Review of Watercolor Graphite Viarco ArtGraf (18.03.2024)

Even though my favorite medium is traditional watercolor paint, I still like to try different mediums. It's a way to improve my skills and discover new ways of doing things.

When I started drawing back in 2018 I spent several months doing pencil drawings, way before I started to learn to paint with watercolors. I really liked the way it looked and still do some pencil drawings every once in a while. 

I came across the Viarco ArtGraf water soluble graphite watching an Alicia Aradilla Demo and decided to try it for myself. It seemed like a good way to practice tonal values in painting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ArtGraf Water Soluble Graphite

I really like the light shimmer the paint has once it dries, and the different intensity in color you can obtain. I did not find the medium difficult to use beyond my own limitations when it comes to doing monochromatic paintings.

Closeup showing the shimmery effect of the dried paint

 

 

 

Full bird. The paint at its full intensity looks lovely

Tutorial

Art Supplies

• Paper. The crane was painted on St Cuthberts Mill rough 100% cotton 300g/m2 paper. The tit was painted on SMLT Art 100% cotton paper
• Viarco Artgraf Water Soluble Graphite
• Blackwing Palomino pencil
• Tombow Mono Zero ultrafine eraser pen

Diagrams

To make it easier to understand how to paint the birds without sketching them first I've made a few diagrams

Diagram showing where the wings and tail spring from, placement of the head and face (break and eyes), general proportions, and the positioning of the legs

Some drawing process notes: after painting the general form I made sure to place the beak and eyes, "frame" the face by marking the separation between head and wings, and made the preliminar shape of the feathers in the spread wings 

 Diagram of crane anatomy: basic shape of the bird, and also some notes about the tree trunk

Painting process: adding darker values after placing the basic forms

 

 

Final paintings

Tutorial on Youtube

Full video review and tutorial using Viarco Artgraf Water Soluble Graphite. Watch how to use this material, how it interacts with regular pencils and what type of techniques you can do with it