Ken Bromley Art Supplies Blog

Imagine a world where drawing and painting work in harmony. Where you can create an abundance of different marks and textures and build up layers to create depth and thick dense opaque colour. Where you can draw and paint with the same medium and produce everything from light washes to deep, more heavily bodied texture: Welcome to the world of Artbar.

Derwent Artbar is all about mark making and texture. These highly pigmented water-soluble bars are extremely versatile and are perfect for expressive pieces showing off different marks and textures. They are suitable for large dramatic pieces with lively marks and shapes, but additionally and perhaps a little unexpecitdly, due to their triangular shape are also adaptable to adding in finer detail.

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How to use Artbar

With all new products you need to experiment to get the feel of them. Try the following techniques to familiarise yourself with the qualities of Artbar and how it can be used.

1. Try making as many different marks as you can with Artbar. Use different edges and sides and move the bars in different directions.
2. Try blending and layering different colours. See how you can build up dense pigment and blend colours together. If you warm the layers of colour with warm air (breath) you can gently blend the colours with your finger.
3. Explore the reaction when you add water, the difference in washes over light colour and dense colour. You can create some beautiful thick paint effects.
4. See that marks you can make over the wet areas with a bar. You can use the bar to push the wet colour around and a wet bar to print texture from the side of a bar.
5. Try building up surface texture by layering small scraps of Artbar on top of your drawing. Work into the surface with warm fingers and a little moisture.

Have a really good play around with the bars. Try layering over painted and dry areas and find out all the different textures you can make.

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Accessories

To enhance your creative work with Artbar Derwent have developed three handy accessories:

Spritzer

As an alternative water applicator try the Spritzer to spray water over the Artbar marks. Spray from a relatively long distance to mist over large areas to dampen your work instead of dipping your brush in water. Or get in close and spray into colour lines to make the pigment disperse.

Scaper

A really useful tool for scratching into the surface of your drawing, the Scaper can be used to reveal underlying layers of colour when used upon dry Artbar marks. There are a variety of different scarping edges to choose from, including thin points, fat edges and a zigzag area.

Shave ‘n’ Save

If you want to shape your Artbar, the Shave ‘n’ Save allows you to both sharpen the bar and also collect the shavings for further use. You can sprinkle the shavings over your drawings and work them over the top of your image with your fingers and a bit of moisture to create an interesting textured surface.

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Artbar Colour Range

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Drawing a Landscape Using Derwent Artbars

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