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.
In this review I will be looking at Faber Castell's beautiful Pitt Pastel pencils. I personally love using Pastels, however, it is definitely a medium I need to really work hard with and improve my skills on as my art would suggest. So in this review I will be focusing in on all the characteristics of the medium and performance abilities
We all know what amazing products Faber Castell produce and the Goldfaber coloured pencils are absolutely no exception. So I will show my hand right from the get go and tell you that I have loved using the Goldfaber pencils, my only criticism is the set sizes and to be honest, it is more of a compliment rather than a criticism.
There is absolutely no doubt about it, throughout late 2016 and 2017, Spectrum Noir and Crafters Companion have delivered an extensive new line up for crafters and artists alike. They have practically renewed their previous line of products and added some wonderful new products, of which the Spectrum Noir ColourTint range is among them.
There is no doubt about it, Stabilo is a huge name when it comes to stationary and back to school supplies, highlighters, fineliners, graphite pencils etc, however, regarding artist quality pencils they are not so well known. I hope that this review will go a small way to changing this and bringing the Stabilo colored pencil line to the minds of colored pencil artists, colorists and colored pencil enthusiasts alike.
For me personally, I love combining alcohol markers and colored pencils in my art and over the past year or so I have become more and more happy with my results. I have dabbled with watercolors in the past, but with Spectrum Noir's Aqua Markers, I was given the chance to use watercolors but in a medium form I am comfortable with, markers.
So for this review, as you can tell, we are looking at the Caran d'Ache Museum Aquarelle, a water soluble pencil, Caran d'Ache have a few water soluble pencil sets in their range, but the Museum Aquarelle are their top grade water soluble pencil. We have reviewed the Caran d'Ache Supracolor Soft II pencils of which are water soluble and excellent pencil, however, the Museum Aquarelle take it to an entirely new level.
Here is a list of 18 gifts I have mustered together hoping to give you a helping hand in choosing the perfect gift and if you don't fancy any of the gifts in the list, it may still spark some inspiration within you to go on and find that perfect gift. Or you may have been given your Christmas bonus early and just fancy treating yourself because you deserve to be pampered.
The core in it's dry format is incredibly soft, along the way, depending on pressure you use, you will get a little bit of crumbling, however this is not a problem as those deposits of pigment will dissolve as soon as they are activated with water.
I have absolutely loved using these pencils, in fact I also have been playing about with the Stabilo Pastel pencils and I love them also. When applying the pencils dry, they lay down so rich and smooth, in fact they feel very similar to a really soft wax based pencil.
As always I would have loved to provide a 120 set of Faber Castell Polychromos for the giveaway but I just couldn't afford this and so had to settle for the 60 set, which I am quite happy with and think whoever wins will be incredibly happy.
The Derwent Carry Bag is slightly bigger than an A5 sketch book, the bag will not hold an A4 pad. The bag is made from a rugged material, similar to that of the old British Army style webbing, almost like a canvas material and the stitching throughout is well established.
The Black Widow Colored Pencils were a big hit with people, back in that review Albert was kind enough to provide sets of the Black Widow pencils for giveaways and the feedback from the winners was excellent. However, not just the winners generated excellent feedback, others who purchased them on Amazon also really enjoyed using them.
Over the past year or so I have been pretty critical of Prismacolor Premier pencils and this is the reason why. When I first got into colored pencils, the vast majority of the YouTube videos about spoke mainly of Prismacolor and so they were the pencils I wanted to get.
Although school children are the main focus of the Staedtler Ergosoft, it is not the only group using the pencil. Adult coloring books are taking the world by storm at the minute, producing fantastic artists and wonderful illustrators. So many of the adult coloring books are works of art in their own right and collectively and as a community, adult coloring books have helped in so many other areas of life.
I think Koh-I-Noor are quite an over looked pencil and in my opinion, I think they are an excellent pencil. For young artists just starting out in colored pencils and perhaps on a budget but still wanting to get professional results, Koh-I-Noor are one of my first recommendations to people.
Colored pencil artists, pastel artist and perhaps many other types of artists, are always on the lookout for the best, most opaque, white colored pencil, pastel pencil or whatever medium you are using. It seems, that everyone is seeking for the Holly-Grail of white opaque application, especially for colored pencil artists given the method of layering etc
Conragulations to the winner of the Derwent Procolour Giveaway, thank you so much for taking part in the giveaway and for all your support. Derwent have really struck gold with the Procolour and I feel these pencils are going to be such a massive hit among colored pencil artists, adult coloring book artists and colored pencil enthusiasts in general.
Bruynzeel is a brand of pencil, over looked by a company called Royal Talens, when I looked into the Royal Talens company and their products, they actually produce a vast array of art supplies, one of which you may be quite familiar with and that is the Pigma Micron fineliners and brush pens.
Crafters Companion and Spectrum Noir have really been on fire as of recently. First they delivered some excellent new alcohol markers in the Illustrator and Graphic range, then came the awesome range of brush pens and fineliners which I am reviewing here, the Spectrum Noir Artliners.
The Derwent Pencil Buddy looks gorgeous on any desk, whether or not it is modern or antique. The brilliant white plastic with geometric design looks stylish, however, it would be nice to have one or two other colors introduced to the pencil buddy.
