Hi everyone! Here's another product review!
Arteza recently sent me their Professional Coloured Pencils (72) for me to review. Looking online, Arteza sells a set of 72 professional coloured pencils for $28.98/£27.99 which is a good price, costing $0.40/.£0.39 per pencil. It all comes contained within a nice tin case that has a hinged cover. The quality of the pencils, when held, felt good, they are solid and strong and finished with rounded bottoms. I like how they included the lightfastness details of each colour on each pencil.
With the coloured pencils I made two colour charts for the pencils, one on the rough side of Arteza watercolour pad and one on the smooth side of the same paper. I did this because I wanted to see how the pencils would work on different textures. In general, the pencils were quite smooth on paper but not as smooth as the coloured pencils I'm used to using (Prismacolor and Faber Castell Polychromos). I found the colours Ivory, Lavender, Honey and Moss harder, waxy and streaky when colouring. This becomes very apparent when I tested them on the smooth paper. I also noticed that most of the pencils don't seem to colour evenly, meaning I have to exert more pressure in order to achieve a smooth and even finish. This is also the case with opacity. The finish is not as opaque as I expected especially when using them on a coloured surface. Again more pressure is needed to make the colours visible over a coloured/painted area or get the desired level of opacity. I'm particularly fond of using white in my art to create highlights and textures on painted areas and it was a bit of a disappointment that I wasn't able to achieve the desired effect using the white pencil. On top of that, I didn’t find them particularly easy to blend when compared to pencils from other brands such as Prismacolor and Faber Castell Polychromos.
Despite this, the colours are vibrant and the cores are very sturdy, I only had one breakage while sharpening them. I found they were easy to sharpen and I was able to maintain a very pointed tip without breaking it. This is an important attribute I need when creating details in my illustration.
In conclusion, I think that these coloured pencils like the watercolours are a good value for the price and quantity they offer. Here are my pros and cons for this:
Pros
- Vibrant colours.
- Affordable, with a good colour range for the price.
- Durable core: no breakage, able to hold pointed end even with heavy pressure.
- Good quality case and packaging.
Cons
- Some colours are not as smooth and soft as others.
- Some are waxy and difficult to blend or colour evenly.
- Not as opaque when used on coloured surfaces.
- The pencils are currently only available in a set and cannot be purchased individually.
I hope you found this review helpful and if you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to send me a message or comment below! Thanks for dropping by!
Have a lovely day!
Abbey
Interested in my other Arteza product reviews?
- click here for Arteza's Expert Watercolour Pads
- click here for Arteza's Premium Watercolours
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