So now it's all about the pencils

 7/28/21

Over the past few months I have spent a lot of time testing the lightfastness of some  colored pencils and even inks I own. I also got a few new pencils. There are so many pencils to choose from but it helps to watch reviews and try to figure out what works for me. Being an oil painter since I was 12 years old made me choose the oil based Derwent Lightfast Pencils. They are expensive but the reviews saved me a lot of money because it helped me to choose just a few (maybe more than a few).

I already trust the lightfastness of these pencils. I just wanted to try different things like blending with other oil based pencils. Swatches I do have are numbered so I can refer to the pencil I mixed. I like my June Gold pencils and a few of them are fugitive. June Gold doesn't come with numbers or colors on them. I have to assign them numbers and label them. I put the fugitive colors away for other things like in a journal. I stick swatches in the window facing the sun because that is where I get the most sun. I leave them there for 3 months. The test I did with Derwent Drawing pencils set of 12 turned out some lovely distressed and landscape colors. 

The next 4 scans are the colors of Derwent Drawing after I tested them for 3 months. These are my kind of colors. 

I really crave getting my hands on some other oil based pencils like the Koh-I-Noor polycolor and Polychromos but I have really spent out on these pencils and it is beyond enough to draw anything. 

 5/6/21

I have been drawing lately and purchased a few sets of colored pencils. I have colored pencils from decades ago but never spent too much time with them. I was looking at youtube and saw how many people love to color with them and relax. So I got out my old pencils and added some new things to the collection. 

I made a drawing from one of my doll photos and printed it on regular copy paper. Then I colored it with Derwent Drawing Pencils and June Gold Pencils. The June Gold Pencils are not professional but I need some colors that aren't featured in the set of 12 Derwent Drawing Pencils. I love the June Gold Pencils a lot. I wish all pencils behaved like these. 

This is the original black and white drawing I made last fall. The doll was a 5star Mia doll that I purchased secondhand when I first found these dolls. I think she was my first ball-jointed doll.

The June Gold Pencils are the skinny ones with the labels on them. The fat pencils are Zebra Zensations. I just love how you click them like a mechanical pencil and get new lead. I never have to sharpen them even though June Gold's come with sharpener in the end of every pencil. I just wish all pencils were that neat and easy to use. The core is 2mm and surprisingly strong. The pencils were very affordable for someone who isn't sure they want to take up coloring (me). I really wasn't sure I wanted to color. When I realized how many pencils I do have I decided to get a new pencil case too. But I really wouldn't carry such a large case on short trips. I need to start choosing my favorites to make a smaller carry case.

I am certainly not affiliated with anyone and don't really do reviews. So anything I write is my honest opinion. I do try to stay positive and if I didn't like them, I wouldn't say anything at all. 

The difference in the low end pencils and the professional grade is one, the price. I am not an expert on pencils but one thing I noticed about professional pencils is they have lightfastness ratings. Lightfastness is not really an issue when you are drawing in a journal. Lightfastness is an issue for professionals to display their art in frames. A few years ago I got some Reader's Digest watercolor pencils. The pencils came with a book about watercolors. I painted a few things and hung them in my room. They did gently fade in the past decade. They are still lovely in my opinion but I can tell that sunlight has reached them over time. That would be an issue if I was selling my work for display. 

One really nice thing about these pencils is they are resistant to water. I tipped over a cup of coffee this morning and some splashed on my swatches. I quickly took a paper towel and cleaned them. The coffee didn't even stain them. Whew! Thank goodness. It took a whole day to swatch all those pencils.