Bruynzeel Design Pastel Pencils
Bruynzeel Design Pastel Pencils
Quite a while ago, I reviewed the Bruynzeel Design Colored Pencils, I think that this was my first introduction to any kind of art product from Bruynzeel or Royal Talens and I can tell you that I was not disappointed. I have to be totally honest, I think the first thing that attracted me to the Bruynzeel Design Colored Pencils was the incredibly unique packaging that they were sold in; I wanted to see for myself if it was a gimmick or genuine attempt at providing excellent packaging come storage system. Much to my surprise and satisfaction the packaging turned out not to be the gimmick I had anticipated, but we will discuss the packaging in more detail later into the review.
Royal Talens have an extensive range of art products ranging from school supplies, kids art, student grade products and artist graded products. Bruynzeel is just one of the branches belonging to Royal Talens and under the Bruynzeel banner there is another layer of wide ranging art products. The Bruynzeel Design range is their top of the line range and very much aimed at artists, as this is the case, the Design range covers all your needs as an artist. Within the Design range, they have the Bruynzeel Design Colored Pencils which I have of course already reviewed, the product this review is about, the Bruynzeel Design Pastel Pencils, then the Bruynzeel Design Aquarelle, Bruynzeel Design Graphite and finally the Bruynzeel Design Specialist. The Specialist set is what other brands refer to as a “Sketch Set”, this is a set comprising of a mixture of graphite, pastel, charcoal pencils.
Bruynzeel Design Pastel Pencil Available Sets
For me personally, this is the only are really that I feel the Bruynzeel Design range could or should improve and only because I enjoy the range so much. So whilst it may seem like a critique, it is more of a back handed compliment.
Within the Bruynzeel Pastel Pencil range, the sets available are, the smallest set which is a set of 12, then a 24 set, followed by the largest set of 48. I personally feel, especially when a company provides a high quality range under their banner, that at least a 72 set should be made available or for the greedy artists such as myself the illustrious 120 set. I say this because of the Design products I have used, that being the Pastel Pencils and Colored Pencils, I have throughly enjoyed using them, but always become frustrated with the small number of colors available and you will see later into the review that the pigments being used are gorgeous. As I mentioned, this is not a bad mark against the Design range, on the contrary, this is a show of frustration to a high quality product that I would like more of.
Bruynzeel Design Pastel Pencils Open Stock
All of the Deign pencils are available in Open stock which is a pencil artists dream, for some artists, regardless if the sets are expensive or really inexpensive, having the open stock option is so important. Some artists who work on specific genres tend to use up the same colors all the time and this is when the open stock option becomes a must for those artists.
Bruynzeel Pastel Pencil Characteristics
The Bruynzeel Pastel Pencil sports a bursting with pigment, 3.8mm creamy soft core, the core is protected with a beautiful Cedar Wood casing weighing in at an average 7.4mm. For me personally, I love the pencils that are predominately natural wood casings, exposing the beautiful grain of the wood, I guess it provides a natural aesthetic to it, occasionally reminding us of the pencils original life form.
Along the barrel of the Bruynzeel Design Pastel Pencil, we first notice in blue print the company name “Bruynzeel” closely followed by the pencil range which in this case is “Design”. This is followed by a number “8840” which is the number that represents to the company you are using a pastel pencil, the aquarelle pencils have 8835, the Coloured Pencils have 8805, the graphite pencils have 8815 and then the pencils in the Speciality set all have different numbers corresponding the particular pencil.
Next along the barrel is an inch or so long section of the barrel painted silver with the word “Pastel” Printed on it. All of the pencils in the Design Range have this only each different pencil has a different color, so the Design Coloured Pencils have a burnt orange section with “Colour” printed, the Aquarelle pencils have a blue section with “Aquarelle” printed and so on.
On the very end of the pencil there is a half inch pigment identifier which makes selecting the pigment you want that little bit easier. On the pigment identifier there is a number which corresponds to the pigment name. There is no pigment name printed on the barrel, only the corresponding number, however, on the rear of the packaging there is a swatch with all the pigment names and numbers printed, so when you make your own swatch with the pencils you can write all this information on your own swatch to help with selection later in use.
On the opposite side of the barrel, printed in the colored section of the pencil is the companies origin which is “Holland” Royal Talens are originally a Dutch company and although other companies have joined or amalgamated over the years and the pencils may or may not actually be made in Holland today, but the companies identity will always be Holland.
I guess there is no way of getting away from the packaging which is the thing that first attracted me to the brand, I know I would have eventually got round to reviewing the Bruynzeel Design range as they are not the only Bruynzeel pencils I have reviewed, for example the Bruynzeel Rijks were another excellent pencil.
Never the less, the packaging right the way throughout the Design line is also a permanent storage system for the pencils. Depending on the size of the set will depend on the number of drawers in the storage system, the 48 set has four drawers with 12 pencils in each and the 24 set has two drawers; even the smallest 12 set is one drawer.
Inside each drawer is foam, safely holding each individual pencil in its place, this is not only fantastic for long term storage, but also the shipping of the pencils to you in the first place are well protected. With a packaging system such as this, I can say that none of your pencils are going to arrive shattered or chipped cores from knocking about when being thrown into the back of the mail van for shipping.
If you ever did decide to collect all three sets of the Aquarelle, Pastel and Coloured Pencils, I can tell you that they look gorgeous stacked on top of one an other and very accessible even if you need to stack other pencil tins on top of them, you are still going to have easy access to your pencils via the drawer system.
Bruynzeel Design Pastel Pencil Performance
As always I have created a bit of art work to help demonstrate any of the points I am going to make regarding the performance of the Bruynzeel Design Pastel Pencils. That being said I have say that my biggest regret was not saving a bit longer and buying the 48 set, I could only afford the 24 set of Bruynzeel Design Pastel Pencils, whereas I was able to get the 48 sets in both the Coloured Pencils and the Aquarelle Pencils. I found myself very limited to what I could draw with only 24 pastel pencil colours and whilst pastel pencils mix much easier than say traditional coloured pencils, in this 24 set there aren’t many muted colors, which is to be expected in such a small set.
Ordinarily I would try to draw birds or something botanical with pastels, but I just didn’t have enough colors and tones for what I wanted to do, so I found this image of a butterfly which fit in perfectly with the set. It is a very simple drawing, nothing too taxing, but the Bruynzeel Design Pastel Pencils really lent themselves well to the subject.
Of all the pastel pencils I’ve reviewed, I have reviewed quite a range, the Bruynzeel Design Pastel Pencils are by far the softest. Traditionally, pastel pencil cores are quite hard and brittle, which is the reason sharpening is such a hot topic of debate where pastel pencils are concerned.
When testing the Bruynzeel Design Pastel Pencils I tested them on a few different paper types, the drawing I completed was done on the new Lux Archival paper from Alyona Nicklensen and then I swatched on some UART Sanded paper 260 grade and some dark Pastelmat paper. For me personally I found the pencils performed best on the Lux Archival, however the purpose off the dark Pastelmat was to help demonstrate the opaqueness of the Design pigments which you can see on my YouTube review.
The pigment strength in the Bruynzeel Design Pastel Pencils is incredible, I think it is clear to see in the images I have provided and the video review just how strong they are. This was the reason I had to choose a bright and vibrant subject matter to draw, in the 48 set, there are a lot more each tones and muted colours and so I would have been able to draw something a bit more natural in the botanical range.
Sharpening was a bit of a problem no matter what pencil sharpener I used, however, a while back I reviewed the Caran d’Ache Pencil Scraper and this little tool was perfect and really helped my develop excellent points. The only issue with all pastel pencils is the time it takes to sharpen and refine a point whether you are using the Caran d’Ache Pencil Scraper, craft knife or Stanley Knife, it is all preparation time that will eat into drawing time, at least this is my take on it.
Bruynzeel Design Pastel Pencil Lightfast Information
I personally was unable to find any official lightfast information about the Design Pastel Pencils, I found on some art stores them being referred to as Lightfast or highly Lightfast pastel pencils, but nothing in regards to a chart, star system or number system for individual pigments. I did find other lightfast information which people have performed on their own, however, no matter how good those tests are, The Art Gear Guide is a dedicated review channel and I have always only added official information.
Companies pay a lot of money to have their products lightfast tested, one of the reason they pay so much money is because the testing is conducted under strict guidelines and they are controlled. Unfortunately it is not good enough to swatch pencils and leave them under the Nevada sun for six months, apparently there is so much more to the testing. Please don’t misinterpret what I am trying to say, I am not undermining the tests others create because they are really important and fantastic points of reference. However I am providing a review channel and I just need to know 100% that I am giving out the right information.
Bruynzeel Design Pastel Pencil Prices
Here in the UK, if you are interested in buying a set of the Bruynzeel Pastel Pencils for yourself, here are some of the prices you can expect to pay. As a side note, with all my written reviews, I periodically check that the prices I have listed are the cheapest I can find on The Art Gear Guide.
UK Price Guide
For the smallest 12 set of Bruynzeel Design Pastel Pencils you can expect to pay £15.16, for the 24 set of Pastel Pencils you will pay approximately £25.85 and for the largest set of 48 you can expect to pay £60.76 For a Single Open Stock Pastel pencil £2.79, however if you shop about in your local store you will more than likely get a cheaper price on the Open Stock pencils.
US Price Guide
In the U.S I was only able to find one 48 set on Amazon, so I have just listed the prices as seen in Jerrys Artarama, however, always check about your local stores to see if there are cheaper. For the 12 set of Bruynzeel Design Pastel Pencils you can expect to pay $28.43, for the 24 set of Bruynzeel Pastel Pencils you will pay approximately $56.14 and for the largest 48 set, you will pay approximately $112.24
EU Price Guide
For the Bruynzeel Design Pastel pencils in the EU, you can expect to pay for the smallest 12 set €36.12, for the 24 set of Bruynzeel Pastel Pencils you will pay approximately €65.52 and for the largest 48 set in the EU, you will pay €120.21
Considering that Bruynzeel are a Dutch company, I anticipated the prices in Europe to be a little bit less than those in the UK at least, but they seem to more. Never the less, given the quality of the pencils the prices listed on the UK Amazon are incredibly reasonable and make the pencils a very attractive offer.
Bruynzeel Design Pastel Pencil Conclusion
On this particular review, please don’t judge the product on the art work I have completed, as I mentioned in the video review of the Bruynzeel Design Pastel Pencils, only being able to afford the 24 set, I was very limited to what I was able to draw. Ordinarily with Pastel Pencil reviews I would draw a botanical or bird drawing, however in the 24 set I was very limited in the colors I really needed, browns, light pinks and soft yellows. However, given the amazing vibrancy of the Bruynzeel Design Pastel Pencils, I found this very simple image of a butterfly which I felt really showed this particular side of the pencils.
As with the Bruynzeel Design Coloured Pencils, I throughly enjoyed using the Pastel Pencils, again as I mentioned before, I really wish I had of waited a little longer and purchased the 48 set, with such a selection of pigments I feel my speed drawing demonstration may have been more productive, certainly food for thought going forward purchasing future review products.
I normally don’t directly recommend products etc due to art supplies being quite subjective and personal to the artists traits; never the less, on this occasion, I would say that if you feel you may have garnered enough information to ascertain that you could work with the Bruyzeel Pastel Pencils, my only recommendation is get the 48 set. If you can afford the 48 set and you feel that the Bruynzeel Pastel Pencils will be a worthwhile investment to your arsenal of art supply gems, go for it.
Don’t forget you can check out my video review of the Bruynzeel Design Pastel Pencils by following the link or if you would like to watch my speed drawing demonstrating the pastel pencils you can do so by following the link. Once again thank you so very much for your wonderful support
