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.
I always make sure that I display the products I am reviewing, in particular colored pencils, on black paper. I know there are a lot of colored pencil artists out there who create some amazing work on dark paper. I think of all the tests I completed this one was the most surprising, all five colors, including the white pencil were incredibly opaque, with very little to no black paper showing through the pigment.
The Viviva Colorsheets are an absolutely fantastic concept, for the watercolor artist, out and about, the entire 16 range of watercolors fit in the back pocket of your Jeans. They are perfect for taking with you to a coffee shop along with your watercolor journal and paint the world as it passes you by.
In this review we take a look at the Staedtler Mars Lumograph Graphite Pencils and the Staedtler Mars Lumograph Black Carbon Pencils. I decided to review them both together as I wanted to test them both and give a detailed account as to how well or not, they performed side by side. Although they may appear the same they are in fact two different mediums and behave as such.
I think all in all, since Spectrum Noir upgraded the Brush tip on the Illustrator and Tri-Blend, these markers are among some of the finest brush tip markers artists can buy. This is an amazing thing as it takes away from the monopoly on the Japanese counterpart markers which have pretty much been the industry standard for such a long time,
I have reviewed the Castle Art Coloured Pencils before of which I personally loved them and considering their price point, are a wonderful set of pencils for coloured pencil artists of so many genres. I have also reviewed the Castle Art Graphite Sketch Set which I also really liked, again the low cost and wide range of tools supplies in the set makes the set very desirable.
On the back of the sleeve there is a color chart showing all the colors in the set that you have purchased. As well as the color chart, there is an explanation of the lightfast ratings they use along with the appropriate lightfast grade beside each pigment in the tin. This is incredibly helpful, meaning that you don’t have to go looking for this information online
I was incredibly intrigued about the pencils which I now know to have been the Faber Castell Black Edition, but as I have mentioned, at the time when I first was made aware of them, there really wasn’t a lot of information about them, at least in the UK. Initially I thought that the Faber Castell Gold Faber were the same pencils only released for the US, UK and European Community, but this was obviously not the case.
As always I have created some artwork with the Koh-I-Noor Progresso Aquarell to help demonstrate and display the strength of the pigments. As much as I love watercolors and watercolor products, I am not as comfortable with them as I am with my colored pencils and markers.
In the last few days, Medihealth1 aka Wally, has launched the newly anticipated Black Widow Monarch set of Colored Pencils. I was so fortunately to have a set sent to me for review as well as three extra sets which will be going to three lucky winners in a fee giveaway. As with all the giveaways I do, no matter where you live in the world you can take part, but I will explain the details further into the review.
The body of the Bruynzeel Expression pencil is wood based with the grain on display, however, although the barrel is clearly a wood barrel, and I know this is going to sound a bit weird, but there is a plastic feel to the barrel. It almost feels like the barrel is flexible which is clearly isn’t and when you sharpen the Bruynzeel Expression it does so incredibly smoothly.
It is worth remembering before we get into the review that the Fancolor range by Caran d’Ache is very much aimed at children, however, having said that, this is Caran d’Ache we are talking about. Kids grade for Caran d’Ache is Student grade for some companies or even artist grade for other companies minus the lightfast abilities etc.
I Think the first thing that I need to discuss about the Arrtx Markers is the incredible packaging they come in. It would appear that more and more art supply companies are realising the importance of packaging. It used to be the case that pencils or markers would arrive in flimsy plastic trays or plastic wallets,
Before I get into the actual review of “Realistic Still Life In Colored Pencil” I would like to talk a little bit about Cynthia Knox for those of you who maybe new to the colored pencil medium and world. Cynthia Knox, has worked tirelessly for years providing the wonderful people within the colored pencil community with knowledge and skills passed on in the form of books and online classes, gifting her incredible wealth of talent to us.
Not only is this Castle Art 40 Piece Drawing Set exceptionally priced, but it is also well thought out with one or two very minor exceptions and even they are quite subjective. The overall packaging is impressive, again considering the pricing point and this is not simply a generic drawing set which Castle Art has made their own, this is clearly the making of Castle Art and its clarity is refreshing.
Before the release of the Derwent Lightfast, the Caran d’Ache Luminance had very little in the way of competition if any. The Faber Castell Polychromos are of course, without doubt a tremendous pencil for colored pencil artists, but they are a very different pencil to the Caran d’Ache Luminance. The release of the Derwent Lightfast was the first pencil really to directly compete with the Caran d’Ache Luminance.
If you are interested in learning more about Pastels, be it soft pastels, hard pastels or pastel pencils or if you have been turning your hand at pastels for a while now and feel like you could do with a little bit of help to take your paintings to the next level, I highly recommend this amazing book by Rebecca de Mendonca.
Of all my first reviews, I think I really gave the Derwent Studio pencil an unfair crack of the whip, I purchased a 24 set back then and so when it came to redoing the review, I only had one or two of the Derwent Studio Pencils remaining. I purchased a 72 Wooden Box Set of the Derwent Studio pencils for the purpose of this review and I am happy to say that I have indeed conducted a piece of art with the Studio pencils.
The core of the Daler Rowney Watercolour Pencil measures in at a standard 3.8mm, encased within a well balanced 7.8mm barrel, lacquered in a most striking blue which leaves a matt appearance with the added bonus of occasionally exposing the natural wood grain . The Daler Rowney pencil feels really nice in the hand, well balanced and like you are holding a quality product.
The Pencil Grinder is a really simple concept and design yet such a versatile tool and one I feel many pencil artists, especially pastel pencil artist. Although this item is called the Pencil Grinder, it has more than one function and I will brake down those functions further into the review.
One of the biggest joys I get from running The Art Gear Guide, writing reviews, creating YouTube video reviews and drawing art is the relationship I have developed with all of you. I love getting feedback and I love to hear when you purchase a set of pencils based on one of the reviews and it has turned out to be a good buy. But I also love it when you guys suggest to me products to review and this is one such product that I was asked to review.
