150 color paper box-set Holbein colored pencil (japan import)

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Normally pencil companies try to impress you with a ton of blues. Holbein keeps their blue family smaller than usual (they gave that space to the greens!) but I don’t see any missing blues. The blues they offer are all unique tones and values. A nice selection of periwinkles too! And fat? Fat is oil. Fat tends to mean an animal by-product but folks, so is petrolium. Crude oil is really, really, really old fat. Holbein uses metallic gold to mark all of the pencils which is hard on aging eyes, especially when the pencil is beige or yellow. Fortunately, the font is large. I do end up rolling the pencil to read it, especially when my studio work lights are on. Holbein Artists Colored Pencils Before reading this review, I would like to inform you that as of November 27th it was brought to my attention that the Holbein Colored Pencils have not been fully tested for sale in the US.

Also, as mentioned above, they don’t do a very good job of blending, and more than a couple of layers on top of each other result in a bit of a mess. While this is an obvious tradeoff that you have to have when it comes to softer leads, there are better options out there for those who enjoy blending. Given the core ingredients previously mentioned, the consistency of the Holbein core is simply gorgeous. Smooth and creamy, but with the addition of oils and wax combined, the core is strong enough to maintain a decent point after sharpening. The pencil will not maintain a point quite as long as an oil only pencil, never the less, I was impressed with the longevity of the core throughout various tests. All I have is hearsay and scuttlebutt from other artists and the chatty owner of my local hole-in-the-wall art store. I do not normally use a blender in my work, so I have nothing to compare the Meltz Pencil Blender to, but I am impressed it does so well for something that is water based and not a solvent. I used it in a recent life drawing class alongside my other materials and was pleased with the result.This is a set of 100 Holbein Artists’ Coloured Pencils which come contained in a durable cardboard box with lift-out trays.

Holbein can be sharpened to a long fine point but be prepared for a little bit at the tip to fall off with the first strokes.Staedtler Ergosoft are wax-based pencils with a distinctive plastic coating on the core made by Staedtler in Germany. The triangular pencils come in sets of 12, 24 or 36 with a distinctive plastic carrying case that can transform into a stand-up easel. And even soft colored pencil people often add a few firm pencils to their projects. I may color the leaf with soft Derwent Lightfast pencils but then add fine veins with a firm Caran d’Ache Pablo. And I frequently use Pablos to crisp up the edge of something that’s looking mushy in Prismacolor. I use two different pencil sharpeners on location. The Derwent Pastel & Charcoal Sharpener and the M + R Sharpener as they manage a wide variety of media. For both sharpeners, they worked well. I like a long point so the M + R Sharpener works best for this. The Derwent Pastel Sharpener works best for the pastel pencils I take with me but does a pretty decent job too, although produces a shorter lead point. In the studio I have a Jakar Electric Sharpener for speed and that works really well on the Holbein Artists’ Coloured Pencils producing a clean and crisp long point in seconds. Yes, I know some of you will advise not to use an electric sharpener because they often eat pencils. Thank you, but I’d wear my hands out hand sharpening with as much as I color. I’ve chosen a controlled electric machine with an auto stop feature. It’s not the sharpener, it’s the pencil. Holbein Color Range: Because so many Holbeins are opaque, you do need to worry about creating accidental clouding or masking while layering over existing layers of color.