 6, 7 and 8 on the Blue Wool scale or LF1 and LF2 on the ASTM scale.

If you would like to know more about the Derwent Watercolour Pencils, don’t forget to check out my YouTube video review by following the link, you can also check out the speed drawing YouTube Video or if speed drawings are not your thing you can check out the still images taken throughout the artwork process by following the following link.