Trying New Supplies

All I've ever been familiar with in watercolor pencils has been the Derwent brand.  After learning how differently the Faber Castell behave with water, I decided to purchase a few and experiment.

The major difference between the two brands turns out to be the initial line one puts down and how well it washes out or dissolves.

The Derwent watercolor pencils tend to leave the initial sketch line with some of the color washing out when a damp or wet brush applied.  The Faber Castell tends to totally wash out.  There are times I might want that initial sketch line to remain but more often I might just want the color wash without the line.

I really liked the feel and results of the Faber Castell.  Will be a nice addition to a travel kit :-))

Also wanted to try out the Derwent Graphitone pencil which is different from my Derwent Sketch water soluble graphite pencils.  The bigget difference right now that I'm seeing is how once wet and dried, one can apply a light watercolor (like yellow) and it not be contaminated or look dingy from the graphite.  I fear saying too much, at this point, until I've played more.

**Lines you see in the little primary color swatches happens to be ink..........not the watercolor pencil marks after taking a damp brush.  I went back afterwards and added the ink lines to represent flower petals as there were no marks at all with color completely washing out.

Pages from Stillman & Birn Alpha series journal book.