Faber Castell Black Edition Super Soft Colored Pencils.
Faber Castell Black Edition Super Soft Colored Pencils.
Quite a while ago, in fact sometime last year, perhaps longer, I seen a wonderful artist who I follow on Instagram; David Dias showcase a set of black colored pencils from Faber Castell. I reached out to him and he got back to me really quick however, he had just received the pencils and didn’t know too much about them. I then tried to contact Faber Castell here in the UK, just to find out more information on the pencils as I had never seen them before, but for some reason they were only available in South America at the time.
I was incredibly intrigued about the pencils which I now know to have been the Faber Castell Black Edition, but as I have mentioned, at the time when I first was made aware of them, there really wasn’t a lot of information about them, at least in the UK. Initially I thought that the Faber Castell Gold Faber were the same pencils only released for the US, UK and European Community, but this was obviously not the case.
At the time I simply assumed that it was a set of pencils made by Faber Castell specifically for the South American people and thought very little more about them. About six months ago I started receiving a lot of questions about the pencils and being asked to review them, but again I couldn’t find them anywhere to purchase. A week or so ago I spotted them on Amazon and purchased a set immediately to review for those of you interested in the pencils.
Faber Castell Black Edition Colored Pencil Characteristics
The Faber Castell Black Edition Colored Pencils are very much aimed toward the younger up and coming artists amongst us, which is actually a group of artists I am most passionate about ensuring they are given decent products from he very beginning, rather than losing their artistic minds at the hands or poorly pigmented badly made supplies.
The core of the Faber Castell Black Edition Colored Pencil is a beautiful 3.3mm housed within a striking black triangular barrel. With the barrel being triangular in shape, I have measured the barrel from the widest girth which is a comfortable 7.8mm.
The triangular body seems to be a more popular shape for the tiny hands of our younger artists, I am sure a lot of research has gone into this and discovered that the triangular shape helps the children to position their fingers better when drawing or writing. The pencil is also incredibly well balanced and weighted, it is a really comfortable pencil to work with.
There is a 3/4 inch long pigment identifier on the end of every Faber Castell Black Edition Colored Pencil, making selecting the color visually quick and easy for the young artist. As with all pencils sporting a black wood body, the bright colors of the core almost light up like Christmas tree lights, however for the darker colors such as the dark blues, browns, greys and even dark greens this can be difficult to ascertain.
Unfortunately, the only information printed along the barrel of the Faber Castell Black Edition Colored Pencil is the company name and logo. Whilst I appreciate younger artists may not select a color based upon the color name and may simply reach for the color they see and their brain is tell them they need, I feel having a color name on the barrel would perhaps aid in the child’s learning and understanding of colors.
The set I have is the largest 36 set and this set arrives in a card board box, very similar to the incredibly popular Faber Castell Classic Color I have already reviewed. But here in lies the problem with no pigment name or number, no distinguishing features at all from one color to the other. As I was creating my swatch with the Faber Castell Black Edition, I was aware that the barrels didn’t have a color name and so I removed the pencil, swatched with it and replaced it.
Once I had the swatch completed I noticed that I was missing two colors and this was due to replacing pencils, looking away to use it and then misplacing it due to no individual slots or not remembering which pencil was next the the pencil previously. It was confusing and a little bit problematic, there is no color chart on the Faber Castell website for the Black Edition with color names, but even if they did, you would not know exactly which pencil the swatch was referring to.
AlthoughI am referring to the Faber Castell Black Edition colored Pencils as a childs art tool, this is a little bit misleading on my part. Yes, Faber Castell are marketing the Black Edition Colored Pencils to children, but I feel that this particular set of pencils will be a favourite of quite a few colored pencil artists well outside their prime years, and I very much include my old decrepit body in this statement; however I will explain more when discussing the performance.
Faber Castell also claim that they have manufactured the Black Edition pencils with the same anti-breaking technology in some of their other pencils aimed toward younger artists. When they say the pencil has an anti breaking system added to the pencil, it doesn’t mean that the core will never ever break, it simply means that they have added a little bit more robustness to the pencil allowing for the fact that young artists are going to be dropping pencils, they will roll of desks and get stood on etc.
Faber Castell Black Edition Colored Pencil Sets Available
Sadly, the selection of pigments available in this line of pencils from Faber Castell is really quite small. If we only consider that the pencils are marketed towards Children, then the sets available are completely understandable, however, as I have mentioned, I feel colored pencils of all grades and ages will enjoy the Black Edition Colored Pencils from Faber Castell and for this group I feel they too will conclude a need for more colors.
As things currently stand the only sets available in the Faber Castell Black Edition line are 12 set, 24 set and 36 set. I know talking about set availability may sound more toward the product in a negative light, however this is not the case, after enjoying the pencils so much I would have preferred to have a 60 or 72 set on hand, it is actually a compliment.
Faber Castell Black Edition Colored PencilsPerformance
The first thing I have to say about the Faber Castell Black Edition is that their core is incredibly soft and smooth. In my opinion, they are the closest pencils I have tested and reviewed with regards to the softness of Prismacolor. so many people quite rightly hold up Prismacolor as the softest core in a pencil and as a result, many colored pencil artists are always on the hunt for an alternative.
As far as I am concerned, the Faber Castell Black Edition is head a shoulders above any other pencil I have tested and reviewed regarding its closeness to Prismacolor soft core. The strength of the pigment in the Faber Castell Black Edition is beautiful and when you apply a medium to heavy pressure, you can achieve a gorgeous thick coverage of colored pencil, they really are beautify soft and vibrant.
First Drawing On Mixed Media Paper
When deciding to create some art work in order to help demonstrate the pencils, I really wanted to chose something that was very much in keeping with the marketing audience Faber Castell intended and to help portray the vibrancy of the pigments. For this I chose a Disney theme and started to draw Donald Duck, Daisy Duck and Pluto, as requested by my youngest daughter Amelia.
Initially I started the drawing on a mixed media paper, I used the Paint On Mixed Media A4 pad that I love using so much. However, less than half way through the drawing, I just didn’t like the results I was getting and I know it was n=more to do with my choice in paper selection. Not the paper itself, but my selection of the paper.
I redone the drawing, minus Daisy Duck as I was running out of time, in a lot of pain and just wanted to complete the review, only this time I tried the Strathmore 300 Series Bristol Smooth. The Strathmore Bristol smooth provided a clear difference in feel and visual outcome. The smooth paper allowed for the soft core of the Faber Castell Black Edition to really come through, displaying the beautiful pigments held within the core.
I was able to apply layers, however, I feel with pencils sporting such a soft core, applying multiple layers is not always a beneficial application method. I was able to apply my normal 5 layers without too much resistance on the smooth paper, however on the Mixed Media paper I was able to apply a few more layers. But this is when you as a colored pencil artist need to ask questions of the supply you are considering and the type of art you intend creating.
With the Faber Castell Black Edition I was able to apply a few more layers than I was when using the Strathmore Bristol Smooth, however, the finish on the Bristol Smooth was far superior to that of the mixed media paper. The color lay down was smooth, consistent and seamless.
I also tested the Faber Castell Black Edition on black paper and the results were outstanding. I used the regular five colors I always use on this test, Red, Blue, Green, Yellow and of course White. Ordinarily during this test with other brands, one or two of the colors will be opaque with the rest being a little bit translucent.
When I perform this test I am looking to see if the pigments are opaque or translucent, for those of you new to colored pencils, if a pencil core is opaque when applied to black paper, you will not see the dark paper under the color. If on the other hand the pigment is slightly translucent, when the color is applied, you can still see the darkness of the paper show through and effect the tone of the color. There is no right or wrong answer to this test, it is simply just a way of showing you how the pigments perform on dark paper.
Despite the fact the Faber Castell Black Edition are marketed towards young artists, I really think us bigger kids will really enjoy using them and will be able to provide some wonderful art.
Faber Castell Black Edition Pricing
With Faber Castell being one of the larger and more prominent pencil companies in the world, availability of the product should not be too difficult to come by.
Here in the UK, although we finally got them, it is better late than never and as they say, “All good things come to those who wait.” and the Faber Castell Black Edition are definitely good. For the 12 set of Faber Castell Black Edition you will pay measly £5.86, the 24 set of Black Edition will cost you approximately £11.96 and to purchase the largest set of 36 you will need to pay approximately £16.10.
For those of you living in the USA, you can expect to pay the following prices for the Faber Castell Black Edition. For the 12 Set of Faber Castell Black Edition will cost $12.83 for the set of 24 Faber Castell Black Edition you will pay approximately $16.46 and unfortunately for the larger set of 36 I was unable to locate on Amazon but as always I will update as and when the product becomes available.
For all the wonderful colored pencil artists in Europe, you can expect to pay the following prices for the Faber Castell Black Edition Colored Pencils. for the smallest set of 12 you will pay approximately €5.71, for the 24 set of Faber Castell Black Edition you will pay approximately €10.60 and for the largest 36 set of Black Edition Colored Pencils you will pay €13.64
One of the really amazing things that Faber Castell have done here with the Black Edition is, they have created a really excellent set of pencils aimed toward children but they have kept the pricing inline with kids products.
Faber Castell Black Edition Super Soft Colored Pencils Conclusion
It obviously goes without saying that there are no lightfast ratings for the Faber Castell Black Edition, however I thought I would just briefly mention this in the conclusion as opposed to creating an entire section to this topic.
1st Layer Of Color
I am so glad that I got my hands on a set of the Faber Castell Black Edition Colored Pencils to review, they are absolutely nothing at all like the Polychromos colored pencils, nevertheless you can tell that they have been made by Faber Castell. Despite being a really affordable set of pencils, you can still see and fell the quality of the pencils.
The core in the Faber Castell Black Edition is seriously gorgeous, so similar to the Prismacolor Premier pencils without all the issues of Yesteryear. If you watch my speed drawing of the art work I created, you may see from time to time the core break or a little bit of crumbling, but please bear in mind I am apply a lot of pressure to the pencil. The Anti-break technology applied to the pencils are with children in mind and not an adult applying burnishing type pressure.
Having said all that, the core of the Faber Castell Black Edition still held up incredibly well under my pressure. The only issues I had with the Faber Castell Black Edition are really nit picking but still something worth mentioning.
I would like to see them delivered in better packaging, the cardboard box is a bit clumsy and I am sure the addition of a tin would increase the price of the pencils, but perhaps a more simple design of the current packaging with the same material might suffice.
for some reason, sharpening the the pencils was really difficult and I have put this down to the triangular shape of the barrel, although I have used such a shaped barrel before without the same issues. It could also be something to do with the wood used but it was incredibly difficult to sharpened them. I used a hand crank sharpener and a hand held sharpener with a brand new blade
Finally I think a color name or number corresponding to an online color chart would be very helpful. I completely understand that the pencils are aimed toward children, but adults, especially those in the Adult Colouring Book world would really love to use these pencils and this is where a color name or number would come in exceptionally helpful
I have provided a full YouTube review showcasing the Faber Castell Black Edition over on The Art Gear Guide YouTube channel if you would be interested in watching simply follow the relevant link. I have also completed a speed drawing video on YouTube of the artwork created with the Black Edition Colored Pencils. It is only a simple drawing, nevertheless one I feel displays the benefits of the Black Edition colored pencils from Faber Castell beautifully. Finally I have also added some still image of the art work on The Art Gear Guide, again, to see the images and inspect them closer at you own leisure please follow the relevant link.
As always, thank you all so so very much for your wonderful support, words of encouragement and your incredibly moving prayers for my Father and Daughter as well as sharing your own personal and painful stories. I can’t even put into words how much you all and creating art reviews means to me. Collectively you have all really had a profound effect on my life for the absolute positive.
