1. What is the pencil they’ll have to pry out of your cold, dead hands?

My Prismacolors . The new ones, the vintage ones and all the ones in between. Prismas make me happy. Sure, they break easily and shatter often. Sometimes. The core aren’t always centered but oh. The colors are so good. And when they work, they are the yardstick by which I measure the quality of all other colored pencils.

There are other pencils you would have to fight me for as well like my NoBlots, my Pantone Colored pencils and my collection of vintage red/blue pencils.

2. What’s your guilty pleasure pencil?

I have so many guilty pleasure pencils I can fill multiple cigar boxes with them. I love custom stamped pencils — especially if they have pithy messages on them. I love tourism pencils that are from specific places (often found in museum gift shops and such). I love advertising pencils, bullet pencils, vintage pencils and pencils from other countries. In general, I think my graphite pencil collection is 100% a guilty pleasure.

3. What’s the pencil you wish existed?

Good mechanical colored pencils. I want a creamy, saturated pigment core with a maximum diameter of 0.8mm that doesn’t break easily. I love having a colored mechanical pencil for travel and outdoor drawing adventures.

4. What pencil would you give to a new enthusiast?

For graphite pencils, any modern Japanese pencil from Tombow Mono or Uni-Mitsubishi Hi-Uni. They feel beautiful in the hand and write beautifully. Pencils do not have to be scratchy, gritty objects that people remember from grade school.

For colored pencils, I would recommend the Caran d’Ache Bi-Color in red and blue. Its creamy and luscious and its water soluble too. Its a great gateway into bi-color pencils AND colored pencils.

5. What pencil do you want to get along with but it just never clicked?

I know lots of people love the Uni Kuru Toga pencils. I appreciate the idea of a self-rotating mechanical pencil but I must be too fidgety because I don’t get the experience. I am not yucking someone else’s yum but this pencil is more technology than I need in a pencil.

6. What pencil do you keep only because it’s pretty?

I have some fancy designed pencils from Louise Fili. They are not the best tools but OOOH! the packaging and lettering is fantastic!

7. What pencil did you buy because everyone else did?

Not to parrot Tina but I also found the Irojiten colored pencils a bit overrated. I knew I wasn’t going to love them going into the purchase because I had heard they were harder cores, the pencils are all white except the end caps which are dipped to indicate the color which is a pet peeve of mine. Colored pencils benefit from being colored from top to bottom. It makes them easier to identify quickly.

8. What pencil is over your head or just baffles you?

Pretty much any pencil, particularly mechanical pencils, that have the gel grip section really makes me wonder. I wonder why pencils more often feature this grippy grip section than pens. And I also wonder why do we need this?

9. What pencil surprised you?

Magic pencils! I bought my first on a whim and fell in love with them. I prefer the classic red-yellow-blue Magic pencils over any of the other color combinations. The shades in the Koh-i-noor Magic pencils is the perfect shades of color and blend to create really uniquely. Thanks, Milton Glaser, for the inspiration too!

10. What pencil do you love in theory but not in practice?

Please don’t hate me, Tina! I want to love the Caran d’Ache Luminance colored pencils but I find the cores a bit too big. They feel like a jumbo pencil in my tiny little hands. They also don’t fit in my regular pencil sharpeners and they are SOOOOO expensive. I have a few and they are fantastic cores but I just don’t reach for them very often. The best way to try these is to visit a local art supply shop like Dick Blick and buy just a couple to try rather than buying a large box set.

11. What’s your favorite vintage pencil? And 12. What’s the pencil that got away?

The last two question, for me, are really the same question for me. Sanford NoBlots are my favorite vintage pencil and the ones that got away. I got my first (and last) full box of Sanford NoBlots on Amazon for about $15 about 15 years ago. It was 100% an accident. At the time I didn’t really know anything about NoBlots but they looked cool and $15 for 12 pencils was a steal no matter what they were. Well, by the time I figured out that I had the amazing indelible “ink” pencils, the dealer who was selling them on Amazon was sold out. Had I known what they were, I would have bought every box that was still available.

To be honest, this list is only slightly different than my Top 10 Pencils post from a couple years ago. Clearly, my tastes have not changed much.

Okay, now its your turn!

DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this review were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. Other items in this post include affiliate links. The Well-Appointed Desk is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon. Please see the About page for more details.

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I found it quite difficult to get the pencils out of the vac-form tray. So much so, I was worried I would end up scratching the finish on the pencils because they were wedged in there so tightly. In the end, I did get them out but why did the tray have to be quite so snug?

The pencils have a matte finish coating on the barrels making them easy to hold. Both have gold ferrule and bright white eraser caps.

As you will see in the next photo, the inclusion of the erasers may be more for looks that usability.

I tested the red and blue pencils on two different paper stocks (kraft and Col-o-ring paper). Both papers are the type of paper I would use for sketching or drawing with a bit of tooth. The pencil leads are soft and creamy with good color. As a result of the softness, the point retention is only okay.

I often draw with a blue pencil as they are consider “non-repro” and ink can be applied over. Then artwork can be scanned and the blue (or red) can easily be removed in Photoshop. Animators often use red pencils where illustrators and commercial artists favor non-repro blue.

I compared both the blue and red with some of my favorite red/blue pencils as well as a few standalone colored pencils specifically used by illustrators for this type of work.

When comparing the blue pencil from Blackwing to the red/blue combo pencils, none of the red/blue combo pencils actual feature a non-repro blue color. Instead they tend to have a deep Prussian Blue.

Both the Staedtler and Col-Erase pencils have much firmer cores making the point retention better and the lines smoother and less likely to be affected by paper texture.

The standalone pencils from Prismacolor Col-Erase and Caran d’Ache Sketcher are more comparable. A box of 12 Col-Erase are under $12 ($1/pencil) which is much more cost effective than the Blackwings. The Caran d’Ache pencil is comparable in price at about $6-$7 for a set of two pencils but even Caran d’Ache is CHEAPER than the Blackwings. Go figure.

With the red pencils, all three Japanese red/blue combos have a much warmer, tomato red. I tend to use the Col-Erase Vermillion most often (as you can see by how stumpy the pencil is) which is similar in color to the Japanese red/blue pencils but I do bounce back and forth with the Carmine which is a cooler red. That said, the Prismacolor Verithin Red in the metallic red/blue pencil in the photo above is closest in color to the Blackwing Red but a much firmer core designed for point retention and fine detail.

As previously mentioned, I’m likely to recommend the Prismacolor Col-Erase Carmine or Vermillion over the Blackwing for cost, firmness and point retention. The Carmine is available in a box of 12 on Amazon for less than $12, which is a GOOD deal.

Due to the softness of these pencils, the line widths got pretty thick pretty fast. I am not inclined to switch from my Prismacolor Verithins or Col-Erase which are a bit firmer. They don’t really erase any better than the Blackwings, despite what the name might lead you to believe.

While the aesthetics of the Blackwings remain top-notch, $15 for 4 pencils ($3.75 each) is getting pretty ridiculous. A Primsacolor Col-Erase (in oh-so-handy Carmine Red or Cyan/Non-Repro Blue) can be purchased, open stock, for about $1.50 (more than half the price of the Blackwings).

So, while I really wanted to try these, I will not purchase any more of them. They are just too expensive and not as useful as other brands for what I use red and blue pencils to create.

DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this review were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review.

This review also includes affiliate links. The Well-Appointed Desk is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon. Please see the About page for more details.

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(There is also a 36-color set ($59.50, $1.65 per pencil) that contains a selection of 28 colors from the original Color Dictionary sets plus eight additional colors. )

The name Irojiten means “Color Dictionary”. Iro means “color” and Jiten means “dictionary”. Pretty clever.

While I love the packaging and aesthetic of the Irotijen sets, I could never rationalize buying another set of colored pencils. Then curiosity got the best of me and I finally caved. The packaging alone is a thing of beauty. I don’t usually like excessive packaging but Tombow did this beautifully. Each set of 10 pencils comes in a paperboard box that opens like a book and is held closed with an elastic band. Then all three boxes slide into a slipcase that keeps everything organized and contained and ready for your bookshelf or desktop. For as lovely as the packaging is, all the boxes are uncoated paperboard so its recyclable (just snip off the elastics) if you are a “store all your pencils in a cup” person like me.

I only purchased the first set which contains volumes 1, 2, and 3 — Pale I,  Vivid I, Deep I. If I end up being madly in love with these pencils, I can purchase the others but I decided to err on the side of frugality.

Pricewise, this set of Irojiten seemed most comparable to a Prismacolor or Polychromos sets with a similar number of pencils. Both Prismacolor ($o.85-0.88 per pencil in set, $1.39 individually) and Polychromos (about $1.24 per pencil in set, $2.65 individually) pencils come is sets of 24 or 36, and work out to be only slightly cheaper than the Irojiten sets per pencil (according to my quick peek at the Blick web site).

The pencils come pre-sharpened but the ends are pretty blunt. The advantage of having pre-sharpened pencils is you can just jump right in and start using them. I did find that after I did my first swatches, I really wanted to sharpen these.

The color swatches above were organized by set: Vol. 1 Pale Tone 1, Vol. 2 Vivid Tone 1 and Vol. 3 Deep Tone 1. My first experience with the pencils felt a bit harder than the colored pencils I usually lean towards. The colors were well-pigmented but felt like they required more effort to get the color onto the paper.

Once I did these color swatches, I realized that my brain doesn’t work like this — organized by saturation level. I tend to sort my colored pencils into warm colors and cool colors and like having all my yellows (or blues or purples) out and available at the same time. So, as much as I appreciate the aesthetics of the packaging, I am not inclined to keep the pencils in the boxes. My pencils ALWAYS end up living in cups and jars because they are quick and easy to access.

I sharpened the Irojtien pencils with my Dahle 133 Pencil Tabletop Manual Sharpener ($19.99) dialed to a medium-sharp point. I also wanted to see if sharpening the pencils might also help with the hardness. Sometimes, c0l0red pencils can feel a bit dry if they’ve been sharpened for a long time (I think the oil or wax dries out a bit) so I thought sharpening them would be worth a try. Also, since the pencils seemed harder, a sharper point would be easier to accomplish.

The Irojiten pencils did sharpen very well but did not feel any softer after being sharpened. This would make these pencils good for detail work and small drawings. I also re-swatched the colors, organized by hue. What I think is most notable about the set is that there is really only one red pencil. The Crimson (D-1) felt more like a warm brown than a red to me. There also seemed to be a surprising number of green colors (6 or 7, depending on whether you think Ice Green P-6 is more green or more blue).

My last round of tests was to verify if the Irojiten pencils were really harder than my beloved Prismacolors. The short answer is yes. It did not require as much pressure to apply a rich layer of the Prismacolor pencils. I know a lot of people have issues with the Prismacolors for being too soft, breaking easily, uncentered cores, etc. they pay dividends in sheer pigment load and range of colors available for the price.

My final impression of the Irojiten colored pencils is that it is a lovely set with pencils that are harder than other pencils. If you have a heavy hand or are looking for a colored pencil set for detail work, the Irojiten is a good option. If you are looking for colored pencils that are creamy and have a dense pigment load, then I recommend trying Prismacolors instead. The packaging is not as cool but if you’re like me, your colored pencils will end up in a cup anyway so the packaging doesn’t really matter.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

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The Tropical Set ($13.50) was an impulse purchase. The colors seemed like they had been selected just for me. The set includes the four mechanical pencils and a set of replacement leads in a white plastic desktop holder. The pencils and the lead holder snap into the display holder making if a lovely set to keep on your desk.

In drawing, I noticed that the pink and green colors were softer and went down on the paper more easily than the orange and purple which felt like they were harder cores. It did make me curious if, in the other sets, some of the colors would be smoother and softer while others harder. I prefer a softer, creamier core in my colored pencils.

In most mechanical pencils, because the cores are so much thinner than in a wood-cased pencil, the leads do tend to be much harder. That said, I was delighted with some of the Emott pencils having softer cores.

I tested the erasability and I would have to say my results were poor. Though, normally speaking, most colored pencils are not erasable so its not a make-or-break for me. The colors are describe as water resistant which is more in keeping with most colored pencils and should work well when combined with watercolor or water soluble inks and markers. Way more fun than erasable, IMHO.

Overall, the set is a bit more expensive than a simple set of wood-cased pencils. Most wood-cased pencils sets of 12 -24 pencils start at about $20 (and go up to about $40) from brands like Prismacolor, Blackwing, Faber-Castell and Tombow Irotijen. If cost/value is a priority, I would recommend sticking to classic wood-cased colored pencils. If novelty and cute packaging (and mechanical pencil option) is more your speed, than the Emott pencils might be appealing. As curious as I am about the softness of the other colors from the Emott line, I am not sure its worth spending $13.50 for four pencils when I have literally hundreds of wood-case pencils I could use instead. Final opinion: cute but spendy.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

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“Play your notes, to hear the sounds of pencil on paper.” It’s hard to resist an invitation like that! Under the MD Paper Products name, Midori makes understated pens, notebooks, letter-writing paper, planners and other products. It also makes colored and graphite pencils to match that muted esthetic. Today I’m reviewing the colored pencils (6/$12); the graphite pencils are coming up soon. 

Made in Japan, the three colored pencils (two pencils per color in the set) – light gray, light blue, coral – coordinate beautifully with Midori’s delicate palette. The matte-finish, semi-hexagonal barrel is very pleasing (soothing, even) to touch. As with all Midori products, the branding is subtle – “MD Paper Products” in small, black block letters.

My favorite design element is the unpainted – but not unfinished – end. The very slightly convex cut reveals the well-centered cores. Like the rest of the pencil, it’s a sublime yet distinctive touch.

Since I’m somewhat spoiled by top-notch colored pencils, I didn’t have high expectations, but I was pleasantly surprised. Harder than Prismacolor and softer than Faber-Castell Polychromos, the MD pencils have a slightly waxy feel rather than creamy. The swatches show consistent layering in a relatively smooth Stillman & Birn Zeta sketchbook. 

Coral and light blue are not colors I would typically choose to sketch a cow, but what the heck – it’s a good way to stretch my color imagination. Pigments apply well, and the pencils are pleasant to use (and to hold! I love the matte finish). For the sketch, I used a toothier Stillman & Birn Alpha sketchbook, and the pencils are soft enough to show the paper’s texture easily. (I used a graphite pencil for the cow’s details.)

If you’re not into sketching or coloring, these pencils could be also used for highlights or notations that don’t sear the eyeballs. In fact, I would love to see Midori expand the palette just a bit wider. We have plenty of small colored pencil sets in the standard rainbow – how about a set of 12 including more understated hues? Like a pale mint (Ana would surely want one of those), delicate rose and lavender? I’m ready for a unique set like that.

Tina Koyama is an urban sketcher in Seattle. Her blog is Fueled by Clouds & Coffee, and you can follow her on Instagram as Miatagrrl.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by Gentleman Stationer for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

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While three color options might not be enough for most people, for quick sketches, proofreading or grading, this might be a perfect solution.

The mechanism for the Uni Color 3 works the same as other Japanese multi-pens. There are three slides at the top of the pen (one being the clip) that will reveal a tip when pressed down until it clicks. Tapping the slide repeatedly will advance the lead, holding down the slide will allow you to push the lead back up into the housing and clicking on any other slide will cause the revealed tip to spring back into the housing.

Because the leads are 0.5mm, if they are out too far, they will break so be careful not to expose too much lead or press too hard when using them.

I’m happy with the color of the red and blue leads though it is fairly easy to find 0.5mm red or blue leads if I wasn’t. The orange, which is more unusual is a bit lighter in overall pigment density. It would probably work fine for underlining or adding small details in a sketch or drawing but it would not be my go-to color in this set. In fact, I would probably consider swapping it out for a standard graphite lead rather than try to replace the orange lead when it runs out.

I decided to test out the Uni 0.5mm Smudge-Proof Lead in F ($2.95) as an alternative to the orange colored pencil lead. While the smudge-proof lead wrote smoothly, this lefty was able to smudge it a bit when I ran my thumb over the scribble swatch. The Rhodia paper is very smooth and may be more likely to smudge than toothier stocks.

In the erasing test on both Rhodia paper and on Col-o-ring paper, using a foam eraser, the color came up pretty well. I’d say the eraser, used with average pressure (I didn’t tear up the paper trying to remove the color), lifted 85-90% of the color on the Rhodia paper and about 75% of the color on Col-o-ring paper.

I also did a quick little still life of a bottle of Robert Oster ink sitting in a Monarca wooden bottle holder on a Col-o-ring card to see how the leads perform on toothier paper.

I am a fan of this pencil concept. When on the road, I prefer not having to sharpen my pencils and having three colors all in one tool is great for when you’re traveling, in a coffeeshop or library or in a meeting so this pencil solves some problems I didn’t know I had.

Tools:

• Paper: Rhodia Uni-Blank No. 16 with 6mm guide sheet and
• Col-o-Ring Ink Testing Book ($10)
• Pens: Uni-Color-3-Erasable-Multi-Mechanical-Pencil ($8.25)

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At this point, you may be asking yourself, what book were you reading that was so engrossing that you forgot to write a blog post? It was The Cartographers by Peng Shepard. It’s a lovely story about maps and the people who archive, research and collect them. I won’t give away any of the details but if you like libraries, maps and a little bit of magic, you’ll like this book.

That said, let’s talk about some delicious pencils while you wait for your copy of The Cartographers to arrive.

I’m hard pressed to think of a single Midori MD product that I haven’t liked and this set of Midori MD Color Pencils ($12) is no exception. The set includes two each of an orange, cyan blue and medium grey colored pencil. When I initially acquired these, I thought the grey pencils were graphite pencils but they are not. I am happy about this because, as a lefty, graphite often smudges but most colored pencils do not.

The exterior paint, rounded hex shape and slightly rounded ends make these looks and feel like premium Japanese pencils. They sharpened easily to fairly long points with my Dahle 133 Hand Crank Pencil Sharpener (approx. $19).

First, I tested these on the Leuchtturm1917 120gsm paper notebook. The blue and orange colors showed well and felt creamy and smooth on this lightly textured paper. The grey felt a little light on the ivory paper but not much so as to be unusable. I am just unlikely to reach for the grey on ivory paper for anything other than sketching and adding shadow to other elements. The orange and blue hold their own and felt surprisingly lovely on this relatively smooth paper.

The color erased mostly for a pencil that does not appear to be listed as erasable but not completely. The color did not smudge at all. My efforts to do too much blending of the colors was not particularly successful.

I decided to see how the pencils worked on toothier Col-o-ring OVERSIZE paper. The pencils are a bit harder than other art pencils (Prismacolor Premiers, etc) so there was more white from the paper showing through since the pencils were not soft enough to sort of melt into the paper texture.

Alternately, this means the pencils are a bit firmer, maintain their point longer and can be sharpened to a longer, finer point for detail work.

Overall, if you are looking for some pencils to annotate notes, I really like these. Do I wish they offered more colors? Emphatically, YES. Am I happy with this teeny mini set? Yes.

DISCLAIMER: Some items in this review include affiliate links. The Well-Appointed Desk is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon. Please see the About page for more details.

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Whenever I see colored leads for mechanical pencils, I have a two-fold reaction: The first is to feel tingly with anticipation as I always do about any colored pencil I haven’t (yet) tried. This feeling is almost immediately followed by skepticism, which is an annoying but realistic buzz-kill. I’ve tried many colored mechanical pencil leads with woefully pale hues; I have concluded that it must be much more difficult to make a good colored pencil lead when it’s not surrounded by wood. Yet hope springs eternal: I couldn’t resist trying Uni EMOTT Color Mechanical Pencils (set of 4/$13.50). The sets are available in three color palettes; I chose Tropical. Each set includes eight 0.9mm refill leads.

I also picked up a pack of refill leads in each of the other two color palettes – Nostalgic and Refresh (8 pieces/$2.95) – because I needed to see all the colors, of course. The refill packs include two leads each of four colors.

First, I must say something about the design. With a white matte plastic barrel in a unique rounded-square shape, the EMOTT pencil is slender and lightweight. Pressing the white-capped colored segment extends the lead. Removing the cap reveals an eraser, which is also square like the barrel. After so many engineer-y or utilitarian mechanical pencils, it is a refreshing delight to see this distinctive design. And – be still, my heart – it’s lefty-oriented!

The EMOTT set comes with a small stand that holds four mechanical pencils and a refill vial. When each is replaced in its slot, the pencil is secured with a satisfying click (though they do wobble a bit after securing). 

So tickled was I with the design that I was almost afraid to use the leads for fear my bubble would be burst. With some trepidation, I pulled out a scrap sheet of Strathmore Bristol (a smooth drawing paper) to make some test swatches. To my surprise, the hues are vibrant and distinct – among the best I’ve seen in a non-woodcased colored pencil.

The second surprise came with erasing. I tested the EMOTT’s eraser against my standby favorite, the Tombow Mono Zero retractable eraser. The EMOTT eraser did as well or even slightly better, even where the color was heavily applied. Interestingly, when I tried the EMOTT eraser on other colored pencils, its performance was only average. It seems like the eraser was especially formulated to work well with EMOTT leads.

EMOTT leads smudge a little, especially on slightly toothy paper (swatches below were made on Col-o-Ring “Oversize” paper). 

Satisfied that the colors wouldn’t break my heart, I looked out my studio window on a wet, dreary day and made a sketch that was a lot brighter than what I saw (made in Col-o-Ring “Oversize” book). Coloring with mechanical pencils feels different from coloring with woodcased pencils, but the 0.9mm leads are solid under my heavy hand, even with substantial pressure. They are not going to snap as so many thinner leads do, at least in my hand.

Hard yet with decent pigment, EMOTT colored leads are excellent for writing as well as sketching. Even if you don’t have coloring in mind, these would be a fun checking or editing pencil, especially since it erases well. 

Tina Koyama is an urban sketcher in Seattle. Her blog is Fueled by Clouds & Coffee, and you can follow her on Instagram as Miatagrrl.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Colored Pencil Review: Uni EMOTT Color Mechanical Pencils appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

The pencils come with blunt tips but a 2mm lead pointer made these wickedly sharp. The 2mm leads were hard enough to sharpen to a strong point so I was a little worried the cores might be very hard.

The cores advance with a click and a half-press of the knock will allow the core to be pushed back into the plastic housing for transport. No stabbing yourself with those wickedly sharp points!

Regardless of what  I say about these pencils the portability and the comfortable soft, triangular shape makes the pencils worth owning. Whether you want the whole set for coloring or urban sketching or you just need a couple of colors for highlighting your journal pages, the price of these pencils make it hard to pass them up.

The packaging indicated that the pencils were refillable though, at this time, I was unable to find replacement leads. Also, the plastic housing the set came in can be transformed into a standing pencil case for ease of use. It a nice feature though I found that once I bent it into the stand shape, it was hard to close it back up for transport.

Most of the darker colors (reds, blues, purple and black) were much softer and more pigment rich than the lighter colors. I really like the #05 Blue (in the set) and #16 Terra Cotta (purchased individually). The white #21 pencil was not particularly useful except on dark papers and it was still pretty translucent. It might be usefull for tinting darker colors but I am pretty skeptical. If you want a white colored pencil for tinting other colors or blending, go for a softer brand like Prismacolor Premier (sold individually at most art supply stores). The peach color #04 was also very light and challenging to use. In the 12-color set, I found the #14 sage green to be an odd choice for such a basic set. I suppose it could be considered a very cool grey but most 12-color colored pencil sets would be more likely to include a brown or sepia color and a true neutral grey over the too light peach and sage. Even a turquoise might have made more sense. My inclination would be to purchase the pencils individually since the cost difference is negligible and you won’t end up with the lighter, less usable colors.

I frequently use black colored pencils as an alternative to graphite as it tends to smudge less — handy tip, lefites! I also love the red/blue pencil combo and use them to highlight, underline and add details to my planner and journal. As such, I wanted to compare the color and softness of the Zensations Black pencil to the classic Prismacolor Col-Erase Black and the red and blue Zensations to the classic Caran D’Ache Bi-Color. The black pencil is similar in hardness to the Col-Erase and even kind of erasable. Being able to carry the Zensations pencil instead of the Prismacolor Col-Erase means no need to carry a sharpener or point protector. When comparing the Red and Blue Zensations pencils to the Caran D’ache Bi-Color is a pretty unfair comparison. The Bi-Color is often about $5 for ONE PENCIL and uses the color rich pigments from a company known for their artist grade pencil products. However, the blue is pretty comparable. The red color is more pink compared to the Caran d’Ache. The Bi-Color is also a water soluble pigment so if you like to add water for a watercolor look, the Caran d’Ache Bi-Color is a better option.

I’m on the fence whether I will switch to the Zensations red and blue pencils in my daily kit as it is still so convenient to have them both in one pencil with my Bi-Color but I will definitely be adding the black Zensations to my daily carry. I’ll save the other colors for coloring and drawing for now.

The Set of 12 is $11.76 and individual pencils are available for $0.98 each directly from Zebra. I would have included links directly to my darling Wonder Fair to purchase these pencils but they are not listed on their website. You can call them and ask to order them and they will gladly pop them in the mail for you.

I was not paid to promote Wonder Fair. I just really like their shop. I also paid for the pencils in this review with funds from our Patrons. Other links included in this post were added to provide purchasing options. JetPens is a sponsor of this blog. More info on our About Us page.

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Back in the day, graphic designers and printers used “non-photo blue” pencils. Certain shades of blue that could not be detected by camera film (or copy machines), so rough drawing lines or notations could be left on the art and would not appear in the final form. Modern scanners can see that blue, so non-photo blue pencils are not effective in the same way anymore. However, image-editing software can be used to manipulate the contrast or hue of the blue so that it can be made invisible digitally. Non-photo blue pencils still have life – but in a different way. (I’m not digitally geeky enough to explain further than that – heck, I still use Photoshop Elements to edit my images! – so I hope Ana will correct me as needed.)

Editor’s Note: You can scan an image that has non-photo blue pencil along with black pen and ink using the RGB mode. Then open the image in an image editing application like Photoshop and go to the “channels” palette. The blue channel will show your black lines and not your pencil marks but the red and green channel will not. You can select that channel,  make a layer, and fill with that data only. For a visual demo, check out this video.

I’ve never worked in graphic design or printing, and I don’t use sophisticated image-editing apps, so I had no practical use for non-photo blue pencils. Coincidentally, two people I am currently studying with both recommend the non-photo blue pencil, so I was tickled that this old-school tool has yet more life – this time in an analog way.

My first influence is cartoonist Lynda Barry, whose how-to books I have been voraciously devouring of late. (I don’t think cartooning is my bag, but I have been wanting to develop my imaginary drawing skills, and I love her approach to teaching.) She specifically recommends the Staedtler non-photo blue pencil.

The second influence is an instructor at Gage Academy, Kathleen Moore, whose subject area is about as different from Barry’s as you can get: drawing and painting nature. I’ve taken several classes from her, and in the current one using colored pencils, she, too, recommends a non-photo blue pencil.

Both artists use a blue pencil for lightly sketching the initial line drawing before inking (in Barry’s case) or using colored pencils (in Moore’s case). Their reasons are similar: While not invisible to modern cameras, non-photo blue lines are so subtle and pale that they tend to magically blend and disappear once the final medium is applied. In addition, lightly applied pale blue pencil is easily erased. Moore demonstrated another practical reason: If an initial drawing is made with graphite, almost all of it must be carefully erased before applying colored pencil. If any large particles of graphite remain, they could smudge, muddying the colors. 

With two respected teachers telling me I should get a non-photo blue pencil, I had no hesitation. In addition to Barry’s favorite Staedtler ($3.50), I also picked up a Prismacolor Col-Erase ($1.10), a contemporary Prismacolor Verithin ($1.10), and a Caran d’Ache Sketcher ($5.95). In my own vintage collection, I had an old Eagle Verithin, so I added that to the lineup. Although any light blue hue would probably work for this purpose, I stayed with ones that had “non-photo blue” (or “copy not NP blue,” in the case of the Col-Erase) in their names, just to simplify the options.

First, I tested them on my Col-o-Ring Oversize pad, which is slightly toothy. Erasing tests were done with a Tombow Mono Zero and a standard gray kneadable eraser. The second (scanned) image shows the differences a bit better, since they are all quite pale.

Next, I tested them on a sheet of Strathmore Bristol Smooth paper, which has a very smooth surface.

The Col-Erase is the palest and hardest, followed closely by the contemporary and vintage Verithins. Not surprisingly, the Caran d’Ache is the softest, which is true of most Caran d’Ache colored pencils. What did surprise me was the Staedtler, which was the softest after the Caran d’Ache. Most Staedtler graphite pencils are quite a bit harder than other pencils of corresponding grades, so I was expecting this one to be on the hard side, too. All erased easily and cleanly on both types of paper, especially with the kneadable eraser.

If I were making a drawing in which it was important for the initial lines to disappear completely, I would choose one of the Verithins for being a good balance between paleness and visibility – at least to this artist. The Col-Erase is easily the palest, but I can barely see it! If I don’t mind the lines showing, I would choose the Staedtler or the Caran d’Ache, since they are easier to see (and I generally prefer using a softer pencil).

For Mother’s Day, I felt like honoring my mom’s memory by making a drawing based on a photo that was taken in the late 1930s around the time that she and my father were married. I made the initial drawing with the Staedtler and remembered to scan it before I got too far with the final coloring with Prismacolors. I didn’t erase at all – most lines disappeared under my final coloring. In the small areas where the Staedtler lines are still visible, I could easily erase them, but I don’t mind their presence. Non-photo blue pencils for under-drawings are now a permanent part of my sketch kit.

Incidentally, the drawing was done on Stonehenge Lenox Cotton. It was one of the papers in the Stonehenge Legion sample set I reviewed recently. I typically use Strathmore Bristol Smooth for colored pencil drawings, but I liked the Lenox Cotton sample so much that I bought a pad. Compared to Bristol, it has a light, fine tooth that takes colored pencil pigment beautifully.

Tina Koyama is an urban sketcher in Seattle. Her blog is Fueled by Clouds & Coffee, and you can follow her on Instagram as Miatagrrl.

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