The Art Gear Guide is your one stop shop for the most recent, up to date, honest reviews on all your favourite art supply products.
It is finally here, my big surprise for 2017, I have been given the most wonderful opportunity by the Editor in Chief of the finest art magazine on the market in my opinion, COLORED PENCIL Magazine; I am the new Review Columnist.
I wasn't going to do a review of the Faber Castell Polychromos, I simply thought, naively, that everything there was to say about these amazing pencils, had already been said by other artists or reviewers. However, I have been receiving a significant number of requests, one such requester has been leaving requests for me to review the polychromos on all my social networking platforms. However, I discovered this wonderful person is seeking a set for Christmas and is hoping the review will nudge Santa in the right direction.
As always, before reading this review, if you haven't already done so, you can check out my YouTube video review of the Spectrum Noir ColourBlend pencils. I have found over the time of reviewing art supplies that some people prefer video reviews, seeing the products work in real time, whereas others prefer to read the detailed account of a product. So I offer both accounts and let you chose which or both reviews to help you decide.
I must begin with a heart felt apology to all of those wonderful people who have been requesting this review for the past few months as I am only now getting round to completing the review. Of all the big name colored pencil brands on the market, I think this particular pencil has been the most requested for the "Coloured Pencil Reviews" scrutiny.
When I was asked by a viewer of my YouTube channel to review the Lyra Polycolor, I was secretly excited. Of course I knew about the Lyra, well... of their existence, but I had never really considered them as an addition to my already growing collection of fine coloured pencil, so this was an excuse to get them, however, I have since discovered this was an incredibly snooty outlook. This is my review of the Lyra Polycolor Colored Pencils.
As with everything in life, there has to be a best and a worst, although I am very young in terms of my time as a colored pencil artist, even I can tell what the finest quality coloured pencil is, and Caran D'ache Luminance takes the crown.
Quite recently I had been asked by one of the amazing people who visit my channel, if I would review both the Lyra Rembrant Polycolor and the Koh-I-Noor Ploycolor colored pencils. Of course being asked to review anything by people who take the time out of their busy day to visit your channel, makes that review all the more important and so I purchased both requested sets.
The chances are, if you are reading this post, my review of the Caran D'Ache Supracolor Soft coloured pencils, then you are already aware of the Caran D'Ache name, and if not, don't worry, after reading this review you will begin to understand all the hype surrounding the name.
To find out more about Derwent as a company, you can click on the links and either read my own personal review on the company or check out Derwent's own web site. In this post I am going to review the first ever coloured pencil set that I purchased for myself. At the time, I only really knew about Prismacolour, due to the fact I had been watching so many videos on YouTube about drawing, the vast majority of which were American artists.
Ordinarily when I draw something new, I simply add it to my gallery and write a small blurb underneath it, however, for the first time, I am actually really pleased with the way this drawing has turned out, and so have added it to my blog.
To go along side my Youtube video, Coloured Pencil Essentials, I have also added this written piece to my blog, helping those just starting out with coloured pencils to get to grips with the tools of the trade so to speak.
This review centres around the beautiful Derwent Coloursoft coloured pencil, however, before we jump right into the review of the actual pencil, lets talk a little bit about the company. I think it is important to know a little bit of the background surrounding the pencils, we all come from somewhere and the same is true of our favourite products.
The Derwent Drawing Coloured Pencils are quite a unique set of pencils. Although there is only a small amount of them available, I think they are the nicest coloured pencils I've ever seen, but I will explain my view further into the review.
As you may or may not be aware, I have just returned from my holidays in the beautiful Lake District. We don't live too far from the Lakes and we have been going there on holiday for the past 15 years. We normally stay in a little town called Keswick and Keswick just happens to also be the home of one of my favourite coloured pencil manufactures, Derwent. Their world famous pencil museum is located in Keswick along with a shop where you can purchase anything you desire from their extensive range.
I've got to say, when looking about the internet; apart from the obvious places, i.e. the Derwent web site, there is not a lot of reviews or information about the Derwent Studio colored pencils, so I had to purchase them and put them through their paces. I will say this, my mind changed a few times about these pencils whilst reviewing them and actually using them. However, I am sure you are happy to learn that I have finally concluded a decision, a decision I will explain to you in this review.
My review today focuses on the popular Derwent Graphitint range, the range is relatively small in numbers, however the colours are to die for and unsurpassed by many other watersoluable pencils on the market; but are they worth the investment? are you likely to use them on a painting and are they a quality product? lets find out.
For as long as fallen in love, metaphorically speaking, with art, one medium I've always admired has been pastels. I understand that some of us find them to be messy and some artists can't stand the texture of the pastel on their hands, never the less, in the right hands, the results from a pastel artist can be breathtaking.
In the year or so that I have been passionate about art and coloured pencils in particular, I have always known the name Spectrum Noir, especially living here in the North East of England, as the lady who founded the company is from here. Never the less, for some reason, I mainly associated the pencils and markers with Crafters and the amazing work they do.
Whether we are new to a hobby or passion, whatever it may be, or been around for a while, it is always beneficial to get a professional in that area to gently guide you through the mine field that can sometimes ensue. Or, in the case of the professional, getting a fresh perspective from another fellow professional can also only be a good thing.
So this is the beginning of my new blog, my new blog were I talk about and review primarily coloured pencils but also many other tools and mixed media such as Pastels, Watercolour, the various papers, erasers, sharpeners etc.
