Water-Colour Pencil Techniques

The Faber-Castell water-colour pencils have rich water-soluble colours which transform into brilliant water-colours when brushed with water.
Colours blend beautifully to create unlimited shade options. Just release your imagination and check out some of the techniques below to create your masterpiece!

From Pencils to Paint

Colour your picture as normal then go over it with a wet paintbrush. The more often you do this, the more the colours dissolve and merge giving a water colour effect.

Drawing on Damp Paper

Dampened the paper beforehand for intense colour with soft edges.

Pallete Technique

Sketch concentrated amounts of colour on separate sheets of paper. Activate colour with a wet brush and then transfer the paint in your brush to a blank sheet of paper. When you transfer it to dry paper the paint will stay still. When you transfer the paint to wet paper it will spread out across the area that is wet

Trace and Brush

Draw an outline using your watercolour pencils and "push" the colour to the internal part of your drawing with a damp brush.

Spray Bottle

Dampen a finished drawing with a spray bottle to produce a water colour effect

A Pinch of Salt

Colour a background, dampen it, then sprinkle a little salt on it. You get an effect like crystals of ice or snow. Once the paint dries you can continue to work on your drawing.

Pointillism

Draw an outline using a lead pencil. Wet the tip of the watercolour pencil with a wet brush. Press it onto paper and repeat with lots of dots to colour in (fill up) your outline. If you use similar tones close to each other, your eyes will mix the colours to form one colour. You should use this technique for lighting effects also, as you can see with the star drawing.

Batik

Draw the details first with a light coloured wax crayon. Then colour in the background .With a wet brush turn your picture into a watercolour. Water runs off wax, so the details remain visible.

Sponge Technique

Sketch concentrated amounts of colour on separate sheets of paper. Activate colour with water. Use a small sponge to pick up colour from the palette then press it gently on your drawing.

Glossy Effect

To add a glossy shine to your finished picture paint over it with diluted water-based glue. For a high gloss effect simply add more layers of glue.

Landscape technique

Draw three bands of colour to suggest the land, sea and sky using watercolour pencils. Then, blend the colours with a wet brush; wait until it gets dry and your background is ready. All you have to do next is to add the details such as birds, clouds and sun with a dry pencil

Water-Colour Pencil Pages »

Helpful Hints

• After you have finished painting with water, use dry pencils to add more details
  
  
• A barely damp brush gives brighter colour, with pencil lines still showing. Add in more water will blend the colours smoothly. However, the more water you add, the less intense the colour will be
  
  
• Be careful not to add excessive amounts of water, as it will make the colours run together and the paper may buckle
  
  
• Use a heavy weight or watercolour paper, as regular drawing paper will tend to buckle when damped
  
  
• For a gradual colour effect, colour 1/2 of your drawing and using your brush draw the colour down onto the second half