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 Lyra Graduate Colored Pencils may only be a Student grade pencil, but they are far from the expectations one might endeavour to predict when using a student grade pencil. Many companies are producing high quality, lower priced colored pencils, long gone are the days of purchasing a set of colored pencils only to work so hard with them to produce color on the paper that the paper itself rip.
this is a very simple botanical drawing of an Apple using the Crayola Signature Colored Pencils which I have reviewed on The Art Gear Guide YouTube Channel and of course the written review published on the website. Despite the pencils very much leaning toward the lower end of the student range, I used Arches HotPressed Watercolor Paper.
I wanted to make sure that this was just a colored pencil piece and nothing else added such as Marker which would be my usual goto medium with colored pencils. I used Prismacolor Premier and Caran d’Ache Luminance. In theory, it doesn’t really make much sense to use both these pencils along side one an other and that is because one is highly lightfast and the other not so much so financially speaking it doesn’t make sense
This piece was completed on Strathmore Bristol Smooth 400 Series using Copic Markers, some Art-N-Fly markers and Prismacolor Premier pencils for the detail. Just a fun piece for Halloween and I hope you enjoy it.
This is an art piece created with the Staedtler Mars Lumograph Graphite Pencils and the Staedtler Mars Lumograph Black Carbon Pencils to help demonstrate both of these products together. Graphite is a very forgiving medium and one easy to work with on the right paper.
A while back Spectrum Noir sent me a 24 box of their Tri-Blend Markers which I tested and reviewed and had a lot of fun with, the first Tri-Blend marker they came out with sported the bullet nib, quite similar to the nib in their Graphic Markers. Now they have come out with a new version of the Tri-Blend, this time with their gorgeous brush tip
As soon as I started to test the Castle Arts Watercolour Pencils I began enjoying the process immediately, I started out drawing a pink Orchid but changed my direction due to health issues. Both images however were done on the same Strathmore 400 Series Watercolour Paper. On occasions when I have started a drawing and had to stop it, it has been down t paper choice, but this was not the case on this matter.
In this refreshed edition of the Lyra Rembrandt Polycolor, as my understanding and knowledge of colored pencils and art in general has improved over the years, I have been able to hopefully provide a much more comprehensive review of the Lyra Polycolor as well as providing real time tests which can be viewed on the YouTube video review.
To find out more about the Faber Castell Black Edition Colored Pencils, I have added a video review to The Art Gear Guide YouTube channel or if you prefer you could check out the written review by following the relevant link. As well as the images I have included here for you to inspect, I have also completed a speed drawing video which will hopefully help you see the art work come to life.
I have created this piece of art in order to help demonstrate the capabilities of the Bruynzeel Expression Coloured Pencils. The Bruynzeel Expression is an incredibly capable pencil and as is the case with so many art products, on the right paper, the Bruynzeel Expression is a fantastic choice for any colored pencil artist.
The Caran d’Ache Fancolor are a children’s based art product, at least this is the market Caran d’Ache have aimed the Fancolor toward, however, it is important to remember we are talking about Caran d’Ache here. As is the case with many of their products, a children’s art product can sometimes match that of a student grade product or even artist grade product for other companies.
After testing and reviewing the set and enjoying the Arrtx markers so much I will definitely be purchasing the 36 Grey set. Another thing worth mentioning is that the Arrtx markers work very well with other Alcohol based markers.
Castle have provided some excellent products at very low prices without compromising on the quality and the Castle Art 40 Piece Drawing Set is no exception. They sell smaller sets of a similar ilk, however to see the other sets and what they comprise of as well as a more detailed look at the Castle Art 40 Piece Drawing Set, check out my YouTube Video review or my written review. I have also completed a quick speed drawing of the eye art created if you would like to see how I created this piece.
I am a huge fan of Alan Woollett, perhaps one of the finest colored pencil bird artist about, I recently seen one of his more recent WIP’s on his Instagram page and happened to notice the surface of the paper he was using. As someone who normally uses Strathmore, I had to at least try the paper Alan was using which was the Fabriano Artistico 100% Cotton paper.
When I first started to review these Daler Rowney Watercolour Pencils, if you read the full review on The Art Gear Guide or watch the YouTube video review, you will see that I really wasn’t looking forward to reviewing them never mind creating some artwork with them.
The paper I used for this drawing was the Strathmore 400 series Mixed Media paper, although I use Strathmore paper all the time, the 400 and 500 series Mixed Media paper is quite new to me. Since using this Mixed Media paper I have absolutely loved it, there is enough tooth on the paper to layer until your hearts content but at the same time, there is a smoothness to the paper allowing for beautiful blends with alcohol markers such as Copics, ProMarkers, Art N Fly and lots of other such mediums.
In order to make sure that both images were identical, I simply sketched out the drawing on the left and then traced it onto the opposite side of the paper. Although it is impossible for me to use the exact same pressure with both pencils throughout the entirety of the art work, I have tried my best to make both images identical.
