Daler Rowney Watercolour Pencils
Daler Rowney Watercolour Pencils
I feel I really need to start this review of with a half hearted apology to Daler Rowney and I will of course explain why I feel such the need to make this half hearted apology and why it is only half hearted. I have had this 24 set of Daler Rowney Watercolour Pencils in my review stack for about three years now, when I first seen them online I really liked the look of the tins they came in and I also liked the look of the actual pencils, which was the initial reason I purchased them to review.
Every time I would plan to review them, I always ended up pushing them to the side and reviewing something else, up until this stage, I had only every tried Daler Rowney Watercolour Paper and the student grade paper at that. I didn’t particularly enjoy using the paper, but again this was at the beginning of my art journey and I didn’t really know what I was doing, nevertheless, I think the experience of the watercolour paper hindered my optimism for reviewing the pencils, hence the long delay. Regardless, my aim has and always will be to provide the most comprehensive catalog of art product reviews online, which meant reviewing every single art product I can get my hands on despite my own personal feelings toward the product.
I am however, extremely happy that I have reviewed the Daler Rowney Watercolour Pencils now as I have quenched the idea that a bad experience with a particular brand, especially at a time when I didn’t know a rubber from an eraser, doesn’t mean anything. Up until today, I did not have very good opinions of Daler Rowney products so the second I started swatching and testing the Daler Rowney Watercolour Pencils I was so impressed, to the extent I almost called Daler Rowney to apologise, but I just felt they would think they were talking to a mad man and have me arrested.
Daler Rowney Watercolor Pencils Characteristics
As I mentioned above, when I first seen the Daler Rowney Watercolor Pencils I was visually attracted to them and I completely understand that how a product looks visually often has no bearing whatsoever on how it performs. However, as a complete novice to art back then, we often only have attributes such as aesthetics to initially pull us toward or repeal us away from a product, as was the case with the Daler Rowney Watercolour Pencils for me back then.
The core of the Daler Rowney Watercolour Pencil measures in at a standard 3.8mm, encased within a well balanced 7.8mm barrel, lacquered in a most striking blue which leaves a matt appearance with the added bonus of occasionally exposing the natural wood grain . The Daler Rowney pencil feels really nice in the hand, well balanced and like you are holding a quality product.
On one side of the barrel is printed the word “Artists” in black fancy font, indicating that the the pencil you are using is artist quality. Next is printed the word “Watercolour”, with the English spelling of the word and in black block font, very different to the font of the previous print. Finally, with regards to print, the pigment name and number is printed. On the end of the pencil there is a half inch pigment identifier, separated from the barrel color with a thin silver band. As with almost all pencils, the pigment identifier on the end of the pencil is not quite identical to the actual core pigment, but the Daler Rowney core and identifiers are quite close.
On the opposite side of the barrel there is printed “Austria”, Daler Rowney was originally founded in London back in 1783, however, since that date, they have changed hands or moved locations as of now they are under the banner of the FILA group. After the print “Austria” come a bar code after which is printed the Daler Rowney logo.
Daler Rowney Watercolour Pencil Sets Available
I was really impressed with the Daler Rowney Watercolour Pencils, but I will get into that in the next phase, but it is so often the case that companies produce a good quality product or better than good quality and they provide a small selection of said product. It is almost like once the product has been agreed upon, it is tested and everyone on the board likes it, someone says, lets tread carefully and keep the production small. I personally don’t understand it, especially if the said product is aimed at artists or students.
In this particular line of Daler Rowney pencils, the Watercolour Pencils only are available in a set of 12, 24 and 36. In this review I only happened to have the 24 set because at the time of purchasing I was unable to locate a 36 set.
Unfortunately Daler Rowney don’t seem to produce traditional Coloured Pencils, although I am almost positive that three and a half years ago when I purchased this 24 set of Watercolour Pencils, I stumbled across a set of coloured pencils, but I could be wrong.
They also sell Daler Rowney Pastel Pencils which I would absolutely love to review one day but they too are only available in sets of 12, 24 and 36. As well as the Pastel Pencils, they sell a set of graphite pencils and then a Sketch Set, which comprises of a few graphite pencils, charcoal, and a few pastel pencils of earth tone pigments including white. As with the Daler Rowney Watercolour Pencils, the other sets I have mentioned are equally striking tools aesthetically speaking. I hope that one day I can add reviews of the other sets mentioned to The Art Gear Guide catalog.
Daler Rowney Watercolour Pencils Performance
I was incredibly reluctant about reviewing the Daler Rowney Watercolour Pencils as I mentioned at the beginning of the review, so much so that I was really dreading conducting a speed drawing or art of any kind. All I wanted to do was swatch the pencils, so the testing and leave it at that, but of course I knew I couldn’t do this.
To apply the swatch, I used the Clairefontaine Paint-On paper, which is very similar to a Mixed Media type paper, in fact I have reviewed this paper before should you wish to find out more about the paper. As I started to lay down the a medium pressure layer of pigment, as always I started with the lighter tones which in this instance was the Lemon and Cadmium Yellow. All too often with watercolour pencils, these tones are very faint, particularly once activated with water, but with regards to the dry application, I was incredibly impressed.
The pigment strength was stunning and the laying down of the pigment was so smooth. There was a little bit of crumbling, which when it comes to Watercolour Pencils, this is not a huge problem as once the pigment is activated with water, any crumbs simply transform into watercolour. Also it is worth noting that I was using a medium pressure when applying the colours for the swatch.
The more of the pigments I lay down for the swatch, the more and more I was actually looking forward to creating some art with the pencils, which I personally think is always an excellent sign. I couldn’t believe the strength and vibrancy of the pigments when I looked at the completed swatch, it was at this moment that I realised I had seriously misjudged the Daler Rowney Watercolour Pencils
Ordinarily, once you have swatched out a set of water soluble pencils and you begin to activate them with water, only the really high quality pencils perform exceptionally as soon as the water hits the pigment, so whilst I knew from the test just carried out that they were really good quality pencils, I seriously wasn’t expecting the results I got once activated with water.
All 24 pigments, with the exception of the white pencil, which I didn’t apply, exploded with colour once activated. Occasionally, even in some of the high quality watercolour pencil sets, some of the lighter pigments such as the yellows or light flesh tones look as if the pigment is washed away once water is applied. This was not at all the case for the Daler Rowney Watercolour Pencils which you can of course see for yourself on the YouTube video review were toward the end of the review I do a live time demonstration of such a test.
I have to admit, I really did feel that I had unjustly condemned Daler Rowney pencils, albeit only to myself and not publicly, nevertheless, it was certainly another lesson learnt. Had it not been for the fact that I would have been arrested and carted off to hospital, I would have called Daler Rowney to apologise, but quite rightly, if I got through to someone they would have thought I’d lost my mind. So the best thing I can do for Daler Rowney in way of penance, is what I do for every single company who’s products I review and that is, display their products with the honesty and transparency I have always done from the beginning.
Daler Rowney Watercolour Pencils Lightfast Ratings
On the tins of the Daler Rowney Watercolour Pencils it clearly states that they are lightfast pigments being used, however, I have looked about the internet and contacted Daler Rowney in an attempt to locate specific lightfast ratings. Unfortunately I have been unable to locate this information nor have I received a reply from Daler Rowney, however, if and when I receive a reply, I will of course update this post.
Because I have been unable to locate this information thus far from an official source, I am afraid it is up to you as to what you take the companies labelling of the watercolour pencils being lightfast. I myself much prefer to know the specific rating and the system that has been used to test the pencils. I am not saying Daler Rowney has done this, but it is important to understand, if a company labels their pencils as Lightfast, but adds no specific ratings, they are well within their rights to do this. Even if every single pencil in the set is the lowest lightfast rating, they have not lied in their advertising, the pencils are lightfast, just not highly, hence the reason I much prefer to see the actual ratings and the system that has been used to measure those ratings.
Daler Rowney Watercolour Pencils Pricing
This is the part of the story that has me confused, when I purchased my 24 set to review, they were relatively inexpensive, I think approximately £20. However, in researching the Daler Rowney Watercolour Pencils for this review I noticed a few things that has only added confusion to the review.
First of all, the Daler Rowney Watercolour Pencils are particularly difficult to get hold of in the US and Europe. I searched Amazon in those ares and when I couldn’t find any sets I checked the likes of Jerrys and Blicks to no avail. the sets that I could find on Amazon UK were really quite expensive, but again there was not a lot of them about, one or two sets here and there. I then checked out Daler Rowney’s own web site and was not able to locate any information of the Watercolour Pencils, Pastel Pencils or Graphite Pencils. They displayed the student and kids grades of these mediums, but nothing in the artist.
I found this very odd and sent an email off to Daler Rowney asking them some questions, but as of yet, I have not had a reply. With regards to the increase in pricing, I am not sure if Daler Rowney have stopped this line of Watercolour, Pastel, Sketching and Graphite Pencils, causing stores to increase the prices due to their rarity. Or perhaps Daler and Rowney are regenerating the range but because of COVID-19, things have been put on the back burner. Nevertheless, it is strange as to the pencils scarcity and their increased pricing.
Here in the UK, the 12 set of Daler Rowney Watercolour Pencils would cost approximately £34, the 24 set would cost £59 and the 36 set would cost £68.
Unfortunately I was unable to locate sets in the US, however, I was able to locate a 12 set of Daler Rowney pencils on Amazon EU site and this cost €11.95, significantly cheaper than any of the sets on Amazon UK.
Daler Rowney Watercolour Pencils Conclusion
I have spoke about a few different things surrounding the Daler Rowney Watercolour Pencils that are quite confusing, the huge increase of pricing, the scarcity of the sets online and no mention of the artist quality pencils on the Daler Rowney website.
Once I got down to using the Daler Rowney Watercolour Pencils, I really enjoyed them, so much so, my initial dread of creating some art with them vanished the second I started swatching and testing. I was also really happy with the artwork I ended up creating with the pencils, bright and vivid, really strong pigments, which only adds more confusion to the points I noted above. I do hope to have these questions answered soon via a reply from Daler Rowney at which point I will of course pass this on to you guys.
However, regardless of how much I enjoyed using the pencils, the prices quoted above from Amazon are too high in my opinion, at those prices, larger similar quality watercolour pencil sets can be purchased. Of course if you look about in local stores and small franchise art stores, if you can find them cheaper I would definitely be happier with such prices. Now that I have finally got round to using the Daler Rowney Watercolour Pencils and enjoyed their quality, if Daler Rowney are in fact stopping the range, it is a shame.
I have added a YouTube video review where you can see the pigments being activated with water for yourself as well as a speed painting of the artwork I have created. I have also added a page to The Art Gear Guide of images from the artwork at various stages of completion which you can enlarge and inspect whenever you like. Thank you all so very much for your support, comments and wonderful emails, if you have used Daler Rowney pencils in the past, please lets us know about your experience with them in the comments section and help us get a bit of a dialogue started.
