Castle Art Watercolour Pencils Review
Castle Art Watercolour Pencils Review.
Before I get into the actual review I just want to point out the spelling of colour, ordinarily, colour is a word I need write a lot, but I tend to stick to the American spelling of the word Color, due to a couple of reasons. However, when I am writing about a product, wherever they may originate from, if the particular company in question uses the English spelling of the word then I will adopt that spelling for the review. I know a lot of people don’t care one way or the other, but I know some people do and so I just wanted to explain myself.
I have reviewed the Castle Art Coloured Pencils before of which I personally loved them and considering their price point, are a wonderful set of pencils for coloured pencil artists of so many genres. I have also reviewed the Castle Art Graphite Sketch Set which I also really liked, again the low cost and wide range of tools supplies in the set makes the set very desirable. This time we are taking a look at the Castle Arts Watercolour Pencils and hopefully this review will be helpful for some of you.
Castle Art Watercolour Pencils Sets
As things currently stand, there is very little in the way of set selection for the Castle Arts Watercolour Pencils, but I suspect this falls mainly down to the cost of the pencils which I will of course get into.
Castle Arts only supply a 72 set of their watercolour pencils, however they do provide two different sets of the 72 range. One of the sets is in the tradition tin and the other is in a sturdy zip wallet. Castle Arts have done a really good job in my opinion offering the wallet format in lots of their other ranges, many coloured pencil artist after purchasing a tin set of pencils will actually purchase a wallet to hold their pencils, so this is a nice touch.
Castle Art Watercolour Pencils Characteristics
Unlike the Castle Arts Coloured Pencils which sport a round barrel, their Watercolour Pencils sport a hexagonal shape, which many colored pencil artists prefer purely from a stability stand point on their desks, preventing a lot of pencils from rolling off the desk onto the floor shattering the core.
The Castle Arts Watercolour Pencil displays a solid black barrel of 7.4mm and held within the barrel is a 3.4mm core of pure pigment goodness. Along one side of the barrel is the Castle Arts logo and name printed in silver foil, which can be difficult to read occasionally depending on lighting. Further along the barrel is a silver band separating the black barrel from the inch and a half pigment identifier.
Printed along the same side of the barrel on the actual pigment identifier is the word “Watercolor”, incidentally going back to my introduction, you may notice that the word watercolor on the barrel is the American spelling of the word as opposed to the English spelling of the word on the tin. I think Castle are trying to please both artists from the coloured pencil community with strong feelings toward the spelling of color.
On the opposite side of the barrel the pigment name is printed along the black barrel again in silver foil, closely followed by a number printed on the pigment identifier which corresponds to the actual pigment of that particular pencil.
I did encounter a few issues with cores breaking when sharpening; the wood of the barrel took well to being sharpened, it was just about five colours that continuously shattered when sharpening occurred no matter which type of sharpener I used.
Its important to understand that this is not actually a reflection on the entirety of the Castle Arts Watercolour Pencils, unfortunately as coloured pencil artist, I guess occasional breaking cores is part and parcel of the medium. The are many factors which could cause such an issue and whilst frustrating when it occurs, of which it has occurred in some of the most expensive pencils I have reviewed as well, it is just simply one of those things.
Castle Arts Watercolour Pencil Performance
When I first started out creating some art work with the Castle Art Watercolour Pencils, I started to draw a pinkish Orchid with lots of pink shades of which there are ample in the 72 set. I encountered two problems along the way which forced me to change the subject of the art work. Of the five or so pencils that lost their cores during sharpening, three or four of them happened to be the pinks I needed. I also had a bit of a health issue which forced me to stop working for a week or so and when I returned to the artwork I just wasn’t really feeling the work. So this was partly due to me and partly the core issue.
I then decided to create an autumn leaf given that we are currently in Autumn and I think I had much more success with this painting. Only one of the colours I was using for this particular piece experienced the core issues which didn’t really hinder me too much. I was able to work on and well with the palette I needed to complete this piece. I did so on Strathmore 400 Series Watercolor Paper Cold Press, so the paper had a bit of tooth to it which I feel for the art created, served me well.
As you can see from the swatches below, I have provided both a dry and wet swatch, I feel with water soluble pencils it is important to display the pigments both dry and wet, this way you can clearly see exactly how the pigments will change from dry to wet. In my opinion, considering the low cost of the Castle Arts Watercolour Pencils the pigments are incredible. The skin tone colours always appear a little washed out once activated, however, this is not exclusive to Castle Art Water Soluble pencils this applies to so many watercolour pencils that I have tested and reviewed, even some of the highest quality. I think that the flesh tone pigments are difficult to maintain once water is added to them.
The image I have added below is the result of a real time demonstration I completed on my YouTube video review of the Castle Arts Watercolour Pencils. This image shows cases the excellent quality of the water solubility in the Castle Watercolour Pencils, in my experience, low quality watercolour pencils will leave pencil strokes under the paint, which really shouldn’t happen unless that is the specific look you are trying to accomplish, as soon as you activate the pigment with water, it should all turn to paint.
The over all quality of the pigments in the Castle Watercolor pencils is excellent considering the price point of the pencils. I did have some issue with cores shattering when sharpening the pencils, however, unfortunately this is part and parcel of being a pencil artist. All mediums have their pit falls and shattered cores is ours, but this does not mean that the entire range of Castle Watercolour Pencils is flawed, far from it. Of all the water soluble pencils that I have tested and reviewed, from the most expensive to the least expensive, they have all had the odd shattered core. Unfortunately there are a multitude of reasons behind ending up with a shattered core rendering your pencil limited, some of those reasons can be self inflicted, unintentional damage from dropping the pencil or standing on it.. However, sometimes it can be a very small or simple flaw in that particular batch, but it will not be replicated in future batches.
Castle Arts Watercolour Pencil Prices.
As I mentioned above, there is only one set size from Castle Arts in their Watercolour Pencil range. For artists in the UK you can expect to pay the following prices for the Castle Arts Watercolour Pencils 72 Sets. For the Tin of 72 Castle Arts Watercolour Pencil you can expect to pay £35.99 and for the 72 Wallet set you can expect to pay £34.99
For artists in the US the Castle Arts Watercolour Pencils 72 Set in a Wallet will cost you approximately $37.99 unfortunately at the time of writing this review I was unable to locate the tin on Amazon US, however I will update the review as and when the item becomes available.
For Colored Pencil artist in Europe you can expect to pay the following for the Castle Arts Watercolour Pencils. For the 72 set in a tin you can expect to pay approximately €35.99 for the 72 set in a wallet you can expect to pay €34.99
Castle Arts Watercolour Pencils Lightfast Information
For the most part, as soon as you see a set of pencils that are quite inexpensive, that is an indication that there is not going to be any lightfast ratings, but that is absolutely okay because not all colored pencil artists are doing commissions, there is a wide range of areas colored pencil artists dip into such as adult colouring books and lightfastness is not a necessity.
First Layer
There are a few exceptions to the rule above but for the most part, cost will give you a good idea as to lightfast information, the process colored pencil manufactures have to go through in order to have their products lightfast tested is an expensive one and this reflects in the product price.
Second Layer
Despite the strong pigments in the Castle Arts Watercolour Pencils and the joy of using them, they are not lightfast tested and so this is something you have to take into consideration when making a purchase.
Third Layer
Castle Arts Watercolour Pencils Conclusion
From start to finish I really enjoyed using the Castle Arts Watercolour Pencils, I wish I had not fallen ill in the middle of doing the first image I was trying to create, the Orchid, but I did and changed to a much simpler image in the Autumn Leaf. I thought this image would help show and demonstrate the contrasting colors within the 72 palette and help to display the pigment strength in the pencils.
I have already mentioned the issues I had with a few of the pencil cores, which whilst incredibly frustrating it is unfortunately part and parcel of being a colored pencil artist and I know this is going to sound really gushy, but I am still going to say it. The colored pencil medium and community has literally saved my life, I have spent the last four years researching, testing, demonstrating and reviewing many different colored pencils to the point I feel completely infused with the colored pencil. I feel honoured to be part of such a community and medium to the extent I can embrace even the frustrating aspects of this beautiful medium, shattered cores.
If you are interested, I would love for you to check out my YouTube review of the Castle Arts Watercolour Pencils, I have also completed a YouTube speed painting of the autumn leaf, it is a short and simple video however I hope it helps to demonstrate the strength of the Castle Arts Watercolor Pencils. Finally I have also completed a page here on The Art Gear Guide with some still images of the art work for you to inspect closer. Don’t forget you can also follow me on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, I am always posting upcoming giveaways, live stream dates, WIP images and a lot more.
