Derwent Inktense Color-swatch Chart

Derwent 72-color Inktense are gorgeous, rich, and intense. I also recently bought the Derwent Artbars, very different on many levels, but I will make some basic compare-and-contrast statements that aren't commonly written about.

	Derwent Artbars (72 colors)	Derwent Inktense (72 colors)
Medium	Watercolor paints. Can be reactivated every time the painting is dampened, so layers are fragile and can be disturbed, but they allow more spontaneity as they can be changed if desired.	Ink—once activated with water and dried, doesn’t reactivate so takes layers very well! Once permanent, cannot be changed, so plan ahead.
Intensity	Pastel-like. Colors are grouped into four categories: brights, lights, earths, darks. I found the lights almost too pastel to be very useful. Marigold and carnation in the brights also extremely pale as were a couple in the earths (spice and Mediterranean especially).	For the most part these colors are powerful. A few like saddle brown, baked earth and willow and a couple of others were weak on intensity, but then I was only color-swatching and wetting with one steady swipe.
3-4cm crayon-like application and activation with water (one-swipe)	Activate quickly and the color is very smooth and evenly distributed.**** Applause, applause!	Activate quickly but consistently streak affecting even distribution of color.
Residue after one-swipe activation of crayon swatch	About 80% “melted” by the water	About 70% “melted” by the water
Color pulls down in 6-7 inch swatches	Color pulls down smoothly, easily, and except for lights, consistently	Color pulls down easily and  consistently but in streaks
Uses for me	On paper just like traditional watercolor paints, but they can be used to draw and then activated with water.	On paper light traditional paint, as a crayon and activated, and on cloth with textile medium—all permanent once dried.
	Both of these mediums easily activate with a damp paintbrush on the bars themselves, eliminating the need for a palette or clean-up after painting—for me in my tiny apartment, this is phenomenal! Easy set-up and easy put-away!

awesome color, but note the streaking with the one-swipe water activation of the crayon-like application to paper

Derwent Inktense color-swatches
(compare with Derwent Artbars)

I was rather surprised that the Inktense set didn't come with a list of color names, but only had 4-digit numbers on each of the bars. Some of those numbers were very hard to see too. I actually had to go online to get a list of the color names to match the numbers, a bit of an inconvenience!

Then, thank goodness, I carefully checked each of the 4-digit numbers to the name on the list and found an error. There was no "Outline #2400" but I did have the Unknown blue color #1215. Very odd, with double meaning to that word as it was the only odd number in the 72-color set. All other bars were numbered roughly in 10-number increments. One of the reasons I checked the numbers before just labeling the bars is someone else online had complained of getting two bars of the same green color; she wrote the seller and was immediately sent the missing color. For me it's really no big deal, since at least all 72 of my colors are uniquely different.

After making sure of color of each bar, I labeled each so I can easily document which colors are used on future paintings.

And now all of my colors are clearly labeled and ready to use. Also note the little yellow tabs on the top pan. I put a cardboard piece under the fragile plastic form and attached the yellow tabs so I can easily pull the thin plastic palette out without damaging it. Now it feels quite durable and should last a good long time!

Derwent Artbar Color Swatches + Sample Painting

Am pretty good about stemming impulse buys, but I bumped into a few questions on whether the Derwent Artbar were still being sold so tried to find out if they were being discontinued. Who can wade through the rumors on the web, so because I had been looking at the Artbars, and because Amazon had one left and at the cheapest price I'd ever seen, I did the impulse thing and bought the full 72-color-bar set. 

Here's the result of my impulse buy -- a full color chart of the Artbars. My method was to liberally apply 3 cm of color on dry 200gm watercolor paper and then add water with a paintbrush and drag the color down about 6-7 inches.  I might add I didn't apply strong pressure when liberally applying the color as the bars easily break along the score lines. The outcome is that the paint looked light but dried even lighter. Before purchasing, I did know the Artbars were a bit light in color but I was a bit surprised at just how pastel they are, especially the 12 colors in the "light" category.

That said, there are many ways to apply color. To make the chart above I used the dry then wet approach, but I found that wetting a paint brush and swiping up paint from the edge of an Artbar was a more effective way of painting; more effective on not leaving a trace of non-hydrated Artbar from coloring dry with pressure and more effective because the color intensity could be more easily managed. Like in the dry bar on dry paper method, for this wet brush on Artbar technique I didn't need a palette to mix the colors, but who would with a selection of 72 colors to choose from?! 

So here's a sample painting using the wet brush and swipe on Artbar method to get color for painting: 

Chinese-style tiger painting

Derwent Artbars and Pigma Micron pens - Original

My opinion about the Artbars? Well, they are pastel and because they are so light, I do wonder about how lightfast they are, and so am unlikely to use them for a painting to be hung on the wall. However, they are quite fun to use and I can see taking these "fun" colors out (and 72 of them!) when friends or kids come over and having an art party! A party without having color mixing trays so easy to organize and easy to clean up after too! They'll be awesome for making greeting cards or putting some quick and easy drawing-painting like the above in a letter. So this impulse buy isn't one that I regret.