Arrtx Sketching Pencils Review
Arrtx Sketching Pencils Review
I have been reviewing Arrtx products for quite some time now, in fact since Arrtx first hit the art world. Initially, I thought they would go the way of Arteza, start out with really good products and then start changing the ingredients which reduces the quality. Now this is only my opinion of Atreza products and we are all allowed our own opinions, regardless, so far this has not happened with Arrtx. Every product I have reviewed thus far has been of upper level student grade, low grade artist quality in my opinion.
Arrtx recently reached out to me asking if I would like to review their graphite pencils and I have to be honest, I seriously thought to myself, “This is the one, this is the one product the grade is going to be dropped”; but I was totally wrong. There are some occasions when I love being wrong and this is one such time, I often take a look at a product before getting into the testing part and guess the outcome and more often than not I get it so wrong, again, this is one such occasion I have got it wrong.
The Arrtx Sketching Pencils come in what I think is the perfect graphite grade scale and that is 4H to 8B. I will get into each grade in more detail soon, but I have reviewed graphite sets where the scale goes as high as 9H and I personally think when you get to that grade, all you are doing is drawing with clay and scratching the heck out of your expensive paper. Also, anything past 4H, becomes a nightmare to sharpen, the core of the pencil is so brittle, unless you have an incredibly sharp sharpener, you are going to experience breakage after breakage.
As is the case with so many Arrtx products, they have gone for an incredibly colourful packaging and the barrel of the pencils themselves, however, for me personally, this is the only issue I experienced with the pencils and I am sure everyone will have a different take on this matter. Most graphite sets are quite plain and dull, with the exception of perhaps the Caran d’Ache Grafwood Graphite set, so Arrtx have really mixed things up by incorporating all these beautiful colors on the actual barrels.
Where my issue is with this is when you are selecting the pencil you need and especially if you were to have them in a pencil case mixed up with colored pencils, the bright colors of the barrels allow them to blend in quite nicely with a set of colored pencils.
Arrtx Sketching Pencil Characteristics.
As I mentioned the packing of the Arrtx Sketching Pencils is incredibly bright and beautiful and to be honest in todays society with all the misery, sadness and mental health epidemic, have such bright and colourful things in our life is not a bad thing, no matter how small it may be. On the front of the packaging we have the name of the product “Arrtx Sketching Pencil” in brightly colord font contrasting beautifully to the bright yellow backdrop of the box.
If you check out the Arrtx website, you will see images of different box colors, that is all related to the open stock availability of the Arrtx Sketching Pencils and I will talk about this further into the review.
The barrel on the Arrtx Sketching Pencils is hexagonal and the pencils arrive to you unsharpened. I know that some people prefer this and other prefer their pencils top be sharpened, however I personally like this especially with graphite pencils, if you check out some of the really amazing graphite artists on YouTube, you will notice that they prefer to work with a huge amount of core showing, providing them with a lot of options. Ordinarily the only way this can be achieved is using a craft knife to sharpen and this format allows for that from the get go, but ultimately this is just one of those things you are either going to love or loath.
All of the hexagonal barrels are 7.5mm in girth which is pretty standard, the pencils feel well balanced and comfortable in the hand, I personally prefer a pencils to have a little bit of weight in it as opposed to some cheaper brands you buy and they weigh nothing in your hand. Because the pencils arrive unsharpened it is easy to see and identify the different core sizes from 4H to 8B
Measuring the 4H core, it showed approximately 2.4mm, however on the softer side of the scale, the 8B core weighs in at 3.8mm. the reason for this is that the B grade graphite cores are really soft, due to their ingredient being more graphite than clay filler, or whatever is being used as a filer. On the opposite end of the scale the 4H core ingredient is more clay filler than graphite, making the 4H core much more brittle.
As I mentioned the barrels are all different colors and on the very end of the pencils where the graphite grade is identified, this too is a different color from the barrel. However were most companies just add one graphite grade star on the end of the the pencil, Arrtx have stamped the grade of the pencil on every other side of the barrel. Not stopping there, they have also placed the graphite grade on the very end of the pencil, ensuring that if you have your pencils laying flat, you can easily identify the grade.
One one side of the barrel we have stamped in metallic font, looking more along the bronze color, an alphanumeric code, this code represents the graphite grade should you need it for open stock purposes. After this we have a decretive stamp, followed by “Arrtx” the company name. On the opposite side of the barrel there is a simple diamond and line decoration, identical to that separating the company name and graphite grade, only this spans half the length of the barrel.
Finally on the last side of the barrel is the bar code followed by “Made In China”, I know in this day an age some people may take issue with this, however that is not something I would like to discuss on this channel. I am here to review art supplies, products that can help us take care of our own mental health and where those products originate from is of no relevance to me.
Arrtx Sketching Pencils Performance
As I stated at the beginning of this review, I really thought that this product from Arrtx would be the one product I just didn’t get a long with, graphite pencils can be quite a difficult medium to get right. I am so happy to say that I was wrong and I am happy because in my opinion, this is a really beautiful set of graphite pencils, priced really well and accessible to most artists.
I have to admit, I find it difficult to discern the difference between artist quality graphite and student quality graphite pencils or even those aimed at kids. Much to my surprise quite a few years ago when I was reviewing a different brand of graphite pencils, they do actually have a lightfast rating. However, generally, graphite as a minded product is quite lightfast, it is not likely to fade over time. There is actually very little difference between the different brands when it comes to graphite lightfastness, even on the lighter end of the scale, the 6H type cores mixed with more clay than graphite are still considerably lightfast.
For me personally, I am more interested in the smoothness of the graphite cores and in particular the H grade cores as they tend to be a bit more scratchy on the paper. When I first started to sharpen the Arrtx Sketching Pencils, I really experienced very little issues, the 4H and 3H being a little bit more brittle than the other cores, sharpened better in my hand crank sharpener, whereas the other grades sharpened perfectly in my M&R hand held sharpener.
I then started to lay down light layers, allowing me to get the feel of the the core on the paper and for this first test I was using the Strathmore 300 Series Bristol Velum paper. I find a Bristol Velum type paper perfect for graphite, providing just a little bit of tooth but still smooth enough to allow for beautiful blending and moving the graphite about.
After laying down some light layers of all grades, I then started to lay down a layer of very hard pressure. Again, this allowed to me to feel the core on the paper but it also allowed me to see the level of sheen from light reflection of which they was very little. I was actually quite shocked at how little sheen there was on this test, but I thought leave it until the actually artwork, things may be different.
Finally I applied a further light layer so that I could showcase me using a blending stump on my YouTube video review. This test helps to demonstrate how well the graphite blends, smudges into the paper and moves. With cheaper graphite you will be actually surprised at just how little movement you can achieve.
Next up was the artwork, I have provided a speed drawing of the piece on The Art Gear Guide YouTube Channel and I have also added a page to the website of still images taken throughout the process, allowing you to click on any image and inspect in your own time, with the ability to zoom in close to see the graphite texture on the velum paper.
I was so proud of the final piece and really enjoyed the experience using the Arrtx Sketching Pencils. Not one of the pencils I used provided any of that gritty scratching that can occur and this was fantastic as it allowed for me to create smooth transitions without the odd scratch in the paper. I am not saying that this is going to be the case for every single set of Arrtx Sketching Pencils, after all the graphite is minded and they will extract and use different grade of graphite all the time. But the set I used was beautiful.
The lighter grades, 4H, 3H 2H all the way to HB, provided beautiful layers and this is why I think Arrtx got the scale perfect, I personally am not sure why you would need anything lighter than 4H, but I am most certainly not going to dismiss the practices of all those wonderful graphite artists out there who may.
The F, B, 2B and all the way to 8B were just a pleasure to use, as I said, the only issue I experienced and it was not really an issue but more a personal preference, and that was using the hand crank sharpener on the 4H and 3H, other than that, given the price point of this 14 set of Arrtx Sketching Pencils and who they are marketed toward, I really loved using them.
Finally erasing the graphite was pretty effortless also, in my speed drawing video you will see I used a series of erasers from putty eraser, battery eraser, TomBow mono eraser and pencil eraser, all of them performed beauituflly on the artwork. Of course this is partly down to light layers and not applying huge amounts of pressure, but one of the reasons I love graphite so much is because I find it to be quite a forgiving medium.
When using the 6B, 7B and 8B, I really expected to get a bit of sheen from the lights in my studio, but this really never happened, certainly not to the extent other pencils I have reviewed did. I have used graphite pencils in the past and when applying layers and pressure to the 7, 8 or 9B grades, the layer almost looks metallic silver once light hits it. I am willing to accept that this was maybe the case with me because I never applied a large are of 6, 7 or 8B pencils, but the purpose of the artwork is to test these things out and I never experienced it to a large extent.
Arrtx Sketching Pencils Availability and Pricing.
to purchase the full set of Arrtx Sketching Pencils, 14 graphite pencils in total, here in the UK you can expect to pay £9.99. For artists in the US you too can expect to pay $9.99 and for artists in Europe the same is true for you guys €9.99. Below I have provided links to Amazon in various countries should you wish to purchase a set.
Regarding the different color boxes you may see if you head over to the Arrtx website, those different colored boxes are for the open stock pencils. In other words, if you want to purchase only the 2B pencils, you will have to purchase a 14 box of 2B pencils cost £9.99 or the same price different currency for your country.
Arrtx Sketching Pencils Conclusion
I am sure you have gathered by now my feelings toward the Arrtx Sketching Pencils, but this is purely and simply down to the experience I had with them. there was no sharpening issues, no cores shattering and splitting. Each graphite grade when called upon to use, delivered and smooth and consistent lay down.
My only issue with the full 14 set is the different colored barrels, I love the bright colors, and I am sure other artists are going to love the concert in comparison the dullness of so many other graphite sets on the market. I personally just found the vast array of different colors a little bit confusing when searching for the grade I wanted and as I write this conclusion and read my words back, I think this is more to do with my ageing eyes and brain than the Arrtx Sketching Pencils. As a 50 year old man this year, perhaps dull and simple is more about me than the product.
I was incredibly proud of the artwork I completed as well, I got a huge kick out of seeing the rope finished and sat in front of me all cleaned up and finger print free. Don’t forget, if you would like to watch my YouTube Review of the Arrtx Sketching Pencils simply click the link. If you would like to kick back and watch the artwork come to life from 8 hours to 6 minutes again follow the link. Finally if you would like to take your time and inspect the artwork, pencils strokes and paper texture, click the link to my still images and there you can enlarge and zoom in to see better.
