Fibracolor Aquarello Pens & Pencils

2/7/2016

I've reviewed watercolour pencils before but watercolour pens have always been on the expensive side of the scale like Tombow Dual Brush Pens. Fibracolor have designed Aquarello, their range of watercolour tools for colouring and they're fabulous!

Aquarello Pens

These pens can be used for solid colouring or with a waterbrush/paintbrush to dilute the ink and create a watercolour look. This technique is particularly useful on larger areas where you want to fill the space but block colouring would look streaky. It also creates a wash effect that looks super artistic and is something different to plain colouring, especially when creating a sunset sky or watery ocean. You can blend these colours easily with a near seamless quality that just can't be achieved with normal water-based pens.

You can also scribble some of the ink onto a non-porous surface like a tile or even a glossy magazine cover, and pick up the ink with a paintbrush to apply it in a gradient.

The ink is very vivid and flows beautifully on the paper, and despite there only being 12 colours the blending capabilities mean you can create endless tones and shades. The nibs are a stiff brush that retain their shape well, making them long lasting and fray-proof. Here's a picture I coloured with the Aquarello pens and a waterbrush, from the book Fantasia by Casey Gilmore.

Aquarello Pencils

The pencils create much the same effect as the pens, but a lot of people prefer pencils to markers so it's handy to have the choice of medium. As with all watercolour pencils, simply colour first and go over with a wet brush, or touch your brush to the nib of the pencil to collect colour and apply that way. Blends are easy to create and the depth of colour can be adjusted depending on how hard you colour with the pencil/how much lead you have put down.

Physically, these pencils have a hexagonal barrel which stops them from rolling off the desk, and a glossy painted coating which matches the lead colour exactly. The core feels very dense and strong enough to withstand pressure without breakages. They sharpen very well without any splitting and erase to about 90% reduction in colour.

The pigment is very rich and doesn't require a heavy hand in order to produce bright colour. They perform very well and have become my favourite go-to watercolour pencils, despite the low amount of colours. Here is a picture I coloured with the Aquarello pencils, again from the book Fantasia.