I’ve been using Inktense for many years ... you have to be sure all the pigment has been dissolved/ activated for them to be permanent. Unlike watercolors where I use a very soft brush, I use a stiffer synthetic brush for the Inktense to be sure they are fully dissolved
Me too and I find this review quite disappointing because she is definitely not making the pencils justice, it is not used correctly, it dissolves completely and you can still see the letters, so the pigment is completely not dissolved 🥴
Inktense have been great for me. I love them.. It just seemed a little rushed (Karen Campbell, rushed?? Not you! Lol 😉) hence the missing E and the switched Prismacolor and that other one I have never heard of. Once they get really "juicy" and rubbed into the paper and everything has been used, the pigment has all been activated then once dry I have not had it reactivate (that word always makes me think of the Wonder Twins "Twins Power! ACTIVATE!" (I had to actually look it up bc I thought it was the Power Rangers. I've never heard of the Wonder Twins. Hmmm. Anyway, maybe try again with the Inktense since you have em.
Well I’ve recently bought the inktense blocks, and after doing washes with them, they still activate when dry. I dissolve the pigment, but it makes no difference. I don’t believe that anyone who’s done a painting with them can’t reactivate the colour with a wet brush once it’s all dry.
Karen, you should correct the message of the video. It's not fair to blame the producer for wrong declarations of their pens , when you don't use them correctly. The washes can't be waterresistant, when the penstrokes are not fully diluted.
All these pencils had a huge disadvantage because they weren't used properly to begin with. When you colored the samples, you pressed down hard and just did streaky lines and with the names you also pressed down hard for a watercolor pencil and you actually created a divot in the paper so when you washed over the name, only a tiny bit moved because the rest was imbedded. Same with the scribbles you used, I suspect there was a lot of pencil pushed down into the paper like an engraving. Especially with Intense. If you want to give a true test for watercolor pencils, layer the colors using a soft hand and add several soft layers, then do the water test. But, yeah.. Inktense is permanent as long as you can wet all the pigment that you put down.
Seems that paper is another factor most miss the mark on...while ii prefer hot press watercolor paper for line & wash, cold press & rough at that work better to best....& dry to the touch may still be damp...
Makes sense! The way I like to use them is OVER my acrylic paintings and not directly on a canvas or paper but that’s great to note! Paper is most definitely of utmost importance for every medium so that absolutely is great advice!
When I questioned them about that, they said I did not activate everything I had put down. All the pigments must be activated to go permanent. And that has pretty much been my experience. Love your videos Karen, so good.
That is my experience also.. one of the benefits of Inktense is that you can work with them on acrylics. But you need to activate them thoroughly,. They are really cool. You just have to know how they work.
That's what I have found. Haven't used the pencils but I do have the watercolor pan set. If I lay the pigment down thicker, it will reactivate. Water it down more, it won't move. But their inktense can also be used on fabric and such and stays permanent. (I've gotten it on my bedspread and it's still there after a year and many washes! Just as bright. Lol
@@Zoomfreaky Can you use this over gesso or acrylics? If you draw, but don't set it with water will it smear if you varnish or put acrylic paint over it? Thanks.
I’m afraid my inktense blocks reactivate after using. I make a thick wash in a watercolour palette, so all of the pigment is fully dissolved, and yet, a day after painting with them, the reactivate like watercolour
The artist Lachri on RU-vid does several Inktense demos and she teaches exactly HOW to use them. Her art appears on 2 of Derwent Inktense tins. Check her out for more. I'm a silk painter and I normally use silk dyes, but I've tried Inktense on silk. For silk I've found that as long as you do your mixing of the Inktense, whether pencils or blocks, on a palette and then apply the fully dissolved ink to the silk, once dried it is permanent and can be painted over again and again. Yet, just like watercolor glazes, it MUST be fully dried before you add the next layer. Happy Painting and God Bless 😃
Inktense applied with a brush, not scribbled directly onto the paper, are much more permanent! I never use them directly on the paper unless I want an opaque look. They also need to dry or cure for at least a day before they’re really permanent. I put my wet brush onto the color on the pencil. That way, the color is activated right on the brush and it ends up being smoother looking and nicely blended.
I love all Derwent products too and the Inktense are lovely. Maybe they reactivated because not all the pigment had dissolved properly when you first activated them? I also have a lightfast test (over 2 years) on the Inktense on my channel and not all of the Inktense pencils are lightfast either, I am very sad to say. I still love them though!
I find Inktense works best when not applied straight on the paper. I use the slightly abrasive wells in the plastic insert in the box. Scribble on the colour, mix to an ink with water then apply, then I've found them to be permanent. I let each layer dry and build up the colour. I also find Inktense to be massively pigmented so I need very little. Try different techniques to see what works for you.
Hi Karen, with the inktense I've found that if you wet and dissolve all the pigment they are permanent and won't move. So I use the blocks more and my pencils for different effects, but if you dissolve every bit, they are permanent. 😁💜
yes that is the trick with inktense pencils......to activate all the juicy pigment...with the pencils its also fun to put the wet brush onto the pencil point to pick up pigment......I love them!!
That has been my experience with the inktense pencils too. All the pigment has to be dissolved and then they are permanent. I noticed it a lot when Karen did her challenge for drawing the eye and nose, etc with stabilo. I only had an inktense pencil and you could not reactivate and blend the way she did with a stabilo.
You have to totally activate all of the color there before it’s permanent. The thicker pigment underneath never got activated in the first place. Try again.
The best thing about inktense is that you can activate them after dry on dry and move them around. If you activate them wet on wet then they are permanent after drying. That makes them perfect for for glazing,but they need to dry first before you apply another layer.
FYI, the Derwent watercolor you used in an old formulation. They have changed the product substantially. You can recognize the updated ones by the updated paint job - dark blue vs. light blue. Hope this helps.
I have had mine intense for over 2 years as well. I have to make sure that I desolve ALL of the pigment and tend to let them air dry for an hr. This is how I get them not reactave. I use them as washes for Skys and and large objects. Let them dry and use watercolor for mid details.
Derwent Inktense are permanent if you have activated all of the color you laid down. Light layers when adding directly to paper or pick up the pigment from the pencil with a brush helps. I love layering different colours of Inktense for effects.
Use medium to activate the color, not water, and it will be permanent when dry. Clear gesso, gloss or matte medium, anything like that. Works a treat. 🙌🏻
Just wanted to say I love using my Inktense pencils. They are very pigmented and hold great vibrancy when watered down. I've been able to use them also on both paper as well as canvas.
They have to be completely dissolved for them not to re-activate. Then they are completely like ink and will not run after applying water again later on. After it dries you can layer several layers with drying in between.
It pays to know your supplies, how they can be used, how they react to other mediums, and what their intended purpose is. Once you understand the supply you know instinctively how to use it best.
For anyone who's bummed that Derwent has discontinued the Aquatones I just wanted to mention that koh i noor has woodless watercolor pencils called Progresso and Cretacolor sells some called Aqua Monolith. I have not tried either but I think I saw them on thefrugalcrafters channel
I've been using intense for several months now and I don't burnish the paper as you did in this test. From what I can see, you are a tad bit heavy handed with all of the pencils and the paper is going to keep your pigment below the surface. Thereby releasing the "stored" pigment as you add water. I haven't had the same results as you did in this video.
This was so hard to watch. You scrubbed to hard when laying the samples. Then you slopped water on the samples like you were using a mop, but not washing the floor! If you redo this test more carefully, you will find that Inktense are permanent.
People who watch this video and do not read the comments will have the wrong impression of Inktense. They are very permanent when used correctly, which is not demonstrated in this video. It's a wonderful product, but this video is, sadly, turning people away from it, which does them a disservice. People like reliable reviews, and this video may give people the impression that others you have done may not be, either.
This was my genuine experience and I’m not going to doctor the results to satisfy a company that I fully support and love. Nearly everyone commented at what I did incorrectly so hopefully that will help educate them as it did me! I absolutely love Derwent and their products but this, for better or worse, is just what happened! People can read the comments and decide for themselves. I’m glad the comments are there to help educate. I truly thought they weren’t what they claim to be and now i know! I’m not perfect, don’t claim to know everything and am happy to stand corrected!
I totally respect that. Isn’t it easier to just click away tho? Than to take the time to stop and let someone know that you don’t like them? I just feel like clicking away would be not only kinder, but just easier in general. But maybe that’s just me....
Coming in very late, but well said Karen. You are too kind. So glad not to be so perfect that i feel justified in throwing out rude personal criticisms…much love from an enthusiastic, but yelly, screamy kinda girl 😂
🤩 Great video! Unfortunately the Derwent Aquatone pencils aren’t available anymore!! So sad! Also...those Inktense pencils are so amazing BUT are only permanent if you activate EVERY LAST grain of the dry pencil that you lay down. So...don’t bank on the permanent properties, especially if you are working on textured papers.
I think you should try the same or similar colors , if you don't you won't get accurate results. And as far as black goes it usually does well in even the cheapest of brands
That’s a very legit point. And after this I’ve started doing jsut that so funny you should mention that. I did do a black comparison - it was cool to see how different they actually all were! You can see them here. Fascinating! IS MY BELOVED STABILO STILL BEST for Mixed Media Drawing? (Product Comparison) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-bAK5CEMc-xA.html
Can't even get Derwent aquarelle any more must have been a very old pencil, and who presses that hard ? surely the fact that it was moving the most means there is actually more pigment in the pencil to activate (if it was activated correctly in the first place and dried properly...)
Interesting. I have just been gifted a set of Inktense sticks, to help me recover from a serious brain injury....I was an artist before. I have been experimenting with them, and have found that as long you make sure the layer is completely dry before going over, they do exactly what they say on the tin. I love them. Really helping me to get back onto my 'arty' feet.
I think the inktense has to be fully activated and cured a while? I did a small piece in one of my journals and it doesn't activate but it was sitting a while so..... how fumy it's still activating on this test. Thank you for this test now I want to get some Derwent aquarelle pencils. They are awesome!!! I have all of the 5 or so colors of the stabilo pencils. Besides the awesome black, the dark blue one is gorgeous too and the brown. I also now want the tinted graphite pencils too. Here I go more supplies...lol. Thank you for the demo!
Yes all ink has to be fully activated. Someone recently did a video on this and realized they barely wet their work and was surprised when it ran. It took a min to figure out. I can’t remember who but will come back if I do.
HAHAHAHHAAAAAHAHAA!!!! THAT WAS SOOOO FUNNY!!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 To be fair, there were still some pigment that wasnt activated, so that was why it reacted that way.... but nevertheless your reaction was priceless!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Intense really comes into its own on FABRIC.... NOT for paper... it's definitely permanent on fabric once heat set. Ask any fibre artist. Water soluble pencils are all a much of a muchness but Inktense is streets ahead on natural fibre FABRIC
This experiment seems to be flawed. I would have loved to see you going over the complete resolved pigments from allwater colors to see which one are truly water fast/permanent.
@Karen Campbell MIXED MEDIA mine didn't do what yours did. They went perminent if you mix pigment completely with water. I had no lines and I used your bottle method. Infact, I was able to color another line with the pigment on the brush. Go over with water and the lines were darker.
It's super weird, I was planning on buying the inktense pencils tomorrow. I literally decided that 30 minutes before you uploaded this video. Thank you for testing all of these and sharing the results with us!
There is a learning curve with inktense. Especially because they don’t behave like watercolor.🤣 I got the Caran D’Ache Palette Aquarelle with a textured side I rub the inktense blocks or pencil on it and use a brush to add water then paint with it. You can use some very fine sandpaper to do the same thing. I love Derwent’s Aquatone Woodless Watercolor pencils. I was heartbroken when they stopped making them. I was hoping they would enlarge the set.
Hello you have to really make sure you have got the granules wet the first time the way you did it you should have used blocks and mix then paint then apply let it dry completely then rewet to see if permanent which they are when used properly the pencils and the blocks work a little differently because they are in different forms I find the white to be different in comparison if you want opaque mix block and water make you marks let dry as they dry it becomes opaque but the pencil and water as it dries it will remain almost transparent even after dryinlg.
Good Grief! So glad you made this video! I have tried and tried to get my inktense blocks to not reactivate on the second go with water and have assumed it was something about the amount I use, amount of water, etc! LOL! On the topic of tests have you used pan pastels?
Inktense are super cool for fabric, put a hot iron on it after wedding it and it is definitely permanent! Blank cotton canvas bags, etc.… Maybe it needs to be on 100% cotton paper??
Wait, you mean permanent as in washable, with laundry detergent and staying vivid? Then this might be my solution for marking and numbering the weighted blankets and the little exchangable sandbags to be exchanged to individualize the weight of the blanket.
@@NickUncommon I would try it out on different fabrics, machine wash on cold, make sure you use an iron to set the color after it has been wet and worked into the fabric with a brush. I’ve seen a lot of people use this Derwent product For quilting projects. I’m doing it on canvas bags. They are 100% cotton.
I know this is an older post.... I purchased my Inktense watercolour pencils specifically for fabric... I use it for fabric art quilts, mixed with a fabric medium... works wonderful for permanent bright colours. I did heat seal it with an iron afterwards. But I have not washed any of my wall hangings. I'll have to try cotton paper for card making. Thanks. :)
In agreement with all your other viewers....inktense are permanent if you fully activate them. Can I also drop in a recommendation for Lisa Clough at the channel lachri fine art here on YT who did the art work for the tins of inktense, and has a tone of instructional videos showing how she uses them. She’s a great laugh so worth checking out anyway for anyone who wants some inktense ideas. I think for what you are going for you need the blocks, use like a pan paint, then they won’t move.
The inktense perform far more permanent if the full pigment has been activated. It's my favorite water soluble media. Just got the inktense paints and painted the peacock I have as an avatar. So fun. Your reaction was hilarious. I'll be back to view other vids😁👍
Good morning Karen, I'm wondering if you have ever considered using a clear coat spray, (Krylon), before you put your modge podge, or whatever sealant you are going to use? I ask because I also like using stabilo pencils, I just spray the clear coat before I varnish my art work...
Great question!! I actually Like the smear!!! So I do it on purpose 🤣 if I don’t want it to move I’ll always just grab a regular (non-watersoluble) color pencil just to kind of limit the layers of gunk if you know what I mean ! (Rather then spraying a fixative or whatever, those are pricey too).
Wait, what? People pay you to learn how to color in coloring book images? Nicccccceeee! Yes inktense claims are true. When used as intended, they were invented hundreds of years ago to draw on silk. I'm not sure when they became known to the art world but using this formulation of ink for fabric has been around for generations.
I love Derwent too so we have to be careful with the ‘permanent’ aspect. I’m super impressed with the Aquatone. I haven’t seen them before so I’ll be tracking them down for my next purchase. Considering how expensive the Caran D’Ache are, I’m underwhelmed with them.
Maybe you should have used more similar colors? Idk you may have explained why you chose the colors you chose I missed part of the video tbh. Thank you for this though 😊
What paper were you using? I know it was a valid comparison because all of the pencils were used on the same paper. But I wonder, if this was not 100% cotton, maybe some of the pencil pigments would have moved a little more on 100% cotton??
It has already been pointed out that the Inktense will be permanent if fully dissolved, but I also wanted to mention that Albrecht Durer is the same way. I do wonder about the paper you used. It is strange to me that most of the pencils had so much trouble dissolving.
Speaking of water soluble media, have you ever tried the Pentel EnerGel retractable liquid gel pen? I decided to sketch last night using only a ink pen and Tombow markers. I had found myself doing a lot of erasing lately so I wanted to challenge myself and use ink so I would not erase. Well! When it was time to use the Tombow Marker and my watercolor brush to finish my sketch, to my surprise the ink pen was reacting to the water as well. Who knew? I really like the way my sketches came out. I will post them in the Awesome club.
Oh I have not tried those!! Sounds so cool, I’ll check them out! And look forward to seeing those in school!!! Take care Sherry and thanks for sharing! ❤️❤️❤️
@@KarenCampbellArtist karen you will love them trust me. I went on Amazon this morning to order a few more and found out they actually come in sets of 12 and 20 colors. I ordered two more black pens and ordered a set of 12 colors to try. Check out the pics on FB at Awesome Art School. The flowers on the dress were only activated and no Tombow color used on them. That pen is very reactive.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but it looked to me like you MIGHT have a slightly heavy hand with the pencils and that may be why you didn't get total dissolvage ( yes, that's a word 🙄 ) of all the pencils. But yeah, you def need to dissolve all of it or it will continue to move on you. I love watercolor pencils, but as for Inktense I go for the blocks, you get so much more for your money. There are other brands for pencils or crayons. Oh! Where do you get your Stabilo pencils? I'm placing a order at Jerry's right now and they don't have single black ones, just sets and boxes of 10 or 12. Or is that how many you order? I should have known. Never mind haha. I didn't really want one anyways. Hahaha 💟&✌y'all
Way, way, way back when...........before I was a famous RU-vidr and art teacher extraordinaire! Yay! 😘❤️😘 Also, a shout out to all my girls who have full-set-syndrome!! 🙌🏻🙌🏼🙌🙌🏽🙌🏾🙌🏿 And bummer. Derwent doesn’t make Aquatone anymore, you can’t buy them. Maybe on ebay?
Also guilty supply hoarder. It's a little embarrassing. 😂 Gotta keep trying stuff until u find the one you love, right?! That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Lol
Great review I am always in the market for watercolor anything. I think I will stay with the few pencils I have and continue with the markers!! Thank you!
So I color with inktense and found this happens if you do not activate all the pigment and it is designed that way on purpose so you can use it both as a pencil and an ink. They are very vivid and very different from watercolor. I do not use them if I need watercolor, I just use watercolor. I do not like watercolor pencils either, I have some cheap Michaels brand that works when I want them but overall when I want watercolor I just use watercolors. Also, try the test after a day. It might change things a bit. Also was your brush clean? It looks like you have some woody brand pigment still left.
Your work is exquisite, so glad I found your channel. Do you have any videos on mixed media wooden boxes. You seem to be the only taking about mediums, sealer etc. Prime, first or seal with medium Help
Is it possible that individual colours have different qualities as well? Maybe it would have been a fairer test to use the same colour for each brand. ✨🌸✨
I am so glad you put the fact out loud about the Inktense pencils not being permanent. I am a quilter and I bought, first, pencils later biggest blocks set for my fabric painting. I tried pencils both on paper and fabric, activated every last bit of pigment, heat set with an iron (in case of the fabric) but when I re wet it, the colour washed out both from paper as well as fabric. Later I resorted to using fabric medium with inktense to make the ink permanent, but upon drying the vibrancy was pretty much reduced and the result was quite chalky. I had to build layers upon layers to make the colour less dull. I even wrote an e mail to Derwent Inktense but never got replied back. All said and done, I still really like the pencils and the blocks and will keep using both my sets to create my unique artwork. I am not a great artist but love to try different things with my Inktense indeed. Hello from Lahore, Pakistan 🇵🇰
Hi Shabnam! That sounds like a total pain, sorry to hear that! I guess as long as you are still able to use them for other things, that's good at least.
I love watching you test the things i use most or that I'm considering. At the moment I'm destashing a crapton of stuff from my art room that I just never use or don't enjoy and I find your videos to be both validating and informative. :D Now I know maybe I am not just being picky with my space and instead am being smart in what I'm keeping! LOL thank you for this! By the way, have you tried the translucent gelato products? OMG... you might like them for faces of lighter tones that have olive or mustard colorations.
Not using inktense correctly for permanence (as people have said... disolve all pigments, use light layers). They do work great on Pastel Mat and also fabric.
Karen, thanks for that test. I was surprised also. Although I don't have any Derwent pencils, I do have some water-soluble pencils I got from IKEA. They do work pretty good.. I got them in the kids art section when I was there a long time ago. LOL Also these IKEA colored pencils are about 5" long, and fat..about twice as thick as a reg. pencil. I did a test like you did of putting water on them, drying them, and then rewetting them, and they also did reactivate. As I can recall, they were cheap, and no name on the pencil. Sorry I don't have the package, but its just a light brown wood pencil, and I don't remember it saying on the package that it was water-soluble. But you know I had to try them out.. LOL Thanks for this video.
Referring to the Inktense, I wonder if you didn't activate all the product the first pass. I have a set of wood pencils and as I've used them, I've noticed the ability to keep activating a thick deposit of pigment. I should say I bought my set a few yrs ago, and while I haven't seen anything about Derwent, per se, I've seen a few videos about other color pencils,...maybe Prismacolors...not being the same product they once were. I've found my Inktense colors to be not reactivated once dry. At least, that's my memory of it.....been a while since I've used them. Having said that, now I want to get them out and check. I'll get back to you :)
