The small range of 24 Derwent Drawing Coloured pencils is a pleasant surprise. The colours are muted and the leads are soft. They are a pleasure to draw with.
You will find out more about this small range of coloured pencils here. By knowing more about the pencils, you will have better knowledge when using the pencils, planning your artwork, or simply deciding if you would like to buy these pencils.
Following a theme
We recently completed a closer look at four major artist grade wax-based and oil-based coloured pencils. These sets are the wax-based Caran d’Ache Luminance 76 and Prismacolor Premier 150 (including the lightfast pencils and the non-lightfast pencils); and the oil-based Faber-Castell Polychromos 120 and Caran d’Ache Pablo 120.
While this series was in response to a question about the differences between wax-based and oil-based coloured pencils, it is worthwhile to continue to explore other colour mediums.
Read this disclaimer regarding the analysis. You can also refer to the manufacturer’s colour chart.
Derwent Drawing Coloured Pencils
This post has images that includes the colour name, lightfast rating together with a colour swatch for each pencil in the range.
When looking at the set as a whole, all colours (including in the colour wheel family colours, neutrals and metallics) are shown clockwise in the chart below.
The charts represent a total of 24 pencils, of which 5 are neutral and 19 are colours that belong to the colour wheel families. There are no metallic colours available in the Derwent Drawing coloured pencil range.
Now to get a closer look let’s separate these colours into two groups – the colour wheel colours, and the neutral colours.
The colour wheel colours
The 12 colour wheel family colours available in the set are shown clockwise below:
The Colour Wheel Clock
The colour wheel moves clock-wise around the wheel. The table below shows the colour family positions on the clock.
| Clock Position | Colour Family |
|---|---|
| 12.00 | Red |
| 1.00 | Red-Orange |
| 2.00 | Orange |
| 3.00 | Orange-Yellow |
| 4.00 | Yellow |
| 5.00 | Yellow-Green |
| 6.00 | Green |
| 7.00 | Green-Blue |
| 8.00 | Blue |
| 9.00 | Indigo (Blue-Violet) |
| 10.00 | Violet |
| 11.00 | Violet-Red |
Of the colour wheel colours, the make up of each colour family is outlined below. While the colours are of varying shades and tones, the predominant base colour belongs to the colour wheel family in which it has been placed.
Red – 12 o’clock
The Derwent Drawing range of 24 coloured pencils does not have any red colour wheel family coloured pencils.
Red-Orange 1.00 o’clock
The next colour family group is red-orange at 1.00 o’clock. The image below shows that the coloured pencil set of 24 includes 6 red-orange colour family pencils. These are all earthy tones.
Orange – 2.00 o’clock
The Derwent Drawing range of 24 coloured pencils does not have any orange colour wheel family coloured pencils.
Orange-Yellow – 3.00 o’clock
Orange-Yellow sits at the 3.00 o’clock position. The image below shows that the coloured pencil set of 24 includes 4 orange-yellow colour family pencils.
Yellow – 4.00 o’clock
At 4.00 o’clock sits Yellow. The coloured pencil range of 24 includes one yellow colour family pencil.
Yellow-Green – 5.00 o’clock
Yellow-Green sits at 5.00 o’clock. The image below shows that the coloured pencil set of 24 includes 4 yellow-green colour family pencils.
Green – 6.00 o’clock
The Derwent Drawing range of 24 coloured pencils does not have any green colour wheel family coloured pencils.
Green-Blue – 7.00 o’clock
Green-blue is at 7.00 o’clock. The image below shows that the coloured pencil set of 24 includes 2 blue-green colour family pencils.
Blue – 8.00 o’clock
The Derwent Drawing range of 24 coloured pencils does not have any blue colour wheel family coloured pencils.
Indigo – 9.00 o’clock
The Derwent Drawing range of 24 coloured pencils does not have any indigo colour wheel family coloured pencils.
Violet – 10.00 o’clock
The Derwent Drawing range of 24 coloured pencils does not have any violet colour wheel family coloured pencils.
Violet-Red – 11.00 o’clock
Violet-Red sits at the 11.00 o’clock position. The coloured pencil set of 24 includes 2 violet-red colour wheel family pencils.
Colour wheel colour family – Summary
As you can see from the above images, the Derwent Drawing coloured pencil range holds muted colours. Derwent calls these pencils the “Fur and Feather” pencils. It does not have pencils in all the colour wheel family colours. It has colours in the tertiary colour wheel colours (excluding Yellow). These colours are: Red-Orange, Orange-Yellow, Yellow, Yellow-Green, Green-Blue and Violet-Red.
Let’s now look at the neutral colours included in the Derwent Drawing coloured pencil range.
Neutral colours
Of the 24 set of coloured pencils – 5 are neutral. It holds no metallic colours. These are shows clockwise in the pie chart below:
The breakdown of these pencils is as follows. First there is neutral-black.
Next is neutral-cool grey with 1 pencil.
Neutral-warm grey follows with 2 pencils.
The last neutral colour is white with one pencil.
The bar chart below shows the breakdown of the set’s neutral colours.
As you can see, the Derwent Drawing coloured pencil range is made up of a range of muted tertiary and neutral colours.
As noted above, the selection of colour is subjective and the reviewer has chosen colour by looking at the actual coloured pencil swatches. Nevertheless, you may find that particular colours belong in different groups or colour families.
Lightfastness
Of the 24 set of coloured pencils, all are lightfast with a lightfast rating of 7 or 8. One pencil has a 7 rating, and 23 have the highest lightfast rating of 8.
Make your own colour chart
For your knowledge, it’s advisable to draw up your own colour chart so you can get to know the actual colours of your coloured pencils. You will then be able to see how your pencil performs on the papers that you use for your drawings.
However, it takes a long time to make your own chart, and it usually is something that we don’t get around to doing.
If you’ve made your own charts – that’s great. But – as is practical, you might also have your charts in one physical place while you draw in another. You need to have access to the colours where you are.
Interactive Derwent Drawing Colour Chart
To help you with this, the colour charts used in this post were rearranged into a sortable and searchable format. The Derwent Drawing range is outlined in the interactive colour chart available below. This should help you choose your coloured pencil colours. It will also help you get a better understanding of what pencils are available in the range.
Derwent Drawing Interactive Colour Chart
The search button on the right hand side above the table is the global search button and it searches all columns within the table. The search bar above each column searches for information within that column.
When searching for information, first use the global search button. Then use the column searches to refine your search.
Please note that the single colour “yellow” has a full stop “.” at the end of its name. (This is to isolate it from the colour families with duplicate data).
Hint: Remove all data from the search boxes to return to the full colour chart.
| Colour Family | Colour Number | Colour Name | Lightfast Rating | Colour Swatch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Green-Blue | 3720 | Ink Blue | 7 |  |
| Green-Blue | 3810 | Smoke Blue | 8 |  |
| Neutral-Black | 6700 | Ivory Black | 8 |  |
| Neutral-Cool Grey | 3615 | Solway Blue | 8 |  |
| Neutral-Warm Grey | 7010 | Warm Grey | 8 |  |
| Neutral-Warm Grey | 7120 | Cool Grey | 8 |  |
| Neutral-White | 7200 | Chinese White | 8 |  |
| Orange-Yellow | 1610 | Light Sienna | 8 |  |
| Orange-Yellow | 5550 | Warm Earth | 8 |  |
| Orange-Yellow | 5720 | Yellow Ochre | 8 |  |
| Orange-Yellow | 5700 | Brown Ochre | 8 |  |
| Red-Orange | 6110 | Sepia Red | 8 |  |
| Red-Orange | 6210 | Mars Orange | 8 |  |
| Red-Orange | 6220 | Sanguine | 8 |  |
| Red-Orange | 6300 | Venetian Red | 8 |  |
| Red-Orange | 6400 | Terracotta | 8 |  |
| Red-Orange | 6600 | Chocolate | 8 |  |
| Violet-Red | 6470 | Mars Violet | 8 |  |
| Violet-Red | 6510 | Ruby Earth | 8 |  |
| Yellow. | 5715 | Wheat | 8 |  |
| Yellow-Green | 4125 | Pale Cedar | 8 |  |
| Yellow-Green | 4135 | Green Shadow | 8 |  |
| Yellow-Green | 5090 | Crag Green | 8 |  |
| Yellow-Green | 5160 | Olive Earth | 8 |  |
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