My Experience with Winsor and Newton Promarkers

I have now fully embraced markers. They are so fun and easy to use plus I get the same vibrant colours without having to organise an elaborate set up like I would with paints. I really am quite lazy when I think about setting up supplies. I find it can discourage me from starting to draw or paint. So the simpler, the better. 

My first foray into Promarkers was back at the start of the year, with the Letraset brand - in fact I have a blog post about it here on this blog. Within the last month or so I have slowly been buying more to expand my colour choice. As I have continued to buy them though there seems to have been a change over with the Promarkers going from Letraset to Winsor and Newton. The colours are the same but I do feel like the Winsor and Newton ones are slightly better in regards to blending.

The third row is Winsor and Newton Promarkers and the lines under the row are the Letraset Promarkers. As you can see the colours are pretty much the same (apart from the yellow but only because I tried to blend with it and it picked up the other colour). From this colour selection I've managed to make a variation of colours. My only annoyance is with the lack of variation in skintones but my using the browns and greys from the others sets I can just about manage a darker range of skintones. However it would have been a lot better if the skintones came in a pack of 12 to insure a better diversity of colour.

While shopping I also bought Marker paper which to my surprise is a lot thinner that I though it would be. When I ordered it on Cass Art I didn't look at the thickness of the paper assuming it would be quite sturdy since all the paper I had used with markers so far all had bleeding. So when I saw the paper was quite flimsy, resembling grease proof paper or tracing paper, I was taken aback (70gsm to be accurate). But there definitely isn't any bleed through which is amazing even though you can see the drawing on both sides of the paper. For now it is great for sketching however I think I might look for some alternatives for higher quality work just so it is easier to store without tearing or creasing.

How the drawings look from the back of the paper.

I found this Baylee Jae video about the subject and thought it might be helpful to those looking for marker appropriate paper like me.

I have looked into other brands of markers, Copic and so on, but I find the Promarkers do the job just fine without putting a hole in my purse. I am curious to test them though just see what the hype is all about. Until I win the lottery though I think I'll live without having used them. Pigment Markers are another type I'm interested in due to how easy it looks to blend them, especially with the white pen. Far superior to the waste of time blender that comes with the larger packs of Promarkers. They look like a mixture of pen and paint.

I see myself using markers for a while. The novelty hasn't wore off yet. The only thing that concerns me about them is how fast they might fade but until I see that for myself I'll continue using them.

Hazel, xoxo   

Shopping about for Coloured Pencils - Derwent Coloursoft Impressions

Recently I have been on the search for my ideal coloured pencils. Currently I'm using an old WHSmith brand and a bunch of random pencils I have gotten over the years so I thought it was about time I invested in some good quality pencils.

My first thought was to buy Prismacolour since most people online agree that they have great colour pay off while not being as expensive as other brands. Unfortunately the only place they are available is on Amazon and if I was to buy them as a complete set they would put me back around £60-£70. So as you can imagine I have been looking up more reviews to see if they are actually worth the money. Even though they are great for colouring many people have said that they can break quite easily and to be honest I don't want to buy a brand I haven't tested myself.

My next option was to buy some Derwent pencils. I currently use the graphic pencils and I'm very happy with them. Derwent do many ranges but I narrowed it down to the Artist pencils and the Coloursoft ones. I came across a small tin of coloursoft skintone pencils on Cass Art's website so went ahead and bought them to test out before I took the plunge and bought a bigger set.

My initial impression of them was how waxy they seemed which makes them good for blending, as long as you don't keep layering up the colours. I did enjoy how easy it was to apply colour to the paper and the pigment was pretty good. However the texture of the colour wasn't always ideal and I was only able to get the colours I wanted if I mixed them with my WHSmith pencils. So currently I have decided not buy a big set of the coloursoft pencils for now.

The colour pay off is good and the blending is okay as long as you don't keep layering up the colours. It can turn quite waxy and patchy in parts. Also works well with other pencils.

So I have looked into the Artist Pencils but unfortunately the majority of people who have used them say that you have to lean quite hard with them to achieve vibrant colours. However the pencils will last a long time unlike Prismacolour's easily broken led and the colours are buildable.  

So I'm back to square one. Ideally the pencils I'm looking for have good colour pay off without leaning too hard and I can layer up the colours without fear of it looking strange like the Coloursoft eventually does. If only Derwent did a range inbetween the Coloursoft and Artist pencils where they are both blendable but not too soft - a Goldilocks range. But it seems that the only other ranges they do are Inktense and pastel pencils which are not what I'm currently looking for.  

My WHSmith pencils are okay for now. And really if I was able to find a bigger set of them I would be tempted to buy them. But chances are they don't make them like they used to. If anyone has suggestions let me know. I'm still looking.

Hazel, xoxo