Staedtler Watercolour Crayons Review, Staedtler Design Journey Range

In this review we take a look at the Staedtler Watercolour Crayons, this particular product is part of Staedtler’s Design Journey Range, of which I have already reviewed some products with more to follow. So far I have reviewed their 72 set of colored pencils and their absolutely gorgeous Staedtler Tinted Graphite Water Soluble Pencils.

Obviously, when a lot of people see this product and indeed this review, I should imagine one of the most pressing questions will be if the Staedtler Watercolour Crayons are like the Caran d’Ache Neocolor II water soluble crayons. Although I briefly discuss this in the video review, I have the Lyra Watercolour Crayons to review and once I have completed that review, I plan on doing a comparison review of all three products. But for now, let’s take a look at the characteristics of the Staedtler Watercolour Crayons.

Staedtler Watercolour Crayons Characteristics

To be honest, there isn’t too much to say regarding the characteristics of the Staedtler Watercolour Crayons. They look and feel as you might expect, just as any other crayon type medium. I have the 24 set to review and on removing the cardboard tray from the card sleeve, you are immediately greeted with 24 jewels of color.

Each crayon has a paper sleeve wrapped around it to help keep color from smudging on your hands and also to print information on as this would be impossible to do directly on the crayon. Along one side of the barrel, and we will call this a barrel for simplicity reasons, we have the Staedtler logo, a logo pretty much every around the world recognises. Certainly here in the west, Staedtler has been about for years and school supplies have always been Staedtler branded.

Beside the Staedtler logo on the barrel we have in four different languages “Watercolour Crayon”; this is closely followed by a number and brush logo, driving home and indication the water soluble nature of the medium.

On the opposite side of the crayon barrel we have the pigment name or color name printed in four different languages. Just below where the color name is printed, you can see a cloud like appearance in the paper all information is printed on. This is to allow the artist to remove small bits of the paper as and when needed. As the crayon is used it will obviously get smaller, as this happens you will eventually get to the paper. Rather than ripping the entire paper sleeve off, were you will lose information such as color name, you can remove small pieces at a time. Of course this is completely optional, after all, rules are made to be broken and if you want to remove the paper entirely, you go right ahead and do this.

As with all crayon type mediums, they tend to be quite thick and not very good at achieving detail, however you can of course sharpen your crayons into a much more manageable point. I will talk more about this in the next section when we discuss the performance.

Staedtler Watercolour Crayons Performance

Although this is not a comparison review, I do want to address the most common question that is most likely to be asked. After swatching the Staedtler Watercolour Crayons, I was really surprised with the level of pigment and vibrancy, comparing the Staedtler Watercolour Crayons to the Caran d’Ache Neocolor II, I thought would be like comparing a sports car to a family hatchback, but the similarities are incredible.

As you can see from the swatch, I have applied a thick black marker line and a thinner black marker line, I added them both so that we could have a side by side comparison or the crayon dry and wet over black. It is important to note, this particular test only displays which colors are transparent and which are opaque, there is no good or bad result in this demonstration, some artists look for more opaque mediums and others are happier with translucent paints.

I completed the swatch on St Cuthbert’s Mill, Millford, Not, Watercolour Paper, a wonderful quality paper, which is to be expected from St Cuthbert’s Mill. I think from looking at the swatch were the Staedtler Watercolour Crayons have been activated with water, you can see just how clear and vibrant the paints are.

I mentioned earlier about sharpening the crayons in order to achieve more detail, if you wanted to use them in the same fashion as watercolour pencils, drawing directly on to the paper. One added advantage to sharpening your water soluble crayons is, if you allow the shavings to fall into a small dish, but adding water to the shavings, you can create watercolour paint, so nothing goes to waste.

The other method of course to using the Staedtler Watercolour Crayons and the method I chose to adopt, was by using the Caran d’Ache Aquarelle Palette. This is just a simple plastic palette with a rough texture on the surface, allowing you to apply either crayons or watercolour pencil core to the palette surface. By rubbing the Staedtler Crayon over the rough surface, it leaves pigment, allowing you as the artists to mix your colors.

With watercolour pencils and watercolour Crayons, a lot of people think you have to apply the medium to the watercolour paper and from there mix your colors. You can of course do this, but the only downside to this is, if you don’t achieve the tone you are looking for, you have to continue applying and mixing on the paper. Whereas on the palette, you can mix until you achieve the tone or color you are looking for and apply it to the paper with a watercolour brush.

As it is Autumn or Fall for those of you in the States, I thought why not pick up a few leaves and try to paint them as a way of demonstrating the Staedtler Watercolour Crayons. As with the swatch, I used the St Cuthbert’s Mill, Millford, Not, watercolour paper for the artwork, providing a good quality surface. If you would like to watch my speed drawing video of this artwork. come to life, simply click the link. I also display in real time, some demonstrating of the Staedtler Watercolour Crayons over on my YouTube video review, which you can watch by clicking the link.

Staedtler Watercolour Crayon Set Sizes and Pricing

Unfortunately, unlike the large 84 set of the Caran d’Ache Neocolor II, Staedtler Watercolour Crayons only come in a set of 12 or 24. In reality, a set of 24 water soluble pigments is more than enough selection for any artist, given how easy it is to mix and create many different colors or tones. Nevertheless, I think a slightly larger set would be nice and I only say this because I had so much fun using the Staedtler Watercolour Crayons and so more colors would be welcomed.

For the 12 set of Staedtler Watercolour Crayons here int he UK, you can expect to pay £12 and for the 24 set £21, although I have seen the 24 Set sell for cheaper on Amazon around the £18, so I will keep searching for cheaper links as I do every Sunday in order to provide the cheapest links available to you.

For Artists in the US the set of 12 Staedtler Watercolour Crayons will cost $17 and for the 24 set of Staedtler Watercolour Crayons you will have to pay $24.

Staedtler Watercolour Crayon Lightfast Ratings

Given that the Staedtler Watercolour Crayons are part of the Design Journey range from Staedtler and therefore primarily aimed at Student level artists or those just dipping their toes into the world of art, lightfast ratings are not really important.

For Staedtler to test and achieve high lightfast ratings for the Crayons, this would increase the cost of the product significantly and I personally feel that the pricing for either the 12 or 24 set is reasonable and within reach financially, of most students. I think lightfast art supplies are incredibly important, artists need to be able to achieve longevity in the artwork they perform, however, I also think it is so important that cheaper alternative art supplies are accessible to those of use more financially challenged.

Staedtler Watercolour Crayons Conclusion

When I was first sent a few products from the Staedtler Design Journey range, I was really excited to test and demonstrate the watercolour crayons, but I have to be honest when I say that I really wasn’t expecting big things from them. I was expecting the colors to be washed out and for the crayons not to fully dissolve and activate once water was applied.

However, none of the above was the case, the colors from all crayons were bright and vivid, I really enjoyed using them in the artwork I completed as a way of helping to demonstrate the crayons. Of course there is not lightfast ratings but this helps to keep the cost at a manageable, achievable target for all artists. I loved using the Staedtler Watercolour Crayons and look forward to reviewing more of the products from the Staedtler Design Journey range.

If you would like to check out my YouTube video review where you will get to see some real time demonstration of the crayons in operation, simply click the link. Also, if you would like to watch a short speed drawing video of the artwork I painted come to life, simply click the following link, but if speed drawing videos are not your thing, check out the still image on The Art Gear Guide, where you can enlarge and inspect the images in your own time, follow the link.