My Watercolor Charts: (1) Dr. Ph. Martin's Radiant Concentrated Water Colors and (2) Lyra Aquacolor Crayons

Posted February 16, 2010

Note: if you're looking for my Copic marker chart, please click here.

The color charts above show my two different types of watercolors:

• On the left - Dr. Ph. Martin's Radiant Concentrated Water Colors
• On the right - Lyra Aquacolor Crayons

At the bottom of this post are the same two charts, scanned separately.

Watercolors work well with Copic markers and Copic multiliners, both of which are waterproof.

Dr. Ph. Martin's Radiant Concentrated Water Colors

• Liquid dyes in little glass eyedropper bottles. These are my FAVORITE watercolors because of their amazingly radiant, transparent colors.
• You can buy individual colors (1/2 ounce each), or sets of 14. There are 42 colors in total. For many years I had just six colors, but recently I bought a set of 14 (the A set), shown in my chart.
• My 35-year old bottles still worked fine - no change in the watercolor that I could see. I replaced them because I thought the rubber in the eyedropper might deteriorate and crack some day.
  
• I usually put 1-2 drops of a color into the well of a watercolor palette. Then I add 1-2 drops of water, for an intense color, or 1/4-1/2 teaspooon of water, for a paler wash. A little goes a long way on my usual small-scale paper (4 x 6").
  
• Because the colors are dye-based, they are not lightfast (will fade with extended exposure to UV light such as sunlight or fluorescent light). If you plan to display something made with this product, it will need UV protection. Click here for my post on how I store and protect my drawings and materials.
  
• The colors mix well with each other.
• I like using a color chart, because the colors are so concentrated that the glass bottle, or even a drop of color on the watercolor palette, doesn't really show how it will look on paper.
• I made my chart on 4x6" watercolor paper. Each circle is about 1" diameter.
• The colors on my screen look pretty true to life, except that 3A and 4A are really more orange (they look too blue on the screen).
• Click here to see my drawings that use Dr. Ph. Martin's Radiant Concentrated Water Colors.
• Click here and here for more information about these water colors.
  

Lyra Aquacolor Crayons

• Water colors in solid crayon form. The colors are more opaque than my Dr. Ph. Martin's colors, which look very transparent. Both are beautiful in different ways.
• I have a set of 24. Sets of 12 or 36 are also available.
  
• I use a wet (but not dripping) brush to pick up the color directly from the crayons and apply it to my wet watercolor paper. You can also shave off a small amount and mix with a little water.
  
• The colors mix well with each other. They are said to be lightfast.
  
• I like using a color chart, because the crayons in the box (my set has 24) don't give a good idea of the dissolved color on paper.
  
• I made my chart on 4x6" watercolor paper. Each section is 1" square.
  
• In each section, the top left dot is solid crayon colored on dry paper, and the bottom left dot is the same thing, but then dissolved with a wet brush, trying not to spread the color out very much. The right side is a streak of color picked up from the crayon with a wet brush, then applied to the dry paper.
  
• The colors on my screen look pretty true to life, except #37 is really more purple (looks too blue on the screen) and #13 is really more yellow (looks too red on the screen).
• Click here to see my drawings that use Lyra Aquacolor crayons.
• Click here for more information about the crayons.
  

Paper: Canson Montval watercolor block, 140 lb. cold press, 4x6"