10 points to Slytherin for anyone who came here for the Blue October reference in the thumbnail/title! 💜🐍

I would suggest, using a flat brush initially, not too soft, and just doing your yellow orange  colours. Let those properly dry. (Hair dryer if necessary). Then go in with the next set of colours. I think you were getting muddy because you were basically mixing yellow and blue, as well as orange and blue. Both are not going to get the luminous light you need. Layering the two colours is different to mixing them. Even if the crayon will reactivate after drying you will have a moment of less interaction to give you more working time compared to putting both colours down dry together.
Put the dark detail down right at the end after everything is dry.
An additional trick is to make a paint in another container from one of the colours and layer with that.
I think you were hampered initially by the very soft very pointed brush on very textured paper leading to lots of scrubbing, which meant everything gets overworked and the colour gets muddy.
Not everything has to be blended, you can choose to leave marks from the crayon, that might be a more successful was to go. Have a look at Colin Woodward YouTube channel to see if the idea of partial reactivation of colour might work for you. He has lots of examples of when it can be effective.

Hullo, I have not tried to “glue” any broken sticks back together. But I have used a broken tip in a metal palette adding the shavings from sharpening the same stick to make a well or pan of the color for use with a brush! Neocolor II’s are very good for this purpose. I thought your picture turned out quite nice!

If you have a thicker layer of crayon down usually when that waxyiness starts you can use blending stumps. It takes some pressure, but you can get really smooth blends that way.

Nice! I like to see how different people use these. They are tricky to layer but the only way to figure them out is play with them!

LOVE my Neo IIs! They are my favorite medium! The trick is the water to pigment ratio (just like in watercolor) for the effect you desire, but the learning curve is much faster. I find less water/less watery brush is better til you see how the pigment is reacting, then adjust. Also, the pigment sits on top of the paper and a few of the colors’ pigment really dissipates when the water is added, so watch what your brushwork is producing, then adjust. Be sure always to blend light to dark with constant brush cleaning in between, because some of the pigment load of some of the colors in your blend may be greater and can overpower the whole. Just play as much as you can. I find myself reaching for them often because I can just grab the colors, my paper, a waterbrush and a paper towel and start playing.

Oooooooooooh!  I have a few broken ones I am going to try fusing them back together!!!  yay!!  I usually just use the little nubs LOL. Also if a small piece breaks off you can put it in a little half pan and use as watercolor, but that isn't really my favorite way to use Neocolor 2's.  Good though to use up the last pieces that can no longer be used to 'draw'.  Thanks for the video!

I am going to try that. Also i am glad to see someone else sees the green in the sunset sky

key to layering is drying each layer. Front and back.  Have no problems using multiple layers when layer underneath is bone dry.

Neocolor IIs are so much fun. Your sunset painting looks great. It's also a record of your memory, and that makes it super special.

Thank you! Same challenge here... Several of mine are broken too and I will try doing the same as you did!

I had this tip breakage issues with my Neocolor I crayons, and it was so frustrating since they aren't water soluble, which would have made it easier to mold the tips back on the bodies or just put the broken pieces in a watercolor pan. However, Caran D'ache makes a crayon holder called the "Fixpencil 0012" and it is FANTASTIC! It can even grip the broken crayon tip securely to draw or color with it. It's pricey but might be worth checking out. I bought mine on Amazon and Jackson Art Supply also stocks it. If you decide to grab it, I'd love to see an updated video with your thoughts on it!

You need the caran dache pallet that goes along with the neocolor 2’s , one side of it is smooth and the other side is rough , a bit like sandpaper and you scrape (slightly) your neocolor 2 pastel on to it and then get your watercolour paint brush and then paint on to your paper , you can mix colours on the pallet as well , so much easier .

Neat!  TY!

Look at Erin Dunken doing orange slices. I went ah-ha when I saw it. Good luck. Also, holders are sold, and they are often used with pastels at Caran d'Ashe. it is kinda expensive

I think it would have been a huge difference if you added the black details after creating the sky. And maybe added more water to allow the colours to bleed into each other.

You're welcome ;)

That sunset is really beautiful! For me I find that Neocolor ii works out best when I press really hard and DON'T add any water. Check out Melissa Martin, Katie Moody, Sophie Mcpike. They all do amazing work with neocolors.

5:00 yeahs- to be fair they’re quite hard wax compared to my other water-soluble wax pencils (Stabilo “All” Chinagraph), oil pastels etc. so I find myself pressing harder and harder to try to lay down enough pigment. That makes breaking them almost inevitable.

I’ve heard neocolour 1 is softer. I wish they’d stuck with that.

I have noticed that people who use these often have a jar full of pieces that have broken off that they grab and use here and there. Also, you are holding the crayon near the end and putting down pressure and I would expect any crayon to break. I have seen people purposely break each crayon in thirds, then fill one of the metal container with pieces of over 30 color that are easy to transport. Many used the side without the paper and an edge of a broken piece to apply this product. If you use a sharpener, have a baggie for shavings that are color groups: yellow, red, blue green, earthy. You can pick out the shavings and add water to make interesting paints. I guess you can use this product "delicately" but I have watched artist just  go to bat applying it with gust.