ScrawlrTips
Daler Rowney Aquafine Watercolour Tubes and Royal Sovereign Chinagraph Pencils
Featured In / April 2021 ScrawlrBox
We realise you may have never seen or used products like this before so we have put together a few hints, tips and techniques to test out and get the best from these supplies.
Daler Rowney Aquafine Watercolour Tubes
Daler Rowney proudly continue their long heritage of manufacturing in the United Kingdom, based in the South of England, in Bracknell. These Aquafine Watercolour paints are made from a selection of modern, high-quality pigments that are milled to perfection, offering optimal performance and control. Aquafine watercolours are richly pigmented, free-flowing colours with fantastic lightfast properties. The transparent colours have excellent tinting strength and working properties that reliably produce beautiful, delicate washes every time you use them.
Royal Sovereign Chinagraph Pencils
These versatile pencils will work on virtually any surface, including china, plastics, acetate, film, brick, wood and glass. By combing specially selected pigments and waxes, they are resistant to water (but you can remove them from non-porous surfaces with a dry cloth or a tissue) making them for an interesting pairing with watercolour paints. These are extremely accessible and easy to use and can even be sharpened with a normal pencil sharpener.
Things To Try...
~ A very important thing to be aware of when using watercolour, is the water to paint ratio. This ratio can have a huge affect on the application of your paints so it is a great idea to test out water ratio to see how it will affect your colour application.- For instance, too much water can result in colours that are too light which can look rinsed out and washy. It can also cause the paint to seep into other colours that you have placed which can result in muddy and imprecise colour placements.
- On the other hand, too little water can result in colours that don’t flow correctly or lay down properly. This can cause visible streaky brush strokes and unblended blocks of colour.
~ Keep the dry time of your paints in mind, as this can be essential when layering colours. If you are trying to blend the colours then you can apply wet over wet however if you want to add a new colour, be sure to wait for your layers to dry completely. This can take a little while, so patience is key.
~ When mixing colours, a good rule of thumb is to mix a little more than you think you’ll need, as if you run out of that colour it can be difficult to mix the exact same shade. Alternatively, be sure to make a note of the colour quantities in your mixes so that you can replicate the same tones if you do run out.
~ The Chinagraph pencils are waterproof, so they will resist your watercolour paints. This means you can layer them on top your paints or place them down on areas where you do not want your watercolours to bleed into. You can create lots of interesting effects so be sure to have a play with testing before you start.
Using The Whites
~ The White Chinagraph Pencil
- Use as a highlighter. The wax texture is water resistant with an opaque finish so perfect for going back over the top of your water colour once it's dry to add in highlights to really make it pop.
- As its water resistant, when using water colours over the top of a very light layer of the pencil can help create a tint.
- Using a thicker layer of the white pencil under the water colour will help create patterns and details, much like a batik effect.
~ The White Watercolour
- Keep your whites separate. Use a separate palette when using white watercolour to prevent it from muddying the others colours.
- To lighten your water colours, just add more water. When you mix white with the other colours you actually kill the transparency of them.
- If you do want a more opaque look to you watercolour, add the white! It will give a ‘chalky’ finish to the colour.- White wash your background for a flat, smooth matt finish.