Draw, sketch, paint and fill your day with color.
I got some new watercolor pencils from Moleskine: Urban Nomad Watercolor Pencils
The pencils come in a slim matte black tin with paper wrappers. The color range is of 12 interesting color pencils, the color in the box I picked up, are really different from others I have seen in other brands. The box is lightweight and the pencils are not round, they have 4 rounded sides. They fit perfectly with the rest of Moleskine’s design esthetic but the main reason why I got the colored pencils is that they are water-soluble. Maybe they are a little pricey at $22 but, in general, they are higher quality than other brands.
Moleskine Urban Nomad watercolor pencils are not the typical range of 12 color pencils.
Usually, sets have the basic colors that you find in the color wheel and some standard colors that come in almost every set you find in the art supply store. This set has a different more unusual range. Another fun thing is that the names of the colors are not the common “international” names. For example, one is called “Moss Green – in the cracks”.
1 Dusk Lilac – between adventures
2 Street Sign Orange – art work ahead
3 Brick Brown – built-in heat
4 Dusty Purple – retro velvet
5 Spring Green – fresh starts here
6 Bench Green – pause for thought
7 Honey Yellow – sweet haze
8 Swirl Grey – enveloping mist
9 Rust Yellow – worn but warm
10 Moss Green – in the cracks
11 Compass Rose – find direction
12 Dive Turquoise – just leap in
In the product description, I read “Each shade evokes the feelings, thoughts and memories gathered on our ordinary and extraordinary journeys. ” I think this text shows the thoughts behind the unusual color range they put into the tin.
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I made 4 tests and you can see the results above.
A: The first is simply using a dry pencil on dry paper.
B: Drawing on dry paper and then paint over with a wet brush.
When activating the swatches with a brush I had good control over the colors. The hues are true to their dry state but become a lighter shade and this is great for shading.
C: I smeared water on the page with a wet brush and then drew on the wet paper.
This gave a very dark shade true to the hue of the dry state
D: I dipped the pen tip into the jar of water and drew on the paper. (You are not really supposed to do this as you may damage the wood, but I wanted to see the effect.)
Overall I got a wide range of shades with these 4 techniques.
The design is all cleverly thought through for bringing it on to a trip.
The stripes on the pencil are just fantastic for the “thumb-and-pencil method” of finding size, proportion, and angle of the subject.
To find the proportion just place the pencil in your hand and then hold it at an arm’s length between your eye and the object and use the strips for measurement, just like a ruler.
What I love
- The pencils are almost square, not round! (“square cross-section for a naturally inspiring grip”) When you lay the pencils down on the table, it is more likely they stay in one place and don’t roll on the floor – Yeaaaa!
- You can use them for measuring/estimate proportions.
- The control over the colors when they go from dry to wet.
- The color range.
- The stripes on the pencil.
- The tin is lightweight, slim and slips easily into a bag.
I found that it is a big plus for me that the box is lightweight and I find the unusual colors are great for sketching people, especially for laying down the first lines in the sketch. The color doesn’t take over the others but integrates with them and that makes it perfect for shading and shadowing. If you make a mistake it is easy to erase using the water and the brush.
My overall impression is that this set is very well designed for going on a trip and sketching outside. There are lots of original ideas that I haven’t seen in any of the mainstream brands, for example, putting the stripes on the pencil before, for the “thumb-and-pencil method”, and making a pencil that doesn’t roll of the table or whatever unstable surface you may have when drawing outside. And it is a big plus that the colors are very different from most other competing watercolor pencils and selected for drawing in an urban environment.
Maybe it is because of the fact that Moleskin is not a mainstream art supply brand but are into selling notebooks, sketchbooks, 12-MONTH DAILY PLANNER and travel accessories (LUGGAGE, bags) This has given them a new different outlook. I will keep an eye on this brand for other innovative ideas for the traveling artist.
Woop dee doo! I think I will bring them everywhere.
If you are interested in these also pencils, you should be aware that they have two sets, “Naturally Smart” and Urban Nomad Watercolor Pencils and I here I have tested the Urban Nomad set.
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Great review thank you!
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