Prismacolor Premier 72 set Unboxing and Review

Hello Everyone!

こんいちは、皆さん。

Today, I am going to show you and unboxing and share a review of the Prismacolor Premier 72 colored pencil set. 

I have had this set for a while, but as many of you may know, I like to actually use the products for a while before sharing them with you in order to give an honest review.

Here are a list of the colors contained in this set along with a page I've done of a color swatch. I will put the corresponding numbers with the color names as these are easier to identify for some people.

"One each of: Cream, Ginger Root, Lemon Yellow, Canary Yellow, Yellowed Orange, Yellow Ochre, Spanish Orange, Goldenrod, Sunburst Yellow, Sand, Orange, Pale Vermilion, Poppy Red, Carmine Red, Crimson Red, Crimson Lake, Magenta, Process Red, Mulberry, Pink, Blush Pink, Light Peach, Beige, Peach, Dark Purple, Lilac, Parma Violet, Violet, Imperial Violet, Violet Blue, Ultramarine, Copenhagen Blue, True Blue, Lt. Cerulean Blue, Peacock Blue, Cloud Blue, Indigo Blue, Light Aqua, Aquamarine, Parrot Green, Yellow Chartreuse, Chartreuse, Lime Peel, Spring Green, Apple Green, True Green, Grass Green, Olive Green, Dark Green, Sepia, Jade Green, Putty Beige, Light Umber, Burnt Ochre, Sienna Brown, Terra Cotta, Tuscan Red, Dark Umber, Dark Brown, Warm Grey 20%, Warm Grey 50%, Warm Grey 70%, Cool Grey 20%, Cool Grey 50%, Cool Grey 70%, Black, French Grey 20%, French Grey 50%, French Grey 70%, White, Metallic Silver & Metallic Gold coloring pencils"

Color list taken from description at Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Prismacolor-3599TN-Premier-Colored-72-Count/dp/B000E23RSQ

Prismacolor Premiere Pencils have a buttery texture. The leads are really soft and can lay down a lot of pigment very quickly. I personally find that this can be a good and bad thing. It is good in the sense that the pigment is high quality, but not so good when you want something really light. I find it difficult to use the pencil in a lighter shade with these pencils as opposed to other ones where you can vary the pressure used, in an easier way. This is because these pencils also have a very high wax content which allows for this intense pigment saturation.

Therefore, I have discovered that if I lay down my lightest colors with a pencil which has a harder lead or not as much pigment, I can then blend over it with these pencils and slowly achieve the technique and shades I want. 

These colored pencils are easy to blend, but if you want to mix a lot of colors together, you need to use a heavier paper in order to allow for more layers of color.

The leads are quite soft and can be quite delicate at times. I haven't had too much problem them breaking like some people have said, but I think it has to do with how I sharpen them and that I'm very careful with them. I can use quite a bit of pressure before they might break. 

As for the 72 set, for the price of professional quality colored pencils, the price is very good for this set. It is also a good variety of colors to start someone off or continue their collection. I bought them in order to continue collection and the price at the time was very good. 

The pencils come in a tin with three plastic trays. I recommend taking them out and putting them into a case for easier access, and I use the tin for other things. It's a very nice tin.

One unfortunate thing for Prismacolor is that they used to be made in the USA and now are made  in Mexico. I think the quality has suffered due to this outsourcing. Some of the leads are not completely centered as they should be in the wood casings. 

Overall I would rate these as a 4/5

Pros:

• Professional grade pigments for an economical price compared to other professional brands.
• Painted barrels generally match the color of the pigment.
• wax-based leads 
• Can be purchased individually or in sets.
• 150 color range - one of the largest in colored pencils. 
• Blend very easily.
• Heavily pigmented.

Cons:

• Can sometimes be rather fragile.
• You need to be careful when sharpening them.
• Difficult to color lightly when you don't want intense pigment or if you want to build up color
• Wax bloom can be a problem for some people.
• Quality might not be as consistent since the company was outsourced to Mexico from the United States. 

Overall Rating: 4/5

I hope you find this helpful and thank you for reading!

Purchase the Prismacolor 72 set:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Prismacolor-3599TN-Premier-Colored-72-Count/dp/B000E23RSQ

Hobby Lobby: https://www.hobbylobby.com/Art-Supplies/Drawing-Illustration/Colored-Pencils/Prismacolor-Premier-Pencil-72-Piece-Set/p/3872

Blick Art Materials: https://www.dickblick.com/products/prismacolor-colored-pencils-and-sets/

Art Supplies Every Beginning Artist Should Have

Good Afternoon, everyone!

Today I am going to go over a few things that every artist needs to be able to start drawing.

I know how it can be daunting and complicated to find good quality art supplies without getting too expensive. This is an especially difficult thing for beginner artists.

Many beginners buy art supply sets or boxes and many of the art supplies inside are poor quality. However, this isn't always the case, but the higher end sets still tend to be very expensive.

When I decided I wanted to try out some better quality art supplies, I purchased them individually for a few reasons.

• Better Quality
• Price (Sometimes you'll find sales)
• Choice on art supplies to purchase.

Most beginning artists start off either drawing, painting, or both. I will first go over drawing supplies and then painting supplies. I will be updating this post with links to reviews of products I personally have tried and suggest.

Paper

Paper should be of good quality and made for the Media you wish to work with. For beginner's I suggest, Canson XL Mixed Media paper. You can find it easily and you will get good quality paper for the price. For something a little more basic, I suggest Bienfeng Take-Me-Along Sketchbook. They also make good quality paper.

Pencils

As for pencils, for beginner's General Pencil Company is a good way to go. They are made in the USA and they come in a variety of degrees. Their charcoal products are also very nice. I began with General's Semi-Hex drawing pencils. I later got the Tombow Mono pencils, which are very useful for colored pencil drawings as the graphite is very dense and does not smear. Tombow is a Japanese company with some unique products. However, I still use General's for when I do want to smear it!

Erasers

There are many forms of erasers on the market right now. I have quite a few myself. I will have an article comparing the erasers I have personally used up soon. However, I will give you some basics to have.

One important thing to remember is, to try to get erasers which don't have any dye in them as this with age can come out and mark up your paper.

Rubber Eraser

Rubber erasers are the most basic form of eraser and are used for general work. They are usually the cheapest and easiest to get. Be careful as some may tear your paper. General's All Art, Papermate black Pearl, and Derwent white eraser are good choices.

Kneaded Erasers

These erasers are fun as you knead them into shapes with your hands. This allows you to lighten and lift whatever it is you are trying to erase out of the paper. They clean themselves as well when you knead them again.

Plastic Erasers

There are a lot of these out there. The ones I have personally used and found useful are, Factis Eraser,and Tombow Mono eraser.

Crayons

Good old crayons! I grew up using crayons and still love them for certain projects. I recommend Crayola and Prang crayons as these are my personal favorites and have very consistent quality. Crayola has perhaps the most colors of all crayon companies. All the colors! 

Colored Pencils

My other favorite medium to use! I will be doing a colored pencil comparison with all of the colored pencils I currently have soon as well. There are wax and oil based colored pencils. There isn't a whole lot of difference between them except that Oil based do not get a waxy film on the paper called wax bloom and you can get some different blending effects with them.

Colored Pencils are a really neat medium as you can blend them in different ways, provided you have good quality artist pencils to do so. This can be done with colorless blender pencils as well as other things like odorless paint thinner, mineral spirits and the like,

A few brands I would recommend include:

Koh-I-Noor,
Marco Raffine
Derwent
Prismacolor

I will update this review with these posts as well.

Pencil Sharpener

It is always good to have a good quality pencil sharpener.

I recommend a hand one as it is less likely to break the pencils. Pencil sharpeners for the most part are inexpensive as well.

General's All Art red sharpener is good to begin with and then later on, the Bostitch Twist N' Sharp. 

Other Accessories which are optional

Chamois - a small piece of leather or some are synthetic for shading and softening pencil, charcoal and even colored pencil

Eraser Shield - a small metal stencil-like thing, which allows you to erase smaller areas and avoid places you don't!

Tortillions and Blending Stumps - Pieces of paper wrapped very tightly to shade, blend and even move color or charcoal around. Also useful for Oil and chalk pastels!



I think that is everything! I hope you all look forward to product reviews and I have posted links to where you might purchase these products on this page.

Thank you for reading!