Phoenixcolor Colored Pencils Vs Marco Tribute Master Collection 80 Set Of Colored Pencils
Phoenixcolor Colored Pencils Vs Marco Tribute Master Collection 80 Set Of Colored Pencils
Hi guys, this is my first proper review back in the seat for The Art Gear Guide since my little hissy fit and allowing the moronic comments to get the better of me. I uploaded a video to The Art Gear Guide YouTube Channel explaining my decision to return, should that be of interest to you; so I won’t drone on about it in this comparison video.
As you can see, I have tried to hit the ground running and return with a quite often asked for comparison video. In this particular comparison we are looking at the Phoenixcolor Colored Pencils against the Marco Tribute Master Collection 80 set of Colored Pencils.
I have never, ever, intentionally lied to or mislead any of you guys and just because I have been on a break and it feels like someone’s removed my brain and replaced it with bird poo, given the fact I just don’t seem able to create YouTube content anymore; I am not going to start misleading you now. Although this comparison is an often requested, without a doubt, the single most sought after coloured pencil I am asked to compare against another colored pencil is, the Faber Castle Polychromos.
The Faber Castell Polychromos is a work horse pencil for almost all fine art colored pencil artists. The Polychromos is an all-round amazing pencil and so it is no shock that so many other colored pencil artists and enthusiasts are always on the lookout for cheaper alternatives. We all love a bargain, but here is something worth remembering; companies like Caran d’Ache, Derwent and Faber Castell have been, researching, marketing, refining and producing colored pencils for 250 years in some cases. They have all put a lot of time and money into producing the pencils we all love so much as artists.
As someone who unfortunately lives War Pension to War Pension, some months literally sat in the house with blankets wrapped around us cause putting the heating on is too expensive, I know only too well how heartbreaking it can be not being able to afford the pencils you may have been after for years and so you desperately hope that a cheaper pencil will provide the same results and experience as the three pencils mentioned above. The sad and terrible truth is, that is not going to happen because the three companies above have something these new companies just don’t have and all the money in the the world won’t change it; and that is “time”.
Phoenixcolor V Marco Tribute ?
That being said, I have a list as long as my arm of comparison videos I have been asked to make and they will be coming thick and fast. I am running out of new products to review and so this is a perfect time to introduce comparison reviews frequently requested by you guys, so keep the requests coming by letting me know in the comment section.
Before we get into the actual comparison of the Phoenixcolor and Marco Tribute Colored Pencils, if you have not heard of either pencil, you can head over to The Art Gear Guide YouTube Channel or on the website, type in the name of either pencil and you will see detailed reviews on each pencil. It may be beneficial to know about the pencils before seeing the comparison.
I can totally understand why these two brands of colored pencils have been requested so much. Let’s get the very obvious similarities out of the way from the beginning. Both the Phoenixcolor and Marco Tribute Master Collection are incredibly eloquently packaged, both of the sets I have on review are packaged in a similar style to that of the Tom Bow Irojiten, another lavishly packaged pencil. However, as beautiful and visually stunning as all of this is, the packaging has no impact whatsoever on the performance of the product overall. I know this sounds a little bit harsh, but when The Art Gear Guide gets on with the comparison, cold hard facts only please, thank you very much…
Packaging dealt with and now aside as an insignificant distraction, I have to say, both the Phoenixcolor and Marco Tribute Master Collection colored pencil cores are so similar. As I always do when creating a comparison, I drew a simple apple so that I could place each piece of artwork side by side. The reason I always draw something like an apple or pear for these comparison is because such images require a lot of layer build up, they are also excellent for showing light and shadow, therefore showing contrast between darks and lights. Keeping the subject images simple I think helps to display any differences better.
I used a high quality paper for this comparison in the Derwent Lightfast Paper, a paper specifically designed for colored pencils, I know this because I was fortunate and honoured enough to have been part of the focus group when Derwent were developing their new paper. I can honestly say, hand on heart, the Derwent Lightfast Paper is either my favourite colored pencil paper or very very close second, I think I will do a video on this later.
If you have been following my work for any length of time, you will know that I never describe colored pencil cores as wax or oil based, if you would like to know my reasons why and hear about the couple years of reach and questions before coming to such conclusion, follow the link. Instead, what I prefer to do is describe the core, if it is hard or soft, if it is creamy or scratchy etc and lots of other methods. With the Phoenixcolor and Marco Tribute, I found both cores to feel almost identical.
When I started my testing process, I use a scrap piece of paper and start making a few marks with a pencil from each set, doesn’t matter about the color really, however, if I select a red from one set, I’ll select a red from the other set. For both the Marco and Phoenixcolor, I tested both for ages, closing my eyes and sitting in complete silence so that I could either feel or hear for scratchiness. I went so far as asking my wife to pass me the pencils with my eyes closed, completely not knowing which one I am being handed and after making a few marks tried to select the name of the pencils before looking. I can do this with most pencils, keeping my eyes closed if I am handed a Derwent Lightfast pencil from the feel of the core on the paper I can establish which pencil it is. For the Marco Tribute and Phoenixcolor, I never got it right enough times to say it wasn’t coincidence, both pencils felt so similar on the same paper. I would describe both pencils cores as medium to hard, slightly softer than the Faber Castell Polychromos core.
Phoenixcolor Colored Pencil Demonstration.
I then started on the drawings and I started with the Phoenixcolor, for this demonstration keeping the pencils sharp at all times was essential in providing a smooth consistent layer and with the Phoenixcolor Colored Pencils there was no issue at all when sharpening. Given the medium to hard consistency of the Phoenixcolor, the core held its point well and I didn’t find myself constantly sharpening or refining the pencils core.
As is so often the case, good quality paper is very important when creating art and in particular colored pencils so I am sure the paper quality helped with this next test, but the Phoenixcolor Colored Pencils layered with ease throughout my test and demonstration on drawing the apple. The ingredients and consistency of the core being that mid to hard core level, glided over the beautiful Derwent Lightfast Paper texture, allowing for a lot more layers than I eventually applied. Via the speed drawing video of both demonstrations, you can see the level of layering that took place.
Blending was another effortless demonstration, when I was fading from the reds to the yellows and through to the greenish yellows, the colors blended well. I did however encounter one issue that for some reason escaped me on my initial review of the Phoenixcolor Colored Pencils; as I was trying to build up shadow on the bottom of the apple, helping to provide form and direction of light, I noticed that all of the darker tones I used, just were not helping me to provide this depth.
I thought at first I had perhaps applied too many layers and trying to add darker tones on top of so many layers was the problem, however, even when I was drawing the stalk of the apple, which in itself required shadow, I encountered the same issue. No matter what I did, providing those darker tones was not working.
Erasing the many layers with the electric eraser was also effortless, I used the eraser to help create the blemishes al over the apple skin, despite the many layers, this was a simple process and reapplying a new color to help showcase the blemishes was straightforward.
Marco Tribute Master Collection Demonstration
Mindful of the issue I experienced providing shadow and depth using the Phoenixcolor Colored Pencils, I tried a slightly different approach on one side of the next apple using the Marco Tribute Colored Pencils. I obviously didn’t want to deviate too much from the process used when wielding the Phoenixcolor, as this would make the test and demonstration different, defeating the obvious comparison. However, given how similar the cores had been up to this point, I wanted to establish if the lack of depth on the first apple was my fault and not that of the pencils.
As with the Phoenixcolor, the Marco Tribute colored pencils sharpened well and I experienced no issues throughout the drawing. Applying the layers with the sharpened Marco Tribute pencils was another seamless process, there was no blooming or scratchiness. Occasionally some pencils will apply a number of layers at which point subsequent layers either simply fail to apply or become difficult to apply causing patchy areas of coverage, again this was not the case with the Marco.
If you look at the Marco demonstration apple, there are areas of patchiness but this is not layer related, rather my frustration on trying to apply depth. Blending with the Marco was again so very similar to the Phoenixcolor, all the colors used, blended exactly where and how I needed them to. However, I found that as with the previous demonstration, contrast and depth was another issue.
When I submit the comparison reviews, I try not to tell you which pencil I prefer or think is the best because I don’t want to influence your analysis in any way. I try to showcase two very similar pieces of art, using identical techniques where possible and let you decide which drawing you prefer. Obviously I let you know the different experiences I had with each product and allow you to take that into account when making your decision.
Phoenixcolor and Marco Tribute Master Collection Conclusion.
As I mentioned at the start of the comparison, if you would like to know more in-depth information about each pencil, you can follow the relevant links to those reviews on YouTube and the written review here on The Art Gear Guide. It is also worth mentioning, I also completed artwork for each pencil to help demonstrate the review which might also help you gain perspective over both pencils including the simple artwork performed in this comparison. Marco Artwork and Phoenixcolor Artwork.
Comparing two products, especially two art supply products is never going to be an exact science, there are so many variables that come into play, such as, hand pressure, mind set on the day etc, but I do try to keep everything exactly the same such as paper, if I use OMS on one drawing I use it on them both.
For me personally, it wasn’t until completing this comparison review that I noticed or experienced issues with the darker values among both sets, to this extent at least, but mainly the Phoenixcolor set. In all honesty, I can’t say I noticed such issues for either pencil when I completed the individual reviews, but certainly using both pencils consecutively perhaps enhanced an issue I just never seen before.
Other than my issue with mainly the Phoenixcolor Colored Pencils regarding the darker tones, I love using both these pencils. I will be comparing each pencil to the Faber Castell Polychromos on another review, but neither of the Phoenixcolor or Marco Tribute Colored Pencils are the Faber Castell Polychromos.
When I first purchased both pencils for the sake of the reviews, they didn’t cost a lot of money, however, a few years on and they have increased in price mainly due to popularity. This is something only you can factor when buying any product and if the price falls within your own personal budget. Because both the Marco Tribute and Phoneixcolor have increased in the price, you need to look about at the bigger named pencils on the market, like the Derwent Lightfast, Caran d’Ache Luminance and Faber Castell Polychromos and see how cheaper the pencil you are looking at as an alternative, is to any of the above three. For the sake of waiting another month of saving or even a bit longer, you need to determine is that time worth the wait in order to get the pencil I really want, or do you bite the bullet and buy the alternative brand pencil immediately.
If you have any questions about this comparison please as in the comments section below or you can email me at theartgearguide@gmail.com. Thank you all so very much for your support and help regarding my previous video and allowing negative comments to get the better of me. I need to make sure that this never happens again and if it does, I take out my frustration on a pillow in the house.
You can check out my video comparison review of both the Marco Tribute Master Collection and Phoenixcolor Colored Pencils by clicking the link, or if you would like to simply watch both art pieces come to life in the speed drawing video, again, click the following the link. Finally I also have some still images from both drawing up on The Art Gear Guide which you can take a look at in your own time under no rush by following the link.
