Staedtler Luna Watercolor Pencils Review
Staedtler Luna Watercolor Pencils Review
In this review we take a look at the Staedtler Luna Watercolor Pencils, this is a set of pencils I seen an Indian based artist use quite frequently on their social media videos and just really liked the look of the pencils as well as the art the artist was able to create with them.
Recently Staedtler have released some really interesting art products, however, for me personally, Staedtler have always been more of a stationary company. When I very first started learning about colored pencils, I can remember I purchased a set of the Staedtler Ergosoft, mainly because they were so readily available here in the UK. I used to watch a wonderful manga / anime artist when I first started out and that artist always conducted their outlining with a black Prismacolor pencils and because this pencil was not easy to come by in the UK, I used the Ergosoft. However, although a brief encounter with the Staedtler Ergosoft, I really enjoyed the pencils and if you would like to see my review of them just click the link.
Other than the Staedtler Ergosoft, I had not really used Staedtler products for my artwork, but of course I had seen the odd Staedtler set in WH Smiths and Rymans, which are stationary stores here in the UK. When I used to watch the artwork created by this wonderful artist, which I think was the Paint Academy here on YouTube, I knew I wanted to get a set of the Staedtler Luna pencils and put them through my own tests and review them for you guys.
There is no doubt about it, we need high grade fine art colored pencils for colored pencil artists to be able to sell their original art work and compete with the likes of oil, acrylic and watercolor artists, but there is equally something rewarding when I find a set of good quality pencils at very inexpensive prices.
Staedtler Luna Watercolor Pencils Characteristics.
There is no point beating about the bush, the thing that really attracted me to the Staedtler Luna Watercolor Colored Pencils was the barrels. When I was a young child my Granny and Granda who are now passed, used to take me on Holiday with them when I turned 13 to Blackpool. For those of you not from the UK or unaware, Blackpool used to be our version of Vegas, bright lights called the Blackpool Illuminations, the Blackpool Tower synonymous with Ballroom Dancing, Donkey rides on the beach, Cabaret Shows held on the North and South Piers by fantastic acts such as Cannon And Ball, Little and Large, The Crankies etc and of course the Blackpool Rock, which is what the Staedtler Luna Watercolor Pencils reminded me of. For me, the sight of the pencils rekindled beautiful memories with my Grandparents who I would do anything to have another minute with never mind another week in Blackpool with. Times have changed of course and sadly Blackpool is no longer like it was in the 70’s and 80’s.
The Barrels are round, just like a stick of Blackpool Rock with quite a slimline 7.5mm barrel holding an accurate 3.1mm core. Each barrel is lacquered the same color as the core and the darker twist throughout the barrel design is a much closer representation of the core color, however, this can be a little bit confusing and as I always suggest regarding the pencil or product you are using, creat your own swatch on paper you are likely to be using as this will give you the best representation of how the color is going to appear on your art.
Along the side of the barrel is printed the company name “Staedtler”, this is followed by a small crescent moon icon with “Luna” printed next to it. Every pencil has the same number printed on the barrel 137 and this is followed by the depiction of a paint brush icon indicating that the pencils are water soluble. The ends of the Staedtler Luna are uncapped and so the core is exposed, this is not necessarily a bad thing, but some people don’t like this look including myself.
There are no pigment names or numbers on the barrels to help distinguish which pencil corresponds to the colors you create on your swatch. However, and I am unsure if this was an after thought from Staedtler or if this was a conscious decision, but a sheet of stickers with numbers is placed inside the packet. When I first seen this I actually thought it was quite a good idea, after thought or not, but as I looked into it more, it didn’t make sense.
I have explained this better on my YouTube review and on the video review it is easier to show you what I mean but I will do my best to explain it in this written review. If I fail and nothing I say makes sense, just check out the YouTube video review.
As you can see from the image provided, I haven’t actually used them myself because I wanted to keep them in tact for the review, however, the stickers have a number and a colored, but you have to guess which sticker to attach to a particular pencil. There is nothing directing you to place a certain pigment identifying sticker to a particular pencil and so you have to eyeball which sticker is the right fit for a particular pencils.
Now this is not the end of the world and you can quite happily place the stickers on the ends of the barrels and use that sticker number as a reference to the swatch you have just made. All I am saying, it would have been nice if there was a directive on the packaging or something like that for placing the stickers.
Also, inside the set, Staedtler have provided a paint brush just to get you started, many watercolor pencil sets will have a cheap paint brush inside so that you can start using your watercolor pencils immediately and it is fair to expect a cheap paint brush, however, the brush inside the set I purchased is no good to man nor beast. I have reviewed a few inexpensive water soluble pencils throughout my time doing reviews and none of them have provided brushes this badly made.
The brush shaft or handle is just cheap wood, which is fine, but the actual brush is terrible. You can see for yourself what it looks like from he images provided and in my YouTube video review I show you the brush both dry and wet.
Staedtler Luna Watercolor Pencils Performance
The set I purchased was the 48 set, the largest set in this range, I try my best where possible to purchase the full range to show you guys in the review the entire palette on offer. Of the 48 pigments in this set, I think Staedtler have done a really good job making sure that they didn’t over saturate one color as can often be the case in sets.
Taking into consideration just how inexpensive the Staedtler Luna Watercolor Pencils actually are, I was not really expecting high pigment levels or anything like that, but once again I was so wrong, for a set of pencils so inexpensive, the quality is amazing. I have supplied two swatches for you, a dry swatch and then the pigments actually activated with water and I think you will agree, the Staedtler Luna Watercolor Pencils do not look like a cheap set of pencil on face value.
One of the things that I look for when reviewing watercolor pencils is when you lay down a layer of the pencils in their dry format, once you activate the pigment with water, often, cheaper pencils will leave remnants of pencil strokes under the activated pigment. As you can clearly see from the swatch in wet format, there are no pencil marks visible and all pigments have been dissolved into watercolor paint, which is exactly what we want.
Of course there is no lightfast information for the Staedtler Luna Watercolor Pencils which is to be expected given there cost, the pencils are not really aimed at the fine art colored pencil artist, but this is only on the basis of lightfast results. As you can see from the artwork I have provided, inexpensive pencils does not always equal terrible art, this is just not the case. As I mentioned, the only thing you could not do as an artist is sell any original art created with them, however, providing prints is a different matter entirely and if you would like to know more about getting prints made of your art, check out my review on this topic.
The pigment levels in the Staedtler Luna are really quite spectacular for such an inexpensive set of pencil, I am not suggesting that they are the best I have ever used, but in relation to the price point they are excellent. As you can see from the swatches and the artwork, if you were to view just them without the review information, you could be forgiven for assuming a much higher grade watercolor pencil.
As I am always preaching, the paper you use will also have a huge effect on the outcome of the final performance. In the case of the swatches, I used Clairefontaine Paint On Mixed Media paper, however for the artwork itself, I completed this on Hahnemühle Watercolor Paper, a beautiful paper that I will be uploading a separate review of in the next few days to a week. For now however, I can tell you that the Hahnemühle Watercolor paper performed beautifully with the Staedtler Luna Watercolor Pencils.
Staedtler Luna Watercolor Pencils Sets and Prices
Unfortunately, the set sizes are quite small for the Staedtler Luna Watercolor Pencils, however, it is worth noting that because they are water soluble pencils, a lot more in the way of color mixing and blending can be achieved. I personally enjoyed using them and would like to perhaps see a 72 set.
As I mentioned at the beginning of the review, when I first seen the Staedtler Luna Watercolor Pencils being used it was from a wonderful artist in India and it seems that the Staedtler Luna are quite widespread in the this area of the world. While doing research for this pencils, I couldn’t find them at all on the Staedtler home webpage, there are very few on Amazon uk and only the full range available on Amazon US. However I did manage to find the full range on AliExpress shipping to the UK, US, Canada, Europe and Australia, I have provided clear links for all of them below.
With regards to set sizes, you can purchase the Staedtler Luna in a 12 Set, 24 Set, 36 Set and 48 Set being the largest and the set I have reviewed in this review. The prices for all set are below for each area that I could get links for.
Staedtler Luna UK
The 12 set of Staedtler Luna Watercolor Pencils will cost you approximately £7.90, for the 24 Set of Luna you will pay £12.20, the 36 Set will cost £15.29 and the largest 48 Set will cost £19.60 All these prices are from AliExpress and ship to the UK.
Staedtler Luna US
In the US the set of 12 Luna will cost you $10.48, for the 24 set it will cost you $16.18, the 36 set will cost you $20.28 and the 48 set will cost you $25.98. Again all these prices are AliExpress shipping to the US
I have also provided the links for Amazon US if viewers from the US would prefer to buy from Amazon, but you will see prices are considerably higher. For the 12 set of Luna you will pay $30.00, for the 24 set you will pay $40.00, oddly enough for the 36 Set you will pay $29.79 and for the 48 set you will pay $29.90
Staedtler Luna EU
In the EU for the 12 set of Staedtler Luna you will pay €9.09, for the 24 set you will pay €14.04, for the 36 set you will pay €17.60 and for the 48 set you will pay €22.54
Staedtler Australia
For the 12 set of Luna you will pay $14.46, for the 24 set you will pay $22.32, for the 36 set you will pay $27.97 and for the 48 set you will pay $35.84
Staedtler Canada
For the set of 12 Staedtler Luna you will pay $13.43, for the 24 set you can expect to pay £20.74, for the 36 set you need to $26.00 and for the 48 set you will pay $33.30
Staedtler Luna Watercolor Pencil Conclusion
There were one or two things that I found a little bit odd with the Staedtler Luna Watercolor Pencils, however, in general, where it really matters and that is the quality, the Staedtler Luna pencils performed much better than expected.
Although it was the barrels that attracted me to the pencils for my own nostalgic reasons, the way the barrels are designed I could see them being a bit difficult for some people to visually and accurately identify the pigment color they wanted.
There are of course a few other minor issues that being the stickers placed in the packages to help identify the colors with your swatches, the terrible brush in the set, but over all, considering the incredibly amazing prices for the sets and strong pigment present both dry and wet, the Staedtler Luna Watercolor Pencils are an excellent choice for artists on a budget, parents looking to provide art supplies for their children or students.
As always, I have provided a YouTube video review of the Staedtler Luna Watercolor Pencils which in combination with this written review will help give you a detailed account of the pencils. As well as this written review and the YouTube video review, I have provided a short speed drawing video of the artwork coming to life using the Staedtler Luna on Hahnemühle Watercolor paper which I will be completing a separate review for and finally if YouTube is not for you I have provided a few still images of the artwork at various stages of completion which you can view at your own leisure.
