Winsor And Newton Studio Collection Coloured Pencil Review
Winsor And Newton Studio Collection Coloured Pencil Review
I have to say; I was really excited when I discovered this particular pencil I am reviewing for you today. Everyday, or at least as often as I can, I check out all the major art supply companies and other art related industry sites, just to see if there is anything new that I need to be taking a look at. I think that as a reviewer, it is important for The Art Gear Guide to at the very least, be among the first to draw your attention to any new art supplies hitting the market.
I happened to be checking out Winsor & Newtons site, as I am always looking at their Pigment Markers, however, on this particular day, I discovered that Winsor & Newton had a new line of supplies, namely their Studio Collection of Coloured Pencils, Watercolour Pencils and Graphite pencils. Unfortunately they were release in July of this year (2018), so I am a bit late to the game, however, I have not seen a lot about them on the net so hopefully this will be relatively new for some of you.
To be honest with you, the fact that a huge name such as Winsor and Newton had developed a line of Watercolour Pencils, was not really a surprise. In fact given their dominance in the Watercolour industry, it actually made sense. However, it was the introduction of a Graphite line, a Sketching set and Wax based Coloured Pencil selection that really grabbed my interest and I just knew I had to review these products for you guys and quick.
I spoke to an incredibly helpful and professional lady at Winsor & Newton about the new line and asked for some information on the products, only to have this wonderful lady offer to send the sets out to me for review. Once I received the sets, of course I immediately started having play about with them, trying to work out which set to review first. I finally decided that I would review the wax based coloured pencils first given that I suspect most people would expect a water soluble pencil from Winsor & Newton, but wax based pencils, not so much.
Characteristics of Winsor And Newton Studio Collection Coloured Pencils
The first thing that struck me about the packaging of the Winsor and Newton Studio Collection, was the slick, minimalist look to the packaging and the actual pencils. The tin is a simple silver looking package, with a gorgeous embossed Winsor and Newton logo on the lid, making the over all appearance look very regal, very professional and incredible modern, maybe even futuristic.
The barrel of the Winsor and Newton Studio Collection Coloured Pencil is also very minimalist, very much in line with the overall packaging. The barrel is made from Californian Cedar wood which almost all colored pencils are made from these days. The barrel is a comfortable 7.2mm in diameter, sporting a gorgeously pigmented 3.7mm core.
The barrels of the wax based coloured pencils are lacquered a cool grey shade with each pencil capped with an inch long pigment identifier, making pigment selection quick and easy, regardless if the pencils are housed in a jar, coloured pencil storage drawer or Robax pencil stacking system.
The overall weight of the pencil feels really nice in the hand, I used to hear people talking about the weight of a pencil, paint brush, marker etc and wondered to myself, how heavy could a pencil be that weight needs to be spoke about. It is only now that I test, demonstrate and review art supplies that I understand this term, discussing the weight of the pencil is more about the comfort of using the product than whether or not your arm is going to become exhausted using such a heavy product.
Information along the barrel is very much in keeping with the packaging in so much as there is very little. In the middle of the barrel is a beautiful silver leaf stamped Winsor and Newton logo. Further along the barrel, just before the pigment identifier, the name of the pigment is printed.
The Winsor and Newton Coloured pencil, due to the high quality wood used in its production is very easy to sharpen and sharpens to an excellent point.
Winsor And Newton Studio Collection Coloured Pencil Performance.
I have to say, I was really surprised at just how well these pencils performed, as always I tested the pencil on a few different papers, Bristol Smooth, Mixed Media, Hot Pressed Watercolour Paper and also Winsor and Newton Black Paper. I also tested them on two different branded adult colouring books, I am not an expert in this area however I am well aware of the vast selection of adult colouring books, so I am unable to test products on every book. Regardless, the Winsor And Newton Coloured Pencils performed outstanding on both adult colouring books I use for this purpose.
As I mentioned, the pencils sharpen to an excellent point, when I first started using them, I tend to be a little bit heavy handed, when you are used to setting up 81mm Mortars, SA80 Rifles etc, its not always easy to remember that using a high quality art product only requires a delicate touch. Once the core is wore down a bit and pressure can be applied, there is a little bit of crumbling, however that is to be expected from such a soft core pencil.
The Winsor & Newton Studio Collection Coloured Pencils are a wax based pencil, however, as you all know by now, I try to stay away from this oil or wax based categorisation and prefer the descriptive language of soft or hard core. Because of this soft consistency, coverage is delightful, with a light hand, copious amounts of pigment is applied, allowing for generous layering abilities. I personally was able to apply six light layers before any resistance began occurring.
Using OMS Odourless Mineral Spirits on the Winsor & Newton Studio Collection Coloured Pencils worked a treat, moving the pigment about effortlessly. For me personally, I much prefer to use a light shade pencil or blender pencil for blending, this option also worked well.
As you can see from the images below, blending of different pigments was really simple, creating seamless blends, which I attribute to the soft nature of the core. With the bright yellow and sky blue I was able to create a gorgeous grass green shade and likewise with the yellow and red, I was able to create an nice orange.
A lot of colored pencil artist, when trying to create black, try to refrain from using the black pencil and prefer making the color up from various other dark pencils, depending on the over all color need. The Winsor & Newton Studio Collection black however is really gorgeous, in fact the shade produced from the black colored pencil reminded me of a carbon pencil. If you are unaware of this particular type pencil, you can check out an older review I completed explaining and demonstrating a carbon pencil.
I also tested the Winsor & Newton pencils on some Winsor & Newton Black Paper, as you can tell from the image below, the colors are really rich and opaque on this dark background. Colored pencil artists, colourists and crafters are always seeking the perfect white colored pencil, regardless of what you may think the best white pencil is at currently, the hunt will always be on for such an illusive tool. I personally feel that the Winsor & Newton Studio Collection White Coloured Pencil is certainly a contender. You can see from the image below just how opaque and bright the white pencil is.
Winsor & Newton Studio Collection Coloured Pencil Lightfast Information.
It is important to note that these pencils from Winsor and Newton are new, so as things currently stand, on the packaging of the pencils, it explains that the pencils have excellent lightfastness. After I spoke to the lady from Winsor and Newton, it was explained to me that whilst the pencils have undergone some lightfast testing and they performed well, Winsor And Newton are currently undergoing more detailed lightfast testing and as soon as this has been completed, I will be updating this review accordingly.
Sets Available For Winsor & Newton Studio Collection.
With regards to the Winsor & Newton Studio Collection Coloured Pencils, these gorgeous pencils come is sets of 12, 24 and 48. I hope to try and get hold of the 48 set after Christmas to show you the full range of pigments, however, given what I have already mentioned about these excellent pencils, a 48 set would be perfect for any Colourist, Crafter or Coloured Pencil Artist.
Unfortunately as things currently stand, the pencils are not available in open stock, however, perhaps with the expansion of sets over time, open stock will be available.
Winsor & Newton Studio Collection Coloured Pencil Pricing
The RRP for these wonderful pencils from Winsor & Newton are really reasonable in my opinion. It is worth highlighting that the RRP (Recommended Retail Price) is the price set by the company at the outset of release. Products almost always can be found slightly cheaper depending on where you look.
As things currently stand, because the Winsor and Newton Studio Collection are new, they really haven’t hit Amazon as of yet and Amazon is the store I use for my price list on these reviews simply due to Amazon’s global reach. You can find the Winsor and Newton Coloured Pencils in local art stores here and there, but Winsor and Newton are still very much in the process of pushing these wonderful pencils out to the masses.
As soon as the sets become available in Amazon I will update this review immediately, however, you can find sets on eBay and some art stores, unfortunately I am unable to supply links to these stores as I don’t have permission and don’t want to be seen favouring one over another, which is why I use either the company’s own store or Amazon. On this occasion I am unable to locate them on Winsor and Newtons store either, however, as soon as the links become available I will absolutely update this review. For now though, simply google the name and they will appear on the page for you.
The Set of 12 Coloured Pencils RRP is £15.99, the 24 set RRP is £29.99 and the 48 set RRP is £55.99.
Winsor and Newton Studio Collection Coloured Pencil Conclusion
I fully appreciate with regards to pointing you in the direction of purchasing a set of Winsor & Newton Coloured Pencils, I haven’t succeeded, but I promise you, I will check every day for this and submit links when available.
As I mentioned at the beginning, the Winsor and Newton Studio Collection is relatively new and as a result, they are still working on a few projects for the pencils, for example, more accurate lightfast testing is taking place and will be available in time, there is a possibility that Winsor and Newton will be expanding the set sizes, not just for the Coloured Pencils but also the Watercolour Pencils which I will be reviewing for you as well.
don’t forget you can take a look at my real time video review of the Winsor & Newton Studio Collection Coloured Pencils by following the links. I have also added a Christmas themed speed drawing using the Winsor and Newton coloured pencils as well as the Winsor and Newton Brushmarker’s, to see that again simply click he link. I have also added some still images of the art work at various stages of completion from start to finish, I find some people just like to enlarge the work in progress images and browse through them at their own pace.
Finally, if you would like to be kept informed as to what is going on at The Art Gear Guide, you can follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram; The Art Gear Guide is present on other platforms, however the three just mentioned are the best to follow on. As soon as I receive a new art product to review I post it on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, I always post images of Work In Progress (WIP) art work and you can also use either of these platforms to ask me a question. If you want a particular product to be reviewed by me, that I have not already completed, just let me know and I will do my very best to fulfil your request.
