Giotto Stilnovo Review and Comparison Between the Giotto Di Natura
Giotto Stilnovo Review and Comparison Between the Giotto Di Natura
In this review we take a look at the Giotto Stilnovo Colored Pencils, now it is important to understand that the Giotto Stilnovo are marketed towards the younger artists among us, the fledgling artists of the future; however don’t let that put you off from these pencils. A few years back I watched a wonderful fan art artist use a pencil that didn’t look familiar to me and after a bit of digging, I discovered the artist was using the Giotto Di Natura.
I immediately got hold of a set and during the testing and review I completed of the Giotto Di Natura, I fell in love with them and still to this day will use them on projects. Another pencil primarily marketed toward kids, but in this case, why should the kids have all the fun, us oldies can reach out and grab set of both pencils and experience enjoyment and fulfilment from their performance. If you would like to check out my older review of the Giotto Di Natura and then return to this review, I have included links throughout to the written and YouTube video reviews.
Giotto Stilnovo Characteristics
As was my main issue with the Giotto Di Natura, the Giotto Stilnovo just don’t have a large enough color count. I normally come to this conclusion when I use a pencil that is really inexpensive and delivers a mind blowing performance, comparatively speaking regarding the price and I just want more.
The Giotto Stilnovo is a relatively slime line pencil, sporting a 3.5mm core, housed in a hexagonal 6.8mm barrel. The barrel of every pencil is lacquered the same color as the core pigment, however, as is so often the case, even with the more expensive brands, some of the colors just don’t match. This is of course not a huge deal, the easiest way to combat any application mistakes is to create a swatch.
Along one side of the barrel we have the company name which in this case is “Fila”, the same banner under which Lyra resides, another absolutely amazing pencil. Next to the company name we have also printed in metallic silver “Giotto Stilnovo”.
Toward the very end of the barrel we are presented with the color name, printed in two languages, English and Italian and this is followed by a number which also corresponds to the color. The main issue with this is the print for the color name is just far too small, my eyesight is okay and I can normally read print on pencil barrels, but when I was creating the swatch, I was having to really strain my eyes to read the color name. I know I am getting on in years, but not that much. I just think if they placed the color names beside each other in both languages rather than above, they would have had more room for slightly larger print.
On the opposite side of the barrel, their is a name plate space, don’t forget, these pencils are marketed toward children of school age and so this just provides sanity for the teachers in a classroom setting. The last thing you want is a group of young artists about to draw blood because they think another young artist has taken their supplies. We all get a little precious over our art supplies and the younger artists among us are no different, the name tag just prevents the carnage before it even has a chance to start.
The set that I purchased for this review is the largest set in the range, the 50 set, but we will talk more about set sizes in a bit, however in this set you can see that a plastic sharpener is also included. You will have to watch my YouTube review to clarify this, but ordinarily these plastic sharpeners included in sets are worthless and in many cases cause more problems than not, however this is not the case in this set. If you head over to the YouTube review you will see this little beaut in action and I was really surprised, I have however added an image of the pencil sharpened with the included sharpener.
Giotto Stilnovo Performance
The first thing I always do with a new set of pencils is sharpen them all and then create a swatch, that is exactly what I have done here and I have used a sheet of Strathmore 300 Series Bristol Velum Paper. You can see from the image just how strong and clear the saturation levels are in the Giotto Stilnovo. I was genuinely shocked and incredibly surprised, there was perhaps two or maybe three colors in the full 50 set that felt a tad scratchy, but nothing that hindered using the pencils.
You can see from the swatch the colors included in the entire range, I would have loved to have seen a few more muted tones, but considering the Giotto Stilnovo are made with kids in mind, I have to concede that the palette overall is really quite nice. I am not normally a fan of neon colors, but again, given the intended customer, I can see why they have been included, that said, on the white paper the neon colors really pop.
I then completed a layer test and blending test, again on Strathmore 300 Series Bristol Velum Paper, as you can see from the results, even on a relatively smooth paper, the Giotto Stilnovo layers beautifully, no bloom or tacky finish. I have completed some art work with the Giotto Stilnovo which we will get to, but I used a much higher grade paper, the Derwent Lightfast and the layering I was able to accomplish on that paper was amazing.
For anyone new to The Art Gear Guide, I always use 5 light layers as a guide, given the fact that most colored pencil artists who use odourless mineral spirits, suggest at least four or five layers before applying OMS. The blending test also produced some really nice results creating the third color.
As always I like to display the colors on black paper, this test does not define whether or not the pencil are of good or bad quality, colored pencil artists have different requirements for their supplies, some artists prefer a more opaque pencil, whilst others prefer a more translucent pencil. I was really excited to see how the neon colors reacted on black paper, but as you can see from the image, they were a bit of a let down.
I also applied the white, Gold and Silver pencils on the black paper and the metallic colors really performed well, but the white was incredibly translucent. I decided to try just my four usual colors for the black paper test, Red, Green, Yellow and Blue and they were all quite translucent as well.
It was at this point I thought showing the same colors in the Giotto Di Natura range on black paper, would help to illustrate any difference between both pencils and I think you can definitely see a difference. Whether you like opaque or translucent pigments, you can clearly see that the Di Natura is much more opaque.
I decided to create something simple to help demonstrate the Giotto Stilnovo Colored Pencils, when I am reviewing a pencil, I always swatch the set and then select an image to draw based on the colors I have. With this set I decided to draw a simple cherry and did so on the Derwent Lightfast Paper.
Ordinarily, a high quality paper like the Derwent Lightfast Paper, would require or at least make sense to use high quality pencils on. Expensive paper like the Lightfast paper is archival and so using non lightfast pencils on such paper doesn’t really serve as a benefit to the artist. Of course, this is not to say you can’t use low grade pencil on a high grade paper, Im just explaining there is no benefit to the artist. That being said I really enjoyed the process for this piece.
The drawing in totally took close to three hours, once I finished the artwork, I thought to myself, I wonder if the Giotto Di Natura would produce a better result. The only color I didn’t have for the Giotto Di Natura artwork was the Geranium Red, which as you can see from the Stilnovo Swatch, this is a deep reddish purple color which I used a lot in the Stinovo Cherry artwork. Nevertheless, both pencils performed excellent on the paper and produced very good results.
To me, the core of the Giotto Stilnovo reminded me very much of the Caran d’Ache Pablo core with regards to how it sharpens and holds a point. However I would say that the Stilnovo core is slightly softer than the Pablo and perhaps a little bit more saturated.
Giotto Stilnovo Prices and Set Sizes
The Stilnovo is available in set sizes of 12, 18, 24, 36 and 50, it is important if you are looking to get a set, you read the title of the set properly as they also sell Stilnovo Aquarelle and the sets look identical.
I wasn’t able to locate prices on Amazon for all sets, so I have added the sets I could find and as always, as and when the sets become available and in stock I will amend this post.
For artists in the UK, the 12 set of Stilnovo will cost approximately £5, for the 18 count set you can pay approximately £12, the 24 count set will cost £9 and I know, the 24 set is cheaper then the 18 set, this is just another example of making sure you look about before buying and the main reason why I spend every Sunday checking all my links to make sure I am providing the cheapest on Amazon. Finally, the 36 set will cost £15 and the 50 set cost £22.
For Artists in the US, I was only able to locate the price for the 36 set of Giotto Stilnovo, the other set sizes were out of stock. For the 36 set in the US you can expect to pay approximately $19.
Giotto Stilnovo Conclusion
I absolutely loved this set of pencils and I know as part of the Fila group, they produce the Lyra Rembrandt Colored Pencils, but I would seriously love to know why they haven’t either extended the color sizes and marketed them to students or just come up with a new pencil, a mix of the Stilnovo and Di Natura because they clearly know a thing or two about producing colored pencils.
Obviously, with the Giotto Stilnovo being a pencil for younger artists there are no lightfast ratings for this pencil. However, adult colouring book artists, colored pencil enthusiasts, sketchbook artists, crafters etc should all love the Giotto Stilnovo and the Di Natura. Obviously, fine art colored pencil artists are not going to get anything from these pencils, but that most certainly does not detract from them at all.
As always I have completed a YouTube video review where you can sit back and watch while I ramble on, to watch this simply click the link. As for the artwork provided, I have added a speed drawing video to YouTube which you can watch by clicking the link but if speed drawings are not your thing, I always take photos of the drawing process from start to finish and throughout, I then add a page to my website with just images allowing you to inspect and view in your own time. To check out the still images of the artwork, click the link.
