Staedtler Mars Lumograph & Mars Lumograph Black Pencils Review
Staedtler Mars Lumograph & Mars Lumograph Black Pencils Review.
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 it is a safe assumption to make when I say that the Blue barrel of the Staedtler Mars Lumograph is a very popular graphite pencil, not just in the hands of graphite artists, but even schools and offices across the globe. I would hazard a guess that the Staedtler Mars Lumograph Black would be less familiar with the same demographic and so hopefully this review can shed a bit of light on the two mediums and their differences.
One of the really nice things about working with graphite is the fact that it is quite a forgiving medium, providing you ensure a light hand throughout the process, lifting errors or creating highlight should be relatively effortless.
Staedtler Mars Lumograph Characteristics
The Staedtler Mars Lumogrph Graphite pencil sports a striking blue hexagonal barrel which makes for comfortable hand placement when using the pencil and also a little bit more stability when placing the pencil down on your desk.
Along one side of the barrel in silver leaf print is the companies place of origins (Made in Germany), this is closely followed by the widely recognised Staedtler logo and company name. Printed after the company logo is the brand name of the actual pencil and in this case it is “Mars Lumograph”.
There is a white band separating the blue barrel of the Staedtler to the black gloss end cap of the pencil where on each side of the pencil is displayed the graphite grade. I know it may sound like a small thing, but this is actually a really nice addition to the pencil. Ordinarily graphite pencils only have the graphite grade on one side and this can prove slightly irritating when checking through a group of pencils looking for the grade you require.
Finally, on the opposite side of the Staedtler Mars Lumograph barrel is a bar code along with alpha numerical information relating to the open stock value of the pencil.
Staedtler Mars Lumograph Black Characteristics
The Staedtler Mars Lumograph Black sports an all black matt barrel, incredibly attractive looking pencil as far as pencils go. The Lumograph Black is a slightly chunkier barrel that the Lumograph Graphite, but the barrel fits perfectly into all of the sharpeners I use.
The Lumograph Black is also a hexagonal barrel and printed along one side in silver leaf is printed “Made In Germany” the companies place of origin, following this is the Staedtler logo and company name. Next to this is printed the name of the pencil brand, which in this case is the “Mars Lumograph Black”.
As with the Staedtler Mars Lumograph graphite pencil, there is a white band separating the black matt barrel to the black glossy inch long cap which indicates the grade of pencil on every side of the barrel. On opposite side of the barrel is printed alpha numerical information pertaining to the open stock status of the pencil.
Staedtler Mars Lumograph Sets Available.
Staedtler manufacture and sell many different sets of graphite pencils, charcoal pencils, jumbo graphite, water soluble graphite and many more, however, rather confuse the matter I am only going to discuss sets in the two mediums on review.
The Staedtler Mars Lumograph comes in two set sizes, 12 and 24, you can also purchase the pencils individually and you can also purchase the pencils in sets of 12, for example, if you found yourself using a lot of 2B Mars Lumograph, you could purchase a box of 12 and the same for all the graphite grades.
The Staedtler Mars Lumograph is only available in a set of six, however, you can also purchase the Mars Lumograph Black individually or in packs of 12 for specific pencil grades.
As I mentioned above, you can purchase lots of other sets and Staedtler sell probably the most common graphite pencils on the market with their distinctive black and red barrel or black and yellow barrel.
Staedtler Mars Lumograph Performance
The Staedtler Mars Lumograph Graphite pencils in the 24 set that I have reviewed here are a fantastic pencil. For those of you perhaps new to graphite pencils, the graphite is graded in hardness and softness. In the middle of the scale you have your traditional HB pencil.
From there if you work you way along the B line, in this particular set the Mars Lumograph goes all the way up to 12B, so B, 2B, 3B, 4B, 5B, 6B, 7B, 8B, 9B, 10B, 11B and 12B with 12B being the softest and darkest grade and B being lighter and slightly harder.
From the H side of HB, this set goes all the way to 10H, however, after HB there is F, H, 2H, 3H, 4H, 5H, 6H, 7H, 8H, 9H and 10H. 10H is the lightest shade and the hardest graphite with F being slight softer and darker.
The B grades are darker and softer because they have more of a graphite content, graphite in its purest form is quite a soft material. The H grades are much lighter in tone and harder cores, this is because there is less graphite in the core and more clay. You will find in most sets and the same is true for the Mars Lumograph, once you pass 5H and onward, you can experience a scratchiness and a little bit of grit. this is fairly common and there is not much you can do about it other than use a gentle hand when applying the graphite.
The Staedtler Mars Lumograph Black is graded in exactly the same way graphite is, however there is only six grades in the Black range starting with HB, 2B, 4B, 6B, 7B and 8B, however this is quite a difference between the Graphite and Lumograph Black.
Carbon and Graphite
The Mars Lumograph and Mars Lumograph Black are two different mediums as I stated at the beginning of the review. The Mars Lumograph Black is Carbon based core as opposed to their graphite counterpart. When you use graphite in art work, especially the softer B grades, the graphite develops and sheen when light reflects off it. This can drastically affect a finished art piece when hung if light hits the artwork.
The Carbon based Mars Lumograph pencil eradicates the issue graphite has, the Carbon pencil is much darker however, when laid down on the surface of your choice, a matt coverage is displayed and no matter what light hits it, the dark coverage remains so.
I wanted to use both these mediums together in a piece of artwork and to be honest I was really proud of the piece I completed. I used the Strathmore 500 Series MixedMedia Heavyweight paper which was an absolute dream and took the carbon and graphite perfectly. Because I used the Mars Lumograph Black on the really dark ares of the artwork, I had no issues with light reflecting of the graphite.
The only issue I encountered with the Mars Lumograph Black Carbon core was blending. Ordinarily, blending and moving graphite about on your surface is easy and allows the artist to create soft effects, with the Carbon based Mars Lumograph, this is slightly more difficult to achieve. I demonstrate this on the YouTube video review of the Staedtler Mars Lumograph, however I have provided an image were you can see the pencil strokes still present after using the paper stump for blending on the Carbon sample, whereas on the graphite sample it delivers a much softer appearance.
Staedtler Mars Lumograph and Mars Lumograph Black Price
Here in the UK, you can expect to pay the following for the Staedtler Mars Lumograph sets on review. For the set of 12 Mars Lumograph Graphite pencils you can expect to pay £13.25, for the largest 24 set you can expect to pay approximately £29.45. For the Staedtler Mars Lumograph Black set of 6 you can expect to pay approximately £6.20.
In the EU, you can expect to pay the following for the Staedtler Mars Lumograph sets on review. For the set of 12 Mars Lumograph Graphite pencils you can expect to pay €11.40, for the largest 24 set you can expect to pay approximately €19.70. For the Staedtler Mars Lumograph Black set of 6 you can expect to pay approximately €6.10.
In the US, you can expect to pay the following for the Staedtler Mars Lumograph sets on review. For the set of 12 Mars Lumograph Graphite pencils you can expect to pay $14.19, for the largest 24 set you can expect to pay approximately $58.99. For the Staedtler Mars Lumograph Black set of 6 you can expect to pay approximately $10.15.
Staedtler Mars Lumograph and Mars Lumograph Black Conclusion
I have to be honest, I have only recently started really enjoying using graphite and so when I purchased this set to review, I was really looking forward to creating some art work with them. As I mentioned I used the Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media Heavyweight paper which provided an outstanding surface.
With the exception of the really high H grades in the graphite range being a little bit scratchy and gritty, which is to be expected in many graphite sets, all of the other grades delivered a soft smooth coverage. I was able to deliver soft seamless blends which allowed me to create the effect I needed in my artwork, especially the background.
I was really happy with the Mars Lumograph Black Carbon based pencils, they delivered incredibly rich blacks where needed and in turn the matt finish prevented any sheen from the graphite when light reflects of it. Blending with the carbon based pencils was not quite as effortless as the graphite, nevertheless I was still able to create soft blends.
As always, I have added a speed drawing of the art work to help demonstrate both mediums working together, however in this speed drawing I have added a surprise toward the end of the video which is connected to the subject matter I created. I have also added a YouTube video review with some real time tests and demonstrations and I have also added a page with still images of the art work at various stages of completion.
