How to Use Inktense Watercolor Pencils

Set up your work space by placing a container of clean water, your brush and the colored pencils near your paper. Make a color chart of your colors by coloring a small block of each color onto a strip of paper. Place the number of the color from the pencil next to the color on the paper. Do this until you have all the colors on the strip of paper.

Moisten the paint brush with clean water. Wet half of the colored block and pull the color outward. This allows you to see the pencil color and the moistened effects. Clean the brush with water after moistening each color. This will help you quickly identify which colors you wish to use when painting.

Understand that a rough watercolor paper will add texture to the painting. If you want a smoother appearance to the painting, use a hot press paper. Using the broad side of the pencil will give you wide swaths of color. The tip of the pencil offers finer lines and tick marks.

Use a scribbling method with one or two colors to make a color blend texture. Moisten the brush and apply the water to the color. To keep the texture, gently wash the brush over the surface. For a softer look, rub the brush gently onto the color. To lessen any possibility of hard lines when the water dries, simply pick up clean water on the brush and wash the edges of the color outward until the color disappears completely.

To work on a moist area, wet a clean section of paper with clean water from the paint brush. Use the colored pencil to draw on the paper. The color will soften slightly and can be worked somewhat with the brush, but the hard lines will remain. Once the color is dry it becomes permanent.

Create bits of texture by wetting the paper with clean water from the brush. Use the craft knife to scrape color from the pencils onto the wet surface. The color will start to soften. Moisten the brush with water and lightly touch the scraped bits of color with the tip of the brush. The color will soften more, but still remain vibrant. This creates depth.

Know that glazing can be done with these pencils by applying color to the paper with the clean wet brush. Let it dry. Apply the next color to the paper over the first color (or a section of the first color) and moisten that color with the brush.