Watercolor Pencils - How to Draw and Paint a Bird 

I love watercolour pencils for the confidence they give me and how easy they are to carry around.

Just started with WC pencils and have become addicted. I thoroughly am enjoying them so far for birds and flowers.

I love watercolour pencils because they are easier to control in comparison to actual watercolours. Hoping I could win the membership program ❤️

I think watercolor pencils are a really interesting and versatile medium. In addition to dabbing a brush onto the lead, you can dip the lead into water-the wet pencil makes a really bold and textural mark. If you want to try washes or put down a large amount of even, flat color (which is hard to do coloring in and then activating), you can scribble the pencil onto a rough surface/palette, activate it there, and use it like traditional watercolor. If you’re like me, working on half the dining table, this means you get a lot of the benefit of watercolor without worrying about having to have an array of giant pools of color you might knock over! It’s got a lot of regular WC’s forgiving qualities, too: You can lift, just like with traditional WC, once the pencil is activated. You can also sketch in your subject using the WCP and “erase” by activating and then blotting. WCP are also a LOT cheaper than traditional pans or tubes of WC- you can get a set of a top brand like Faber Castell for $40 (24 set), vs more than $100 for a similar set of Daniel Smith half pans, and that’s on sale. Their portability for travel, especially when combined with a water barrel brush, is hard to beat, too. There’s a reason folks are in to them!

I'm glad he told us how long it actually took him to paint that. If feel like not enough youtubers do that

I love H2O pencils because I feel like I can get a crisper line .. less bleeding. I’m 63 years old and finally have the time to dedicate to learning art techniques! I’m having so much fun and I can’t sleep because I’m constantly thinking about new projects 😊

Watercolor pencils happened to be on my list of things to learn. I haven't found a medium I don't like so far. Yay! Watercolor pencils here I come.

I am just getting started using watercolor pencils. I really like the surprise you get when adding the water.

i love watercolor pencils because they make feel safe, i feel bit anxious when i use watercolors, thank you for the video

I love my Albrecht Durer FC wc pencils. They don’t leave lines and are very saturated. Sometimes I do my original watercolor sketch with these which erase if not wetted so unlike having to erase my pencil marks or even blending in graphing marks and have them melt into the background. Still haven’t found a use for the non gouache white yet though. And sometimes I sign my full name and spritz it and call my paintings done. I don’t do all of my paintings this way but I also like it for just adding a bit of color to a graphite sketch too. I have known several traditional wc artists that were at first a bit fearful of trying them. Then after they goofed around with them awhile they have often said “Where have these been my whole life?” Very nice tutorial. When I do my colored pencil paintings and run out of a color, I just grab a wc pencil and some just purely us wc pencils on sanded paper instead of the more expensive colored pencils. No wax bloom and nobody knows. Wouldn’t you love to submit that to a pure wc contest?

Great Job.... I do use watercolor pencils in my works to add details to my paintings, the watercolor pencils I use are the Albrecht Durer's from Faber Castell's - are my favorites.

I like watercolor pencils because of the colors and versatility, but I still don’t know how to use them very well. These tips were useful. Thank you.

I love watercolour pencils, watches a lot of videos about them, and got a box of good ones for Christmas from my son....love the possibility of making watercolour pictures with a structure, wich I miss in usual watercolours. Co I combine them, actually

I love water color pencils because you can use a: light touch as in outlining as well as a flat side coloring for first layer shading. It also allows for blending touch up on a picture. I love drawing and believe exercising the creative side of the brain along side intense concentrations is good. Finally, as a hearing impaired individual, art bring a flow into mindfulness that is calming

I love watercolor pencils for a simple reason. It's convenient to bring and it takes less baggage space since I'm on constant travels.

Personally, I love watercolor pencils! I still consider myself a novice, and it feels like nothing I make comes out right... but wc pencils offer a level of comfort and control I haven't quite achieved with regular watercolors -- or anything else; I can basically just sketch and color a picture like regular, and then add a little water to make a painting! It's also a little more budget-friendly when you're broke, but still want to play with art. I feel like wc pencils are the perfect medium for a beginner like me who aren't as comfortable with brushes just yet. I think I'd like to save up for the Derwents! Thank you for the tutorial!

I love watercolor pencils is because I have more control over the detailed strokes in my coloring and you can just as easily mix them up to make a new color. And on top of that, it is easier to get those colors onto the paper by activating them with water as opposed to regular color pencils, you have to burnish them to get the colors into the paper so to speak. In other words, it takes less effort to get colors onto paper with watercolored pencils

Thank you so much, your tutorials are so helpful for a beginner like myself. 👍

I love watercolor pencils because the are such a versatile medium. Also enjoyed the video tutorial! Thank you so much!

I hate watercolor pencils when I have to resharpen them all the time but in general I find that they're a great tool and a great way to begin to watercolor

Thank you for this tutorial, even though I enjoy traditional forms of watercolors I find that the pencils are more practical to travel with especially, if you're going out to sketch. Just like any medium though each has its pros and cons it's just a matter of what you're comfortable with.

I am new to creating my own art. Loved watching this video, as I have some watercolor pencils I want to try. Had no clue where to begin. Thanks for sharing.

On one of my watercolors that looked like the viewer was inside of a cave, the rock was all tinted orange. I used a dark brown to darken the oranges instead of black. It worked well in that way. I like watercolor pencils because they can be used to darken, enrich or modify, in some slight way, a watercolor paint color already laid on the paper.

I've only experimented a little with wc pencils, but notice I prefer paints for large areas and pencils for fine details. This video is the 1st I've found that demonstrated a more artistic use of wc pencils as opposed to mostly sketching. I learned a great deal, so thank you!

The bird you draw is very beautiful and I really like that feel!

Hi Matt, I love water colour pencils, because they are challenging. They teach me to use, handle them correctly. Have a great day

Beautiful! Thank you!

Thank you for a wonderful video on watercolor pencil. I now understand why I always loved looking at watercolor pencil artworks but never succeeded to create one myself. Watching your video made me realize that I need to be spending more time on each piece and not be as heavy handed as color pencils. I have a lot to learn from your and Ashley. Thank you for your generous offer for membership, Matt!

I really like mixing both watercolor pencils and watercolor ;). I can start with light watercolor washes and work details with watercolor pencils. Thank you for the fantastic tutorials!

Haven't tried watercolor pencils yet, but it looks so amazing and learning the medium is definitely on my to-do list!

I absolutely love watercolour pencils!!! I was always intimidated by watercolors. A friend suggested the pencils and know I enjoy both the paint and the pencils, usually in the same piece. Also, I'm patiently awaiting the return of Gettin' Sketchy!!!

I started my art journey in 2019 using graphite. Just recently I started to experiment with colored pencil drawings. I absolutely love both, but would love to learn water color pencils at some point too. Thank you for all that you do ... you’re a great teacher.

Thanks for the video. I have been enjoying my newly acquired watercolour pencils. I love to watch the colour come to life with water. I have found that I can use a combination of paint and the pencils. Also I use the pencils for an initial sketch in a water colour painting instead of a graphite pencil.

Thank you so much for sharing your time and knywledge . I love several different mediums of art, and have experimented with several (graphite, oil, watercolor, acrylic), oil and acrylic being the main ones . I actually love all of them but have only touched on watercolor. The paintings I have completed were pretty good with watercolor but I would love to learn more. The techniques are what I need more than anything, I did look at your classes but at the time wasn't able to commit to the cost, not that I don't think it is worth every penny, because it is, I think your program is a great one. Again thank you so much for sharing your time and knowlege on youtube where it is available for us to learn some tips and techniques.

Hello from Virginia! I’m a fairly new watercolor student and started with watercolor pencils. To me, they add a vivid depth of color. Thanks so much for your informative lessons.

I definitely struggle with confidence when using watercolor, but I never really considered water color pencils. After watching this tutorial, I’m definitely going to give them a try!!

Thanks for this marvelous video and explanation! And thanks so much for such a generous offer :) After so many years spent studying art, I can now say that I love watercolors as much as I dislike them. I happen not to like their unpredictability, but that's exactly the same reason why I'm so fascinated by them. It's life itself: we struggle to take control over it, but the magic is also hidden in sudden and unexpected blurring, without knowing what value is going to bring the next brush stroke attempt.

As I am new to water painting, I really enjoyed the video on water pencil painting. I had bought water color pencils but wasn't sure how to use them. Love learning new painting tips. Would Love to learn even more. Thanks for the videos.

there's so few videos on watercolour pencils, good to see this one! i like watercolour pencils because of the details, layering, blending, and seeing how they change, they're fun and interesting and less messy. I really like how they work for drawing fur such as on cats and foxes. plus i haven't found watercolour paints that don't give me headaches from the fumes but i can handle the pencils. I'm hoping to try a different brand in the future but for now i like what i have. i can only use them though on days i feel up to getting them, the water, the brush, and the paper out of the cabinet and putting it away later. Same with other traditional mediums like graphite (best for glass and metal imo) and charcoal (best for dramatic contrast imo). Most of the time i use digital for its accessibility but i still like traditional and hope to continue it when i can.

Absolutely wonderful! 🎨 Thank you so much for this! ❤ I love watercolour pencils, because they are easy to bring along, pick up and just draw! Use dry or wet - activate or leave them as coloured pencils. They are great for painting details on top of ordinary watercolours, and also as underpainting with pastels. Draw with them on wet paper, and they get so strong and vibrator in colour. Brilliant as an underlayer for ordinary coloured pencils too. There are so many ways to use them! 🙏❤

I’m a new artist and I found water color most difficult to manage than pastel and color pencils. By the way, I love your channel and have learned so much from it. Thanks, again for taking the time to teach us to become better artist. Marty,

Hey Matt. Got a set of watercolour pencils as a Christmas present. Looking forward to learning how to use them.

I love your classes. Thank you!

I’m a total beginner and have started off with pencil. I have watercolour pencils but feel I’m not good enough of a drawer to be adding colour or watercolour. These videos are really great. Thanks for sharing.

As always a very informative and well done lesson. The artwork was fantastic as well. I hope some day I can be half as good as you. Keep up the great great work.

I am new to art and have been enjoying WC pencils as a non-intimidating intro to WC. I also love that element of surprise, not knowing how things are going to look until you activate it with water. Definitely a good lesson in patience and learning to let go! Thank you for these instructional videos. I've been enjoying them and would love to win the membership. Now I want to go try this bird!

Nicest tutorial I’ve ever seen

Really great video and I love painting and drawing birds so the toucanets are one of my favorite. That caught my eye immediately.

I love watercolor pencils for the more realistic detailed images I can get vs just watercolor.

Hola, hace poco tiempo que uso lápices acuarelables. No sabía cómo usarlos, pero igual me lancé a hacerlo. Hice la prueba con 2 manzanas, una con acuarela y la otra con lápices acuarelables. Y me encantó el resultado con lápices. Su efecto realista y especialmente la intensidad de sus colores. Me sorprendieron los tonos vibrantes que dan. También permite más control de la acuarela. Y bosquejar para que después no hayan marcas de lápiz grafito. La acuarela tradicional la dejo para áreas grandes, para efectos fluidos y pintura a la primma. Seguiré aprendiendo de este gran material. Saludos desde el lejano y encerrado Chile. Hi, i have been using watercolor pencils for a short time. I didn't know how to use them, but I just jumped at it. I did the test with 2 apples, one with watercolor and the other with watercolor pencils. And I loved the result with pencils. Its realistic effect and especially the intensity of its colors. I was amazed at the vibrant hues they give. It also allows more control of the watercolor. And sketch so that later there are no graphite pencil marks. The traditional watercolor I leave it for large areas, for fluid effects and painting to the primma. I will continue to learn from this great material. Thanks for yours lessons. Greetings from a far and blocked Chile.

great video! thank you so much!

I love watercolor pencils becquse they are perfect for making details in my color pencil work and lets me have control over my watercolor work. Its a brilliant invention 🥰

I like using watercolour pencils to add details to my experiments with watercolour in tubes. I agree they are tricky, but they are awesome when you only have a few watercolour tubes. The best way for me to use them is to directly take the pigment with the brush from the pencil, or to apply a heavy layer over a scrap paper and take the colour from it with a damp brush. What I don't like about them is that you cannot paint wet in wet without making a mess. And the tears over the wet in wet disaster don't help either. I very much enjoyed the course of the three little birds that I bought as a separate course. I learned a lot. Thank you for everything you taught me. Greetings from Montreal.

My wife has watercolor pencils, but I've never used them. I use colored pencils, but I haven't tried the watercolor ones yet. I'm hoping to be able to use them to add a bit of background to my traditional drawings.

I like using watercolor pencils for the ability to have fine details in my paintings. My biggest issue with them is just a lack of colors in the limited set that I have and I can't always seem to "mix" the color I need. I do have some new Derwent pencils on the way so I'm looking forward to trying them out. That bird was a great lesson.

Wow that was great to watch :)

Lovely bird drawing. This is really great.

Hello my friend, I enjoy watching your videos, you have great techniques, thanks for sharing ❤👍👍👍😍😍

I am a complete beginner and have only used my watercolor pencils a few times. Seeing the underlying line marks after applying water is what I dislike about the pencils. I never thought to take a wet brush to the pencils themselves.

I find I have more control with WC Pencils over pan watercolour = this coming from a background in oil, which, I believe, one has the greatest control over, overall.

Watercolour pencils are perfect to add to any art kit 👌.

looks amazing and easy to follow along , ❤️😍

So nice drawing my friend

Beautiful Sir 👌👌

I have always limited myself to pen and ink drawing. Got watercolors and a bit of a reach for me to "let go "...watercolor pencils may be my answer!

I hate watercolor pencils because I have no control of them with the skills I have currently. I hope to progress into watercolor and watercolor pencils in the future!

I love your tutorial videos. Could you please teach us how to do autumn scene?

I haven't ever use them so I can say that I love or hate them,, however, since most people begins their drawing hobbie/career with pencil I see it as a wonderful oportunity to have something that you control but still learn a new medium as is the watercolor, for that reason I think they are at least pretty useful

I am learning watercolor, and have invested in artist quality pans as well as pencils and hopefully soon at least some good primary hues in watercolor sticks. This is my medium of choice, at least for now. Hahaha And I am a member of your Virtual Instructor site. My question is, can you do a full piece or maybe more than one, where you use the same reference but produce three or four pieces, one from pan, one from pencil one from the sticks/crayons and maybe even watercolor marker? I would really like to see your insights as you work with the mediums, and as this develops I would go so far as to suggest that one series’s goal is realism and another series’ goal towards really leaning all in towards the uniqueness of each medium’s qualities in the end product. Yes it would be for your instructor watercolor series, not just a YT vid, but you could obviously edit for YT. This would really be added value for me, as a member, and I would be grateful if you take this idea and run with it. Thanks so much! 🎉

So far the few times I tried water color pencils I love the fact that I felt more like I was drawing but hated the fact that some of the colors when wet muddied areas close by 😆

Janine Boosey, Derwent 12 pencils fun to start , Castle 72 not bad, but Derwent are far superior I think.

water color pencils fit in my pocket, sit well in the coffee shop, and mix with printed pages.

I am bedbound and getting into my studio and painting is not an option atm. I can watercolour from bed and do sometimes but it's a very time-consuming set-up (with help), space consuming (paints/brushes/waters/mixing trays etc) and messy. I can use watercolour pencils with ease and much less mess.

That's super

I don’t necessarily hate watercolor pencils, I’m just inexperienced. It’s uncomfortable to work with because of the lesser control-I might lay down too much color or use too much/little water. I’ve used Derwent’s graphitint, which I think are water soluble graphite but they work the same way as watercolor pencils. I once put down the wrong color and found out once I applied the water. I couldn’t make corrections because the color was all over the place. But luckily, it was just a test painting.

I prefer standard colored pencils. I feel like I have more control over the colors as the blend after multiple layers. I also prefer a less intense feel - water color pencil have a more intense feel by default. That said I still enjoy both

Hmmm...why do I love or hate watercolor pencils? I cannot actually give a real answer to that since I have not done anything more than dabble with the small set I have recently acquired. I am terribly intimidated by them. I have not successfully figured out how best to utilize them, making a mess out of the projects I have tried with them thus far. I love the idea of how portable they are, so hope to one day master the techniques necessary to tackle this skill. It is a good adventure nonetheless, and each of the pleasant accidents is therapy to the soul. ~Pam

At the moment I'm having fun deliberately using the graininess of watercolor pencils on CP and rough paper. I can't afford the great granulating watercolors by Daniel Smith and Schminke, and this is a cheap substitute, especially for fun things like watercolor doodles.

very nice

love the bird Matt. Do you think the Kohinoor mondeluz watercolor pencils are good?

I haven’t yet had the courage to try my watercolor pencils.... yet

nice

Would be cool if you drawn painted whatever a lions head facing direct in front of you that would be dope

I love and hate watercolor pencils. I love how clean and easy they are to work with, but I hate the grainy look that I always seem to get. Now, honestly, that might be the cheap pencils I have, I don't know. Yours certainly did not look that way. Might be the paper I use. Thank you for your instruction.

did you ever say what pencils you were using? Loved the bird.

Hey can you make a bit more larger variety of water color pencils?

Hola!!!No puede haber subtitulos en español..GRACIAS🤔🤔

I don't really prefer watercolor pencils on their own as I like using them separately for a different and brighter effect (just my opinion) i.e. watercolour pencils over watercolor but then again it might be the quality of the pencils or the paper affecting my preference

I hate watercolor pencils because I don't know how to control them and where and how to lay down the colors. Whenever, I use them I feel as if the end result looks flat because the shadows are harsh and the highlights are unoticable. I hope I can improve with this medium soon!

Hello. I never really liked watercolor pencils. I just don’t like the grainy nature of them. I much prefer the smooth washes I can attain from traditional watercolor.

I'll use anything to learn. 😏yes, I think I'm going to start one way or the other.

Watercolor do the same and much more. And faster

I don't like the watercolors so much, because i always make a mess out of it. With the pencils you have more controle.

I love watercolors because using them loses control, but I hate watercolor pencils because I don't know how to use them.

Hi

I'm not a fan of watercolour pencils. I feel like they get between me and the painting, instead of being a conduit for what I want to express. There's just something deliciously engaging about mixing paint colour on the palette before moving onto the canvas. So much more complex. Watercolour pencils just don't do it for me.

Sorry but I don't know English language good

Sorry, but you don't really understand the watercolor pencils. You say that the bigger confidence , which people have in pencils in comparison to brushes, make the pencils interesting. But thats IMO just a very tiny aspect of the usage of these pencils. With watercolor pencils you should not use them as a substitution for brushes, instead they offer a quite different approach to watercolor paintings. It can be something in between drawing and painting, which is possible with the pencils. And you can get quite different results than with brushes, if you use the pencils.