Drawing Notes - Materials - Watersoluble Pencils

Water-soluble pencils are remarkably versatile, as they can not only be used as normal pencils for either line drawing or shading, but they can also be washed across with a wet, soft brush to create a watercolour effect.

Water-soluble coloured pencils contain solid sticks of coloured pigment that can be dissolved with water, making them valuable, multipurpose drawing tools.

Water-soluble graphite pencils work to the same principle, except when washed across they produce tones of grey instead of colour. Both types of pencils have great potential and are certainly worth experimenting with.

Try It Yourself

Take an orange and two water-soluble coloured pencils – orange and purple. Draw the outline of the fruit with the orange and block in the colour using the edge. Lightly shade the base with purple and wash over the colour, working from the light top to the darker base.


Step by Step Exercise

1. First block in the shapes with appropriate colours; don’t worry too much about tone at this stage.
2. Next, choose a warm colour such as purple or violet to draw on to the previous stage to create the shadows and darker tones. Then wash across the shapes with a wet brush.
3. The final stage illustrates the characteristics of water-soluble pencils – bright, strong colours and a fluid watercolour feel, yet with the solidity of a pencil drawing.