Unwind in the Wilds by Sarah Taylor, Derwent Coloursoft & Inktense Pencils

I have a triple review for you today, concentrating on British brand Derwent and some of its products. The Derwent name is synonymous ​with high-calibre materials, their award-winning artist's pencils beginning manufacture in 1832 and later being used in classic animation such as The Snowman. They have a wide range of graphite and coloured pencils, as well as pens, pastels and watercolours, and are very economical in price whilst maintaining a great standard of quality. Derwent have recently produced their own book for the adult colouring market, alongside Lake District-based illustrator Sarah Taylor. Let's have a look at the book first and then move onto a comparison of the pencils.

Number of Pages: 96 
Size: 24 x 24cm square 
Paper colour: White
Paper surface: Smooth 
Paper thickness: Good 
Linework: Fine/Medium​/Bold
Perforated: No 
One sided: No 
Binding: Glue 
Drawings go into the spine: Yes ​
Waterbased pen bleed: None

As you can see the book focuses primarily on wildlife and nature- some of Sarah's favourite things. There's copious amounts of flora and fauna to colour, the dense foliage accompanied by a plethora of characterful wild animals and insects. A few of the pages are partially done for the colourist to finish, but for those of you who don't favour this in books I can assure you these pages are few and far between (4 in total). There's a good mix of linework from fine up to bold, and it's not all landscapes and creatures- there's some geometric patterns thrown in too. Although it is double-sided, with acid free 150GSM paper there is no bleed so it's ideal for waterbased markers and coloured pencils alike. Which brings me onto the Derwent pencils!

Derwent Coloursoft is an exciting range of 72 coloured pencils. The soft, velvety strip allows you to quickly add lots of bold, vibrant colour to your drawing and they're great for colouring in! They're also blendable so you can create a variety of subtly different tones and shades.

Derwent Inktense pencils are our best watercolour pencil ever! You can use them dry but mix them with water and WOW! the colour turns into vibrant ink. Once it’s dry the colour is fixed and you can work over the top of it, and, because it permanent it’s great for using on fabric such as silk and cotton!

Coloursoft (left) & Inktense

I've had a bit of time to try out both sets of pencils and before I get into the nitty gritty I have to say again that the quality for the price is outstanding. Retailing at around £1 per pencil, both types of pencil produce luscious thick colour and high pigments on the paper. The Coloursoft pencils have a very soft and almost velvety feel to them, whilst the inktense feel a lot 'stickier' and denser in laydown, which I think has a lot to do with their watercolour properties. Whilst the Coloursoft act like an everyday pencil that you would use for simple colouring and blending, the Inktense leave a much deeper and richer pigment that is a little harder to colour with dry but blends with water to create a painted effect. The colour result is intense- thus the name!

A comparison of the pencils shows uniformity in design with glossy dipped tips and a narrow, rounded barrel

They each come in a maximum of 72 shades, listed here:
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​                           Coloursoft                                                             Inktense

Both types of pencils perform well, though I'm not hugely confident or clued up about watercolour pencils yet so I tried a small section of my picture to see how it went. I did the gnome's hats (below) with the Inktense, and found them to have a definite learning curve! I've created some shading there (I need to remember the position of my light source, I always forget!) but I will need lots more practice with them to acheive the desired results.

Below is a page I coloured from Unwind in the Wilds with the Coloursoft pencils. I found them to be very similar to Polychromos in terms of blending, so I feel these would be a cheaper alternative if you're looking for good performance on a budget.

I hope you enjoyed my review of Derwent's popular offerings! You can find them all on Amazon below:

Derwent Colour and Relax: Unwind in the Wilds Colouring Book

Derwent Coloursoft Colouring Pencils Tin (Set of 24)

Derwent Inktense Watercolour Pencils Tin (Set of 24)