Blending with Watercolor pencils

A question I get asked often is “Can I use watercolor pencils in your books?” My initial thought based on the fact that it is 60lb paper I wouldn’t recommend it. Traditional watercolor paper is at least 90lb and most artists use 130lb paper. Still being of a curious nature I decided to give it a try.

I used my favorite watercolor pencils by Lyra. They are so smooth and once the water activates them they are so vibrant and creamy looking. I used a plastic sheet under the page to prevent any bleed through onto the page below. I used a very light hand and as little water as possible. It did cause the paper to warp a bit and you can really see some of the darker colors showing through on the back of the page. My final thoughts are if you don’t mind the bleed through on the back and have something heavy to press the page flat when you are done then it would be ok to use watercolor pencils with my books.

I left part of the one flower inactivated to show how the pencils look before adding water.