Neocolors, one year on

(and off again)

Twelve months ago this week, I shared the post Neocolors, a love story of sorts and it has been the most read and liked thing I’ve posted. By a long way. I don’t think its popularity is down to it being a particularly well-structured or insightful piece of writing, rather because so many of you share my feelings on Neocolors. They’re so inviting, all those colours in neat little sticks reminiscent of your childhood Crayolas. Those adorable little pocket-sized tins call to you, and you’ve seen what feels like every other artist on the internet doing beautiful things with them. But when it comes to making the art, you just can’t quite get to grips with them. Or is that just me?

In the original article I wrote about my decade long on-off relationship with Neocolors in which I buy them, realise they’re not for me and sell them on eBay only to forget they’re not for me and buy more six months later. Twelve months ago I bought one of the limited edition anniversary sets because the colours were just beautiful and I was determined to fill my sketchbook with wax pastel gorgeousness. So, one year on, have I finally learnt to love Neocolors the way I want to? Well… it’s complicated.

Don’t roll your eyes or ridicule me, but that limited edition set ended up on eBay. I tried so hard to love them. I did love them, the colours, the feel of the crayon in my hand, the creaminess on the paper, that adorable little tin (I’m a sucker for little tins—why can’t you buy the empty tins anywhere?) Did I mention the colours?

I experimented with lots of mark-making and applying different techniques. Though they’re water-soluble I never wanted to use them as a wet media. I wanted to apply them the way Beya Rebai or Clara Debray do, both of whom use Neocolors as their go-to material and both of whom create beautiful art.

I drew this shell. It’s rubbish. It could be a pastry. I drew all kinds of stuff. All of it was rubbish and what’s more, little flecks of highly-pigmented water-soluble crayon somehow found their way across my pale pink velvet chair, across my clothes and into the grain of my laminate floor. Ten minutes of doodling caused hours of cleaning. (How do you clean something that’s kind of sticky but only spreads and becomes more colourful when wet?) Faced with the realisation that I am not Beya Rebai, the Neocolors went on eBay and I used the money from them to buy a handful of Caran d’Ache Luminance pencils. I now have a biscuit tin full of Luminance pencils… but I also have a tin full of Neocolors.

What changed? Basically, my mindset. The cycle started in its usual way. I scrolled social media and swooned over other people’s Neocolor art, particularly when it was used dry as a pastel. I spent whole afternoons in which I should have been working, looking at colour charts. (You may think I’m exaggerating, but I can fill hours studying colour charts and swatches.) Then I caved and bought just five crayons. I carefully chose five colours that worked beautifully together, might lend themselves to landscapes or florals and felt very me.

I also discovered Banhee Lee who was using Neocolors in the way I had hoped to use them. I joined her Patreon and, using one of her reference photos, I drew a flower. It has a couple of extra colours in it because I remembered my son had a set of primary colours I was able to borrow.

Crucially, I didn’t follow any step-by-step tutorials at this point. I didn’t try to copy Banhee’s work. Instead I approached the flower as if I was using coloured pencils, something I’m far more familiar with. The result was a Neocolor drawing I was actually happy with. A breakthrough! I went wild and bought 15 more colours, giving me 30 with the ones I borrowed from my son. Next I followed along with one of Banhee’s videos and drew a landscape. I’m not happy with it but I really enjoyed losing myself in the process. The feel of Neocolors on smooth paper is just gorgeous. I followed more of Banhee’s tutorials and found many more artists to swoon over. So, am I using Neocolors in my regular art practice?

Nooo, of course not! I had hoped getting to grips with Neocolors would be a way for me to capture landscapes and still life and other scenes that I don’t usually draw. I thought the ease with which you can lay down colour and layer it and blend it, would be perfect for sketchbook work. I had visions of Art Creation sketchbooks full of bold, colourful drawings from my travels, much like the Instagram feeds of those artists mentioned above. But the truth is, I rarely travel. When I do pick up a sketchbook, I’m drawn to what I know and that’s animals and I’m not sure Neocolors lend themselves to that subject as well. Or at least, not the way I draw animals. And that’s the crucial point. I don’t draw in the same way as Beya Rebei, Clara Debray, Banhee Lee or any of the other Neocolor artists I follow. And while I love the smooth creaminess of the crayons, I also love precision and muted colours and fine detail. My one consistent battle as an artist or illustrator, is reminding myself that I can like what other people are doing without having to try that myself, without forcing myself to work in a way that doesn’t come naturally to me. Instead I should lean in to my own strengths. You’d think that would be obvious but I frequently have to remind myself of that.

So, do I have 20 Neocolor crayons looking for a new home? Nope. This time I’m keeping them. Because despite everything, despite my absolute inability to use them in the way I’d hoped I would, I do love them. And that’s the second point that I constantly have to remind myself. Not everything I draw has to be perfect. Not every mark has to have a reason. If all I do with the crayons is scribble on a page every so often and enjoy the feel of layering some colours, without producing a single finished picture, if I’m enjoying the process, that’s just fine.

More recently I’ve started using the Neocolors with water. Something I always said I didn’t want to do, after all, I have plenty of watercolours. This rhino is one of the most recent things I drew, activating the first layer of colour with a wet brush, before applying more wet colour and finally going on top with the dry crayon. I overworked it. The darks are too dark and it’s not what I bought the crayons for, but it doesn’t matter. I had fun.

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Some people who are doing lovely things with Neocolors:

Beya Rebaï - A brand ambassador for Neocolors, two limited edition sets were produced in collaboration with her and this video shows her using the crayons.

Clara Debray - Clara uses the most beautiful colour palette. She has a snail-mail club and this link will take you to her Domestika course.

Banhee Lee - Banhee’s Patreon, linked here, is full of draw-along videos and tutorials.

Laura Olivieri - I only just discovered Laura on Instagram. She uses a variety of materials but there’s definitely some lovely Neocolor work in there.

Virgini Dessine - Despite what I said about animals, Virgini has been drawing animals in Neocolor and is producing the kind of drawings I can only dream of.

Elina Ellis - Elina has a course on Neocolors in which she combines wet and dry techniques.

Becca Hall - Becca is a mixed media illustrator but this is a lovely video in which she uses only Neocolors from one of the limited edition sets.

Yumiko Kitazono - Yumiko’s sketchbook is full of sweet Neocolor drawings, she applies the crayon far more softly than the other artists already mentioned. Some of her recent picture book work was also created with Neocolors.

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