The BEST Paper For Watercolour Crayons 

Lindsay the Frugal Crafter has a teachable class but she also has a few videos on RU-vid that show the one-up techniques of using these that level them past just watercolor use. But honestly if you are totally enjoying using them as watercolor then DO IT. Bring yourself happiness and joy however you use them. ❤

I've used Neocolor II on black and other dark surfaces with success, but you absolutely have to adapt your technique and not think of them as "watercolor", because they're not. They're a crayon 🖍 with unique properties that differ from watercolor. My tips for use on toned paper: 💡 Use the paper color that will actually complement the subject. Lemon on a black surface is not the best choice, tan paper would be much better. Tan works great for portraits, dark blue for a night scene, black for a black animal, etc. 💡 Always use white as a base for intense highlights first, because it's the most opaque light crayon in the set. Then tint it with another layer of light color. 💡 Use them as **crayons**. Dilute the first 1-2 layers to fill in the tooth of the paper, but after that you need to lay them on thick and not touch them with a brush anymore, or you just start lifting them. When applied dry in a thick layer, they can smudge with a finger (dry or damp). 💡 If the drawing looks bad, add another layer. It always helps! I have a video process on my channel of a Neocolor II drawing over a medium gray background, which is one of my go-to surfaces. In the end the colors look bright and opaque, like gouache or acrylics! It took me a long time to learn how to work with them (I also started off by using them like watercolor). But once I figured out what makes them different from watercolor, it opened up a ton of possibilities that watercolor can't do.

Most WC Sketchbooks. They’re great. They’re watercolor. As for Paper, they look awesome on Hot Press. Fluid, Baohong (What Etchr uses), etc. Looks very good on Bee, Montval, Artist Loft 2, Blick Cotton. Pretty much they’ll be similar to your WC paints on whatever paper you’re using. They’re watercolor in crayon form. 😊 If using a Rough paper, I’d recommend applying to a pallet first. Less eating of the crayon 😁 I’m having a ball with these & I don’t ‘scrub’ … put some water on them and they melt into the paper.

I use black watercolor paper for metallic paint and my opal, pearl and gem colored paints.

I have used these crayons on black, but you need to use a lot less water and more crayon. These crayons cover black beautifully. I love them.

the canson sketchbooks actually say on the front cover that the front side of the pages are cold pressed and the back sides have a smoother hot press finish, so I wonder if there would be any difference between the front/back sides? hmm....🤔

Black paper is great for neon and iridescent watercolors!

The texture of Arches CP will devour your crayons. Pallet or brush to the crayons , as you demonstrated, is best. (The paper is made for brushes.) Arches Hot Press is pretty good and more versatile, not hostile. If I use "high end " CP, I prefer the Fabriano for crayon & pencil; the texture is just right. In general, I find hot press the best if putting crayon to paper or Canson Montval (mixed media and WC) .... I sometimes dry color on top with the crayon ( also w/WC pencil), it adds dimension. Plus it's fun. Good deal😊 Thanks for the demo and info!

Interesting! We don't think this evaluation has been done before, for WC crayons. We were wondering, what's your opinion in terms of sizing for this medium? Heavy or light? Internal or external? It seems like heavy sizing might be better for wet applications but not as good for the dry drawing phase.

Thanks for this, really interesting. I don’t have any black water color paper as yet, but I have seen people on RU-vid getting good effects with their metallic and pearlescent type watercolors. I personally suspect it’s a bit gimmicky, but would still like to try it one day. I loved watching how easily you draw and shade the lemons. Great video, thanks 🌸💕

The Arches is my favorite 😍

Neocolors II wax pastels are so much fun! I use them on Canson XL Aquarelle (300gsm, cold pressed) with good results. Since they don't tequire tons of water, it works well. I also tried Canson Mi-Teintes paper, in different colours (sand, grey, black) on both the rough and the soft side. The black paper did not work so well, I had to use tons of white to get them to be as opaque as I wanted. Thanks for doing all this testing and sharing it!

I have tried a similar product before and was not a fan of having to scrub to get a smooth color. I preferred to pick up pigment directly from the crayon and then paint on the paper.

You were brave to try the crayons on the Stonehenge black paper as my experience with it is that it is so easily damaged and doesn’t stand up to any kind of scrubbing at all. It won’t hold up to masking tape or fluid either it just flakes or pills. Maybe a different brand would be better.

That was a really great test!! 🤗😍 I didn't know there was black watercolor paper. 😮 It might have been cool to see how it reacted to the second layer?

Thanks for showing the pallette. Just what i need

Thanks Emma! 👍 Comparisons are always fun and helpful. I love NC2, but I recently started playing around with NC1, the wax-based, non-water soluble and presumably older sister of NC2. With blending solution, (solvent or non-solvent) these are some beautiful colors and the blends are exquisite…and you can even get almost oil painting like effects with layering. I read that both NC1&2 can be used for encaustic work (one of these days I’m gonna try encaustic.) I would think that NC1 might be the better one to use there bc of its high wax content. Nevertheless, I love, love, traditional watercolors and could never totally get away from them. ❤

Thank you for doing this comparison video. It was super helpful. I’m getting a Neocolor II set for my birthday and can’t wait to work with them! Please continue with tutorials for these and Inktense . Thank you!

Yes please the sailing boat tutorial would be great 😊

Fabulous tutorial. I don't have watercolor crayons yet, but keen to get them and try. Thank you for sharing this information. 😊

Very interesting experiments! I love the texture on the arches.

I think black paper is more for metallics

I got them, they are brilliant

PS: it would be nice to see how the 15 set can create colour mixes. If they work well, it would make a great set.tontake on the go. I cant imagine taking a big set would be convenient, but if this 15 set can create versatile mixes, it would be an extra plus. Would you consider making a video on that?

I couldn’t get it to work on black. I like the cold press texture best. Love the crayons.

Great comparison video

Also even my many oil pastels, yellow is always the most transparent haha

Great to see the comparison. Thank you!

Gave you tried the caran dache water paint brushes yet? Also can you recommend a pigment marker that would weight over wax either black or white.

You make this so much fun!

Thank you for another excellent video. 😀

I'd love to see ocean and wave scenes.

Emma, what is the difference between cold pressed watercolor paper and hot pressed watercolor paper? Thank you. 😊

BTW, love your tutorials

I am really enjoying your tutorials. Can you tell me where I can find the double sided palette you used with the crayons? TNX!

Black paper is great with GOOD METALLICS, AND GOOD PRO GOUACHE. NO HIMI

Hi. love your work. i enjoyed this very much and was very informative. I certainly have my preference now. thank you so i do not waste money on paper I do not like. I am curious (but I do not mean to turn them into a watercolour thing) and interested to know what shavings do, or you put shavings in a half-pan, 'melt' it with water and then dry out and use just like watercolour paint. will they be as vibrant or not? I am sure you can discover many techniques on how to use them e.g. mixed mediums, ink etc. thanks

I am curious if these can be sharpened and if so, would you save the shavings? I love your creations!

I've always wondered why I never see people add water to these crayons, they look really nice and seem quite expensive to just use as a crayon? 🤷‍♀

Bee paper company in based in Oregon, USA

Definitely the two you chose are the best examples of cold- and hot-pressed. I actually want to EAT the one on Arches, though! 😂

What watercolors would you use on black paper? I have not seen anyone paint on black.

The black water color paper is for metallic watercolors

They're not watercolor they're water-soluble wax pastels.. so yes they're opaque. More like gouache. And not all watercolor is transparent. Just fyi.

Fantastic 😊