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.
Since I started with colored pencils, I have been absolutely fascinated with the work pastel artists can produce, however, when I very first tried pastels it was a disaster. I soon discovered the importance of good pastel paper and good quality pastels.
the vast range of features on offer from the Slate Satchel alone is not only incredibly desirable to artists on the go, but the build quality and prospect of longevity is equally enticing. I have really enjoyed using my Etchr Slate Satchel and once I can afford to purchase the Field Case I will be doing so.
I was very fortunate to have been contacted by this relatively new art supply company, "Arteza" and asked if I would be interested in reviewing some of their products. So although I have been asked by the company to review the product, as you all know by now, my primary objective is to report the products exactly as I personally find them.
I have completed quite a few reviews of Spectrum Noir's products and I am completely in awe at the rapid pace they have been releasing new products, not just any product, high quality products; both aimed at crafters and artists alike. In particular I personally am a huge fan of their marker sets and vast range of coloured pencils.
As you will be able to see from the still images I have provided, the Derwent Graphik Line Painters are incredibly opaque pigments, bright and vibrant, just simply bursting with colour. I think one of the many reasons so many people love these pens is their versatility.
The palette choice for the entire range is exceptional, fantastic range of light, dark and mid-tone ranges of primary and secondary colors, a generous selection of browns and greys, colors I sometimes feel are overlooked with other brands.
The Derwent Lightfast pencil is a thing of beauty, the 8mm barrel is constructed of beautiful Maple, displaying in full glory the grain, given the pencil a very natural look. Inside the barrel is encased a stunning 4mm core, bursting at the seems with pigment.
About this time last year I uploaded a studio tour, well, more of just a desk tour, I draw and write in the corner of my livingroom or on the sofa or in my bed, wherever my back will allow. However quite a lot has changed since my last setup tour and I thought it was about time for an update.
The barrel is coated in the same color as the actual pigment in the core and all pencils capped off with a striking battleship grey inch flash. The internal core is a generous 4.4mm jam packed pigment delivery system, held securely within the 8mm Cedar wood barrel.
There is such a variety of outstanding quality markers out there for artists, brands such as Stylefile, Copic, Spectrum Noir, Touch, Pro Markers from Winsor and Newton and Chameleon Markers. As a result, Robax Engineering has created a very similar style to the pencil trays only for Markers, allowing the artist the same small footprint on their studio desk whilst allowing for a large amount of markers visually on display and readily available for use.
As I have just mentioned, the Arteza Expert line, despite their incredibly low price, have been lightfast tested, I mention their low price, as pencils in this price bracket, normally do not have such testing done to them.
When I first looked at the wood barrel close to the core, it appeared choppy, tattered and bad quality, initially I thought sharpening was going to be an issue, however this was absolutely not the case. Once the pencil was sharpened that choppy tattered appearance disappeared. I think the quality of the wood is obviously lower than that used in the Polychromos range, however, that absolutely does not affect anything about this pencil be it sharpening or use.
At the end of last year, the Editor and Chief of COLORED PENCIL Magazine and myself, sat down and came up with a list of pencils to review throughout 2018. Much to my personal excitement, the Blick Studio Colored Pencils were added to the list, these pencils are exclusive to an art store in America called Dick Blick.
The Koh-I-Noor Extra Soft Pastel are cylinders of buttery gems, when you remove the sleeve from the box and remove the box lid, you are greeted with a spectrum of brilliant color gently nestled in between black foam slots to protect their delicate composition.
This excellent product from Caran d'Ache, the Caran d'Ache Palette Aquarelle, puts an end to this problem, allowing you to mix as many colors as you like at your own pace, no rush to scoop up all the paint before it drys
I have had the absolute pleasure of testing and reviewing pencils from Lyra before, the Lyra Polycolor to be exact. My review of the Polycolor was incredibly surprising to me given their inexpensive pricing and their incredibly high quality pigments.
Perhaps the most unique and striking characteristic of the Grafwood pencils is the barrel colors and the visual representation they provide. As you can see from the image, the barrels of the Grafwood pencils are colored in accordance to the graphite grade.
One of the most striking elements of the pencils is their jet black barrel, accented with bright and easily distinguishable writing, the Black Widow pencils sported blood red print against the black barrel, whereas the Scorpion pencils opted for a crisp clean white print against the black barrel.
I mentioned in the review that I would review the pens, not really thinking much of it, however I received quite a lot of messages asking to review them and I felt I had to add the review pretty quick so that it almost followed on from the Derwent Pencil Wrap review.
There is of course so many other paper manufactures on the market and I have tried a lot, but obviously not them all. Thus far, my favourite paper is by far Strathmore, not just because of the quality of the paper, but the fantastic range they provide. Strathmore create paper for every occasion and each type of paper is produced in different grades of quality
