How to Use Watercolor Crayons

There are lots of different types of watercolors you can use. There’s paint, pencils and then there is crayons. Here are some tips and fun information about using watercolor crayon.

What color crayons provide watercolors with the ease of working in a familiar medium, but the crayon is grown up. It is now water soluble. A crayon drawing becomes a painting with the addition of water. Learn how to use this easy medium to fit your personal style of painting and it will quickly become an indispensable art supply.

It can be difficult to find the water source when far from the comfort of your studio. Quick watercolor sketching, sweeping vistas or diminutive scale to watercolor postcards are not a problem when you travel with watercolor crayons. So leave your overpriced sable brush at home and transform your drawing into a painting much later.

When you return to home base then a sweep of a water brush quickly renders your dry crayon mark into vast watercolor skies or big sweeping green fields. A small brush will reveal the detail.

Experiment with different ways of using this easy to master new painting medium. Loose juicy washes of color are possible, as well as highly detailed work. To work in a more controlled fashion; use a damp brush instead of a wet brush and work slowly into your painting, segment by segment. Another technique for careful detailing is to pick up color by scrubbing off a bit of the crown onto another surface first. The inside lead of the tin where the pencils are packed in is ideal. Dip a wet brush into the can; apply that bit of paint in small areas of your sketch.

And here are some tips. Watercolors have certain traditions and expectations. One is maintaining some white of the paper. To keep areas of the paper white to achieve that beloved sparkle, a wax-based crayon laid down first will resist the wet brush and thus retain the white of the paper. Watercolor crayons can be blended wet or dry for a seemingly endless pallet of fusing colors. Mixing dry colors together one over another and then wetting can be startling if colors are intense and wet. Test your color combo first for consistency of color by the biggest set of the high quality crayon.

Now portability is a big plus with watercolor crayons. You can travel across the country, hike out into the woods, or sketch on location. So have a good time, have a great trip, and ready, set, paint!


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