April 12, 2016
The second product I got for review is the Prima Marketing Watercolor Pencils.
They come in 6 sets of 12 pencils. I got the Earth Tones, Hair and Skin Tones and the Basics. After making a quick search on google for an official color chart I think I’ll have to get the Scenic Route too… Those colors are my faves!
When you open the boxes they look like this.
I like the fact that they have the color on top, it’s easier to spot them when you’re using them. I’ve used other brands and they all look the same and you have to be checking the name or the point and that sometimes can be a pain.
The first that I tried out is the Classics set.
They’re pretty intense when dry and the colors are beautiful.
But again, it’s when you add the water when the magic happens.
And the more water you add the more they dissolve and spread out.
The earth tones are a little bit less soluble than the classics, and when they were wet were so much stronger than when they dried (typical in watercolors). But I didn’t see as much change in the classics in vibrance. Maybe because they are more vibrant?
Here’s the scanned swatches. They’re as closed as the original as possible, but you know how things look different in different monitors?
And here are the Hair and Skin Tones.
I like this set because it has a variety of colors to make any skin color you’d like and you can make them as saturated or as light as you’d like by just adding less or more water.
I used them to sketch a girl on the watercolor paper before painting it to have a foundation on which to paint my girl without the harsh lines of the pencil to show through. You can also use them before the acrylic on your canvas and they will blend beautifully.
Prima Marketing Watercolor Pencils
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Pros: Easy to use, the tin package can be used as a blending palette, beautiful colors, last a long time, easy to transport.
Cons: Have numbers instead of names (I wish they have both), You get repeated colors if you get all sets (which can also be a pro if you use those colors a lot), a bit of color shift when dry, don’t specify lightfastness.
Lightfastness is a property of a pigment or paint that describes how resistant to fading it is when exposed to light. Light striking a painted surface can alter or break the chemical bonds of the pigment, causing the colors to bleach or change, in a process known as photodegradation
In conclusion, I think they will be great in my mixed media projects, specially for outlining before painting with watercolors or acrylics. I will definitely go and get the Scenic Route set!