Review Of Derwent Tinted Charcoal Pencils
Review Of Derwent Tinted Charcoal Pencils.
In this review we take a look at the Derwent Tinted Charcoal Pencils; I must warn you that for this review I have not completed a speed drawing nor have I added still images of any artwork. Charcoal is a medium I am not very proficient with and it had been brought to my attention quite recently that I should refrain from creating pastel or watercolor art, so I am guessing Charcoal would fall into this category.
However, aside from the generous suggestion, on this occasion I simply added a couple of sketches on tan paper just to play about and demonstrate a little bit the tonal values in the pencils. Derwent is a huge name in the world of colored pencils, graphite pencils and mediums of this sort, but as always, when I am reviewing a product, I do so only on the basis of the medium in front of me, the name of the company has no bearing on my results nor does the companies Country of origin play a part. I am simply reviewing art supplies, I am not interested in the slightest with the countries politics; there are millions of websites and YouTube Channel dedicated to political debate, but I don’t want politics diluting The Art Gear Guide.
Despite not really being into Charcoal or practicing with the medium a lot, the Derwent Tinted Charcoal Pencil set was a set I had really wanted to test out. In my head I was holding the Derwent Tinted Charcoal set up against other magnificent sets such as the Derwent Graphitint and the Derwent Drawing set. Both are small sets in their entirety as is the Derwent Tinted Charcoal set and certainly in the case of the Derwent Graphitint range subtle tones applied to an otherwise neutrally toned medium, Derwent are magnificent at apply subtle color tones in this way making these sets really quite unique.
Derwent Tinted Charcoal Pencils Characteristics.
As with so many of the Derwent sets, especially the sets just mentioned, sets that are the nature or landscape artists dream due to the beautifully selected natural palette, sport beautiful artwork on the tins. It is not always the case that the artwork on the packaging portrays the internal set perfectly, but image on the Derwent tinted Charcoal set really captures the subtle tones you can expect.
With Charcoal being quite a brittle medium, applying it to the pencil genre is quite a feat, however this is one of the reasons that charcoal pencils tend to sport more portly barrels and the Derwent Tinted Charcoal range is no exception. The core of the Derwent Tinted Charcoal Pencil is a luxurious 4.3mm encased within an ample 8.5mm cedar wood barrel.
The Derwent tinted Charcoal barrel feels very lightweight in the hand and this is primarily due to the type of medium in the centre, Charcoal on its own is very lightweight. If you hold the Derwent Drawing pencil in your hand, which is approximately the same dimensions as the tinted charcoal pencil, you will notice the difference. However, ordinarily a lightweight pencil can often feel cheap when being used and just holding in your hand, but this is not the case with the tinted charcoal pencil from Derwent due to the high quality wood used for the barrel.
The barrel for all Derwent Tinted Charcoal pencils is lacquered a charcoal black color with a matt finish. Along the dark colored barrel printed in white print is “England” displaying where the company is from and the country that the pencils are made in. Given the dark matt nature of the Derwent Tinted Charcoal Pencil barrel and the white font used to display information, reading said information is so easy. So many pencil manufactures use a metallic paint for the print along their barrels and this can be extremely difficult to read, especially those with slightly impaired vision.
Following along from the company’s country of origin, in the same clear white font is printed the company name followed by the pencil range “Derwent Tinted Charcoal”. After this we are presented by the pigment name being printed along with an alpha numerical number which corresponds to the pencil in its open stock form.
To cap off the barrel, on the very end of the barrel there is of course the famous diagonal red band which separates the barrel from the pigment identifier flash on the end. For this particular medium, the pigment identifiers on the end of the barrel are perhaps a little exaggerated to help artist select the required color, looking at the actual core of the pencil is not very helpful as most of them appear quite dark until applied to a surface.
The set that I am reviewing is the 24 set and like other Derwent unique sets such as the Graphitint and Drawing range, 24 is the largest set size. As you can see from the images supplied I have completed a swatch of the full 24 colors on some Hahnemühle Ingres Pastel paper. It is important to note that although this is a 24 set, there is actually only 21 colors and then there are 3 ordinary charcoal pencils ranging in tones from light, Medium and Dark.
Derwent Tinted Charcoal Pencil Performance.
As I mentioned at the beginning of the review, although I completed a couple of sketches in my Hahnemühle Tan sketchbook, I never actually recorded the process to upload a speed drawing video, I just didn’t feel the quality of art I created warranted a video . Nevertheless, it did give me a good understanding of the pencils and how the medium could be manipulated, as well as give me some excellent ideas of how the Derwent Tinted Charcoal be incorporated.
After I completed the swatch, I wanted to see how the Derwent Tinted Charcoal reacted to water and Odourless Mineral Spirits. I know that Derwent don’t sell the Tinted Charcoal Pencils as water soluble, but lots of charcoal artist apply water to the medium and can create some stunningly beautiful effects. I completed both of these test on the YouTube video review which you can watch by clicking the link.
I only applied two colors from the set in this particular test, the lavender and the Burnt Orange, as you can see from the test results, both the Lavender and Burt Orange reacted favourably to the application of water. With the Odourless Mineral Spirits the results were not quite as good, however the YouTube video demonstration of this process might be more beneficial.
After I completed this test, I thought about the swatch I had just completed in its dry form and wanted to show you guys the entire 24 range with water applied. For this test I completed the swatch on some 100% cotton Watercolor paper and the charcoal pencils laid down quite smoothly on the watercolor paper. As you can see from swatch the colors are much more noticeable when water is applied.
Ordinarily when I complete this type of test with proper water soluble pencils, as soon as the water is applied if the dry pencil marks are still visible, it is normally a good indication that the pencils are of low quality. However, whilst it is clear to see the pencil marks after water is applied, it is important to remember that the Derwent Tinted Charcoal Pencils are not a water soluble medium, so it is to be expected to still see pencil marks under the water application.
Derwent Tinted Charcoal Pencils Lightfast Information
Not to forget, Derwent use the Blue Wool Lightfast scale for all their pencils with the exception of the Derwent Lightfast Coloured Pencils. This means that the scale is from 1 - 8, 8 being the most lightfast and 1 the least lightfast. If you are used to the ASTM lightfast ratings 8 and 7 on the Blue Wool Scale are equivalent to LF1 on the ASTM. 6 is equivalent to LF2, 5 and 4 is equivalent LF3, 3 and 2 is equivalent to LF4 and 1 is the same as LF5.
Only taking into consideration that there is 21 colors in the set, 11 of the pencils are rated 8 and 3 are rated 7, that means 14 pencils are LF1 equivalent. 4 of the pencils are rated 6 which means the same as LF2 and finally, 3 pencils are rated 5 or LF3.
Derwent Tinted Charcoal Pencils.
Here in the UK, if you wanted to purchase the 24 set of Derwent Tinted Charcoal Pencils you will pay £39.99, for the 12 set of Tinted Charcoal you will pay £23.79 and for the smallest set of 6 you will pay approximately £15.99
For artists in the US, to purchase the 24 set of Derwent Tinted Charcoal Pencils you will pay approximately $48.00, for the 12 set of Tinted Charcoal you will pay approximately $24.00 and for the set of 6 Tinted Charcoal Pencils you will pay approximately $12.00.
For Artist in Europe the 24 set of Derwent Tinted Charcoal will cost approximately €52, for the 12 set of Derwent tinted Charcoal you can expect to pay €26.57 and for the set of 6 Tinted Charcoal you can expect to pay €16.99.
You can purchase the Derwent Tinted Charcoal range in different formats, such as the 6 set of large Tinted Charcoal Blocks or you can also get a set of the same tones in a watercolor pan set, which you can find prices for above and I will talk more about the pans in a separate review.
Derwent Tinted Charcoal Pencils Conclusion
I have made it quite clear that I am not a charcoal artist, but I can absolutely respect the work that charcoal artists put into creating the amazing works of art. I do love using pastels, which I know and understand are a different medium to charcoal, but there are many similarities that make the transition quite easy.
Although I didn’t create anything significant with regards to artwork, I did create the two images in the sketchbook and I also really loved the effects that the tinted charcoal provided with water applied. The application of water drew out the color, making what is quite subtle in its dry form, more vivid and noticeable.
If you would like to watch the demonstrations of water being applied to the tinted charcoal or the test of odourless mineral spirits, simply follow the link to the YouTube video review over on The Art Gear Guide YouTube channel.
