To be blunt, I was not expecting much from these Staedtler Watercolor crayons. I work primarily with pencils and I have not used crayons since I was in grade school. However reading some of the reviews I was convinced to purchase these to see what I can create and so far, they are proving to be a fun medium. These are a great way to further express yourself and your creativity artistically. Like oil pastels, another medium I have fallen in love with recently, these crayons almost force you to approach your work a little differently. Since I work primarily with pencils, I usually spend hours upon hours of my time getting lost in the details of my pieces, and these crayons are liberating since they are not meant for that type of detailed art. What these excel in are those broader strokes and colouring, washes, and the seamless blending of colours by water. You can use them dry, wet, dry on wet, and all yield interesting results. They can also be used together with water colour pencils. The price for these are medium range. Although not cheap, they are not terribly expensive either and I do recommend the full set of 24. They are relatively slender, so be careful not to add too much pressure or you may end up snapping them and most of the colours are radiant when activated with water. The weakest pigmented colour is the peach tone but the remaining colours are quite vivid. I am not certain if these are light-fast as it is not stipulated in the packaging. However this is not an issue for me. If in question, and light-fastness does become an issue, I default to prints, and nowadays it is so easy to get great quality prints of your art pieces. There are other brands that sell similar products, like Caran D’ache (Neocolor 1–Wax crayons, not water soluble, Neocolor II-water soluble pastels) and Lyra Aquacolor Water-Soluble Wax Crayon. These other brands are more expensive, the Caran D’ache – far far more expensive, but they do come in bigger sets. The Steadtler crayons are more budget friendly while yielding good results, although I would love them to expand on the colour selection. So if you’ve never used these before, and would like another medium to expand your creativity, I highly recommend these. They are great for sketching, and are perfect for “in Plein Air” painting/drawing; mix well with water soluble pencils, and are very un-intimidating in there ease of use. Recommended, and another win for Staedtler.
