The Art Gear Guide is your one stop shop for the most recent, up to date, honest reviews on all your favourite art supply products.
The Caran d’Ache Fancolor are a children’s based art product, at least this is the market Caran d’Ache have aimed the Fancolor toward, however, it is important to remember we are talking about Caran d’Ache here. As is the case with many of their products, a children’s art product can sometimes match that of a student grade product or even artist grade product for other companies.
After testing and reviewing the set and enjoying the Arrtx markers so much I will definitely be purchasing the 36 Grey set. Another thing worth mentioning is that the Arrtx markers work very well with other Alcohol based markers.
Castle have provided some excellent products at very low prices without compromising on the quality and the Castle Art 40 Piece Drawing Set is no exception. They sell smaller sets of a similar ilk, however to see the other sets and what they comprise of as well as a more detailed look at the Castle Art 40 Piece Drawing Set, check out my YouTube Video review or my written review. I have also completed a quick speed drawing of the eye art created if you would like to see how I created this piece.
I am a huge fan of Alan Woollett, perhaps one of the finest colored pencil bird artist about, I recently seen one of his more recent WIP’s on his Instagram page and happened to notice the surface of the paper he was using. As someone who normally uses Strathmore, I had to at least try the paper Alan was using which was the Fabriano Artistico 100% Cotton paper.
When I first started to review these Daler Rowney Watercolour Pencils, if you read the full review on The Art Gear Guide or watch the YouTube video review, you will see that I really wasn’t looking forward to reviewing them never mind creating some artwork with them.
The paper I used for this drawing was the Strathmore 400 series Mixed Media paper, although I use Strathmore paper all the time, the 400 and 500 series Mixed Media paper is quite new to me. Since using this Mixed Media paper I have absolutely loved it, there is enough tooth on the paper to layer until your hearts content but at the same time, there is a smoothness to the paper allowing for beautiful blends with alcohol markers such as Copics, ProMarkers, Art N Fly and lots of other such mediums.
In order to make sure that both images were identical, I simply sketched out the drawing on the left and then traced it onto the opposite side of the paper. Although it is impossible for me to use the exact same pressure with both pencils throughout the entirety of the art work, I have tried my best to make both images identical.
I think this period in our lifetimes has been incredibly challenging, COVID-19 or Coronavirus I think has really taken the world by surprise and has also shaped and new world for many people, some for the better and some not so good. When the lockdown was announced I thought that I would be able to get a lot of reviews done and help to keep you guys entertained. However, I have to be honest and tell you all that it has effected me and my family perhaps a lot more than we could have ever imagined.
Baby Yoda and the Mandalorian are perhaps the most popular characters on the internet at the minute and whilst we all know who they are, those of us in the UK still can’t access the Disney stream until March this year I believe. With the amount of reviews I have coming up, comparison videos and other projects I want to try, I don’t get as much time to draw, not nearly as much time as I would like.
This image was such an iconic image when the first Apple Phone hit the market, or maybe it was the second, everyone see this image either on their phones, packaging or advertising for Apple, all these years later and I still love the image and have it on my phone. As I glanced around the room trying to find inspiration, I noticed the two little Clownfish on my home screen and decided to try them.
I created this piece of art as part of my review for the Conté à Paris Pastel Pencils. I used some Unison Soft Pastels for the background, backgrounds can be done using pastel pencils but it is much easier and faster using pastel sticks or blocks for larger areas. However, as a side note, with Pastel sticks and blocks, you tend to find that the pigment strength is much greater in such pastels over that of pastel pencils.
I am a huge fan of the UFC which for those of you who may not know, it is Mixed Martial Arts MMA and within the sport my two favourite fighters are Nick and Nate Diaz. As Nate Diaz has just fought in a huge fight in Madison Square Garden, I really wanted to try and draw both the Diaz Brothers.
I decided to draw Marvels Captain America and this was going to push me out of my comfort level because I am terrible at creating portraiture art especially with colored pencils. However I didn’t complete the drawing on my usual paper for a project of this level, Strathmore 500 Series Bristol Plate. I wanted to show the pencils of working along side other mediums such as markers, as marker and colored pencil are my two favourite mediums to use.
When I returned from our holiday a week or so ago, as always is the case, I needed to get the markers out and draw something colourful. This was not in line with a review per-say, although I did use the gorgeous Arteza Everblend Markers which I recently reviewed. I just simply wanted to splash as much color as I could on paper and get my art fix, quick.
With the Arteza Everblend Markers, I wanted to create something that was going to really show off the vibrant pigmented inks inside the markers. I came across this image on Pinterest and thought I would use it due to the dark colors blending into light at the bottom of the image, I thought this would also help demonstrate the blending ability of the markers.
I have created a new YouTube channel, nothing at all will be changing on my Art Gear Guide channel or the website, everything will remain unchanged. The only reason I have created this new YouTube Channel is so I can upload speed drawings that I do in my own spare time. This art work is from the popular Anime and Manga series Sword Art Online and the character is Asuna Undine.
With this art work I completed it using the Schpirerr Farben Colored Pencils, I personally feel that this is perhaps the best art work I have completed so far and I put a lot of the credit down to the pencils. I know I completed the drawing, but the experience, of using such a fantastic set of tools certainly helped create this piece.
I completed this drawing of the four Spidermen from different dimensions, using my Stylefile Markers on Strathmore 400 Series Bristol Smooth paper. For a while now I have been on the search now for the past year and a half or so, for the perfect Copic Marker alternative.
I completed this painting on the Arteza Premium Cold Pressed Watercolor Pad, I also used the Arteza Water Brush Set for quite a bit of the painting and traditional watercolor brushes for the remainder. I will be doing a full review of the Arteza Water Brush pens at a later date, I think they are worth taking a look at on their own.
I completed this art work of Disney’s Lady And The Tramp using and demonstrating Spectrum Noir’s new Tri-Blend Markers. Check out the art work and see links to the review and speed drawing of this art. Spectrum Noir have done it again, launching yet another amazing product and this one is excellent for beginners.
