Comments about Cretacolor AquaStics:

Cretacolor AquaStics have excellent lightfast ratings, something that attracted me to them. I bought them as a delightful addition to my other water based media for fine art applications. They are specialist water soluble oil pastels that really can be applied as they are, melted for thicker encaustic art or layered for sgraffito techniques. But did you know that you can mix AquaStics with acrylic mediums, other water media or fluid acrylic paints? (Always test the colors, combinations of products and your techniques first.)

There is one thing about them that's sometimes quite desirable and sometimes something I have to work around -- AquaStics may sometimes act as a bit of a resist with other water based media.

These days, I'm having a blast mixing wetted AquaStic with fluid acrylics and/or acrylic mediums, something that works because the fluid acrylics, acrylic mediums and AquaStics are all water soluble and all somewhat to very transparent, depending on various factors.

My favorite thing at the moment is to rub a wet paint brush over an AquaStic until I get a good load of color on my paintbrush, then mix that into a bit of acrylic glazing medium. The resulting mixture gives me washes of color that allow previous pen, pencil, marker or paint underneath to show through. I can apply another layer of the acrylic glazing medium and AquaStic mix after the previous one dries without lifting or smearing of the underlying AquaStic glaze layer. The glazing medium gives me a nice open time. I can also glaze over my AquaStic glazes with a fluid acrylic glaze to give a piece or area a unified look.

I have the AquaStic 80 count sets, some smaller sets, and the metallic set. I'm very happy with my Cretacolor purchase. The colors are very nice and the range of colors is delightful.

I use them on student canvas board, watercolor canvas, gessobord, claybord, watercolor paper, acrylic paper, and wood.

The only reason I didn't give them a 5 and status as "best in its category" is that I have not compared them to the range of other water soluble oil pastels.

Since they are water mixable and can melt, I store them in a cool dry place and never ever leave them in the car.

I'm very impressed with Cretacolor's products and this has been no exception.

Comments about Cretacolor AquaStics:

I'm fascinated by art media that combine drawing with painting. I've been testing various brands of water soluble crayons and pencils, and decided to try these as well. I bought the smallest set to test, and here is what I have learned so far.

What they are: a hard stick of oil pastel, similar to a wax crayon in texture and line quality, with color that dissolves in water.

What they aren't: soft and blendable without water, unlike regular oil pastels

How I use them: so far, I'm just doing test drawings to see what these sticks can do. They dissolve immediately and smoothly, as the manufacturer states. Depending on the amount of water, they can be lightly blended with a damp brush to create a soft-focus look, or diluted further to make a thin wash of color. This would be useful for creating a colored underpainting for softer types of pastel. If you plan on doing a lot of blending, it's best to use a heavy ground such as watercolor paper, that can take the wetting and drying you will need for this medium. If used dry, they create a hard line, rather than the soft and "smooshy" line you get with regular oil pastels. They do NOT blend well in their dry state. This seemed kind of weird at first , but of course they DO blend when wet. It's just a matter of getting used to their unique properties.

PROS: Lots of colors, easy to blend when wet, hard textured stick holds a point and can be used for finer lines than are usually possible with oil pastel. The wet effects are lovely and very similar to what I get with neocolor II or Lyra crayons.
CONS: To me these seem to duplicate what I can already do with water soluble crayons or pencils. They are a nice accessory to oil pastels, but not an exact duplicate or replacment.

BOTTOM LINE: Cool product that is fun to use and suitable for detailed line drawings and mixed media. With water, can be blended for a painterly look. However, it's not suitable for a very textured or thick application like you get with regular oil pastels. Not sure I actually need them, but I'm glad I tried them.

Comments about Cretacolor AquaStics:

At the recommendation of several professors and artists, I used these in art school in the late 80's when Cretacolor was kind of new on the scene, and their pigments held up to the test of time, while the products were innovative and inexpensive. I have tried the sticks, over the years, and they have a good feel and vivid color. I don't own many of them, but just wanted to mention it is a quality brand that has been around awhile.

Comments about Cretacolor AquaStics:

I bought the large 80 count set of Cretacolor AquaStics watersoluble oil pastels for a number of projects I need to do for a show in the spring. What attracted me to them were the large selection of colors and that they were artist grade oil pastels. I thought they would act like oil pastels and was very disappointed to find that they did not live up to my expectations. They are hard not smooth and one of the sticks broke in my hand in the middle of my work. I finally got my watercolor brushes out to save the project. My piece turned into a watercolor painting. On another day I thought I would give them a second chance since I spent money on them but sadly I had the same results. This time the project went into the trash bin. If you are into oil pastels don't buy Cretacolor AquaStics watersoluble oil pastels unless you desire to do a watercolor painting. I will be putting my set on the shelf until my work calls for watercolors. In the mean time I will have to buy a real set of artist grade oil pastels to finish my projects…

Comments about Cretacolor AquaStics:

Amazing water solubility.........I loed to get the the fantastic water colour effects combined with crayon strokes!