Grasping for inspiration, decided to doodle some random faces with a Pilot G-2 05 mechanical pencil loaded with a Pentel Ain 3B lead. This light-weight inexpensive mechanical pencil is a good reliable choice to carry around, for the metal sleeve retracts into the body making it pocket-safe. The 3B lead glides smoothly on the paper and lays down nice dark marks that scan easily.
Just a few monster doodles done with a Pilot Hi-Tec-C gel pen to keep up with the "monster" quota of this blog.
Cretacolor Aqua Briques are block shaped watercolor crayons that retail in sets of 10 and 20 blocks. Their broad shape makes them suitable for large scale drawings and convenient oversize watercolor pans. Yet I tend not to use them often since I find some of their quirks rather annoying.
The Aqua Briques liquify readily with water yielding fairly bright opaque washes though their colors seem duller than the ones made with the Faber Castell Albrecht Durer aquarelle sticks.
Full range color chart painted on Cotman watercolor paper.
So long as one starts with a dry block, the plastic clip provided does a reasonably good enough job keeping fingers clean while drawing with an Aqua Brique.
The brique's corners and side edge were used to quickly doodle this face which was then brushed with water using a 3/4" Utrecht Sablette Flat wash brush. When dry and new, their raised profile makes the blocks easy to pick up for drawing. A task not so easy once the blocks are wetted to be used a watercolor pans, for the briques then stick strongly to the holding plastic tray as the water evaporates. The only practical way to use them for drawing and watercoloring would be to have two separate dedicated sets: one for dry use and another for wet use. Though their performance hardly justify such expense.
After repeated wetting and drying, the blocks tend to crumble and fall apart soiling adjacent color blocks. Thus even used as watercolor pans, they are a rather messy media.
When I first saw the Aqua Brique tin boxes, I thought their compact slim design would make them a good portable choice. Unfortunately, it is more of a liability since the top of the watercolor blocks tends to stick to the the lid if the box is shut while they are still wet. The slim box provides little protection for its contents, and the shallow tray wells do not effectively separate the blocks' fluid washes from splashing and polluting neighboring colors.
The Cretacolor Aqua Briques set of 20 functions as an adequate studio set of pan watercolors if one is willing to deal with its shortcomings and box design flaws. I would not recommend them at their suggested retail price, but they might be worth a trying at discount prices.
Painted a few birds doodles with a Trekell Kolinsky #3 round brush. For further discussion on the qualities and functional limitations of Aqua Briques, check out this very thorough and in-depth review at Roz Wound Up blog.
Through the years, I've collected quite a few sets of watercolor crayons. They are convenient sketching and coloring tools that can double as watercolor pans with the help of a nice sable brush or a waterbrush. Thus, I decided to review the quality and performance of a few sets of the top brands available. We'll start with an old favorite: Faber Castell Albrecht Durer aquarelle sticks. Each round stick measures roughly 2.75" in length and is ½" wide. They were available in a full range of 60 colors and are a perfect color match for the rest of the Faber Castell artistic product lines for succesful mixed media projects.
Though currently discontinued by the manufacturer, from time to time loose individually paper wrapped aquarelle sticks still pop up in clearance sections of brick-and-mortar stores. Some Pearl stores also still have the Faber-Castell display with open stock crayons. In this format they are cleaner to use for drawing purposes. A bit of online sleuthing sometimes reveals tin box sets of unwrapped aquarelle sticks which function well as oversize watercolor pan boxes. Tins were packed in multiples of ten: 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 aquarelle stick sets were available. A deluxe wooden box with the full set of 60 sticks bundled with a large sable brush, porcelain mixing plate, and natural sponge was also released.
Color chart for the tin box set of 20 Faber Castell Albrecht Durer aquarelle sticks drawn with the dry crayons on Cotman paper. The aquarelle sticks are stronger than children's crayons and have good covering power over the moderately textured paper surface.
Quick sketch drawn with a Winsor & Newton Series 7 #4 Kolinski sable round brush.
Color chart for the tin box set of 30 Faber Castell Albrecht Durer aquarelle sticks painted with a 1/4" Winsor & Newton Sceptre Gold II flat brush after wetting the sticks with a Holbein watercolor atomizer bottle. The dimensions of each stick make it easier to pick up a generous amount of a watercolor wash with larger brushes, and their waxy texture reduce the wear and tear on the brush bristles
The first postcard was painted by dabbing the aquarelle sticks watercolor washes in short strokes.
The dragon postcard's outline was first colored with dry aquarelle sticks applying them just like watercolor pencils.
Then the wartercolor crayon marks were blended with water using a Winsor & Newton Series 7 #4 Kolinski sable round brush.
The last postcard was drawn with a brown Prismacolor Premier archival brush marker and colored with washes of aquarelle sticks used as watercolor pans. Couple of coats yielded the nice bright colors that resemble markers. The tin box set of 20 Faber Castell Albrecht Durer aquarelle sticks is compact and sturdy enough to haul around in a regular sketching kit, I did so for a while. Just avoid leaving it locked in a car on a sunny day.
Some doodling with my Sakura cushioning point XS 127 0.7 mm mechanical pencil from the Pigma Sensei manga drawing kit.
A few doodles with my Uni-ball Shift Pipe Lock 0.5 mm mechanical pencil.
One of my Pentel brush pens dried up and the ink gunked up at the base of the nylon filaments brush head despite how much I soaked and washed it with Koh-I-Noor pen cleaner. Instead of discarding it, I found that it had become a suitable tool for creating dry brush effects. In this doodle, the multi-point splayed brush pen head was used to create the smoky horse coming out of the wand.
Trying out a 6"X6"smooth Strathmore Bristol 300 pad with my Uni-ball Shift-Pipe Lock mechanical pencil. Just doodled some random Manga-style faces and possible helmet designs to go with them.
After noticing this backyard visitor, I quickly grabbed my camera and took some reference shots this morning.
This close up shot would be handy for references for drawing dragons and similar beasts.
Hadn't brought out these Xevoz kits out from storage in a while. After reacquainting myself with the Alpha Ranger and Omega Guard articulation and design, I decided to leave them out in display as reference models to complement my wooden manikin.
Pity this particular toy line was discontinued, for they certainly double as pretty efficient action art manikins. A traditional wooden one could not assume this reference pose for a side kick given its limited range of motion.
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