Reviewing The Derwent Lightfast Coloured Pencils - Are they worth it?

[@bobhensonbendana4977]

This is seriously so professional! i dont why this chanel isnt popular or famous!

[@StuffBySunshine]

Unfortunately the type of person who wants to spend 30 min+ chatting about pencils is few and far between😂. Thankyou though ☺️💜

[@Smgs-ue7tj]

@@StuffBySunshine I really enjoy your channel 😄

[@JessicaSzempruch]

I built up to a full set of these through open stock over time. They are very unique pencils, and the earthy color range is good for me as I deal in landscapes. These pair perfectly with the Luminance from Caran d’Ache to get an awesome color range when combined. That’s a very pricey combo, but one that for artists is well worth it since the Lightfast and Luminance will stand the test of time, both in quality and on paper.

[@StuffBySunshine]

Oof that is a very expensive setup! Do you find you stick mostly with the lf1 for the lightfast and add the the Caran d’Ache to fill in the colours that are lf2? Or ignore the lightfast rating? I’ve heard about the pairing with the Caran d’Ache from a few people, while I haven’t actually used them yet but hopefully I’ll get a chance to soon. I’m doing a piece with the lightfast at the moment and yeah it’s a challenge with the limited pallet but they quite a pleasure to work with. ☺️💜

[@JessicaSzempruch]

@@StuffBySunshine I typically use both LF1 and LF2. I don’t have all the Luminance, just some open stock to fill in the gaps with Derwent’s color range. Maybe in a few years I will eventually own them all. I find buying small sets and then build up with open stock over time is easier on the wallet.

[@dibarcus1452]

I love how you test the pencil pressure results using a scale. Your channel is very professional. So glad I found it!

[@StuffBySunshine]

Thanks☺️ Glad you enjoy it!

[@jenwilly7260]

I would love to see a review of the Caran d'Ache Luminance pencils...

[@StuffBySunshine]

They're on the list! 😄 just got go get through the pile of pencils I have at the moment 💜

[@3arthandsky]

I like these pencils and i understand the prize tag. I would say crayola is alot cheaper but i would still choose these over cheap cause of quality and lighfastness. I make art that is given to people i know. I dont make money from what i make as its just a hobby but i would like to see my previous stuff too. I have my stuff displayed everywhere

[@StuffBySunshine]

I quite like them as well and think while they are a bit over priced you certainly get a Much better pencil than the budget Crayola ☺️.

[@liloutriskell31000]

Hello Great review!! Congratulations for your professionalism! I subscribe! I would be curious to see a review of the Pablos! Specially because they are water resistant & colorists hardly use this very characteristic!😋😉 Have a Nice week-end !🌸🦄🌸

[@StuffBySunshine]

I’ll add them to the list!

[@melsherbert1706]

This video is definitely for the pencil people! Love that it includes the nitty gritty

[@StuffBySunshine]

Glad you think so!💜☺️

[@beuvelain]

I find them hard to work with on their own (too soft to use for details and subtle gradients and too hard to be able to layer lighter colors on top of darker) , but I love the darkest colors to layer on top of other, softer pencils, because they are so transparent AND pigmented. It makes something darker without it losing its saturation! I haven't been able to find that function in other colored pencil sets! Also, I agree with another comment here: I can't believe you're not the most watched KZbinr in the art category!

[@StuffBySunshine]

They are an interesting pencil, in the future I’m going to do a series of VS vids to direct compare to other pencils which should be fun. But yeah, I have used them since this review but I’m pretty sure I’ve done the same thing as you and used another pencil for details on top. Thankyou! 😂 I think I’m making videos for artists specifically who want to get into the nitty gritty of things. People who want to watch half an hr of tests are unfortunately few and far between 😂💜

[@ReverieOfThorns]

They work great with the Polychromos and even the Caran D'ache Pablos for more detail work, so if you have some of those, I highly recommend that you try them together. The Lightfast pencils work great with those two in general as well as with the Luminance and the Derwent Drawing pencils, if you ever wanted to expand the range of colors or find other pencils with different textures and uses to add to the mix. I often use all of those pencils together when working with them as I currently don't have many of Luminance, Lightfast, or Pablo pencils (I have a full 24 set of the Drawing and then the whole 120 of the Polychromos, though) so I find that combining them all together gives me more color options as well as being super helpful for things like adding smaller details when pencils like the Luminance and Lightfast are too soft to keep a point for. They all work beautifully together!!

[@spixmacaw3047]

Heyy really like the professionalism in your videos, can you make a review on derwent colorsoft as there are many mixed reactions of people i really like their color range and is far better than lightfast

[@StuffBySunshine]

I have the procolor coming out soon(ish), I’ll add the colorsoft to the list ☺️

[@chp763]

Thank you for creating these wonderful videos! I love the scientific unbiased approach!

[@StuffBySunshine]

No worries at all! I’m glad you liked them☺️💜

[@afterfauve8291]

I think I would like these in combination with the polychromos, especially after seeing how your drawing with these turned out.

[@StuffBySunshine]

A lot of people do that my friend! I’d love to experiment more with the bigger comments but they are just sooo expensive!

[@fayefoley9926]

Oooh they sound and look great. May have to try those.

[@StuffBySunshine]

That are a little pricey but a really fun pencil to use💜

[@positronixartandlife4545]

I find that Derwent Lightfast does brilliantly in the really dark and really light colours - and with the whole 100 set it really shines with its vast range of values, but the set of 36 is definitely a curious choice and indeed consists of LF1 rated pencils and honestly there was no good mid-value green you could have chosen. Spruce green and Forest are similarly dark, and Mallard Green is turquoise. Mid Ultramarine is the same, no good mid-value blue to choose from With the full 100, or even the 72 set, Vivid Green and Denim would have been good options but naturally that wasn't possible here; and going down to 48 would mean swapping Vivid Green for Grass Green but still allow for nice mid-value colours. Curious as to your thoughts on the Tombow Irojiten as I just bought those myself, and wondering if Caran D'ache Luminance will ever get a look-in, expensive as those are

[@StuffBySunshine]

I’m doing an art piece at the moment with them and really enjoying them more than I thought I would. Although to get it to work it took a bit of thinking what to do with that color range 😂. Oh whew I almost reshot the whole thing because it was so dark, glad it just wasn’t my poor choice. I think you’re going to like (or you may hate)the tombow episode, not giving anything away but the tests surprised me quite a bit. Unfortunately I’ve been sick this week so I’m still working on it and it’ll be out either at the end of next week or the following week Monday sorry for the wait

[@StuffBySunshine]

Oh yes and the Caran D’ache luminance are def on the list! I’m paying for all the pencils so I generally do only one or two expensive pencils each round and this ones was the lightfast and the (upcoming) procolor. Next round!☺️

[@dees3179]

The 36 selection was due to the release order, which was very odd. They didn’t have a well rounded rang for a long time.

[@MysterioAngelus]

Oooo! I’m still learning a lot about pencils! I guess when you used those pencils you went to Infinity and Beyond!

[@StuffBySunshine]

I actually pulled that joke out of the script 😂💜

[@MysterioAngelus]

@@StuffBySunshine Boo! It would have a great joke tho 😂

[@carolinependleton8445]

I have the full set and i love them,thankyou for the fabulous video.

[@none377]

Will you be testing Caran D'ache Luminance?

[@StuffBySunshine]

I plan to ☺️, just gotta catch up with all my work and start making these again!

[@none377]

@@StuffBySunshine Great! Keep it up! :)

[@sigriston]

Very cool! I get the feeling you’re onto something watching this review… The scale test revealed something I love about these pencils. You can get very light color but also nice coverage when using very light pressure, so they’re good for layering kinda like a Polychromos; but also you can use them with hard pressure / burnishing and get really deep and smooth color. So they’re kind of a “best of both worlds” in my mind when it comes to texture / application! (And your scale test proved to be a nice way of displaying that in a more objective way) I also find that they blend extremely well, especially with a Derwent blending pencil or solvents. BUT I’m with you on the quirky color palette! Even with the full 100 color set I see what I believe to be sacrifices, probably due to the lightfastness! The best example really is the Mid Ultramarine which I find quite the misnomer as it’s very light, nothing mid about it! And following it, the next lightest blue is something like the Sapphire which is already quite dark, so there’s not really a true mid blue in the set. However, what the palette lacks in brightly saturated colors, it more than makes up for in DEPTH! The greens in this set are unmatched by any other colored pencil range, they’re really so unique and they go so dark it’s unbelievable! Very hard to beat for realistic nature / landscapes (which admittedly are not my forte but…) 😺

[@StuffBySunshine]

Thank you! Your observations and suggestions are very welcome and honestly very interesting and I’m now pretty excited and curious to see what they’re like on an actual art piece! Every time I do a pencil review I then use the pencils on at least one art piece to see if I want to include them in my mediums and I’ve always come away with some pretty interesting and surprising things that I didn’t find out during the review. Anyway, thank you again for your comment, I’m looking forward to experiencing them properly 😊

[@argento1111]

i have bought this set of 100 colours a couple of months ago, and i find them creamy and nice… but i do find the colour chart a bit disappointing. A lot of similar colours, and mostly too dark. And Layering doesnt work very well also, after the layers start to get thicker, the colours gets „sticky“ with the point of the pencil, and the result gets very inconsistent. I do complement the missing colours buying the Caran d Ache Luminance open stock. My recommendation: if buying both sets is too expensive for you, get the Luminance full set and buy some of Dewent Lightfast open stock to complement the Luminance (the other way around of what i am actually doing)., because the the Luminance are definitely better, in my opinion.

[@ReverieOfThorns]

I'm guessing you prefer drier pencils overall, then, as I find Lumis to be a much drier, almost powdery feeling pencil in comparison to the Lightfast. That's why they get "sticky" or "gummy" once you're close to or at the point of burnishing. If you're heavy handed or using smoother paper, that'll come up much faster than if you were using toothier paper, especially if you're using OMS or gamsol with them. As for the color range for the Lightfast pencils...I can definitely see why you'd be disappointed. They're awfully dark, muted, and earthy, but I think that's because this set is more geared towards being meant for landscapes and other very muted and more natural subjects. Luminance are great in the sense that, while I think theirs are more meant for portraits, they've made it easy to cover numerous subjects with their color selection. That's why either set compliments the other very well. Personally, I've been focusing on getting more of the Lightfast pencils than the Luminance (although I would like to eventually end up with complete sets of each someday) because I have several other sets I can use with them (the Pablos and the Polychromos pencils work amazingly with either set btw) and I tend to focus on brighter colors when buying pencils which then leads me to be lacking in the deeper and earthier tones, which is also an issue. Really sorry you don't like the Lightfast as much as the Luminance pencils, though. I hope that someday you'll be able to get all of the Lumis and you'll be happier with the set up you've got! It's no fun getting stuck with pencils you don't like very much :/

[@argento1111]

@@ReverieOfThorns i dont find the Luminance dry like i have read and heard from other people, maybe because like you said, i tend to use smooth paper like Bristol. But also depends on what i am drawing... the "dryness" of the Luminance is not an issue for me. Anyway, the main drawback against the Derwent Lightfast is not the consistence but the color palette. As you said, they are all dark and they dont give me enough different values. As soon as i finished the first swatch i was disappointed. I can name you a lot of colors that look the same, and i have the feeling they rushed to get a set of 100 pencils that are lightfast to compete with the Luminance. Some examples:>> Mid BLue 70%, Mid Blue, Midneight Blue 70% and Midnight blue: almost same colors, barely noticiable difference.. Only one of this would have been enough. Also Ocean Blue and Ocean Blue Dark or Dark Indigo + Dark Cyan. Same colors, barely noticiable difference. The same with the brownish reds: Ruby earth, Venetian red, Merlot and Raisin. Only one (or maybe 2 of these would have been enough). Or the greens: Peridot Yellow and Vivid green are just the same. Or Spruce green, Racing green and Pine !! 3 Colors that are the same, no relevant difference!! or Olive Earth, Ivy and Seeweed. `Persian Orange, Burn Sienna, Mars Orange and Sienna. 4 colors that look the same!! And i have more examples with almost any color range of the Lighfast, you will be finding duplicate or triplicate colors with different names. The Luminance made a better job with the color palette in my opinion and you wouldt have the sensation of buying a set of duplicate-triplicate colors without any difference in values in the end. But hey, dont worry, since i have the full set colector syndrome, i would have bought the full DW Lightfast set sooner or later anyway. And i am happy to have them in my colection. I was just comparing them with my Luminance (i have around 25 pencils and will be getting the full set in christmas). I also have other sets, like a full set of Polychromos (maybe the favorites of all my pencils) and 8 England made Berol Karismacolor pencils, (i was very curious about them and bought them on Ebay). From Derwent i own the full set of 150 DW Chromaflow (very nice), and the 24 set of DW Drawing, and some cheap sets for coloring (Faber Castell Black Edition, Castle Arts. On my wish list i have some sets i would love to have, like the full Lyra Polycolor set, and the 144 Koh-i-nor Polycolor set ! In Conclusion, i like to collect pencil brands that produce their own pencils and not in China !

[@kathyhackney7950]

Have you done the derwent drawing?

[@StuffBySunshine]

I did! I was doing the drawings live on twitch after these videos came out. It’s up on Instagram if you want to check it out dated 24th of june(it’s death☺️)

[@peterlaycock580]

Great vid. Really enjoyable.

[@StuffBySunshine]

Thanks Pete ☺️💜

[@RetroToyPrincess]

I've been grabbing a few of these via open stock to slowly build up a solid range. But this has me considering just buckling down and getting the full set. As always -- thank you for the review that includes all the testing. It really helps my brain parse what a set can do.

[@StuffBySunshine]

I’m super glad it helped you ☺️💜

[@jeremiah1059]

Not using watercolor paper for a watercolor pencil comparison?

[@jeremiah1059]

Best British pencil of all time? That's not saying much. Let's see, there's derwent, derwent and uh...derwent.

[@anahenriques.]

Most if not all colored pencils are a blend of Oil and Wax. When a company advertises their pencils in one way or another it only means there is more content of the advertised material. I hope people know that… Not sure with the use of the scale and those initial tests as professional art supplies are designed to be layered. For instance in test 2 with white, if you start with heavy pressure the tip will lose it’s sharpness right the way thus creating more texture as it’s not able to get into the deep areas of the paper…

[@StuffBySunshine]

Sure that’s true and they often have multiple other resins mixed in as well. It’s just a way to get across to people what to expect from the pencil. Same thing with the scale test, you at home can see how they respond and work, It’s really easy with a low saturation pencil to drive them into the paper and say “see how much pigment they put down”. With the scale, every pencil we do has a base line, or atleast a common pressure we can look at ☺️

[@anahenriques.]

I recently acquired the 100 in the wood box. These pencils are fenomenal! I’ve been working with Luminance for years and these so far are right up there.

[@StuffBySunshine]

I’d love to swatch them all particularly with the 100 kit. Have you found it’s a bit more usable color wise?

[@river-of-noodles]

More pencils!

[@StuffBySunshine]

I haven't tried them all yet🤪

[@amandawiggy2284]

Lord or lady, hmm? Perhaps you're watching Bridgerton like me and my wife 😂

[@StuffBySunshine]

Sadly no, BUT if they are on a horse and make an effort I’m happy to chat 😂😝

[@jesusfuentes2912]

They are great pencils, but Luminance from Caran d’Ache are even better 😊

[@StuffBySunshine]

Ohh I really want to try the Luminance from Caran Darche. They look gorgeous!

[@jesusfuentes2912]

@@StuffBySunshine Yes, but they are wax based. If you use oil based pencils, you won’t like them 😜 Pablo from Caran d’Ache as well would complete the color chart 👌🏻 😃

[@tabbi888]

I just bought a whole set and i hate them ,they feel sticky,streaky and blotchy. I actually cried that i used up 2yrs of saving on a pencil that doesn't produce even flat colour,theyre just going to rot on the shelf i hate them so much. The mars orange was the worst affected and although not all are affected a lot are. Try open stock before buying the large set, particularly the mars orange, as it's the worst, and if you don't mind that one you'll probably like them, i guess.