Arteza Watercolor Pencils Review

[@arcanics1971]

I have learned- and I caution folks not to take this too seriously as my experiments are far from methodologically sound- that most pencils will last under quite harsh UV conditions even if they are listed as fugitive light fastness. I am starting to believe that it's akin to best before dates: it covers the manufacturer if anything goes wrong but they're actually fine in most cases. I tested a range of colours with low light fast ratings under high UV lighting and most survived with very little fading even though the UV they were exposed to is the equivalent of a century and a half of daylight exposure (for Northern Hemisphere, temperate regions). A few cheaper pencils (and I mean very cheap, not artist pencils) did fade quite radically but pencils from Caran D'Ache, Faber Castell, Derwent and a range of mid-priced pencils all lasted with minimal fading regardless of their LF rating. As I hinted earlier, my experiments were not really scientifically sound and were just for myself so I wouldn't advise others to use low LF for commissioned work but I now use all artist pencils without worry for my work and don't concern myself with LF. But then I rarely do commissions in pencil and in my pastel work I still only use high LF rated pigments.

[@jumes69]

What’s your pick between the Arteza and Castle Arts?

[@annalisamanderville1364]

Thank you for another excellent review. I have the Arteza colored pencils 72 set and I agree they are great pencils, and a very good value. I will definitely look into purchasing the watercolor pencils.

[@dianeknuckles]

Thanks for the review. I have just started buying Arteza products and it's nice to see the reviews.

[@snuuby5468]

I am glad that you mentioned that you sharpen your pencils before using them. The colored pencils do come with a coating to protect them from breakage during shipping. I have seen a number of people on KZbin that are showing a swatch of new pencils and using them straight out of the box. The difference between a pencil not sharpened and a pencil sharpened can change the color and texture drastically.

[@mervwoodley3598]

Harry, brilliant review I currently use Albrecht Dürrer pencils but these could be an addition to my collection, keep up the great work.

[@patlambert6787]

I'm assuming you can use any brush with water if you don't have the water pen/brush you are using.Is this your preference?

[@TheArtGearGuide]

Yes Pat you can use any watercolor brush you have, I only use the brush pens because of convenience I don’t have to keep wetting the brush etc.

[@meloniebolton3918]

I love your Tutorials, I have the 72 set of the Arteza Color Pencils you right those pencils are quite the same. I email Arteza representatives they are coming our with a bigger set of the Arteza Color pencils. What my concerns are with the 72 set there are not much of skin tones. Is it possible that you can maybe reach out them about that?

[@juliem4259]

Oddly enough the colored pencils themselves are quite water soluble as well. Great review!

[@TheArtGearGuide]

Hi Julie, thank you so much for your comment. I have actually heard this quite a bit from other colored pencil artists, but I have yet to give it ago myself. My head is like block of Swiss Cheese, full of holes, I get something in my head, an idea and two minutes later I have forgotten and moved on to something else lol.

[@juliem4259]

@@TheArtGearGuide I do the same thing. So many brainstorms so little time. lol Cheers!

[@studio_cosas]

Thank you for the review. I have a question... do you think I can use the watercolour Arteza as dry colouring pencils? Is there a substantial difference? I'd like to know because the 120 expert set of colouring pencils has been sold out for ages now

[@TheArtGearGuide]

Hi there, I always used to ask other artists this question as well, because I would see them use Odourless Mineral Spirits with ordinary Colored pencils and wonder what is the point in doing that when you might as well use Watercolor pencils. So I done a lot of testing myself to find out the answer. There is a lot of difference between colored pencils and Watercolor pencils, the main difference being the finish, Watercolor pencils even in their dry format without wetting them will not provide the blending and layering abilities that you can ordinarily obtain using Colored pencils. You can of course still layer and blend Watercolor pencils in their dry format, but you just don’t get the same results in my opinion. If you are looking for an alternative to the Arteza Colored Pencils, in my opinion, Arrtx sell really nice pencils at the similar prices to the Arteza. This is my review of the Arrtx 120 set, take a look and see what you think and then if you have any questions please by all means ask away.

[@studio_cosas]

@@TheArtGearGuide thank you so much for the reply! This is super useful. Should I be worried about the lightfastness? And lastly, are Castle Arts better than Arrtx? Thznk you so much for your help!

[@TheArtGearGuide]

@@studio_cosas if you are wanting lightfast pencils, unfortunately the only pencils you can 100% guarantee are the lightfast rating that they are classified as are Derwent Lightfast, Caran d’Ache Luminance, Royal Tallens Van Gogh, Faber Castell Polychromos and one other set that escapes my mind right now. Arrtx, Arteza and Castle all have lightfast ratings on the pencil barrel or packaging, but they are all in house tested and the ratings can be slightly different in reality to that of the rating. Unless you are selling you original artwork, having lightfast pencils is not going to be important, you can still sell prints using non lightfast pencils because when you use a printing company to print your work, they will have an option for you to use archival paper and they will use archival inks. But to answer your question regarding Castel, yes, especially the Castle Gold Colored Pencils, in fact when you buy the 120 set of Castle Gold Colored Pencils you get loads of helpful stuff in the case.

[@studio_cosas]

@The Art Gear Guide thank you so much! This is so helpful. I've been watching your videos all week and they are the more reliable ones I've found so I truly appreciate you answering all this :)

[@studio_cosas]

@The Art Gear Guide also, the CA Gold pencils are oil based, but are the soft core any good?

[@brucetidwell7715]

I just recently found your channel and I love your reviews. I came to see this one because I'm in the market for some cheap watercolor pencils. I am a serious artist and appreciate quality but these are just to play around with right now, and my finances are limited, so I'm not all that concerned with light fastness and all that. This sounds like just what I want. Right now, in the U.S., they are selling a 120 piece set. It's labeled "Expert" on the tin so I'm assuming they are the same, just more colors. I hope there isn't too much of the doubling up that you mentioned. It crossed my mind, and my experience with these is limited, did you try mixing them? Is it possible that, even though they look similar alone, when you start blending with other colors they reveal different tonal qualities? As I say just a thought. Thanks for your information, though. You are a big help!

[@TheArtGearGuide]

Hay Bruce, thank you so much for your incredibly kind comments. If you are looking for a good quality set of Watercolor pencils to play about with and learn from not really worried about lightfast, the Arteza Watercolor pencils are a perfect fit. I would suggest buying this little tool bit.ly/2IGV8ut as well, it will last you a life time and you can use any watercolor pencil or crayon with it. It is cheap and I love mine, if you watch my review you will get to see how amazing it is and how it transforms your Watercolor pencils completely. Thank you so much for your incredibly kind comment and your wonderful support

[@ashleywang8665]

Isn't it weird that the yellow ochre pigment normally the stable pigment for light-fastness, but have 3 stars for fragile lightfast in arteza range. I think they should really look into this issue, because so many people who are interested in their products but only put off by the lightfast issue are very unfortunate for them and arteza. BTW, how many stars dose those pink & violet colour pencils?🤔🤔🤔

[@TheArtGearGuide]

Hi Ashley, if you head over to my written review and scroll down to the section on Lightfast I have an image which if you click on will enlarge of all the colors lightfast info. I hope this helps. bit.ly/2WcirDq

[@madhatterscrafts1233]

Hi Harry when I opened mine I just thought it was arranged by the different hues from light to dark I could be wrong.

[@vculrich7009]

Someone said if you put your pencil out in the sun on a very warm day the core of the pencil will melt slightly and fix itself!! Just something I heard!! Thanks for your reviews!!!

[@TheArtGearGuide]

Hi Connie thank you so much for your comment. When I very first started out with colored pencils and I purchased my first set of Prismacolor, I heard lots of things like that as well, putting pencils in the oven for a bit under the sun etc. I didn't actually do it although I think this applies mostly to softer cores, what people refer to as wax based pencils. But thank you so much for reminded me of this tip, I really appreciate it.

[@debohaver4747]

I bought the full 72 Arteza Colored pencils and I was disappointed. Based on your review I bought them. Maybe my expectations were to high. I believe disappointment us based on expectation. I need to continue to use them and hope I feel differently. I should have waited. The Schriberer Farben German oil pencils, seemed they are better quality in your review of them. Love ya Harry. God bless.

[@TheArtGearGuide]

Deb O'Haver hi Deb I am actually reviewing the Schriberer Farben pencils right now as it happens and will probably be my next review up and I would agree with you that they are an excellent pencil, I am loving using them so far and the piece of art I am doing with them I think is my best yet. But I don’t think they are German, the name may be German, but I think that is it. I have to find this out for definite but I only say they are not German on account of they say made in China on the tin and I had to get the set from America because I couldn’t find another set anywhere in Europe. I think in my reviews I need to make it a bit more clear on how I base my conclusions. With the Arteza my outcome was based on other pencils in their price point and a wee bit I have to say on the wrong information I was given regarding lightfastness which I addressed in this video. There are many better pencils than the Arteza Colored pencils, but in my opinion, not many in their current price point. I always shy away from discussing other companies during reviews and stick to just that company and leave the comparison to my comparison videos, but they are few and far between at the minute due to the amount of actual reviews I have to get through, but I absolutely need to pull my finger out and get more of them done. In my comparison videos I will be able to compare like for like regarding strength of lightfast testing or lack there of, price point, availability etc. So I will start doing more of these, I have wrote a list of comparison videos I would like to do and I have managed to list over 170 videos based on the reviews I have done so far and I am nowhere near finished the list yet lol. Anyway I only got up to let the dog out lol and seen your comment and had to reply. I am so sorry you feel the way you do about the pencils especially as you purchased them based on my review. I can’t apologise enough. This is one of my biggest fears with my reviews and that is people wasting their hard earned money on a product they don’t like, based on what I have said. I know that I can’t please everyone and get everything right but I do try my very best to be as accurate as I possible can and always try to put a side my own person preferences in art supplies and just deliver the facts as I see or find them. I am so sorry Deb and wish there was something I could do to make it up to you and I know ow you are not asking for that or even an apology, but you are an incredibly valuable subscriber, supporter and online friend of mine as is every subscriber of the channel and I personally don’t think I owe you guys nothing and it is just a case of uploading videos. This community, which means you as well Deb, has done more for me than I will ever be able express are confidently describe, so I always feel I do owe you all a lot more than just dumping a review video here and there which everyone and anyone can do. Any way sorry for the “War and Peace” length reply 😂😂 you know what I am like 😉😂😂 but I will let you know when I have the Farben pencil review finished and I really think you are going to love the art work. I showed my wife who showed her friends and already I have people asking me to draw this particular animal of theirs for them.

[@linwong1494]

Still don't sell these here in stores but perhaps its a good thing for me since I need to cut on spending haha. They look lovely though!

[@TheArtGearGuide]

Hi Lin, let me see what I can do and try and get a set sent to you. It might take a while but I will do my best. Thank you so much for your comment.

[@linwong1494]

@@TheArtGearGuide Oh no no theres no need for you to do that Harry! I appreciate it but trust me that I have more pencils than I really should be having in my home haha. Thank you for being so generous and kind but I assure you that I'm all good for now :)

[@lunastar499]

They sell them at Walmart tho

[@DatMuslimDad]

Do they still blend when dry

[@TheArtGearGuide]

You can blend them dry, just as you would with ordinary colored pencils, but using something like a colourless blender pencil wouldn't really work and this is due to the ingredients in watercolor pencils, there are no oils and waxes, the core in a watercolor pencil is designed to break down as soon as water makes contact with it. Thank you so much for the question and I am sorry for the delay in replying to you.