Last week I drew (in watercolour pencil) the watercolour pencils that I have in the sketchkit that I carry with me everyday. I carry 26 colours that I like and which suit what I draw and my style. There are over 120 colours in the FaberCastell Albrecht Durer watercolour pencil range. I do not own them all and have built up my collection over time.
I knew that I had drawn my pencils previously and was curious to see which colours had changed over time. I know that the vast majority have stayed that same and was aware that a few had been changed along the way . My drawings were from 2013. 2016 and 2018. They were drawn as part of my pre holiday packing.
Looking back, I see that I have not swapped too many colours over the past 5 years. I have put an asterisk next to those few that I am not as pedantic about. There are often a few variations on colour in the range and for some of these I am happy to use whatever spare I have in my pencil box at home or can buy at the art shop.
Here is a long list of the Faber Castell Albrecht Durer watercolour pencils I carry with me. There are two Derwent watercolour pencils and I use them as I cannot get the same colour in FaberCastell. Sometimes the names of colours are changed, which makes life a little confusing. I think Light Orange used to be Orange Glaze.
I have put some quick notes about how or why I use these particular colours. These are a personal choice.
Ivory – I use this all the time – buildings, food, often useful when something is not white
Light chrome yellow * there are a few yellows I could use
Light Orange – not used often, but a lovely real orange
Scarlet red * it is an orangey-red. There are a few different colours I could use
Magenta – useful for iron lace of buildings
Venetian Red – great for buildings. I used this a lot in my 2016 visit to Manchester . I also used Indian Red there
Madder Carmine (Derwent) – a real red
Pink madder lake – don’t use often, but it is a real pink
Blue violet * handy to have but I could easily use another colour
Indanthrene blue – I use for shadows, skies, darkening area of a page. I just really like this colour
Ultramarine – so handy for everything
Skyblue – a lovely sky colour on the page, but turns grey when water is added. Good for skies of Melbourne
Grass green – that hint of bright green in grass, trees
Chrome oxide green – trees, iron lace of buildings. very useful
Mineral Green (Derwent) – a real green
Earth green – a wonderful colour for Australian – trees,
Light flesh –for a hint of flesh tone on a face or limbs. often combined with a hint of one of the brown colours below
Cold grey IV – often used for many reasons
Warm Grey II – good for buildings – I bought this when I moved to Melbourne, as the Sydney sandstone was a very yellow colour
Payne’s grey – I use this a lot
Black – not often, but very useful
Dark sepia – I have recently discovered and love this colour
Light yellow ochre This colour and the rest of the list I often use together. I draw a lot of nature objects and food, coffee. I can build up a lot of depth in an object using a combination of these colours.
Burnt ochre
Brown ochre
Raw umber
Burnt umber
Burnt siena
Walnut brown
I will probably change a few when I visit the UK in September to suit the buildings and greens of the UK,
What are your favourites in your sketchkit ?
Your palette is fascinating to study! I would be very interested in seeing examples of colors you use for shadows while sketching on location. For still lives, I tend to use complements to mix a gray or brown. For example, if I’m sketching an apple with red, yellow and a bit of green, I’ll blend the red with the green to make the apple’s shadow. But when I’m sketching on location, I tend to fall back on a basic cool gray or indigo for the shadow, and it seems a bit flat. I’d like to make it more complex and interesting, but I don’t have an automatic complement to use for a street scene that is mostly different shades of gray. I’d love to hear about what colors you might use. Or your comment at the end about how you build depth with a combination of various brown tones — it would be fascinating to see an example! I think you’re the only colored pencil urban sketcher (besides myself) who thinks about colored pencils in this painterly kind of way. Thank you for sharing!
– Tina
HI Tina. I hoped that you would read this and reply. I am passionate about watercolour pencils and try to introduce them to as many people as I can. The people who attend my Travel Sketching classes think they are great ! Most of my sketches are on location or on the spot at home and I tend to use Payne’s Grey and Cool Grey and sometime a hard line of black coloured pencil (not watercolour pencil) against the object. Sometimes I use Indathrene Blue. I have heard that Burnt Umber & French Ultramarine are combined in watercolour to add a shadow. My Moleskine is 13cm x 19 cm so there is not a lot of space to get into too much detail and often not the time. Sometimes I don’t add a shadow (for example , with feathers) as I think they will detract from the object. I don’t usually go to that degree of detail. I would love to make a video, over my shoulder, of drawing on the page, weather in watercolour pencil or a crowd scene in ink. But I have to work out how to do that .
Oh, this is such an interesting post, and very useful. I love watercolour pencils and used them extensively when I was doing more textile work ( I know that sounds odd, but they worked brilliantly for doll faces and for detailed work!) I’ve recently begun to use them much more as an alternative to watercolour when I am sketching on the move, and I’m trying to find the palette to match my watercolours. I’ve had Derwent for years but I bought a Faber Castell Albrecht Durer set on a special offer, and was hooked. Unfortunately though you get a lot of colours you won’t use and so ‘m still buying odd ones on line. I frequently use the Ultramarine/ Umber mix you mention above as that is a favourite for me with all waterbased media. I love Venetian Red, and all the earth tones you mention, and I always carry Derwent Blue Grey and Copper Beech. One thing i have found is that I like to use a long sharp point and I find that much harder to achieve with the Faber Castell. Have you got any sharpening tips please Alissa?
Hi Jules. I have many colours that I have acquired that I don’t use regularly. I have 19 greens, but only carry four. I only look at and use all those extras when I am drawing at home and have an obscure colour to match on a special project. Many times I will find it in my pencil box and sometimes I will just have to go and purchase one, which will be added to my box of obscure colours. What do you use Copper Beech for?
Isn’t it funny that you find that sharp point harder to achieve with Faber Castell, I find the Derwent more difficult to get a sharp tip. More specifically, I find them softer to use on the page. I just use a Staedler sharpener. I also have CARL CP-80 old fashioned sharpener attached to the desk at home It get a Very Sharp Point, which I immediately break when I put thhttp://www.alissaduke.com/wp-admin/edit-comments.php#comments-forme pencil to the page.
I used to carry a Blue Grey coloured pencil with me. I may begin again. It was good for sketchy pages, with little colour on them.
Often for shadows I use Derwent Graphitint Juniper which is a grayed purple. Sort of like Daniel Smith Moonglow watercolor.
OOOh – thanks. I will have to try that out.
Huge thanks for this list ( and sketch!) of pencils you and equipment you use and love. It is invaluable!
Greatly appreciated!
Hi, really curious about how you build depth using your watercolor pencils! I’m gradually going through these old posts, but I haven’t seen this mentioned (yet).
Thanks Cathy. Thanks for spending the time to look through my old posts. This weekly art blog has been going on for a while now. I have done a few step-by-step blogs where I stop and scan my sketch along the way. My lastest was in Nov last year and in that blog post it has links to my previous step-by-step posts. I am not sure if these will show the building up of colour to get depth. Please let me know if they of of use to you. http://alissaduke.com/2021/11/drawing-a-coffee-plunger-step-by-step.html
Thank you, I will check it out!
I very much appreciate the time you made to respond to me! I am finding that I love watercolor pencils and drawing.
I’m so excited to have found your blog! I have enjoyed drawing off and on for many years but decided to commit more time to it because it gives me so much joy. Thank you for sharing which colours you find useful for various purposes. I’m looking forward to checking out your previous posts. I would love to take one of your classes one day if you do them. Alas, I live in Adelaide. Thanks for inspiring me. Mel.
Hi Alissa. Can you tell me what you use to carry around your pencils when you’re out and about sketching? Thanks, Mel.