Sakura Koi Watercolor Field Sketch Set Review

(This is a guest post by Nick Folz. You can find more of Nick and his work on his blog, Smallberry Drive, Twitter, and Instagram.)

I am barely scraping by here on a technicality. Sure, this is a watercolor set, not a pen ... but it comes with a water brush that could be loosely defined as a brush pen?

Regardless of the rules here, this watercolor set does indeed rule. The Sakura Koi Watercolor sets come in a wide variety of sizes, from 12 to 48 color palettes. I picked up this 30 color variety because I wanted to try out a new range of colors. I had been using an Artist Loft 36 color set which was fine, but was running low on a few hues and wanted to try something different, so I picked up this kit at a local art store.

First impression is that the kit itself It’s neat and cute. It is a small rectangle clamshell that snaps open and shut. Inside is a small pallete to mix colors with, two small sponges, a water brush, and 30 pigment cubes. The pallete has short legs that slide into small holes placed around the base. The water brush must be dissembled to fit back into place but it has a small stopper so you can leave it loaded with water for travel. On the back side of the case there is a small ring that can be flipped out so you can hold it easier if you are painting outside, or on the couch.

The 30 colors are pretty decent. I like a few less yellows, but your mileage may vary. Some of the color cubes are very dark, so you might not know what pigment you are picking up until you mix it on the pallete. I noticed that if you don't go pretty light on some of the colors they don't break down completely and you end up with a chalky tone, but if you start light and work darker they are fine.

The water brush included is serviceable, but nothing great. It does have an odd feature in that the tip screws on in the opposite direction than you would expect: Righty loosey, lefty tighty. The water flow is slow and deliberate, but if you don't have that sucker lefty tightened all the way down then water will come out of the seam and not the brush tip. I want to replace it, but my other brush pens are filled with ink, and it isn't so bad that replacing it has taken priority, so it stays.

The sponges are something I didn't think I'd use, but I use them all the time. I didn't ever keep sponges around when watercoloring before, I always kept a paper towel with me instead. The sponges can be used to clean pigment off the brush, remove excess water, or to make textured patterns on the artwork. Their addition makes this a one stop shop for watercoloring and I find myself using them more often because of the convenience.

Convenience is the key for me here, because I'm not alone or unique in that I feel busy all of the time. Free time is rare and short, and there are no shortage of things vying for a slice of it: Books I should read, shows I want to watch, games I want to play, episodes of a certain pen podcast I want to listen too. Anything that removes some barriers gets bumped up in the queue, and since I've purchased this kit I've found myself watercoloring more often, and enjoying it more than before. Is the water brush great? No. Are there better quality watercolors out there? Sure. Does this kit make me a better artist? Well, it allows me to paint more often, and that is worth the price of admission.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Stabilo Woody 3-in-1 Watercolor Pencils Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter.)

There's an element of "jack of all trades, master of none" to these...pencils? Crayons? Paints? But that doesn't stop the Stabilo Woody 3-in-1 Watercolor Pencils from being a fun family activity. They're designed for kids and they passed my rigorous kid-test with flying colors.

The wood case is made from sustainable wood, with a break-resistant core. They're short and bulky, like the jumbo crayons marketed for preschoolers. They're a bit uncomfortable to hold, I felt, and the thick core only allows for the boldest of bold lines.

The core is very soft and lays down a smooth thick layer of color. It could easily achieve solid coverage on smooth paper. When you add water to the applied color, the results vary somewhat. Some colors are more soluble than others--black dissolves almost completely and spreads nicely, but silver doesn't appear to be soluble at all. Most colors are somewhere in-between, with at least a little of the original crayon line still visible after painting. I also tried dipping the crayon in water and drawing, but the core is too waxy to work well that way. It repels water rather than absorbing it, so I'd get maybe two strokes of painted line, and then it would return to a normal dry crayon line. Wetting the paper first and applying the color to the wet page created a neat feathering effect as some of the pigment ran, but the crayon line is still clearly visible. This could make for some really fun blending techniques.

Despite the heavy line put down by these, it doesn't take much color to get a rich puddle of watercolor. I think a wonderful use for these (for those of us who aren't inclined toward thick crayon art-making) is in creating washes or backgrounds for journals or other media. A fine layer blends into a lovely background with enough remaining texture to add some nice depth. Once the wash is dry, you can write or draw over it. The crayons even write well over themselves, creating some fun layered effects. They also work on different colored paper--and, because they are water-soluble, on chalkboards and glass. I haven't tested them on glass yet, but I'm envisioning some festive holiday window art.

After asking my eldest to test these, he has officially claimed them. He's never been the type to sit and color (or sit at all, for that matter), so he only reluctantly agreed to try these, and promised only a small, quick sketch. Instead, he patiently covered every inch of the large A3 watercolor paper. And then he liked them so much just as crayons, he resisted my suggestion to add water. And then when I convinced him to at least try adding water, he enjoyed that so much, he painted over the whole thing. Y'all, I got a good half-hour of peace and quiet out of it. And a lovely piece of art.

The crayons/pencils/paints come in sets of 6, 10, or 18. They're also available as open stock--but as far as I can tell, you need to buy a set to get the custom-sized sharpener. I'm not sure what other sharpener might fit these beasts. One thing the sets do not come with is a paintbrush. Instead, the 18-color set comes with a perplexing cardstock-cutout of a paintbrush in a compartment where you're clearly meant to place your own brush. I imagine it's there to indicate that "no, we didn't forget to add your brush--you just don't get one". These sets aren't cheap, and I feel like they really ought to come with a brush. Even a skimpy plastic one. If you plan to order these, be sure to have a brush on hand, or order one at the same time.

As for offering my recommendation, if you have an aspiring young artist in your life, I think these would be a big hit. But if your resident artist is old enough to take care of their art supplies, I'd actually recommend the Derwent Inktense Pencils instead. They create a better watercolor effect, are fine enough to color smaller details, and are considerably less expensive. They can't tackle as many surfaces as the Woodys though. If you want to color on the windows (and I had no idea how much I really do want to color on the windows until today), you want these. They'd also be great for drawing strategically-placed mustaches on the bathroom mirror. Art is art.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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JetPens Watercolor Starter Kit: A Review

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

I’ve always been fascinated by watercolors and the people who can paint with them. I love seeing Hobonichi and Traveler’s Notebook pages that people have done in watercolor and envisioned myself one day doing the same. Although I may never get to the point where I can record every day using watercolor and washi tape, I wanted to give watercolors a try.

JetPens has a terrific watercolor starter kit for $36.00. It includes a Maruman New Soho Series Sketchpad, a Pentel Aquash water brush, a black Sakura Pigma Micron pen, a white Uni-ball Signo Broad gel pen, a 3H Uni Mitsubishi 9000 pencil (I never used this), and a set of Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors..

I sat down one morning and began painting. I started with my usual horse picture (that’s one thing I can sort of reliably draw, though this one’s legs are a bit long).

Then I did a small pumpkin that was decorating our dining room table.

Next I made a rather sad attempt at an empty coffee mug.

Then I painted what I think is a pretty darn good rendition of an antique vase.

And finally, I painted one of our kitties, Hermione.

I must say I’m impressed with this kit. The paper works reasonably well, though it does curl up after being wet. Maybe all paper does that with watercolors, I don’t know.

You can see the paper curled slightly.

The Sakura Pigma pen is terrific for the base drawing, and it definitely doesn’t smudge when wet.

The Pentel water brush is adequate, though I also used a bowl of water to rinse the brush out between colors. I’m sure, if I continue this watercolor thing, I’ll want to buy some nicer brushes. But for now, this one works.

I absolutely love the vivid colors of the Kuretake set. Usually, when I think of watercolors, I think pastel. But I really like the dark reds, browns, blues, and greens in this collection. The black is a true black, and the white is a great addition for lightening colors or adding subtle highlights.

I used the Uniball Signo for stronger highlighting (and whiskers) and for covering up mistakes.

I highly recommend this set for anyone who wants to try their hand at watercolors. I’m planning on buying The Complete Watercolorist’s Essential Notebook to help me learn better techniques. There’s something incredibly soothing about painting with watercolors–it’s like meditating with a brush.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)