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.
The first thing I noticed about the Uni No. 888 Colored Pencils when I started to use them was their very light feel. I was unable to find out what wood the company use for their pencils, but this might have something to do with their very light feel in the hand. I know this sounds odd given we are talking about a pencil and in the grand scheme of things how heavy can a pencil be?
A while ago I seen a fantastic colored pencil artist use a battery operated eraser, which so many of us colored pencil enthusiasts know about and love, however this product was slightly different. As I have mentioned, most colored pencil artists will have a battery eraser in their tool set, this is not a tool for getting rid of mistakes, but rather for helping the artist to create certain effects within their art.
In this article I must let you know right from the get go that this is not really a review or comparison of the pencils performance. I have already completed a comparison review of the Derwent Lightfast and the Care d’Ache Luminance coloured pencils, however, when I completed my comparison it was when Derwent had only released the Lightfast 36 set.
One of the questions I am asked the most, outside of review questions, is what supplies I personally use and if I could show people my supplies. So I have completed a more recent review of my desk and the supplies that I use when I get the time to sit down and draw something that I want to draw.
This year, 2019, Derwent released a new range of 12 metallic pencils. The set displayed the same colours, which I will explore further into the review, however, the pencil was completely reformatted, new ingredients, new external look to the pencil but more importantly, the pigments are most definitely metallic
Etchr have a few carry systems among their product range and after testing and reviewing the Slate Satchel, I really wanted to review the smallest in their range, the Etchr Fieldcase. The Fieldcase is a little bit like a conventional pencil case that you would find in any stationary store
The Caran d’Ache Prismalo are marketed as a student grade water soluble set of pencils, so it is important to test and view them with this in mind. One of the first things I done was to complete a swatch and as I completed the swatch, I watched the pigment disperse and started to compare to other student grade water
Around this time last year, Derwent released their brand new Lightfast pencil and it was met with amazing reviews from so many colored pencil artists. However, at the time Derwent announced the release of these outstanding pencils, they mentioned a 12 set, 24 set, 36 set, 48 set and 72 set with rumours of a 100 set being released
The ink quality inside the Arteza Everblend markers is absolutely fantastic, there is no blotchiness at all which can sometimes occur with the cheaper lesser quality inks. As always I completed a piece of art work to help demonstrate the markers.
I completed my usual testing on the pencils, layering and blending; from the images below you can see that the layering with the Rijks Museum pencils was excellent. Blending also was excellent and as previously mentioned, I completed this test both dry and using odourless mineral spirits.
A short while ago I asked the question on social media, “If anyone wanted me to do a Copic Marker review?”. Quite a lot of people said yes and a few said no, for the same reasons I was initially hesitant, as so many artists have completed Copic Marker Reviews.
The Schpirerr Farben Colored Pencils are quite new to the scene, comparatively speaking, there has been quite a hype surrounding the brand and in this review I aim to answer the questions everyone has about the pencils and see whether or not the hype is justified or undervalued.
The first thing to note about the Arteza Watercolor Pencil is the barrel shape, with the Arteza Colored Pencils they sported a nice round barrel, however here we have a hexagonal barrel. A lot of colored pencil artists much prefer the hexagonal barrel based of the less likelihood
When I first seen the markers advertised, for some strange reason and it is strange, I thought the markers had three different nibs; a chisel nib, brush nib and bullet nib. However all the nib types are the same and it is the colors that are different enabling the artist to create flawless blending.
Recently however, Caran d’Ache have added to the range new sets of water soluble graphite with subtle pigments added to the graphite, allowing the graphite artist to ever so subtly add a splash of something different to their work
The Derwent Artists pencils, were the pencils that really helped me make my mind up when it came to referencing pencils as wax or oil based pencils. The reason for me was really quite simple, when you mention that a pencil is wax based,
The first set of pencils Albert loaded onto us all was the Black Widow colored pencils, they came in a small cardboard box and looking at each iteration of pencils since the beginning, it is clear to see the development of both pencil and packaging. Next came the Scorpion colored pencils and the Black Widow found their new tin packaging. After the Scorpion came the Cobra, another beautiful set of pencil,
As with the Winsor & Newton Colored Pencils, I loved using their Watercolor Pencils and I think that comes across in my painting of the Lemons. I think the speed painting and still images illustrate the strength of the pigments and smooth coverage.
