Brutfuner 520 Colored Pencil Review | Brutfuner 260 Colored Pencil Sets
Brutfuner 520 Colored Pencil Review | Brutfuner 260 Colored Pencil Sets.
I have to say, this review has really taken a toll on me because of the amount of pencils, sharpening 520 Brutfuner Colored Pencils, Swatching them, replacing them in numerical order as opposed to the order in which they arrive within their respective sets. Because I only have the corner or my living room to work in, which is a tiny space, I had to use the floor to lay out the pencils and repackage them in their correct color coding sequence, it was a nightmare but hopefully a well worth it nightmare.
The Brutfuner 520 Colored Pencils come in two sets, for the purpose of this review we will refer to them as Set A and Set B. Both sets look similar in terms of the gorgeous botanical artwork on them, however, one is slightly darker in appearance and the other lighter and more colourful. Set A in this instance is the darker set and Set B is the lighter more colourful set. Its important that you take stock of this because if you decided to buy one of the sets and perhaps come back at a later date to purchase the remaining set, if you store your pencils in drawers or jars and toss away the packaging, you may forget the set you purchased. This is a mistake I would make as it is only the artwork on the actual packaging that distinguishes the sets.
As I have already mentioned, when I got both sets, after taking the relevant photographs, I then rearranged all the pencils into numerical order which is also their color coded sequence. But before showing you the full 520 Brutfuner Colored Pencils together as one set, I want you to see the colors that originally arrived in the sets.
Brutfuner 260 Colored Pencils Set A Original Colors
Layer 1
Layer 2
Layer 3
Layer 4
Layer 5
Layer 6
Layer 7
Layer 8
Layer 9
Layer 10
Brutfuner 260 Colored Pencils Set B Original Colors
Layer 1 Set B
Layer 2 Set B
Layer 3 Set B
Layer 4 Set B
Layer 5 Set B
Layer 6 Set B
Layer 7 Set B
Layer 8 Set B
Layer 9 Set B
Layer 10 Set B
Brutfuner Set A And B Side By Side Original Colors
As you can see from the images above displaying both set A and B with the original pencils, both sets are quite similar, however, when you look closely at the swatch, the colors are different but only very slightly, not dramatically different.
Both set A and B as you can see from the images, can be purchased separately and you wouldn’t really need the other set. I would definitely say that to own both sets is more of a desire than a necessity. It is always nice to have a lot of colored pencils, but when it comes down to it, if you know your color theory, you can produce the most amazing art with as little as 12 colored pencils, as demonstrated by so many colored pencil artists.
Despite the Brutfuner Colored Pencils coming and being sold in two separate sets, they are actually one set of pencils totalling 520 and this is evident by the number on the barrels of the Brutfuner Colored Pencils. Before we get into that, let me discuss the actual pencil characteristics first.
Brutfuner Colored Pencil Characteristics.
Of all the colored pencils that I have reviewed, of which there are a lot, I think this set of Brutfuner remind me most of the Prismacolor Premier pencils. Not it is important to note, I am not saying the Brutfuner Colored Pencils are as soft as the Prismacolor Premier, they are not far of it, but there are other characteristics of this pencil that just remind me of using Prismacolor.
First of all the Brutfuner are sold as a predominately oil based pencil, there is wax in there as well but it is mostly oil, which is something I have noticed lately reviewing pencils from China, Japan and that neck of the woods, most of their pencils seem to be predominately oil based pencils. I am not sure if this has anything to do with the climate or simply just source materials, but whatever the reason, most are oil.
The Brutfuner sport a hefty 3.5mm core, with excellent pigment levels all housed within a round 7.8mm barrel, this s actually quite thick for a colored pencil in fact I think the largest barrel I have reviewed has been that of the Derwent Drawing Colored Pencils which was I think of the top of my head 8mm. The pencil does feel very light in the hand and I know in the grand scheme of things how heavy can a pencil be, however, some pencils just feel really light and others hold a bit of weight to them and I personally much prefer the heavier pencils. I am sure this is simply down to the wood choice used, but I am also sure this is a factor in keeping costs low, so we can’t have it all our own way.
The barrel of the pencil is lacquered the same color as the pencil core making visual identification quick and easy. Along one side of the barrel is the pigment name, however, taking into consideration there are 520 colors total in this set, some of the names in my opinion don’t even resemble color at all, such as “Surf The Web” and perhaps a little closer to a proper meaning “Online Lime and Monks Robe”. Its not a huge issue but it is worth knowing before ordering.
Beside the pigment names is stamped a number and this number helps you to sequence the pencils in correct color code order, however, the numbers on most of the pencils are depressed into the barrel and so not silver or gold but the same colored as the barrel, this made it so difficult to rearrange the pencils into one set of 520 from the original two sets of 260. Occasional some of the pencils, mainly the darker barrel pencils had the number printed, but even then it was difficult to see.
Toward the very end of the pencils there is another numerical code, the code starts with a letter, a number then a forward slash and then the number 520, obviously indicating the color out of 520. At first I assumed the letter was representative of a color, but some of the pencils sported letters that did not tally up to represent a color. Unfortunately I didn’t follow this up to find out what the meaning of the code was, simply because I have worked incredibly long hours on this review and didn’t see the relevance regardless.
As you can see above, the G could stand for Green only the pencil is a dark blue and then the following pencil has a K before the number. I can only think of Khaki being a color starting with K, but this pencil is not Khaki nor is Khaki a color group as there are more pencils with this letter.
All of the pencils come pre-sharpened which is a God send believe me, sharpening 520 pencils with a hand held sharpener is no barrel of laughs, its at times like this you want an electric sharpener. The Brutfuner pencils despite my complaining actually sharpened incredibly well nor did I experience a single breakage. Also you can see that the pencils are uncapped at the end of the barrel which obviously does not effect the performance of the pencil, but it is just a personal issue for me. I much prefer pencils capped, although the benefit of uncapped pencils is the artist can clearly see if the core is centered.
The Full 520 Brutfuner Colored Pencils in Color Order.
As you can see from the images below, once I rearranged the pencils from two separate sets of 260 into the one set of 520, this is how the pencils looked color coded. I lay these out on my floor and had to get my son to stand on a chair and hold the camera over the pencils so as to get them all in the shot. All 520 Brutfuner Colored Pencils take up a huge real estate area.
Don’t forget you can click on the images and zoom in to take a better look at the photos, there is a lot of pencils to get into one shot and so some of the colors may not be visible unless zoomed in. I have also provided a swatch of all 520 Brutfuner Colored Pencils, I have to say, I completely forgot to swatch the pencils in their original 260 sets as I should have, but only thought about this when I had already rearranged the pencils into there one 520 set. Nevertheless you can still see every color available.
the first image displays the full swatch in its entirety and the lower two images are the top and bottom half of said swatch. For this particular swatch I had to complete this on two A3 size Fabriano Artistico sheets of paper, so really high quality paper but this was the largest paper I had and in order to ensure you could actually see the colors, I had to produce the swatch on this size paper.
Brutfuner Colored Pencils 520 Set Performance
As previously mentioned, the Brutfuner 520 colored pencils are being sold as Oil based colored pencils, of which when I was testing and using the pencils you could clearly feel and see that oil is the dominant ingredient.
I did complete a piece of artwork with the pencils on some paper that I will later be adding a review of to The Art Gear Guide, This piece of art was created on the Hahnemühle Hot Pressed Watercolor Paper 640 g/m2. I absolutely loved the paper but I will go into more detail about the paper when I review it. Needless to say the artwork turned out better than I expected. It really took me a while to select something to draw with the pencils as I wanted to try and capture as much color as possible but I also wanted to show off the greens.
I originally opted to do a Fan Art piece but it didn’t show off the Greens to my satisfaction and so I opted for this botanical piece. I might do another piece with the pencils just to highlight even better the vast array of color available. I have of course completed a speed drawing of the artwork as well as adding a page to The Art Gear Guide of still images taken at various stages of completion.
As you can see I have included very much the tests I normally produce. With the layering test the Brutfuner Colored Pencils performed really well, as you can see from the image provided of the layer test, I hold the pencil as far back as I can and allow the pencil to lay down the layers. When it comes to the heavy application I obviously apply a lot of pressure and this shows you how the pencils perform in light layers and heavy applications
The test below shows the blending ability of the Brutfuner Colored pencils and as you can see the Blue and Yellow created a beautiful Green. This test with lesser quality pencils can yield muddy results, but with the Brutfuner the results are quite promising. I do think however that the red I selected was too on the pink side and perhaps was the wrong red for the Yellow and Red to create a clear Orange. That being said, the same Red and Blue below created a clear purple, all in all I was really pleased with the blending ability of the Brutfuner pencils but not just in this test, throughout the artwork I completed as well.
The test below is a simple selection of Greens to produce a Sphere so that I can conduct the Odourless Mineral Spirits tests which I personally don’t use, but I know a lot of Colored Pencil artists do and so I have to include the test. the image below is the sphere before the Odourless Mineral Spirits have been applied, however to see this test in real time you are best watching the YouTube video review so that you can see exactly how the core ingredients break down under the Zest-It OMS.
The final test shows the Brutfuner Colored Pencils on black paper, this is quite an important test as so many colored pencil artists use darker papers. It is important to note that this test does not prove one way or the other if a pencil is good or bad. All this shows is if the pigments are translucent or opaque.
As you can see from the images below, the Red and Yellow pigments are somewhere in the middle, whereas the Blue is certainly a lot more opaque. the Green on the other hand is quite translucent and this is displayed by the level of black paper on show through the layer. The White pencil is quite opaque and this is of all the pencils the one most artists wish to be opaque.
The Brutfuner are obviously not lightfast and they are not available in open stock, at least not in the US, UK and Western Europe. If any of you wonderful artists from China, Japan, Hong Kong could let me know if they are sold open stock where you live, I would greatly appreciate it.
Brutfuner Colored Pencils Pricing
I am aware that a one artist who purchased the Brutfuner 520 Colored pencils via AliExpress encountered an issue, however I am not one hundred percent sure of the issue or the outcome. However what I would like to make clear is this. With every single link I provide on The Art Gear Guide, every single Sunday I go as far back to the first post and make sure the links are still working and are also the cheapest on Amazon or Aliexpress.
I only use these two platforms because they are both global, if I were to source links from small art stores or franchises from around the world, it would take such a long time to provide reviews and would be incredibly complicated.
The links I have provided below are from the same source I got my Brutfuner 520 colored pencils from and I can tell you that for both sets together they have been reduced by £15. this may not last as when a product becomes popular the companies try to capitalise and this is not exclusive to the budget brands, this happens with the largest companies as well. I have provided links for those in the UK, US, Europe, Canada and Australia.
Brutfuner UK
For artists in the UK wishing to purchase the Brutfuner Colored Pencils you can expect to pay the following. Both 260 sets, set A and Set B will cost you approximately £52.25 each or if you purchase both sets together you will pay £94.36
Brutfuner US
For artists in the US wishing to purchase the Brutfuner Colored Pencils you can expect to pay the following. Both 260 sets, set A and Set B will cost you approximately $85.72 Each or if you purchase both sets together you will pay $157.53
Brutfuner Europe
For artists in the Europe wishing to purchase the Brutfuner Colored Pencils you can expect to pay the following. Both 260 sets, set A and Set B will cost you approximately €82.62 each each or if you purchase both sets together you will pay €149.06
Brutfuner Canada
For artists in the Canada wishing to purchase the Brutfuner Colored Pencils you can expect to pay the following. Both 260 sets, set A and Set B will cost you approximately $253.48 each or if you purchase both sets together you will pay $206.07
Brutfuner Australia
For artists in the Australia wishing to purchase the Brutfuner Colored Pencils you can expect to pay the following. Both 260 sets, set A and Set B will cost you approximately $129.97 each or if you purchase both sets together you will pay $234.37
Brutfuner Conclusion
There are quite a few questions that need anserwing about the Brutfuner 520 Set of Colored Pencils, the first and perhaps the most obvious is, Do you need 520 Colored Pencils of any kind let alone Brutfuner? My answer to that is absolutely not, there is no reason on earth why any of us would need 520 colored pencils, but, would you like 520 colored pencils? They are two very different questions and I am afraid the question asking, “Would you like 520 Colored Pencils”? is only a question you can answer.
You can also get away with buying one of the sets, you can see from the images side by side of both set A and B that the colors are quite similar. Obviously if you purchase one set you miss out on some of the tones in the remaining set, but you will have more than enough colors from a single 260 set. But as with the first question, do you think you could purchase one set and not the other. Unfortunately for me I am a bit of an obsessive, I only have one set of the Irojiten and it drives me mad as I can’t get the other two anywhere and I can’t tell you the last time I used my Irojiten.
520 colored pencils is a huge amount of colors, the largest single set of pencils that I am aware of. In Japan there is a set of 500 Colored Pencils called Felissimo of which they are mainly purchased via a subscription service. Occasionally someone will be selling the full 500, but if you purchase them in the traditional way, for me personally one of two issues will arise. A set of 20 pencils are sent to you monthly and I worked it out that the full set would take just over three years to collect. So you would either have to collect the sets as they arrived, never using them until you received the final set, which I am not sure I could accomplish. If you did use the sets as they arrived, by the time the final few sets arrived, you would no longer have the first few sets and thus never have the full set of 500.
The Brutfuner 520 Colored Pencils are not obviously artist quality colored pencils, however there is absolutely a place for them with many other colored pencil artists and enthusiasts. Those crafters who use colored pencils would find the 520 set of Brutfuner valuable as would Adult Colouring Book artists. Also, if you are like me and do art for the sake of it and don’t sell your art yet, the Brutfuner 520 Colored Pencils would fit in with your artistic endeavours.
I really enjoyed using the Brutfuner Colored Pencils and as I mentioned a lot of the characteristics from them reminded me of the Prismacolor, characteristics such as the layering and blending abilities, the wonderful palette selection, the soft creamy core although the Brutfuner are mostly oil based cores and not quite as soft as Prismacolor, but when I was using them I just couldn’t help feel from time to time that I was using a Prismacolor Pencil.
If I have missed anything that you would like to know, please by all means ask in the comment section below or you can email me personally at theargearguide@gmail.com. You can also check out my YouTube video review of the Brutfuner were combined with this written review might help to answer all your questions. I have also added a speed drawing video to The Art Gear Guide YouTube channel of the artwork completed using the Brutfuner Colored Pencils as well as a page on the site with still images taken at various stages of completion. To see any of the other parts to this review, simply click the relevant links and they will take you directly there.
