Description

Raffine Watercolor Pencils have a super soft lead that goes on smoothly, on virtually any surface. The wax-based cores strive for a creamier application that can handle blending both from the addition of water as well as by simple dry layering. These pencils have a 3.7 mm core, round barrel, and come in 24 sets.

The Colour application is vibrant for a watercolour pencil and the creamy application allows for relatively thick, powerful strokes of colour.  The pencils do well use dry,  but where they shine is when you add some water.  The colours blend consistently and can easily handle multiple layers which allow for some very dynamic and fun colour ranges.  The 48-pack set comes with a very diverse range of reds and blues which makes it an excellent choice for pieces that contain water and/or flowers or other red objects.

There is also a rather large selection of muted colours such as greys, browns, and tans which is good for landscape scenes or anywhere else where you need muted colours. The colours can be muted further by adding more water and spreading it over a larger area.

The buttery application of the wax-based lead is a joy to work with different layering techniques are possible.

Being a softer lead, it is a struggle to keep a sharp point for very long which means swapping to a harder lead for detailed areas such as eyelashes and blades of grass.  However, the cores are still quite strong and these pencils will not crack or break when trying to sharpen or use them. The pencils themselves are gorgeous and are adorned with colour-matching bases with a blue stripe in between the coloured area of the barrel and the exposed wooden top.  Marco Renoir is stamped on the base along with the colour in matching silver leaf.