Woomer Colored Pencil Review
Woomer Colored Pencil Review
Woomer reached out to me a couple of months ago and asked if I would review their 72 set of Colored Pencils, now, at the time of the communication with Woomer, they had also just released a 90 set and 133 set. Ordinarily, when I review a product I try my best to review the full palette count as this provides a much more comprehensive account of the product, but on this occasion, Woomer had not yet devised a marketing campaign for the 90 or 133 set.
I felt this was important to mention so that you understand, whilst this review talks in-depth about the Woomer Colored Pencils physical attributes and performance abilities, I have been unable to showcase the full 133 palette.
Woomer Colored Pencil Characteristics
The first thing to note about the Woomer Colored Pencils is the unmistakably vibrant Orange tin that the Woomer pencils come in. The outer side of the tin is covered with a strikingly decretive sleeve and, on the front of the sleeve at the bottom, there are terms relating to the quality of the pencils; “Good Lightfast, soft Core, Artist Quality and Saturated Colors”. We will inspect these terms in relation to the pencils further into the review. On the back of the sleeve we also see a color chart of the palette inside the tin.
On removing the sleeve, I actually think the packaging looks even nicer and stands out among all of the other student to artist graded pencils, sporting a bright orange tin with the Woomer name and logo emblazoned on the front in clear white print.
Each Woomer pencil barrel is lacquered the same color as the core, making pigment selection and identity easy. The Woomer Colored Pencil sports an ample 3.9mm core, housed within a 7.7mm wood core. Along one side of the barrel we see a code and “Made in China” followed by “Woomer” and the Woomer logo with “Color Pencil” beside it. The print however is very difficult to read given that it is in gold leaf, the metallic nature of the print makes it incredibly difficult to make out and read.
On the opposite side of the barrel, toward the core we see a barcode, further along the same side of the barrel we see the lightfast information in the form of crosses. Further along the barrel toward the end, we see the pigment name and pigment code as the Woomer Colored Pencils are also sold open stock.
Woomer Colored Pencil Performance
As always, I completed a swatch of the 72 pencils in the Woomer Colored Pencil set on Strathmore 300 Series Bristol Velum. You can see from the image below all of the colors in the set. I think the palette is well balanced, there is a good selection of greys, the greens are gorgeous, same with the earth tones. From the start we can see a good range of yellows, oranges, reds and blues, either each color family sporting an excellent range of light and darks. There is also a nice selection of flesh tones.
There are one or two colors similar in tone to others in the set, but this is always going to be the case in large palette counts. The core of the Woomer Colored Pencils core to me feels similar to a Faber Castell Polychromos only a little bit softer. It is this softer type core that helps provide the saturated color the Woomer pencil provides.
After the Swatch I completed my usual layering and blending test. Again this test was completed on Strathmore 400 Series Mixed Media paper, a little bit more tooth than the Velum. As you can see from the results, the five light layers applied beautifully, with zero tackiness or blooming and this also applies to the single heavy application.
The blending test shows merging two colors together in order to achieve a third. This test is not always successful with lesser quality pencils, but here you can clearly see the orange created from the red and yellow used, the green created from the blue and yellow and finally, the most difficult to achieve, the purple created from the red and blue.
I also created a sphere using a selection of greens, normally this test is for the use of OMS, Odourless Mineral Spirits, however I am out of OMS and am waiting on my order to arrive. Nevertheless you can still see the seamless blending that the selection of tones have created.
I also created a small piece of artwork, this was an image I located on Pinterest and the original artist has provided permission for me to use it as it is only for demonstration purposes. I drew this little cute ladybird or ladybug on Strathmore 400 Series Mixed Media..
Throughout the drawing process, I occasionally applied heavy applications of the pencil rather than just light layers all the way through and during this process there was no blooming or tackiness under the heavy applications, I was pleasantly surprised.
Finally I have always included what the set of pencils will appear like on dark paper. This test simply displays if the pencils are more of the translucent side or opaque side of the colored pencil world. For example, the Faber Castell Polychromos Colored Pencils are generally considered a translucent set of pencils, whereas the Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils are more opaque, ideal for fan art work. This test simply provides an idea of the set on review.
Woomer Lightfast Information
The lightfastness of the Woomer Colored Pencils are a little bit confusing to me and I have seen this happen more and more in Colored Pencil sets. Before I give the lightfast information I want to talk about the faith artists apply to lightfast ratings and why things are becoming confusing.
The lightfast gathers are 0 to 5 and this is represented by crosses on the pencils. Some of the pencils are rated 3 to 4 or 4 to 5, now, why I feel this causes confusion is because a lot of the top colored pencil artists will only use LF1 or 8 in the blue wool pencils, with this two rate factor, how is the artist to know they are truly using a 5 star lightfast rated pencil when it is 4-5, how much is the pencil closer to 4 than 5.
Of the 72 set, 5 pencils are rated 3+++, 2 pencils are rated 3 - 4 +++/++++, 44 pencils are rated 4 ++++ and 21 pencils rated 4 - 5 ++++ / +++++.
Woomer Colored Pencil Pricing
72 Set of Woomer Colored Pencils Pricing
At the time of writing this, Woomer have a bit of a deal on so the 72 set of Woomer Colored Pencils will cost to artists in the UK, £29.73 and the original price is £34.19. Now even at the £34.19 price, given everything I have mentioned in this review and the other elements of the review, i.e. YouTube Video Review, Speed Drawing Video of Art and Still images of art, this is an excellent price for 72 colored pencils.
For US Artists the 72 set of Woomer Colored Pencils will cost $39.97 or $45.96
It is worth pointing out that the prices I have quoted are from the Woomer Website, for some reason, the prices on Amazon are more expensive with the 72 set of Woomer cost £56. This is not a normality for the colored pencil world, normally purchasing direct from the company website is significantly more expensive than third party sites like Amazon, but not in this case.
90 Set of Woomer Colored Pencils
The 90 set of Woomer Colored Pencils for UK Artists will cost £41.63 and for artists in the US they cost $55.97
133 Woomer Colored Pencils both 72 and 90 Sets
In the UK artists will pay approximately £66.90 for both sets, therefore the full count of 133 and artists from the US will pay approximately $89.94. However, again both sets on Amazon in the UK will cost £126, a significant markup from that of the companies original pricing.
Now, at some point this may change and if it does, I will of course amend this post, which is why I never talk about pricing on my YouTube videos. But one thing I always have done and will do for those of you watching or reading my reviews, is send you to the cheapest product I can find. When you guys buy anything from my Amazon links, it cost you nothing but I get a small payment, but I will never send you to Amazon if it is more expensive than other places, never.
Woomer Colored Pencils Conclusion
I absolutely love the Woomer Colored Pencils, I don’t hold too much weight on the lightfast ratings only because it is in-house and not confirmed to be from the Blue Wool or ASTM systems. However the other claims made at the bottom of the sleeve covering the tin are partly correct.
The colors are incredibly saturated and in my opinion a gorgeous pencil to use, the core is similar to the Deli Colored Pencils and the Polychromos, perhaps a little bit softer than the Polychromos. Only because of my reluctancy to validate the lightfast ratings, I am not fully onboard with the Artist Quality claim. They are excellent pencils and I love them, but they are not the kind of pencils you can create art with and sell the original given the lightfast info.
If you would like to watch my YouTube Video review of the Woomer Colored Pencils simply click the link and you will automatically be taken to the video for your viewing pleasure. If you would like to watch the 8 minute speed drawing video on YouTube, again, click the link and you will arrive at the video. Finally, if you would rather inspect the artwork in much more detail click the link to view the still images of the artwork created.
