Nyoni Chinese Budget Colored Pencils
Nyoni Chinese Budget Colored Pencils
Over the last few days, there has been talk throughout the art community about the value of reviewing budget colored pencils, I personally absolutely respect everyones opinions to like different things, however I hope the same respect can be shared with me. As a reviewer, as someone who is not just reviewing art products for artists in the US or UK but for those living in India, China, South America, Third World Countries etc, I think it is vital that my reviews reflect everyone who is watching.
We all love to use the high end art products, but not everyone can afford them or depending on the country we live in we may not be able to source them, and so I feel that it is important to give the not so high end products the spotlight they deserve. Also, it is important to note, that not all inexpensive pencils are low quality and this review will prove that.
The thing that drew me to the Nyoni Colored Pencils was the barrel, most of the Japanese pencils I have reviewed have been pencils worthy of use and they have all sported a certain barrel type. When I seen the Nyoni Colored Pencils, their barrel reminded me of said Japanese pencils and so that was the initial attraction.
Nyoni Colored Pencil Characteristics.
As I mentioned the first thang that drew me to the Nyoni Colored Pencils was the barrel, you see, a lot of high quality pencils from Japan tend to have a lot of valuable information printed along the barrel and this seemed to be the case with the Nyoni and whilst I was half right, they didn’t quite mark up to their potential, which isn’t a terrible thing, just a missed opportunity.
The core of the Nyoni Colored Pencils ia a generous 3.9mm and this pigment bursting core is embraced by a 7.6mm barrel. All in all the Nyoni feels well balanced, perfectly weighted and a solid build quality. I sharpened all 120 pencils in my set before use and not one broke, I used a lot of the colours for the artwork I completed and none of them broke either, so, the Nyoni sharpen to a fine point and in the set I have not one pencil cause me problems regarding sharpening.
Each pencil is capped at the end of the barrel, which is something I personally prefer as it protects the core. Each barrel is lacquered the same color as the pigment in the core, the accuracy for a so called budget pencil is pretty good, but as I have mentioned on many occasions, it is always better to swatch your pencils on the same paper you use as this will give you the best representation of the color for when you are selecting a palette to work with.
Along one side of the barrel is printed “Painting” then a decorative bar to separate the following print which on this side of the pencil is “Colored Pencil”. Another bar is used and then the alphanumeric number “N8520” is printed. As of yet I have no idea what this number corresponds to as it is on every pencil, I am guessing it is a brand code given the fact Nyoni have a Watercolor pencil as well.
On the end of the barrel the name of the pencil is printed “Nyoni” and the end information is separated by two decretive rings around the barrel. The print on the Nyoni is gold metallic and so under certain lighting can prove difficult to read.
On the opposite side of the barrel we have “Painting Oiliness” printed, this is followed by the two decorative rings and finally an alphanumeric number representing the pigment. for me personally, I fell all the information printed on the barrel is an opportunity wasted. I would have liked to have seen the pigment name printed and where the meaningless “Painting Oiliness” is printed, both an English and Chinese pigment name could have been printed.
As I previously mentioned, when I first discovered the pencils and it was the barrel that attracted me to them, it was that wealth of information I was seeking and as it turned out, this was not the case for the Nyoni. Of course this is not a major issue as there is a pigment number on the barrel allowing you as an artist to catalog the pencils and pigments.
As you can see from the images, the set that I have to review is the 120, but we will get into set sizes and prices further into the review. However, in the 120 set, as soon as you open the set and you are met with the first layer, you will also notice that there is a sharpener and eraser that come with the set. The Sharpener and the Eraser are very low quality items, but in a lot of the budget type sets this tends to be the norm.
I am sure by this point you are thinking that this is a pretty negative review, however, the issues I have hit on so far are incredibly nit picking, because I knew how much I was going to gush over the Nyoni and I wanted to provide a balanced review. As soon as you open the Nyoni 120 set of Colored Pencils the first thing you are going to notice is the spectacular palette.
The first layer sports a fantastic selection of greens, yellows and reds, there are also a fantastic selection of Caucasian flesh tones. The second layer continues on from the reds, into the violets, aquas, blues and some darker greens. The third layer sports the browns and most spectacular greys and muted tones I have ever seen in a 120 set regardless of quality.
The Nyoni palette, in my opinion is the most complete, comprehensive and spectacular palette I have seen. Sometimes in a palette size of 120, the companies run out of ideas and you can end up with too many reds, or blues or greens, but this is not the case with the Nyoni. For every color family in the set, there is a light, mid tone and a dark value, this is what makes me think that the palette has been well thought out.
As you can see from the swatch, the palette laid out on paper is just beautiful, its one thing to see the pencils all laid out and the colors of the barrels, but it is another thing altogether to see the colors on paper. the paper that I have used for this swatch is the Clairefontaine Paint On Mixed Media paper, a paper with a little bit of texture but nothing too rough.
Nyoni Colored Pencil Performance
So many of us, and I do include me in this, automatically see inexpensive pencils and think terrible quality or if there is no lightfast rating on the pencils, then avoid then at all costs. But not everyone needs more wants lightfast pencils and if I have learnt one valuable thing in the five years I have been reviewing art products, never assume cheap equals terrible quality.
When I was completing the swatch, as I lay down the colors of each pencil, all I needed was the most delicate touch for the pigment to transfer to the paper and the slight texture to the Clairefontaine Paint On Mixed Media paper was certainly favourable.
The next test I completed was the Layer Test, for those of you that are new to colored pencils and in particular to The Art Gear Guide, I always apply five layers as this is roughly the required number of layers before applying OMS Odourless Mineral Spirits.
In this test, as with the swatch, the first layer was completed by holding the pencil at the very end of the barrel, only the weight of the pencil applied the pigment. this is a fantastic indication to the over all strength of the pigment in the core. The first three pencils that I swatched did feel a bit gritty, however, this was not the case with the remaining pencils and when I came back to the first three pencils that gritty texture had gone.
All the layers applied with ease and by the fifth layer I could have easily applied many more layers. By the fish layer there was no stickiness, tackiness or resistance, which are all traits you might expect from a soft waxy type pencil. With the Nyoni pencils, they felt more oil based to me but there is definitely a wax element to the core as well. The heavy application applied effortlessly as well and it is on this test were if the content of the core was more wax based, you can see a sheen to the finished application and this is not the case.
Next up is the blending test and this test gives a fantastic indication as to how well the pencils blend and mix. This is a really simple test to complete but with effective results, when the third color that you are trying to create is clearly visible you will know how well the pencils are going to blend.
In this test you can clearly see that the blue and yellow has created a gorgeous green, same with the yellow and red in creating an orange. Finally with the red and blue you can clearly see a vibrant purple and these result are not always this clear with lesser quality pencils.
Before OMS Applied
Next up is the OMS test, Odourless Mineral Spirits test and for those new to colored pencils, the reason why an artist uses OMS is varied. Once a number of layers have been applied, when you apply OMS, the liquid breaks down the layers and almost transforms the pencil layers into paint, you end up with a very smooth coverage with no grain of the paper exposed. The other advantage is that once the layers have had OMS applied, this reinvigorates the tooth of the paper, allowing for more layers to be applied, making for a richer more vibrant coverage over all.
After OMS Applied
To see this test in real time, check out my YouTube video review as I complete the test in real time on the video. I have of course added a before and after image here for you, but to see the colored pencil layers break down might be more beneficial to you.
Next up is the Black Paper test, this test doens’t show if a pencil is bad or good, each colored pencil artist has a preference between a slightly more translucent core as is the case with the Faber Castell Polychromos, or a more opaque pencil as in the Prismacolor Premier. Showing a few colors from the set will give you an understanding of how the pigments will behave on darker papers.
As you can see from the image added, there are a couple of translucent cores, mainly the red and yellow, whereby you can see the black from the paper show through the applied layer. The Blue, Green and White are quite opaque. I also showed the Bronze, Silver and Gold pencils that are in the Nyoni 120 set and you can clearly see that they too are quite opaque.
I also completed some artwork with the Nyoni which helps give me as the reviewer a much better understanding of the pencils I am reviewing, but I feel it helps you the viewer to get a better look in the form of a demonstration as to what can be accomplished with the pencils on review.
To get a better look at the artwork completed I have completed a speed drawing video on YouTube as well as some still images from the artwork process which you can view at your own leisure as well as clicking on the images which will enlarge them allowing you a better view of the work. The Artwork was completed on Strathmore 400 Series Mixed Media Paper.
Throughout this test I have completed tests and demonstrations on various types of paper. the swatch was completed on Clairefontaine Mixed Media Paper, the Layering and Blending test was completed on Strathmore 300 Series Bristol Velum, the Art work on Strathmore 400 Series Mixed Media Paper and the black paper used was Winsor and Newton Black.
In the interest of showing as many paper tests as possible, I have also added a few colours to Strathmore 400 Series Toned Tan paper as well as the Strathmore 400 Series Colored Pencils paper
Nyoni Sets And Prices
The set that I have on review here is the 120 set of Nyoni, however they do come in smaller sets. The Nyoni is also available in 12, 24, 36, 48, 72 and of course 120 sets, however, as of yet, I have not been able to locate the 12 or 24 sets on any of the sites I visit when purchasing pencils, so I can only provide prices for the remaining sets.
Nyoni UK Aliexpress
If you were to purchase the following sets in the UK from Aliexpress you would expect to pay the following. The the set of 36 Nyoni you will pay £15.30, for the 48 set you will pay £18.91, for the 72 set you will pay £21.91 and for the largest 120 set you can expect to pay £28.59
Nyoni US Aliexpress
If you were to purchase the following sets in the US from Aliexpress you would expect to pay the following. The the set of 36 Nyoni you will pay $20.61, for the 48 set you will pay $25.48, for the 72 set you will pay $29.64 and for the largest 120 set you can expect to pay $38.52
Nyoni EU Aliexpress
If you were to purchase the following sets in the EU from Aliexpress you would expect to pay the following. The the set of 36 Nyoni you will pay €17.70, for the 48 set you will pay €21.88, for the 72 set you will pay €25.44 and for the largest 120 set you can expect to pay €33.07
Nyoni Conclusion
As I posted on one of the social media posts I pushed out a week or so ago, every now and again you find a gem among the pebbles and on this occasion, taking all the factors into consideration, in particular the price, the Nyoni Colored Pencil are indeed that gem that we are all looking for.
If I had to sum up the Nyoni in one short sentence, I would say that if a Holbein Colored Pencil and a Faber Castell Polychromos got together under the pale light of the moon one summers evening and got it on, the Nyoni would be the love child of that union.
Minus the lightfast ratings, which I was unable to locate anywhere for the Nyoni, this pencil hols so many traits of both the Holbein and Polychromos. On the matter of lightfast ratings, the best rule of thumb that I consider regarding whether or not a pencil has any. If the pencil is rated under the ASTM or Blue Wool, you can bet your life that information will be on the pencil and the packaging, given how expensive it is for companies to accomplish this rating. If however they have in house lightfast ratings, then you as an individual have to determine if you are prepared to trust in whatever process they have chosen to rate their pencils.
The Nyoni Colored Pencils are most certainly not in my opinion cheap Chinese waste of time pencils, they are incredibly inexpensive, but their quality absolutely does not reflect their cost. With an outstanding comprehensive palette, a well made pencil with no sharpening issues or core splitting, flawless layering and exceptional blending, you really can’t go wrong with a set of Nyoni.
To see the pencils in action, check out my YouTube Review by following the link, you can also check out the artwork come to life by following the link to the speed drawing. to see the artwork in more detail and how the pencil performs on paper, you can enlarge the images and view at your own leisure.
