The BEST Paper For Watercolour Crayons
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- Опубліковано 22 сер 2024
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Lindsay the Frugal Crafter has a teachable class but she also has a few videos on UA-cam that show the one-up techniques of using these that level them past just watercolor use. But honestly if you are totally enjoying using them as watercolor then DO IT. Bring yourself happiness and joy however you use them. ❤
I've used Neocolor II on black and other dark surfaces with success, but you absolutely have to adapt your technique and not think of them as "watercolor", because they're not. They're a crayon 🖍 with unique properties that differ from watercolor.
My tips for use on toned paper:
💡 Use the paper color that will actually complement the subject. Lemon on a black surface is not the best choice, tan paper would be much better. Tan works great for portraits, dark blue for a night scene, black for a black animal, etc.
💡 Always use white as a base for intense highlights first, because it's the most opaque light crayon in the set. Then tint it with another layer of light color.
💡 Use them as **crayons**. Dilute the first 1-2 layers to fill in the tooth of the paper, but after that you need to lay them on thick and not touch them with a brush anymore, or you just start lifting them. When applied dry in a thick layer, they can smudge with a finger (dry or damp).
💡 If the drawing looks bad, add another layer. It always helps!
I have a video process on my channel of a Neocolor II drawing over a medium gray background, which is one of my go-to surfaces. In the end the colors look bright and opaque, like gouache or acrylics!
It took me a long time to learn how to work with them (I also started off by using them like watercolor). But once I figured out what makes them different from watercolor, it opened up a ton of possibilities that watercolor can't do.
You might be the most helpful UA-cam commenter ever! I'll check out your channel. Thanks.
Hi. Thanks so much for sharing your experience with watercolor crayons. I've been very frustrating with my Mungyo crayons, and I've started to think maybe I shouldn't have treated them as watercolor. And I wondered why I always lifted them even though that wasn't my intention. Wish I saw your comment sooner. I have a quesiton: Does paper weight matter for watercolor crayons? In your videos, you used 130gsm Hahnemuhle sketchbook. I feel like using watercolor papper would be a waste.
@@barefacedquestions I'm sorry to hear you've been having trouble, but hopefully your experience moving forward will be much better!
I use crayons on a range of mixed media papers, anywhere from 140 to 300 gsm, and I prefer tan or gray paper. I rarely use 300 gsm watercolor paper because once you go past 200 gsm it doesn't make that much of a difference in buckling. 300 gsm makes sense if I'm doing the initial layer in watercolor.
The Hahnemühle sketchbook I was using in the video is not great for wet media, so I primed it with a very thin layer of matte acrylic paint. That way it still has enough grit for crayons. Normally 140-180 gsm will buckle, but it's not too bad for studies and quick stuff. I practice portraits on very cheap kraft paper and it's working just fine.
@@NelaDunato Thank you, it's so helpful.
Oh, very helpful. Q. Do you have to have a sheet to protect the painting so it doesn't rub off on the next page? I'm thinking like a wax paper insert...
Most WC Sketchbooks. They’re great. They’re watercolor.
As for Paper, they look awesome on Hot Press. Fluid, Baohong (What Etchr uses), etc.
Looks very good on Bee, Montval, Artist Loft 2, Blick Cotton.
Pretty much they’ll be similar to your WC paints on whatever paper you’re using. They’re watercolor in crayon form. 😊
If using a Rough paper, I’d recommend applying to a pallet first. Less eating of the crayon 😁
I’m having a ball with these & I don’t ‘scrub’ … put some water on them and they melt into the paper.
I use black watercolor paper for metallic paint and my opal, pearl and gem colored paints.
I have used these crayons on black, but you need to use a lot less water and more crayon. These crayons cover black beautifully. I love them.
Black paper is great for neon and iridescent watercolors!
the canson sketchbooks actually say on the front cover that the front side of the pages are cold pressed and the back sides have a smoother hot press finish, so I wonder if there would be any difference between the front/back sides? hmm....🤔
Interesting! We don't think this evaluation has been done before, for WC crayons. We were wondering, what's your opinion in terms of sizing for this medium? Heavy or light? Internal or external? It seems like heavy sizing might be better for wet applications but not as good for the dry drawing phase.
As someone who uses Neocolor II extensively and I've really tried it all: I prefer using it over gesso, matte acrylic paint, or gel medium, which makes blending and smudging easier and the final artwork has no unwanted texture. So more surface sizing would be preferable, but I just buy affordable paper and prime it myself. This method works on any paper, including altered books!
But this depends a lot on the artist's technique. I use it in a very different way to how Emma Jane demonstrated it. Up to 3-4 heavy, opaque layers and the result looks like a gouache painting. I suppose for folks who prefer to dilute them like watercolor, light sizing would be preferable, because these lift so easily.
@@NelaDunato Thanks for this detailed description of your process! This sounds like a good approach, tailoring the support surface to better advantage the medium. We're so glad you took the time to share this information!
The texture of Arches CP will devour your crayons. Pallet or brush to the crayons , as you demonstrated, is best. (The paper is made for brushes.) Arches Hot Press is pretty good and more versatile, not hostile. If I use "high end " CP, I prefer the Fabriano for crayon & pencil; the texture is just right. In general, I find hot press the best if putting crayon to paper or Canson Montval (mixed media and WC) .... I sometimes dry color on top with the crayon ( also w/WC pencil), it adds dimension. Plus it's fun. Good deal😊
Thanks for the demo and info!
The Arches is my favorite 😍
Mine too! 🍋
Neocolors II wax pastels are so much fun! I use them on Canson XL Aquarelle (300gsm, cold pressed) with good results. Since they don't tequire tons of water, it works well. I also tried Canson Mi-Teintes paper, in different colours (sand, grey, black) on both the rough and the soft side. The black paper did not work so well, I had to use tons of white to get them to be as opaque as I wanted. Thanks for doing all this testing and sharing it!
Thanks for this, really interesting. I don’t have any black water color paper as yet, but I have seen people on UA-cam getting good effects with their metallic and pearlescent type watercolors. I personally suspect it’s a bit gimmicky, but would still like to try it one day. I loved watching how easily you draw and shade the lemons.
Great video, thanks 🌸💕
I was going to say the same: Metallics and opalescent colours really shine on black paper.
Thanks Emma! 👍 Comparisons are always fun and helpful. I love NC2, but I recently started playing around with NC1, the wax-based, non-water soluble and presumably older sister of NC2. With blending solution, (solvent or non-solvent) these are some beautiful colors and the blends are exquisite…and you can even get almost oil painting like effects with layering. I read that both NC1&2 can be used for encaustic work (one of these days I’m gonna try encaustic.) I would think that NC1 might be the better one to use there bc of its high wax content. Nevertheless, I love, love, traditional watercolors and could never totally get away from them. ❤
I bought the NC1 accidentally, thinking they were the water soluble NC2. After eventually getting the water soluble NC2’s, I enjoy using them. However I was still stuck with the NC1’s and didn’t know what to do with them. Eventually, I tried blending them with a Derwent blender pen, they work great. It’s like using NC2 with minimal water. It works very well on smoother paper and in coloring books. I find myself reaching for my NC1’s quite often.
Thanks for showing the pallette. Just what i need
Thank you for doing this comparison video. It was super helpful. I’m getting a Neocolor II set for my birthday and can’t wait to work with them! Please continue with tutorials for these and Inktense . Thank you!
You were brave to try the crayons on the Stonehenge black paper as my experience with it is that it is so easily damaged and doesn’t stand up to any kind of scrubbing at all. It won’t hold up to masking tape or fluid either it just flakes or pills. Maybe a different brand would be better.
Fabulous tutorial. I don't have watercolor crayons yet, but keen to get them and try. Thank you for sharing this information. 😊
Yes please the sailing boat tutorial would be great 😊
I have tried a similar product before and was not a fan of having to scrub to get a smooth color. I preferred to pick up pigment directly from the crayon and then paint on the paper.
That was a really great test!! 🤗😍 I didn't know there was black watercolor paper. 😮 It might have been cool to see how it reacted to the second layer?
Very interesting experiments! I love the texture on the arches.
I got them, they are brilliant
PS: it would be nice to see how the 15 set can create colour mixes. If they work well, it would make a great set.tontake on the go. I cant imagine taking a big set would be convenient, but if this 15 set can create versatile mixes, it would be an extra plus. Would you consider making a video on that?
😃 that IS a great idea!! 💡✨️
That is a great idea! I’ll add it to my list
@@EmmaLefebvre Thanks Emma! I look forward to watching it. I am intrigued by the mixes with that bright emerald green. I can never figure out where to use it "as is" when I encounter it in other sets... But perhaps it is a good colour to mix with 🤔. Anyway...I am enjoying the Neocolor II wax pastels series! Thanks again.
I think black paper is more for metallics
Great to see the comparison. Thank you!
I couldn’t get it to work on black. I like the cold press texture best. Love the crayons.
You make this so much fun!
Also even my many oil pastels, yellow is always the most transparent haha
Yep, adding white first, and then yellow on top is the way to go. Some crayons in the range are pretty transparent, so pairing them with similar opaque colors gives the best results on dark paper.
@@NelaDunato yesss this. I thought of this too but figured I wouldn't keep commenting nonstop hahahaha
Great comparison video
Thank you for another excellent video. 😀
Gave you tried the caran dache water paint brushes yet? Also can you recommend a pigment marker that would weight over wax either black or white.
I'd love to see ocean and wave scenes.
BTW, love your tutorials
I am really enjoying your tutorials. Can you tell me where I can find the double sided palette you used with the crayons? TNX!
Emma, what is the difference between cold pressed watercolor paper and hot pressed watercolor paper? Thank you. 😊
Hot press is very smooth. You use it for work that's detailed and for illustrating etc.
@@lizzy9975 Thank you Lizzie.
@@lizzy9975 Darn auto correct! Thank you Lizzy for explaining this to me. 😊
@@bonniemiller5316 🤣🤣 All good. I hadn't even noticed. Cold Press is much more forgiving I guess and can be used across a wide spectrum. You'd probably use hot press for detailed portraits or Botanicals etc
I am curious if these can be sharpened and if so, would you save the shavings? I love your creations!
Yes they can be! Haven’t done it yet but people have told me to absolutely save the shavings in a little palette.
And yes, I have saved the shavings…they’re perfectly usable, but that can get a bit tedious as you need to separate each color. I put my shavings in an empty watercolor tin. 🙂
I've got a folding palette I put my shavings in. Once I put a color in a well I squish the shavings down pretty well, then add a few drops of water (enough to completely cover the shavings) and let it dry. They stay put pretty well that way. Highly recommend not spraying the shavings with a spray bottle, the shavings will go flying lol.
Definitely the two you chose are the best examples of cold- and hot-pressed. I actually want to EAT the one on Arches, though! 😂
Hi. love your work. i enjoyed this very much and was very informative. I certainly have my preference now. thank you so i do not waste money on paper I do not like. I am curious (but I do not mean to turn them into a watercolour thing) and interested to know what shavings do, or you put shavings in a half-pan, 'melt' it with water and then dry out and use just like watercolour paint. will they be as vibrant or not? I am sure you can discover many techniques on how to use them e.g. mixed mediums, ink etc. thanks
What watercolors would you use on black paper? I have not seen anyone paint on black.
Bee paper company in based in Oregon, USA
I've always wondered why I never see people add water to these crayons, they look really nice and seem quite expensive to just use as a crayon? 🤷♀
maybe it's that they're using the other, not water soluble, neocolors?
Black paper is great with GOOD METALLICS, AND GOOD PRO GOUACHE.
NO HIMI
The black water color paper is for metallic watercolors
Fantastic 😊
They're not watercolor they're water-soluble wax pastels.. so yes they're opaque. More like gouache. And not all watercolor is transparent. Just fyi.
What watercolor is not transparent?
@Melissa Rose being transparent is not the same as semi-opaque (semi transparent) and opaque. Some pigments and some paints are a range of those. :)
She’s using the term that they are most often referred to as.
@Sam Hugh which is sadly a very incorrect misconception. And actually I hear them called crayons alot, that's one thing but they're not watercolor. There's a large distinction between water-soluble products and watercolor. We educators in the art world need to be educating others about the correct terms, there differences, and why etc.
@Melissa Rose there are a large array of quality brands with many many different ranges on the transparent to opaque watercolor paint. :)