At first, watercolor pencils appear to be like normal colored pencils, but by adding a touch of water, they deliver a beautiful watercolor painting effect. Here are some tips to help you master your watercolor pencil technique.
1. Create a Color Chart
Shade a small square using each of the pencils that you will be using. Paint over it with water, allowing you to see how your colors will blend. Some colors look completely different once you add water.
Practice blending multiple colors together to produce beautiful effects and add dimension to your work.
2. Coloring Your Work
Start by using your base color. Lightly and evenly color your subject. Make multiple passes, each time adding more and more detail. Leave the highlight areas blank and add more color to your shadowed areas.
Using more than one color to shade your subject will give it more dimension.
3. Painting with Water
Using a medium to small soft paintbrush, paint over your work. Start with a little bit of water.
Allow your brush strokes to follow the contours of your subject, moving from the light to the dark parts.
The more water you add, the lighter the color will become making your pencil lines less apparent. However, if too much water is used, the colors will run.
4. Adding Details
Once your work has dried completely, you can dip the pencils themselves into the water to add additional areas of intense color or details.
Use the paintbrush again to smooth out colors.
