the creative journeys

Derivan Liquid Pencil

Faye — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:00:33 +0000

I was perusing online at Blick Art Materials several weeks ago (what else to do on a lazy Sunday morning, hehe), and I saw they had a new product listed under the ink category. It’s called ‘Derivan Liquid Pencil’. The product piqued my curiosity. ‘Liquid Pencil’? Isn’t that an oxymoron in itself? I googled it, read about the experience others had with this medium …. and in the end, by golly, I JUST HAD TO HAVE IT! As if I didn’t have enough art products to play with, hahaha!

Liquid pencil is essentially graphite in a water-based binder. It is available in two 50 ml formulas: permanent and rewettable. It comes in six tints: yellow, red, blue, sepia, grey 3 and grey 9. The permanent formula is exactly that …. once dry, the medium cannot be manipulated further. The rewettable formula, however, has more of a watercolor property. It can be lifted, reworked and erased.

The manufacturer, Matisse Derivan is an Australian company, so I thought I’d begin my search for an Australian art store that carry this product. I figured, Australian stores will have a better pricing since this is a local product for them. Shipping to Malaysia from Australia shouldn’t cost a bomb either because of the shorter distance (compared to the US).

A couple of weeks after placing my order (they didn’t have some of the colors I wanted in stock, so they had it backordered), I received my package. I bought four jars in red, blue, sepia and grey 9 … all in the rewettable formula.

Derivan Liquid Pencil Rewettable

Upon breaking the seal and opening the jar, I can already see the bits of graphite. I stirred it before use, as per the instructions, and found the texture to be runny EXCEPT for the red. Somehow, my red liquid pencil is goopy and was filled a little over the half way mark of the jar. Hmmm, weird …..

As usual, upon getting any new medium, I made a color chart out of it:

Derivan Liquid Pencil Color Swatches

I proceeded to test the product. My findings:

It dries to a matte finish.
It dissolves easily when I go over it with a damp brush once dry.
It preserves my brush strokes. I find it hard to lay down an even wash.
It erases off when dry, provided I use a hard eraser (my electric eraser did a wonderful job at this). The color Grey 9 erases easily and better than the tinted ones.

Here are two little sketches I did in my Aquabee Super Deluxe sketchbook using the blue and red liquid pencils respectively:

"Duo", sketched with Rewettable Liquid Pencil in Blue

"Curly Haired", sketched with Rewettable Liquid Pencil in Red

Personally, I like the blue and sepia colors. The blue reminds me of cold steel, and the sepia has a nostalgic, vintage feel to it. Both colors complement each other very well too. Red is just an okay color for me. Grey 9 looks like your normal everyday graphite (except it goes on like paint, that is), and I see it useful for outlining and adding definition to sketches made with other liquid pencil colors.

I’ve since poured the liquid pencils into a small pillbox for easy access (and less mess). I blasted the liquid with a hairdryer to make them harden a little. You can see how thicker and goopier (if there is such a word) my red liquid pencil is compared to the rest (the first compartment from the left), since it cracked upon drying.

Derivan Liquid Pencil (from top left): Red, Blue, Sepia, Grey 9

By the way, this pillbox will be another addition to my sketching kit, which I will use for making monochromatic sketches.

In the US, you can find the Derivan Liquid Pencil at Blick Art Materials. However, if your country is geographically nearer to Australia, you can get them where I bought mine, at ArtStore.

All Hung Up

Faye — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:37:23 +0000

A friend of mine commissioned me to paint two pictures of her and her husband. I was the photographer at their wedding in France last year, so the pictures they chose were the ones I had personally taken of them.

They had seen a sketch I did of a metro sign when I was in Paris and loved it, so I thought I would paint their portraits in a similar, ‘comic’ style: I outlined the line drawing with black liquid acrylic ink using a Tachikawa G-nib pen before filling those outlines with watercolor.

Laying the underpainting: Phthalo Green (Y/S) and Sap Green for the background and Quinacridone Rose for the skintone.

Almost done, adding the final touches!

Here are the finished works. I used Arches 140 lb hotpress watercolor paper for the portraits:

My friend from primary school Su-Im and her hubby Arnaud

This picture was posed at Arnaud's family farmhouse in Iguerande, France.

A few days ago, my friend sent me pictures of my artworks, framed and hanged on their home wall in Ipswich. I have to admit, the feeling of watching my own art being displayed in someone’s home is surreal!

An angled view of my artwork on display.

All hung up

Faber-Castell Albrecht Dürer Watercolor Pencils

Faye — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:39:41 +0000

One of my favorite online art supply stores, Artifolk, had a ‘buy 4 get 1 free’ offer on Faber-Castell Albrecht Dürer watercolor pencils. After doing some calculations to try justifying why I should purchase them, I finally gave in (hehehe) and ordered 20 pencils, which means I received 5 pencils free. By the way, I love Artifolk because their shipping fees to Malaysia for small items are very reasonable.

After less than a week since I’ve placed my order, my pencils arrived!

The colors shown in the photo are (from the bottom): Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Orange, Light Cadmium Red, Middle Cadmium Red, Fuchsia, Mauve, Light Ultramarine, Phthalo Blue, Prussian Blue, Light Phthalo Blue, Helio Turquoise, Cobalt Green, Phthalo Green, Leaf Green, Pine Green, Dark Naples Ochre, Burnt Sienna, Caput Mortuum Violet, Burnt Umber and Payne's Grey.

As usual, the customary color chart is a must!

Faber-Castell Albrecht Dürer Watercolor Pencils: Dry and Wet

I’ve left several spaces empty in my color chart because I plan on buying a few more colors. The stars beside the color names denote the lightfastness of the pigments. Faber Castell rates their lightfastness on a scale of three stars. Three stars being very permanent, and one star being fugitive. These pencils are very creamy and saturated. The first time I tested the colors, the first word that came out of my mouth was ‘WOW’. The colors are brilliant and bright! I’m in love with these pencils already.

I needed some time to get used to these pencils because I had trouble controlling the intensity of the colors. When I thought I had laid down a very light stroke of dry color, I ran it over with my waterbrush and the color became too intense for my taste. I’ve since discovered that a little goes a looooong way. By that I mean VERY little. If I wanted a light wash, I had to gently skim (almost barely touching) the pencils on the paper in large loose strokes.

After so many ruined sketches, I was finally able to produce a result that I like:

"The Moon in Her Hand", Watercolor Pencils on 9"x12" Canson Manga Drawing Paper

The sketch was done on a Canson Fanboy Manga drawing paper (a really good paper, I might add). The dots were painted with Daniel Smith iridescent watercolors.

Overall, I like these pencils. I can see them lasting a loooong time, judging from the intense saturation of the pigments. I plan to get 5 new colors in the upcoming weeks. Will update soon!

A Boy and His Cat

Faye — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 03:10:57 +0000

I took a picture of my son a few months ago, which cracked me up whenever I look at it.

He just came home from preschool. The family cat was sleeping on the carpet at the time. My boy then bent down to hug and squeeze the living daylights out of the poor creature, haha! On a whim, I did a quick sketch of the photo.

Rough sketch: Mechanical Pencil on Cachet Sketcbook

Since hubby and I loved the photo so much, I thought I’d immortalize it a bit further by making a small painting out of it:

"A Boy and His Cat", Watercolor and Liquid Acrylics on 7.5"x11" Arches 140 lb Hot Press Paper

Geisha In Waiting

Faye — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 16:23:12 +0000

Had plans to do some ACEOs revolving on multi-cultural women in costumes. You know what …. I never seem to be satisfied with the outcome. Blame it on my so-called quest for perfection, LOL!

So I drew up a series of Geisha sketches which I hope to turn into an ACEO. I did work on it, but it didn’t turn out the way I wanted to. Hmmm, y’know … at this rate of constantly abandoning my artwork, I’ll never get anything done. Here’s a scan of my sketchbook detailing the concept sketches.

The sketchbook was locally produced by A’zone Corp. The half-finished ACEOs which I taped to the sketchbook were done on Strathmore 400 smooth bristol paper. I colored it with Derwent Inktense pencils.