Ecoline is made by Royal Talens of Netherlands. It is liquid watercolour and the colours are ready to use. The colour intensity is very high and can be thinned with water. It dries in a few minutes to an even finish without streaks.
It adheres very well to many types of ground such as drawing paper, watercolour paper, cardboard and many more. It is suitable for graphic and technical application. The colours are reasonably lightfast but may fade if the finished product it regularly exposed to sunlight or ultraviolet light.
Many moons back before computers were widely used, these colours were used widely by planners, architects and illustrators for maps and architectural drawings especially for planning submission to the relevant authorities.
The usage for these colours are very diverse. It can be applied by brush, airbrush and technical drawing pen. Colours are waterbased therefore brush, airbrush nozzles and pen nibs can be easily cleaned with water. When using dark colours first, you should thoroughly clean your drawing tools with soap & water and lots of water before changing to lighter colours. Use the smallest nozzle spray when using airbrush.
Ecoline is available in 46 brilliant colours and 2 opaque colours (white and gold). The colour spectrum is unlimited because the colours mix well together.
I have been asked by a lot of customers for white ink to be used with technical drawing pen. I find it very difficult to get hold of white drawing ink but this Ecoline does have opaque white.
I have been asked by a lot of customers for white ink to be used with technical drawing pen. I find it very difficult to get hold of white drawing ink but this Ecoline does have opaque white.
Photo above shows white (left) and gold (right) on deep red smooth 125g paper applied using fine watercolour brush. The colours are opaque and quite thick although the white is thicker than gold. Bottle had to be shaken vigorously before use to ensure colours are even and smooth.
The writings (in above photo) in red ink on white paper is written using a Rotring Isograph 0.5mm Technical Drawing Pen on Cartridge Drawing Paper 150g (left) and Standard Printing Paper 100g (right). Colour adheres to paper smoothly while writing.
(Sorry photo is not good as it is taken under a fluorescent table lamp which does not give the best light and gives the crazy horizontal lines which cannot be reduced no matter what angle you use!)
I enjoy using this medium and would recommend it for its flexibility and ease of use. I feel comfortable using it and it makes great washes. It is totally transparent when dry so the background remains visible. It can be used for drawing, paintings, graphic illustrations, cartoon drawings, anime, intermix artwork with other mediums like colour pencils, watercolours, etc. The colours are very intense and can be thinned with water. Because of its high intensity a bottle of 30ml lasts relatively a long time.
