Watercolor Pencils

I disagree with this, it's down to personal preference what you use, not what you're comfortable with, and you can just as good results if you've got the skill.

I use watercolour pencils for eyebrows (pencils must be VERY sharp for this and many light strokes make for realistic hairs), and sometimes eyeliner.

 

Pencils can do wonderful things, I have seen them used for lashes, and brows mostly, this when layered with pastels can give you beautiful depth. I use white on the lips and occationally in the lashes.

I would suggest that you buy a few single watercolor pencils in browns or blacks or what have you as different brands can behave differently, and there is a huge variation in artists preference.

As for the msc.. Winsor newton brush cleaner. Get a ziplock bowl fill it up with the cleaner and stick the whole head in. leave it for 15 minutes to 2 hours. Get an old tooth brush pull it out and scrub it. then two drops of regular dishsoap will help wash the residue away.

 

For removing msc, dipping a small piece of magic eraser into the Winsor newton brush cleaner takes it off with in a couple minutes. I find the combination of both works wonders.

Watercolor pencils are awesome. Actually my IOS gin is done in nothing but pencils. The lips are colored by about 5 or 6 different colors, just a bunch of lines it's crazy. Only thing that's not is the pastel eye shadow o.o The pencil looks just as good as paint I think.

 

I agree - in fact, if you want paint, watercolour pencils can be used like paint, as well, lifting the colour off with the tip of you brush, or be used wet on dry or dry on wet. You can 'blend' them with a stiff, dry brush just like pastels, or work subtractively, with a bit of plastic, kneaded -or even Magic!- eraser. Additionally, you can tote them around easily and -unlike acrylics- never gum up, dry up, or separate; they are unaffected by extreme heat or cold.

And -bonus!- they are great to draw with, too!

 

I love using watercolor pencils for freckling (usually dry or blotted with a slightly damp Q-tip) and also for the pink (wet) or red along the upper and lower inner eyelids. I, too, have found that paint is generally better, but I think pencils can be wonderful for tiny touch-up areas, especially if your hands like to shake on you. Two cents.

 

I'll have to agree. I'm comfortable with acrylics and watercolor pencils...but I just prefer the pencils. I use them for my eyelashes, brows and sometimes lip lines. You have to keep them sharp but you get wonderful effects, I think. I do use them for freckles, but you have to be careful cause sometimes you can just end up with small circles instead of blots of color...that or it just looks like stippling. :/

 

I haven't gotten the hang of pencils just yet, but I do agree that they're really good for freckles. I haven't tried using it on the lips yet though.

And I've never used msc, but one option for the pastels is to maybe let it sit a bit longer? Sounds like it wasn't quite dry... But like I said, I've never used it. Just a thought.

 

I use them for tattoos, they give a more realistic look than painted acrylic in my opinion. I've also seen them used for brows, lashes and eyeliner with good results. I use pastels and acrylic for my faceups, I just recently got my pencils and gave faceups to all my boys before. I might give them a go on future dolls to see how I like the look.

 

i don't have any confident, yet, using acrylic for eyebrows...so for that, i'd rather use watercolor pencil or just color pencil...i draw a 'basic' line for the eyebrows using a water-erasable spidol , then when the line is perfect, i then use color pencil to draw the hair along the line...keep the tip of the pencil pointy so, you can draw fine hair easier...at the same time, be careful of fragile pointy tip...if you break it, it will ruin the brows...i did (-.-)'...there was like a spot on the brows...i redid it again...(-.-)'

for this part, it's easier since i don't have any experience at all...besides, i didn't have super fine 0000 brush...perhaps, next time, i'll encourage myself to use acrylic...i already got the superfine brush.

 

Ok so I have a really stupid question, should you use the pencils wet or dry or does it depend on what you are doing. I would think for sharp lip lines or eyelashes you would use dry, but I just don't know really.

 

Everyone has their own preferences and will tell you something different. I use watercolor pencils dry and sharpened as much as possible. I use them for eyebrows and eyelashes, then use paint for eyeliner and liplines. I've done faceups with just pastel and watercolor pencil since I lost my tiny pantbrush T_T As for the MSC, it can effect the pastels and watercolor pencils if you spray it too close or spray too much in one coat.

Watercolor pencil + pastel eyebrow


entirely pastel/watercolor pencil faceup
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v289/AliciaYuy/IMG_4182.jpg

 

is it posible to us the water colour pencils to draw in the bottom eye lashes....i suck at painting them in

 

yes it is, the pencil shall just be really sharp but it will not be as pretty as if they were painted but it a lot better than nothing

 

yeah thank you and all i can say is i really wish i was good at painting sall stiff like eyelashes

 

i'm actually curious to ask this but has anyone tried using normal pencil crayons instead of water colour?

 

i think i have heard it could stain the resin ,so i dont think it is a good idea to try.

 

Actually, using watercolor pencils to draw lower lashes can be just as nice as painting them. The trick is to keep the pencil extremely sharp, like poke your eye out sharp. I keep an emery board (though fine grade sandpaper will work as well) beside my project & rub the pencil on it every couple of strokes. Once you seal them, the watercolor pencil is practically indisguishable from paint.

As far as eyebrows, I like to lay down a base coat of pastels in the right shape then draw in the individual hairs with the pencils. When doing face-ups I use very little actual paint, really just to outline the insides of the eyewell & occasionally a metallic color on the lips or eyelids when I can't get a metallic powder deep enough. Personally I have much more control with dry medium than wet.

 

Not a good idea. Regular colored pencils or even crayons are wax or oil based & not suitable for resin. They can stain & even cause deterioration over time.

 

Question time! I've read so many different threads, I get confused where I see things at, so excuse my not asking in the right place or whatever. (or move me, that's fine, my bad).

Ok, I did my first faceup. I coated with ZM finishing spray, let dry for 2 hours or so, and coated again, let dry overnight. I applied pastels and watercolor pencil.

I did have problems getting the watercolor pencil to go on smoothly, and while removing unwanted pastel was easy enough, the pencil was kinda stubborn.

My biggest fear is the lip area. I was using a kneaded eraser to attempt to remove the watercolor pencil that went astray. Is it at all possible I could have 'erased too hard' and removed my finishing spray and thus now be asking for stained resin?

I feel like all my prior research only indicated that you shouldn't remove mistakes with the Mr Clean Eraser because it would take off the layers, and hadn't seen anything on kneaded erasers. While in the process of the faceup I felt ok, but now that I've had a few days to think about it, I'm worried.

Do I need to scrub off the lip area and re-coat w/ ZM and do it again? Please say no

 

You should be fine.
Also, the easiest way to remove water colour pencils if you mess up is to use a cotton ball or piece of paper towel that's damp, and you just rub it off gently. Just make sure the spot is dry before you try to re-add watercolour pencil.

 

I've got to try this some day! Does watercolor work just as fine on Vinyl? Or is there a variation in how much layers..?

 

I really like the tip abut wearing gloves or keeping hands dry when doing face-ups. I'm sure this will make my life a TON easier XD

 

How do you make the watercolor pencil look like paint? I mean, I tried using them with water but it just ended up a mess (lines were too thick and WAY too bright) and on their own, they look kind of rough, not smooth like it seems everyone else's turn out.
Here is the link to one of my tries: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2665/3737305247_4afc14bdb6_o.jpg

Halp!

 

Keep in thin and avoid layering it directly - if you need to go over a spot again to get it darker, give it a spray coating of MSC and then draw again over it. That way you don't get the grainy clump bits. I've also heard of dipping a sharp tip in water to get a more liquid line, but that might sacrifice some detail/thinness in your lines.

 

Oh yeah! with a good brand of pencils and a tiny bit of water, you can make magic ^^ plust not need to coat before or afterwards, it just washes off ^^

 

Awesome post! I just bought the Derwent watercolor pencils and used it to make the freckles on my Ante more visible, they were barely visible from the default makeup she came with. I did not use any coating before doing it, because I assume it was coated in factory. I am debating if I should coat the freckles though or leave them be, and if I rub them off by accident, I just reapply them again. Since it is default makeup and I like it, I don't want to destroy it and I don't want to take my doll apart to coat it, I would have no clue how to put it back together, even if its just head. Today I discovered that hands are on magnets and took me good 15 minutes to snap them back on I don't want to be taking her eyes and lashes out either. I used the pencils on my mom's 50 year old vinyl doll, I did her eyebrows and they came out ok. I'm not coating her since mom said I can always repaint her. I used spotter brush I found at Michaels for it.

 

Hi I was wondering if anyone knows if 'thomas kinkade watercolor pencils' are safe to use? I think they are made by roseart. thanks.

 

Cheap easy and awesome.

Prismicolor water color pencils. (no wax)
Citadel paints from a hobby shop (great latex in a pot)
Citadel gloss
and GW Citadel purity seal.

I love my prismicolor pencils. I got them at school for my art class. I never liked them as a pencil but they are awesome to use on doll faces. Just dip the tip of the pencil in warm water and draw. It's smooth and the same quality as water color paints.

 

I have an old set of watercolor pencils somewhere, I am absolutely thrilled to hear all the positive reviews! I can finally get some use out of those things.

Think I could make a lovely tattoo work with them? I'm thinking a jellyfish in yellow, pink and baby blue.

 

I love the Prismicolor watercolor pencils! They have been working great for me so far.