Tag: Luminance

Handmade Bookmark with Colored Pencil Swatches

I explained how I made these bookmarks in my previous post. As a testament of how easy they are to make with the right tools, I made another one in the same night!

I used colored pencil swatches for this one. The top swatch is Faber-Castell Polychromos; the middle swatch is Prismacolor Premier Soft Core; and the bottom swatch is Caran d’Ache Luminance .

Search for the Best Colored Pencil Paper: Part 3 – Legion Stonehenge Aqua Cold Press

Full disclosure: I love every single Stonehenge paper product I’ve tried. They are perfection, plain and simple. The Aqua Cold Press is no exception.

Available in pads, blocks, and sheets.
Closeup of texture
Sheet thickness

In Part 1 of my search for the best colored pencil paper, I described the differences between the 4 brands of colored pencil I’m using in my test: Caran d’Ache Luminance, Caran d’Ache Pablo, Faber-Castell Polychromos, and Prismacolor Premier Soft Core. The differences between the properties of pencils affect the way they will perform on the paper, so it’s worth a quick read if you aren’t familiar with the pencils.

Before I did a more methodical test, I just wanted to play a bit with gradients of my two favorite pencils: Luminance (wax-based) and Polychromos (oil-based). They both preformed exceptionally well, however Luminance applied more smoothly. It’s worth noting that the scraps I used were trimmed from the edges of a watercolor I was working on and, despite being banged up, they still easily accepted thick layers of color.

Left: Caran d’Ache Luminance; Right: Polychromos

Then I moved on to test all four of the brands I mentioned above. From left to right, the colors I used are as follows:

  1. Polychromos – Rose Madder Lake
  2. Polychromos – Skyblue
  3. Prismacolor – Lilac
  4. Luminance – Spring Green
  5. Pablo – Orange *
  6. Luminance –Anthraquinoid Pink
  7. Luminance – Light Malachite Green
  8. Pablo – Lemon Yellow
  9. Prismacolor – Non-Photo Blue
  10. Polychromos – Dark Cadmium Yellow
*I snagged the paper with a sharp pencil point on the 5th square. Despite it looking like a total mess right after it happened, I was able to use some Gamsol mineral spirits to smooth out the color.

The Verdict

Stonehenge Aqua Cold Press is an excellent choice for both oil and wax based colored pencils. I slightly preferred the wax-based pencils to the oil-based pencils, because they allowed a couple more layers of coverage. The application is velvety-smooth even after several layers of color have been added. There was virtually no wax bloom to speak of. This paper is at the top of my list for both watercolor AND colored pencil projects.

Here is a 🟢 BONUS DOT 🟢 showing 1) light, 2) medium, 3) heavy, and 4) burnished Polychromos application.

Search for the Best Colored Pencil Paper: Part 2 – Arches Rough Watercolor Paper

After trying typical drawing paper for colored pencils (Bistol smooth/vellum, Strathmore colored pencil paper, etc.) and being unhappy with the results, I zoomed in on watercolor paper as a better option. The texturized surface and thickness of the cotton allow for more layers of color and fuller coverage.

There are so many brands and types to try, which is another reason I’m excited to use watercolor paper for colored pencil art. However, there were certain kinds I didn’t think would translate well. One of papers that I assumed would preform poorly was Arches Rough Watercolor. Spoiler alert: I loved it.

A block of Arches Rough.

As you can see from the picture below, Arches Rough is heavily texturized. I thought it would be too toothy for colored pencils, but it turned out to be an absolute joy to work with. The toothiness was part of the fun of application.

Here is my test strip, using the following brands of pencils: Carand’Ache Pablo, Caran d’Ache Luminance, Faber-Castell Polychromos, and Prismacolor Premier Soft Core. Refer to Part 1 of this series for a description of the pencils.

Colors (left to right) are:

  1. Pablo – Grass Green
  2. Pablo – Cobalt Blue
  3. Luminance – Orange
  4. Polychromos – Indanthrene Blue
  5. Prismacolor – Dahlia Purple
  6. Prismacolor – Spanish Orange
  7. Polychromos – Cobalt Blue
  8. Polychromos – Light Green
  9. Luminance – Scarlet
  10. Polychromos – Light Yellow Glaze

The verdict: all of the pencils performed well on Arches Rough. The wax-based pencils (Luminance and Prismacolor) worked the best. They applied like butter and resulted in full coverage. I was also able to get full coverage with the oil-based pencils (Polychromos and Pablo), but it took a bit more pressure. The paper allowed for multiple layers of color for each brand of pencil.

I will definitely keep Arches Rough Watercolor Paper on hand for colored pencil art. It isn’t a great everyday paper due to its unique finish, but it will be great for projects where you want to draw focus to highly-texturized objects.

Stay tuned for Part 3 on Stonehenge Aqua Cold Press watercolor paper!