44 Watercolor artist | JUNE 2020
WATERCOLOR PENCILS
AND WATER BRUSHES
My smallest kit includes a couple
of watercolor pencils and water
brushes. Th ese easily fi t in
a pocket, which means I can take
them anywhere. In the early stages
of a sketch, I use them to generate
washes of smooth tone or to off er
a suggestion of color. After those
washes are dry, I can use them to
deliver a variety of textures.
Th e palette for sketching people
or animals might include yellow ochre,
red-brown, dark brown and black.
I have two basic water brushes—one
loaded with clear water and the other
fi lled with black ink. If I add another
water brush fi lled with water-soluble
brown, black or blue ink, I have even
more options available to me, particu-
larly if I’m sketching in tight spaces
such as on a moving bus or in a
crowded museum.I sketched Galapagos Tortoise (watercolor pencils on paper, 5x7) at the Royal Ontario Museum,
in Toronto. The pigment in the watercolor pencils is held together with a binder that allows for
drawing but can be dissolved by water after the pigment is placed on the paper. I used the brush
to group dark areas together along the bottom of the form. Because the pencils come in many
different shades and tones, I can draw lines with exactly the color I want. For example, I used
a lighter gray pencil for the growth rings on the top of the shell and darker gray on its sides.I did this 20-minute portrait
study of Marc Tocchet
(watercolor pencils and
water brushes on paper,
8x6) using a water brush
fi lled with clear water and
another fi lled with black
fountain-pen ink. I applied
the colored pencils at the
beginning and end of the
process. In the fi rst pass,
I placed the main con-
struction lines using the
sides of the pencils and
scumbled some color
across the form. Using
the clear water brush,
I blended the dry pigment
into large washes, starting
in the light areas. Next,
I added the black back-
ground, lightening it with
clear water on the right
side of the face. After those
layers were completely
dry, I added textures and
linear accents in the eyes
and beard.