Faber Castell 26 Pitt Graphite Set Review
Faber Castell 26 Pitt Graphite Set Review
I am sure most of you reading this review are well aware of the brand “Faber Castell”, in which case I am sure you can already guess that the quality of the products in this set I am about to review will be of a high standard. On review today is this gorgeous 26 piece set from Faber Castell, a masterful selection of Pitt Graphite, this Faber Castle 26 Pitt Graphite Set is not only jam packed with high quality products, it is a must have set in my opinion for so many artists, no matter their level of expertise within the art world.
Faber Castell 26 Pitt Graphite Set Characteristics
As with all Faber Castell upper echelon products, this Faber Castell 26 Pitt Graphite set comes in the iconic racing car green tin, emblazoned in gold print with the company name “Faber Castell” and depicting artwork completed with the items included in the set.
On opening the tin we are presented with all glorious 26 items, tantalising our visual senses whilst simultaneously brushing our nasal holes with that gorgeous natural pine wood smell with a hint of varnish on the barrels of the pencils. Colored pencil artists around the globe will relate to those words, whilst others could be forgiven thinking I need a straight jacket and place in a nice quiet room, on my own.
Working from left to right as we view the tin, the first product we are greeted with, is perhaps the one I think you will have the most fun with and that is the Faber Castell Aquarelle Graphite pencils. There are three in total with their tonal values ranging from 2B, 4B and 8B, so a fantastic range of values and you will see this better in the swatch I have produced.
The Faber Castell Water Soluble pencils are quite chunky, very similar to the Faber Castell Albrecht Dürer pencils. The core is a hefty 3.7mm, encased in a black lacquered 8.4mm hexagonal barrel. To help artists get started immediately with the set, Faber Castell have included an excellent quality number 6 round watercolor brush. Ordinarily sets with water soluble products will either not have a brush or the brush included is next to useless, this is not the case with this set.
Next up we have a selection of regular Faber Castell 9000 Graphite pencils and I think the ranges they have included are perfect. Ranges start from 2H, HB, B, 2B, 4B, 6B and 8B, for me personally, there is very little need to go lighter than 2H, with a 2H pencil and a light hand you can produce the values you need. For me personally I think the darker tones are much more valuable and productive and this selection of Faber Castell 9000 Graphite pencils does not let the artist down.
Beside the Faber Castell 9000 Graphite pencils, we are presented with three Jumbo 9000 Faber Castell Graphite pencils, they range from 2B, 4B and 8B. Essentially these are just traditional Faber Castell 9000 Graphite pencils on Jumbo form. The Jumbo 9000 sport a whopping 9.6mm barrel, keeping cosy a 5.6mm core, ready for any artists to emblazon the world with mind bending art.
Next up we have three woodless Pitt Graphite Pure 2900 sticks, they are covered with a thin film sporting gold print and this can be removed exposing a long slim stick of pure Pitt Graphite. These Woodless Pitt Pure Graphite sticks can also be sharpened as you would a traditional pencils for detailed projects. The Pure 2900 Pitt Graphite sticks are quite weighty given they are all graphite and the sport an overall radius of 7.8mm. With these three sticks we have the darkest value of everything in the set, ranging from 3B, 6B and 9B.
As far as the graphite is concerned, we have the real gems in the set, the big guns, three Pitt Graphite sticks. As you can see from the images they are huge chunks of graphite, just begging any artist to grab hold of them and create a huge graphite masterpiece. With a massive 11.0mm girth, anything is possible with these artist toys and Faber Castell have included three strong values, 2B, 6B and 8B.
Finally, the remainder of the items helping to tally up the full accompaniment of this gorgeous Faber Castell Pitt Graphite 26 Set, are of course the accessories, no less important than the fun things. First we have the Faber Castell kneaded eraser, I would absolutely forgive you for thinking all kneaded erasers are the same, but this in fact is not the case, some are next to useless but the Faber Castell one is perfect in every way.
Next we have the paper blending stump, a double hole metal sharpener, small and large, enough to sharpen all items in the set. There is a Faber Castell Dust Free Art Eraser, a harder eraser than the kneaded, for helping you to make your own graphite powder and keep your pencils sharpened etc. Finally there is a pencil eraser which is one of the best pencil erasers I have used thus far; I know you might think, “Why so many erasers” but if you are new to art, what you have to remember is that erasers are not necessarily for getting rid of mistakes, they are drawing tools also.
Faber Castell Pitt Graphite 26 Set Performance.
I have to say, this Faber Castell Pitt Graphite 26 Piece Set is perfection for either brand new artists to the art world or experts. The set gives you every single thing you will need to get started on any graphite based project and the quality of all products inside the set are top notch, hence experts getting huge value from the set.
I completed a swatch of all the products, just to show the tonal changes in the various grades of graphite as well as how the water soluble graphite reacts and looks like, once activated with water. I have a few images of before and after swatches you can view here, but on my YouTube video review of this awesome set you can watch it all happen in real time.
I also had to complete a piece of artwork using the products with in the set in order to get a good understanding of how the products perform doing the job they are designed for. Its all very well and good producing a swatch, but actually using the products and seeing how the perform is so important in my opinion.
I created these Ballet using every product at some point throughout the process, I was incredibly happy with the final result and using the items was a dream. The graphite is a dream to work with, the wood barrels are high quality Cedar Wood and so they don’t split or snag when sharpening. The tonal values in the set are perfect, the jump for most of them 2B, 4B and 8B is all you really need with a 2H, HB or 9B thrown in for good measure.
I also created a speed drawing of the Ballet Slippers if you would like to watch that process come to life, the entire drawing took 8 hours and 26 minutes, I have condensed that into a 8 minute speed drawing. However, if speed drawings are not your thing, I have also created a page on my web site of images taken throughout the drawing process, from start to finish and in-between. Here you can click on any image, this provides you with an enlarged version, allowing you to inspect the art work in your own time and in detail.
Faber Castell Pitt Graphite 26 Piece Set Pricing
Here in the UK, you can expect to pay approximately £38 and for artists in the US I was unable to locate a price, however as always, every single Sunday I check all the Amazon links on my website to make sure they are still the cheapest and so when a set becomes available I will add it here and you can guarantee it will be the cheapest set I can find on Amazon.
Faber Castell Pitt Graphite 26 Piece Set Conclusion
I absolutely love this set of graphite items from Faber Castell; Faber Castell have so many wonderful sets you can purchase from them, each set offering something different, helping to provide for every artists needs. Faber Castell have an absolutely tremendous reputation for producing high quality products, and this includes their student range and kids range.
If you would like to watch my YouTube video review of this beautiful set just click the link, perhaps you would like to watch the artwork I created with the set come to life, in which case simply click this link. If speed drawings are not your thing, as I mentioned, there is a page on The Art Gear Guide with high detailed images you can enlarge and inspect in your own time, just click this link.
