Watercolor Pencils?? - First Impressions of Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Pencils

[@konstantkrash]

Faber Castell Albrecht Durer Magnus 5.3 watercolor pencils. Order 1 or 2 from Blick's to try. They are expensive but you get what you pay for. Just like watercolor paints and paper. I am not a fan of watercolor pencils but these are the best if you are set on pencils.

[@RebelUnicornCrafts]

Good insight!

[@livinglovefamily]

Absolutely agree

[@annenglish2935]

Have a few of them in my Blick's cart after seeing Mind of Watercolor video! Thank 😊 you!

[@chrissie4452]

Agree completely!

[@sugarhillcrafter1044]

I have both kinds, just got the Distress ones 2 days ago. I’ve been swatching them today and can tell you honestly that they are far superior to the wood encased. IMHO. I’ve used a sharpener to get pieces of the distress pigment into trays, added water and now waiting for them to dry. Despite the higher cost, I’m well pleased. I’m looking forward to using them to watercolor my cards and projects.

[@berolinastrassmann]

Sorry to see you had such a rough time with these. The Tim Holz ones seem more like water soluble crayons. I have the Caran d'Ache water soluble wax pastels Neocolor II and absolutely love them. They are great for backgrounds, underpainting for pastels, or as a crayons based gouache-like paint, as many are semi opaque. Plus, they dissolve perfectly, are super pigmented and light fast. Back to pencils, I have Koh-i-Noor (Mondeluz) and Faber Castell watercolour pencils and they are good quality. As with other pencils, they are good for details . But the water soluble wax pastels are more fun: I can paint bigger surfaces quickly, mix colours and they are super portable, and 100% usable. I even save the shavings, which I save in a half pan and use as watercolour. Highly recommend the Neocolor II.

[@Msboochie2]

First, I’m a new subscriber and I love your channel. If you want pencils that behave like watercolor, the Carson D’ache Museum Aquarelle is the only pencil that I’m aware of, that is made with actual watercolor. They are so pigmented and dissolve with water so well. You may want to try a few open stock first, as they are expensive. If you like the Tim Holtz, you might also like Neocolor II, although they are technically a watercolor crayon they remind me of the Tim Hotly watercolor pencils. They make the more gestural marks your looking for, and feel so smooth and creamy on the paper. Lastly, you may like Derwemt’s Inktense they come in pencils, blocks, and watercolor-like pan sets. They aren’t traditional watercolor, in the sense that they become permanent once dried. The sticks offer free , gestural marks that are super-pigmented. You can get them open stock, and there are small, inexpensive sampler sets that have different configurations of the three products. OAN : Play around with different paper, because water media behaves differently depending on the paper. Sorry for the long comment, I hope it was helpful in some way.

[@careena8242]

Agreed, Caran D'Ache Neocolor II crayons are amazingly pigmented and buttery, as are Stabilo 3-in-1 Woodys. If you prefer a 'looser' style, I'd consider trying those out. :)

[@suehelm5889]

I like to dip the pencil tip in the water and then make marking on paper to add intensifying marks

[@annihull6373]

I enjoy my watercolor pencils. I have Mondeluz and Inktense. Intense are my favorite because they supposedly are permanent once they dissolvable part goes away. I have thoroughly enjoyed coloring on canvas bags.

[@mayloo2137]

I bought the Set 1 of these pencils. I used them to paint backgrounds for atcs. Instead of scribbling on the paper, I used the shavings, mixed them around with a wet brush, and then painted the paper. The colors are saturated and opaque which I liked. As for watercolor pencils, I use the Faber-Castell Albrecht-Durers.

[@CeruleanCzarina]

Thank you for reviewing these as I was curious! I have the Caran D'ache Supracolors and the Faber-Castell Albrecht Dürers and Goldfaber Aquas and I love them all. One thing I've noticed though is that my watercolor pencils perform best on watercolor paper. Not sure what paper you used in this review but if it was mixed media or drawing paper, you might want to try them on your watercolor papers as well or on any 100% cotton paper. Mine look particularly stunning in my Strathmore 500 Mixed Media Journal which is 100%cotton.

[@BirdwithaBrush]

I would test different papers, as well. I have found that on some papers you can dissolve watercolour pencils so well you don't see any of the drawn lines at all, and on other papers that is much more difficult to do.

[@RebelUnicornCrafts]

That's great insight I should do that!

[@careena8242]

@@RebelUnicornCrafts I was slightly disappointed with the Tim Holtz pencils (which I was VERY excited to get) but that was when I used them on cheap, smooth watercolour paper. They really came to life on the Ranger watercolour paper (probably because it has more tooth, so you are actually laying down more pigment) and other, more expensive cotton-based watercolour papers. On Fabriano mixed media paper they were a bit meh.

[@schuhujin5019]

Thank you very much for this comparison. You spared me a lot of money,because I am very disappointed, about the poor outcome of the distraced watercolors. The only advantage I can see, is the color matching to the Tim Holtz palette. On the other hand I can assure you that you got poor watercolor pencils. I have the Albrecht Dürer ones from Faber Castell and they are much, much more intense when activated with water than your brand. I can't see any point for me to buy the Tim Holtz ones, beeing so poor. Some weeks ago, I even bought a couple of Neocolor2 and I feel like even those were disappointing to me in the intensity of color after being activated. Thanks again for showing and sharing your experiences.

[@laura-jeanbernhardson3879]

How did you know I've been obsessing about those watercolor pencils!?

[@CaroleWheeler]

I have both pencils (Rexel Derwent) and crayons (Staedtler). I did recently buy one set of the TH Distress to try, and although the colors are fun, I prefer the Staedtler.

[@donnarogers7732]

I have both kinds just recently received the Tim Holtzs ones. I believe the Holtzs ones are overpriced and yes they are heavily pigmented but as you pointed out in your comparison ,they don't blend well to me and you must really bear down on them to get enough pigment depending on what you are creating. I like the individual pan watercolors best . Old fashioned I guess but if ain't broke font fix it. Many of these new paints are simply "brand builders" and I bought into it . The Tim Holtzs Distress box will probably Not be used much. I'm sticking with the tried and true pan watercolors that I can mix and use smoothly with little effort. However,to each his own!🖌️🎨❤💜💙💚💛🧡

[@afasimpaur]

watercolour pencils give you another markmaking tool in your watercolour arsenal. Personally, I love Derwent Inktense pencils but the price adds up in a hurry.

[@darksnowification]

I have the prisma water color pencils. They don’t add that extra pop of highlight I was looking for. Definitely scratchy

[@LindzTheLooneyOfLondon]

these look like Tim Holtz, is it a different brand or a different name for where you are? love the video, have personally never got on with watercolour pencils regardless of price so this was interesting

[@SorrensSorrow]

Its Tim Holtz lol some people have issues with cursive

[@RebelUnicornCrafts]

Yep! I glanced too fast and misread it lol 😂

[@jilliansmith8080]

Watercolor pencils definitely have a loring curve... Oh they're not all created equal

[@maryfeist8080]

Sorry, I meant fine touch.

[@steffymuze]

I've had Dina Wakely's Scribble sticks forever and still can't figure out the difference between those and these other than the shades for each creator.

[@lizzystitch4842]

I wish I had not bough these watercolor pencils. I get better results using real watercolor paint!

[@UJB123]

What colors are in the set?

[@RebelUnicornCrafts]

Looks like the listing calls the colors Kitsch Flamingo, Barn Door, Spiced Marmalade, Fossilized Amber, Twisted Citron, Cracked Pistachio, Mermaid Lagoon, Iced Spruce, Prize Ribbon, Seedless Preserves, Antique Linen, & Vintage Photo

[@susansullivan7816]

​@RebelUnicornCra Rebel, thank you for answering questions. It is so frustrating when something is asked or commented that I wanted to know too, but it just goes in the comment section to die. Your channel is such a Friend! I know you work hard at this, And it is seen!

[@RameyRocks]

I bought pack a couple of months ago. I think it was just Master's touch from hobby lobby. I was not very impressed.

[@KialayaKreations]

Seriously? JIM Holtz? 😂 You are certainly not a scrapbooker, everyone knows Tim in that area but I can totally see how you got confused with his signature. Tim is a scrapbooker and card maker and his products are engineered toward that segment of creators and mixed media artists. These are NOT watercolour pencils for artists in the traditional watercolour sense and they are not meant to be. I see other people in the comments recommending actual real watercolour pencils for artists like Albrech Durer. Go and watch Tim's videos on the use of his pencils, you can do great things with them, just dont try to use them as traditional watercolour pencils 🙂

[@maryfeist8080]

The watercolor pencils you're comparing are not similar! Fine line is a low-grade version.

[@RebelUnicornCrafts]

Good to know!

[@abbystone5738]

Please go watch Tim Holtz video about his products. This will help you a lot, you really aren’t using them effectively. It will help you a lot. And it’s TIM not Jim. 🤦‍♀️