Water Soluble Wax Pastels: Neocolor II
Caran D’ Ache Neocolor II: I love them
Recently I stopped by a Dick Blick and bought some open stock of several different types of water soluble media, that I haven’t yet tried. I bought a few of these things (photo left) and fell in love.
They lay down pigment beautifully. They are not as soluble as I am used to, but make up for it with ease of application and pigment coverage.
Working on suede they seemed to burnish it down quickly. I imagine the wax (though they feel quite dry and sharpen nicely) binds the fibers down. So they may not be best suited for suede work or at least used sparingly on suede.
I’m going to have to pop over to Robert Sloan’s website to see what he might have to say about them. Robert is an excellent resource for this kind of information since he buys sets of things and tries them out. And then generously shares the info. I do that too mind you. But Robert is the mountain to my molehill when it comes to product testing.
No They’re Not Crayons. They’re A Fine Art Medium. (But yeah, *sigh* they totally look like crayons.)
Every time someone would look over my shoulder while I was working on my sheep painting at the last art event, and ask me what I was using. I found myself rushing to tell them that they are water soluble wax pastels, despite their crayon like appearance. I mean I felt a little weird, because I’m like “Buy my original painting for $2500. And oh by the way, did you see I’m working in Crayola.” I had to control the urge to hold one up and force them to read the description of the side.
Perhaps my issue arises from the “idea” of crayon as a fine art medium. Maybe had I had . . . you know like real artsy schooling I’d be totally fine it. I’m feeling a little better now. So yeah, okay they look like crayons. But it says clearly on the label “wax pastel.”
So I’m all good.
UPDATED I just looked online at cheap joes art supplies because I’m gonna get myself a set. And they have them listed as . . . crayons.
(Heavy Sigh) Awesome.
Tags: technique
So did you use these pretty much exclusively on your card? Did you start out with black sued, or some other color? I like the feel of them, but I must not have diluted them enough. On my first buddy portrait, I used them first on sanded board — they made it difficult for me to get more than one or two color penicl layers on top. Has made me hestitant to try them again, though many color pencil artists use them for the first blocking in. I have had the same experience with water color pencils (only tried them once also) though, so I must not be using enough water. I love the buttery feeling of the Neocolor II’s — think about using them alone like oil pastels sometimes.
Hey Angela,
I started using a very light tan suede. I am hesitant to go dark with my background because I think it will be too difficult to get enough light back into it. Also laying in a dark background is extremely easy.
Primarily I used my usual watercolor pencils for the sheep piece. I used two shades of periwinkle and white of the Neocolor. I used them to briefly sketch my drawing but otherwise they were kinda the last color I applied. I did put an ochre color over the white for the wool. The crayons didn’t seem very “soluble” at all, but that may have to do with the suede. I’ll have to use them more to really get a feel for them.
I use “very” little water in general working almost entirely dry, only wetting my first color layer.
Wow, thank you for listing to my site! I have a review up based on my experience with these years ago. Recently I did buy a larger set than my old set and fell in love with Neocolor II all over again.
They are fantastic. Try them on a black toothy ground. Like black gesso with a little pumice in it or black Colourfix sanded pastel paper. Creamy, opaque, smooth, easily controlled, they give me any effects I want with so little effort. I don’t know why I put off replacing them for so long!
Unless it’s just what you mentioned in this article — the reactions people have to “you’re doing this with crayons?”
Pastels. Wax pastels. Watersoluble artist grade wax pastels.
There is a fine artist out on the West Coast somewhere doing very large, magnificent realist works in Crayola, uses up box after box of the actual kid Crayolas in them and gets gorgeous results. It can be done. But those are translucent, not opaque, they handle differently and do crumble. I also don’t know about lightfastness on actual Crayolas.
So the stigma of “crayons” can be overcome if the artist’s doing well enough with them, especially with something realist enough that a person not educated in the arts gets it that this is a good painting, difficult, not something they could do for a five dollar box of Crayolas at home and not have to pay for.
I’ve found that all the Caran d’Ache products I’ve used come in at a high cost, but are worth that price for their quality and lightfastness. It’s frustrating, their labs are as inventive as Derwent’s for coming up with new and interesting mediums in stick form that will then cost an arm and a leg but prove indispensible as soon as I try them. Now there’s also the NeoArt watersolubles which are different from Neocolor II, shorter color range of only 60, higher per stick cost… and I know I’m just putting off the day when I order those and try them too.
I’ll be expanding on the Neocolor II review page soon, since I’ve finally gotten them. November was taken up with novel writing and December seems to be taken up so far with a lot of the sick days I skipped for novel writing in November.
Neocolor II handle like the best firm oil pastels, they are very similar and lean toward opacity. I love this and they will blend well with watersoluble oil pastels like the Cretacolor Art Stix.
Maybe you could peel the label off one, scan it and blow it up to put on a sign or paste onto a bit of mat board with an “about the medium” sheet to put next to your work when you’re working outdoors with these. People who buy art are usually interested in how we do things and get curious, so providing the information helps them understand.
So does mentioning that the grown-up Artist Crayons cost a dollar and a half a stick instead of getting an entire box for that money. I used to have to mention that on pastels when I did the street art. Sometimes they’d mention that you can find children’s versions of a product like watercolors or pastels and how cheap they were, then I’d have to explain the difference between putting your second grader’s painting on the fridge versus fine art on the wall and whether it’s heartbreak when it fades.
That also helped some parents understand that they should pack away favorite kid art in black archival boxes in a cold dry place if they still wanted it unfaded to show the kids when they have kids and so on.
Oh yeah, reading your other comment — these are wonderful light over dark. Even over themselves it’s possible to get good strong lights. Test it on bits of black or dark supports and you’ll find out that’s one of the things Neocolor II is one of the best materials for. Their opaqueness especially in light colors is a joy to me on dark grounds.
Angela, I use mine dry more often than not. They have that wonderful creamy oil pastel feel and just because something’s watersoluble doesn’t mean I have to use it wet if I like the texture dry. Washed they tend to act a little more like opaque watercolors, pretty strong color. Dry though, they are so gorgeous I don’t get around to the wet effects.
Robert, Thanks fo all the wonderful information.
If you have a link to the product test please list it in the comments and I will update the post to include the direct link about Neocolor II
Hmm, it just shows that sometimes you get what you pay for. I bought some inexpensive oil pastels that don’t look like crayons at all - until you use them! Hahaha!
I really liked your blog! great
While everyone focuses on the water-solubility of these, don’t forget that they also dissolve with solvents or heat! This makes them incredibly versatile!
Odorless Gamsol dissolves them more thoroughly than water, making a wonderfully dense, smooth and opaque paint.
And with a brief blast of a hair dryer gun, you get this thick, luscious dab of impasto like oil paints!
Very true ladster. I’ve had them melt in the heat while demonstrating at art fairs. They also work really well in a wet on wet technique.