Arteza Woodless Watercolor Pencil Review
Arteza Woodless Watercolor Pencil Review
I have reviewed a set of woodless pencils before from another brand, however they were not water-soluble, and as much as I enjoyed using those woodless pencils and the Arteza Woodless Watercolor Pencils, I have never quite seen the point of a woodless pencil; let me explain.
Everything has it’s place in the world of art, for the most part companies will have an artist grade product and a student grade product, some may even explore sets for kids, but essentially there is a set for most needs. On a wider scale there are so called wax and oil based pencils, water-soluble pencils, pastel pencils even Ink based pencils. However, regardless how much fun you can have with Woodless pencils and how enjoyable I found them personally, I am not sure where the fit in the grand scheme of things. How many artists I wonder waken up in the morning and think to themselves that they would like to buy a set of woodless pencils. I guess they don’t have to have a set place, after all art is the most subjective community ever. Any way on with the review
Arteza Woodless Watercolor Pencil Characteristics
Although the pencils are called woodless, they do have a very thin protective sheath covering the barrel, so essentially the pencil is all core or pigment for want of a better term. Unfortunately, due to this thin protective sheath covering the barrel, you are unable to use the side of the pencil, similarly to the way you would typically use a pastel block or cylinder.
The Arteza Woodless Watercolor pencils sharpen incredibly well, although, if you are using a normal manual sharpener, it may become quite messy. When sharpening, the thin sheath protecting the barrel must be a plastic or something similar and it chips off when sharpening and gets every where. You can get an incredible point on the Arteza Woodless Watercolor Pencils but the points can be quite brittle so a light hand is required to start off with.
Information along the side of the Arteza Woodless Watercolor pencils is as follows. First you are presented with the company name “Arteza” in their recognisable Arteza font, this is followed by the printing of Woodless and Watercolor, just indicating that you are using a woodless water soluble product. This is quickly followed by the pigment name which I know a lot of artists will like and finally there is an alphanumerical number stamped toward the very end of the barrel, this indicates the pigment information despite the fact these pencils are not sold open stock, but for manufacturing purposes this is helpful.
Finally the Arteza Woodless Watercolor Pencils sport a round barrel which I personally prefer, however for artists with drawing styled desks with a slant, you would need to place the pencils in a jar or pencil storage to stop them from rolling off the desk. Some of the other woodless type pencils I have reviewed have been quite fragile, however I have dropped the Arteza Woodless pencils of my desk onto a wooden floor and the pencil was fine, no shattering whatsoever.
Arteza Woodless Watercolor Pencil Sets
Arteza have a huge range of art products, most of them coming in a wide array of sets, however with the Arteza Woodless Watercolor Pencils they are only available in the 24 set that I am reviewing. With water soluble pencils or crayons, have a small set of 24 is not too big a deal simply due to the fact that color mixing is much easier with such a medium.
In the case of so called wax or oil based pencils, you can obviously mix and blend colors to create different hues etc, however you are still quite limited. With water soluble mediums you have much more flexibility with such a process.
Arteza Woodless Watercolor Pencils Performance
I was actually really quite shocked at the vibrancy and sheer strength of pigment in the Arteza Woodless Watercolor Pencils, don’t get me wrong, I am well aware of the quality within Arteza’s products, I have tested, demonstrated and reviewed enough of them now to make such a statement, but I was quite taken back with these pencils.
I tried a few different techniques to see how the pencils performed, but first I completed a speed painting with them which I think might also help you understand and see for yourself the quality within these gorgeous fun pencils. As I only had 24 colors and not a very good understanding of color theory, I tried to select an image that I a comfortable range of colors to finish within the 24 set.
I came across this image of two Clownfish in anemone, which was actually quite an iconic image for the launching of the Apple iPhone back when the phone was first released. I completed the painting on 140lb Hot Press A5 Derwent Watercolor paper and to be honest I am really happy with the finished results.
I also used the Arteza Water Brushes at the start of the painting, then mid way through I changed to traditional watercolor brushes as well as using the Caran d’Ache Watercolor Palette which I have spoke about before. The palette allowed for me to create my own colors better and without time constraints as there would be mixing the colors directly onto watercolor. As I mentioned I created a speed painting video on my YouTube channel which you can take a look at and hopefully get a good understanding on the over all quality in these pencils.
On my video review of the Arteza Woodless Watercolor Pencils, I also demonstrated wet on wet techniques and a few others, however to see the results you can check out my video review of he pencils by following the link.
Arteza Woodless Watercolor Pencil Pricing
There is only this 24 set available for this particular Arteza product, so here in the UK you can purchase the 24 set for £18
In the US this set will cost you an amazing $21 and for those of you in Europe, you can get them for approximately €18.
However, for anyone wanting to purchase a set of the Arteza Woodless Watercolor Pencils, Arteza have allowed The Art Gear Guide subscribers to use Promo Code TheArtGearGuide10 to get 10% of the current price, which I would like to thank Arteza for.
Arteza Woodless Watercolor Pencils Lightfast Information
Arteza have a few products that come with decent lightfast ratings on them, however they tend to be products in the Expert range, for products in say the student or kids range lightfast ratings are not really an issue or priority. I think so many people get all worried about whether or not a product holds good lightfast ratings, but it really isn’t something to worry about unless you plan on selling your work or having it hung in a gallery.
However, if you’re a hobbyist wanting to have a bit of fun, practise and create something beautiful, lightfast information shouldn’t come in to it at all.
Arteza Woodless Watercolor Pencils Conclusion
Despite my head scratching moment at the beginning of this review regarding the purpose of the woodless pencil variety among the pencil world in general, I have actually really enjoyed using the Arteza Woodless Watercolor Pencils
I was really pleasantly surprised at the final outcome of the painting I completed, the strength of the pigments are excellent and with a simple tool like the palette I demonstrate in the video review, 24 colors isn’t so bad. I have often said that a minimum of 36 colors is what I consider a comfortable selection to work with, however as I have mentioned before, a smaller 24 set of water soluble pencils is much more manageable.
Don’t forget to see my speed painting simply follow the link and to watch my fully detailed YouTube video review you can follow this link. You can also take a closer look at the art work I completed with the Arteza Woodless Watercolor Pencils, I have added still images of the art work at various stages of completion from start to finish so that you can take a closer look at them or just see the progression.
As always thank you all so much for your fantastic support and if you have any questions about the Arteza Woodless Watercolor Pencils please by all means ask either privately via email or in the comments section
