Caran d'Ache Swisscolor Water Resistant Colored Pencil Review
Caran d'Ache Swisscolor Water Resistant Colored Pencil Review
About a year ago I reviewed a really nice set of pencils from the ever so popular Caran d’Ache line called the Swisscolor Water Soluble Colored Pencils. At the time I really enjoyed the pencils and gave them quite favourable reviewing given that they are in and around the lower level student range top end kids range, in fact Caran d’Ache have them in their Hobbies section of art supplies.
The Water Soluble Swisscolor have been in the Caran d’Ache line for quite some time, however, the Water Resistant Swisscolor are relatively new to the line, but if memory serves me, the Water Resistant Swisscolor used to be available way back in the very early days of Caran d’Ache but for some reason stopped. Regardless, the Swisscolor Water Resistant Colored Pencils are back and I wanted to add them to this vastly growing list of art product reviews. I would absolutely love for one day The Art Gear Guide to be the largest most accurate and honest collection of art product reviews on the Internet.
Swisscolor Water Resistant Colored Pencils
The Swisscolor Water Resistant Colored Pencils come in an incredibly striking and instantly recognisable tin, instantly recognisable to be part of the Caran d’Ache range that is. The beautiful bright red tin decorated in white crosses of the Swiss National flag make this unmistakably Caran d’Ache. The only issue with this branding is that the Water Soluble and Water Resistant Swisscolor tins look identical with one or two very small differences.
Swisscolor Water Soluble Set
Swisscolor Water Resistant Set
I only point this out because if after reading or watching my review of the Swisscolor Water Resistant Colored Pencils you would like to purchase a set for yourself, its important that you know what you are looking for and not purchase the wrong pencil by mistake. As you can see from the images provided the tins at first glance look identical.
With more recent images on the Caran d’Ache website there are slightly better identifying marks between the two sets, with an image of a paintbrush on a white sticker on the side of the tin. this tells me that Caran d’Ache are aware of the situation and are doing something about it and I am guessing this is due to customers ordering the wrong sets of pencils, hopefully, along with many other things, this review will help prevent you from making such a costly mistake.
On the bottom of both tins, where the set number is located, in small writing writing is the directive Water Resistant or Water Soluble. Also, on the barrel of the pencils, which an image of one is present on the tin, is located iconography which helps determine the set. With the Water Soluble pencils there is a Paintbrush Icon and for the Water Resistant pencils there is a Diamond motif. Both images of the pencils on the tins are yellow, but I think maybe if Caran d’Ache used different colored pencil colors on the tins it would go a long way to making the selection easier.
Caran d’Ache Swisscolor Characteristics
From here on out I will simply refer to the pencils as the Swisscolor as opposed to clarifying water resistant or soluble, if I need to mention the water soluble pencils I will reference as such then. The Swisscolor are quite a light feeling pencil in the hand, I know in the grand scheme of things a pencil is not a heavy object, however pencils do vary in weight and the Swisscolor is light. As well as the slight weight, the pencil is quite slim.
The Swisscolor sports a slim yet relatively powerfully pigmented 2.6mm core, held neatly and accurately in place by a deceptively delicate 6.8mm hexagonal barrel. Along one side of the Swisscolor barrel is the printed in gold leaf the pencil name “Swisscolor”, this is closely followed some iconography, a diamond motif.
The Diamond motif is in place of the paintbrush which is printed on the Water Soluble version of the Swisscolor. After the Diamond motif is printed the “Caran d’Ache” logo and this is closely followed by “Swiss Made”. As with all printed information on pencils that are done in metallic print, reading said information in certain lighting conditions can be troublesome.
The very end of the barrel is uncapped which leaves the core exposed, this tends to be prevalent in the lesser expensive pencils and for some people is undesirable, I personally am not a fan of this as it can promote additional damage to the core. However, one good thing about having the end of the barrel exposed is you can clearly see if the core is centred. For those of you unaware or new to this beautiful medium we all love so much, when the core of a pencil is badly centred, it will most certainly cause problems when sharpening, especially with a hand held sharpener. Occasional using a hand crank sharpener can minimise the damage, but unfortunately if the pencil is badly centred it is difficult to prevent the core from shattering.
Caran d’Ache Swisscolor Set Availability and Price
The Caran d’Ache Swisscolor pencils are categorised by Caran d’Ache in their Hobbies section, so that puts the Swisscolor in the top end of the kids range, lower end of the Student Grade, so of course there is not that many colors in the sets.
Caran d’Ache have released the Swisscolor Water Resistant Colored Pencils is sets of 12, 18 and 30. It would be nice if they could add a 40 set to the line as the Swisscolor Water Soluble have a 40 set.
There is also a set of 12 and 18 in Cardboard Box form which obviously makes these set a little bit cheaper than their tin counterparts. I think if you have pencil storage already in your studio and don’t ordinarily keep your pencils in the tins, it would perhaps be a better alternative for you to purchase the cardboard box sets.
UK Swisscolor Pricing
Here in the UK if you would like to purchase one of the Caran D’Ache Swisscolor Water Resistant Colored Pencils you can expect to pay the following. For the Swisscolor set of 12 in a Cardboard Box you will pay approximately £7.69 for the Swisscolor in the Cardboard Box 18 set you will pay £10.49. If you prefer to purchase your pencils in tins as opposed to cardboard boxes you will pay a little bit more. For the Swisscolor set of 12 in a tin you will pay £12.99, for the Swisscolor Water Resistant Colored Pencils in the 18 set tin you will pay £18.20 and for the largest set in the line the Swisscolor 30 set in a tin you will pay approximately £28.05
US Swisscolor Pricing
Unfortunately I was unable to locate pricing for the US, this has been a problomatic issue due to the global pandemic we are all facing. On the Caran Dache Website they have added a notice informing those of us in UK, that we will not be receiving Caran d’Ache products for a while due to Brexit.
As soon as prices and sets become available in the US I will of course update the site and I can only apologise for the lack of information regarding prices but this is a wide spreed issue currently effecting many art supply companies.
EU Swisscolor Pricing
Unfortunately the issue described above applies to Caran d’Ache Swisscolor in Europe, as soon as prices become available I will of course update this website as and when.
Caran d’Ache Swisscolor Water Resistant Performance
I have to say, I found the Caran d’Ache Swisscolor really difficult to pin point with regards to the make up of the core. When using the Swisscolor you can immediately feel that the core is soft, not Prismacolor soft, but not too far away. However, the feel of the core is really dry, I am not suggesting this is an unpleasant feeling but it is just not a core I am used to.
When I was using the pencils on various papers the dryness of the core didn’t change so it wasn’t anything to do with the paper being used. It is a really odd feeling, it is clear that the core has wax and oil in it, but when using the Swisscolor it felt almost like a pastel pencil, nowhere near as dry as a pastel pencil. I tried to bring the microphone close to the pencil when using it on my YouTube video review to help you get a better understanding of what I am trying to explain, so it might be worth checking out the video.
The first thing I did was create a swatch on the Clairefontaine Paint On Mixed Media paper, as you can see from the image, there is a really nice palette in the 30 set. Occasionally 30 or 48 sets can have one or two really similar colors in them, but I think Caran d’Ache have done a good job selecting the pigments for this set.
I completed my usual layering and blending test as well, for these tests I used the Strathmore 300 Series Bristol Velum, the velum surface is a really nice middle of the road paper, not too smooth and not too textured. As you can see from the first test the layers applied really nicely on the paper and with the single heavy application on this test you could see that the pigments were a little muted, but it is important to remember that the Swisscolor are upper kids and lower student grade pencils so they are not going to be at the same level as the Luminance or Pablo.
Next up was the blending test, I think because of the dryness in the core, which is the best way I can describe it, that it allowed for the Swisscolor to blend well. As you can see from the image all of the colors I used in this test, blended well together but most importantly they created the third color they were supposed to. I know that statement might sound daft but when blending colored pencils together, you don’t always get the color you might expect.
I also created a Odourless Mineral Spirits test using Zest-It, you can see this test play out in real time on the YouTube video review. The images I have supplied below are of the blue sphere before using OMS and the blue sphere after using OMS. This is something I personally don’t use on my colored pencil drawings but I know a lot of you guys do and so I feel it is an important test to demonstrate on the various products I review
Before Using OMS
After Using OMS
My final test is checking out the pigments on Black paper, this just gives you an idea as to how translucent or opaque the pencils are. As you can see from the image I have provided, all of the pigments tested, including the white are pretty opaque, which is really odd given that a lot of lower end pencils don’t perform terribly well on black paper. However, when using pencils on Black paper, it is another thing that comes down to personal choice, some artists prefer the pigments to be a little translucent, allowing some of the black paper through, whereas others prefer a much more gouache look to the pigments.
I did complete some artwork with the Caran d’Ache Swisscolor and this was completed on Strathmore 300 Series Bristol Velum. I chose this image from Pinterest purely because of how bright and vibrant the flower looked and if I am honest I just wanted something quick to draw that would showcase the pencils. The leaves are a bit off but I was in a rush as I haven’t done a lot of reviews and I need to get back into gear. I have also added a short speed drawing of the artwork if you are interested as well as a page on The Art Gear Guide with images at various stages of completion so that you can enlarge and inspect the pencil stroke better.
Swisscolor Lightfast Information
According to the Caran d’Ache website the Swisscolor Water Resistant Colored Pencils have Good lightfastness, but that is all it says, there is nothing regarding specific ratings, which of course you wouldn’t expect, in fact I was shocked to see the website say anything about the Swisscolor being lightfast.
Caran d’Ache Swisscolor Conclusion
As I mentioned, I found the core really difficult to describe, however it wasn’t an unpleasant drawing experience using the Swisscolor, I personally have not tested or reviewed a pencil with such a dry core. Nevertheless, regardless of the cores strange composition, the Swisscolor performed really well on all of the tests I conducted.
With regards to layering they were perfect and the same can be said for the blending, which I feel is down to the core composition. The art work turned out nice and bright, however the individual heavy application test didn’t really show the Swisscolor to sport strong pigments, but the artwork did. Finally the Swisscolor on Black paper reacted beautifully with really strong opaque pigments including the white
I would like to see a larger set of the Swisscolor but that is perhaps greed on my part. I think the Swisscolor are a fantastic pencil for adult colouring book artists and even though there is only 30 pigments in the set, so long as you are not looking to sell your work and don’t require lightfast pigments, the Swisscolor would be fine for those getting started in colored pencil art.
To see my YouTube video review of the Swisscolor just follow the link, if you would like to see the speed drawing of the artwork simply follow the relevant link. If you would prefer to inspect some close up images of the art work at various stages of completion, follow the link. Thank you all so much for your wonderful support and comments.
