I have a set of 12 that I got for a great deal, and my thoughts on them matched yours pretty well. Strangely, the individual Van Gogh pastels tend to be more expensive than the Caran d'Ache Neopastels in the U.S. (at Blick), so I haven't been tempted to buy more. I wonder if the colorless blender would be good for sheering out colors or glazing - Perhaps there is a mixed media usage? I haven't found a use for it in my art either.
I agree, I find no use for the colorless blenders. Just a pastel with the oil and binder with no pigments. I have this set and my thoughts are the same. It's a nice range of color and the numbers (ex 207.5/207.9) designate the tints of the color. I have found them too be fairly good however, some colors are different than others and they are a medium in firmness. What I don't like is that some blend well and others don't. I use a white stick and make a base layer and then blend the colors over top and they seem to blend better. Also it depends a lot on the surface of your paper. Perhaps using them as a base layer and using some Mungyo over the top.
I don't use them with oil pastels, but the colorless blender can be used with color pencils and even hard or soft pastels, just like the colorless blenders that they make specifically for pencils. If I want to make the colors of my pencils or hard pastels more intense or a bit less textured, then these blenders are perfect, and the ones for oil pastels work just as well with pencils. Another use would be with watercolors, where sometimes people use some waxy substance (wax, white crayons) to preserve the white of the paper by repelling the watercolor.
@@viktoriaballa9730 That's an interesting idea using wax crayons and or the colorless blenders with watercolor! I don't work in the medium enough to warrant buying small bottles of masking fluid only finding myself using it perhaps one or two times and the rest goes too waste. I like using color pencils sometimes, however I find that they don't last very long unless you are making a small drawings. Even then I find that I can't keep a sharp point on the count that they break easily when trying to sharpen them.
In my country (Hungary), the Mungyos can be bought separately, at least up until the colors of the 72-color set. I wish the additional colors of the 120 set were also available, but I'm not complaining. Mungyos are my fave, and I am just glad I can get them by the piece. I have a couple of Van Gogh sticks too just because they are the other brand that is available by the piece and there are some colors Mungyo doesn't have. (Sennelier is also available open stock, but I'm not that big of a fan of those. I understand they manufacture some of them to be opaque, some transparent, and some halfway between the two, but I would prefer the same opaqueness throughout their entire range, just like Mungyo does it.) I will not invest in more Van Gogh sticks: like you said, they are decent indeed, but that's not enough for me. :) Mungyo is cheaper by the piece and way better quality.
I have a 48 count set of the Mungyo and they are a lot better than the Van Gogh's, what's the difference between the 72 count and the 120? Are there more colors in the range? John indicated in a review of them that they made a bunch of pearl and metallic colors in the 120 set. I found a website once in which they sold them (Mungyos), only they looked different than what is in the set I have (the artists soft) set.
@@kdj.imagery4317 There used to be neon and metallic colors too in the 120-color set, but the newer sets have muted, light tones instead. Much better in my opinion. I actually like using neon colors, but I think the 120 set is a lot more professional and a lot more usable without them.
@@viktoriaballa9730 Geese, don't tell me the 120 set consists of 72 of the normal colors and the rest is the muted neon tones? If that's the case...YIKES! 'Cause I was thinking of buying a set, the 120's that is.
@@kdj.imagery4317 Noooo. 😄 The old 120 set had some extra normal colors and some neon and metallic ones. The new 120 set has no neons and metallics whatsoever. Insead of those neon and metallic colors that they removed, they added muted light colors. Those are much more useful than neons and metallics that no one used. The muted ones have some pinks, blues, greys, etc. Try to find a color chart online of the 120 set, and if you see no neon colors in it, that's the one you are looking for.
I have a set of 12 that I got for a great deal, and my thoughts on them matched yours pretty well. Strangely, the individual Van Gogh pastels tend to be more expensive than the Caran d'Ache Neopastels in the U.S. (at Blick), so I haven't been tempted to buy more. I wonder if the colorless blender would be good for sheering out colors or glazing - Perhaps there is a mixed media usage? I haven't found a use for it in my art either.
I agree, I find no use for the colorless blenders. Just a pastel with the oil and binder with no pigments. I have this set and my thoughts are the same. It's a nice range of color and the numbers (ex 207.5/207.9) designate the tints of the color. I have found them too be fairly good however, some colors are different than others and they are a medium in firmness. What I don't like is that some blend well and others don't. I use a white stick and make a base layer and then blend the colors over top and they seem to blend better. Also it depends a lot on the surface of your paper. Perhaps using them as a base layer and using some Mungyo over the top.
I don't use them with oil pastels, but the colorless blender can be used with color pencils and even hard or soft pastels, just like the colorless blenders that they make specifically for pencils. If I want to make the colors of my pencils or hard pastels more intense or a bit less textured, then these blenders are perfect, and the ones for oil pastels work just as well with pencils. Another use would be with watercolors, where sometimes people use some waxy substance (wax, white crayons) to preserve the white of the paper by repelling the watercolor.
@@viktoriaballa9730 That's an interesting idea using wax crayons and or the colorless blenders with watercolor! I don't work in the medium enough to warrant buying small bottles of masking fluid only finding myself using it perhaps one or two times and the rest goes too waste. I like using color pencils sometimes, however I find that they don't last very long unless you are making a small drawings. Even then I find that I can't keep a sharp point on the count that they break easily when trying to sharpen them.
In my country (Hungary), the Mungyos can be bought separately, at least up until the colors of the 72-color set. I wish the additional colors of the 120 set were also available, but I'm not complaining. Mungyos are my fave, and I am just glad I can get them by the piece. I have a couple of Van Gogh sticks too just because they are the other brand that is available by the piece and there are some colors Mungyo doesn't have. (Sennelier is also available open stock, but I'm not that big of a fan of those. I understand they manufacture some of them to be opaque, some transparent, and some halfway between the two, but I would prefer the same opaqueness throughout their entire range, just like Mungyo does it.) I will not invest in more Van Gogh sticks: like you said, they are decent indeed, but that's not enough for me. :) Mungyo is cheaper by the piece and way better quality.
I have a 48 count set of the Mungyo and they are a lot better than the Van Gogh's, what's the difference between the 72 count and the 120? Are there more colors in the range? John indicated in a review of them that they made a bunch of pearl and metallic colors in the 120 set. I found a website once in which they sold them (Mungyos), only they looked different than what is in the set I have (the artists soft) set.
@@kdj.imagery4317 There used to be neon and metallic colors too in the 120-color set, but the newer sets have muted, light tones instead. Much better in my opinion. I actually like using neon colors, but I think the 120 set is a lot more professional and a lot more usable without them.
@@viktoriaballa9730 Geese, don't tell me the 120 set consists of 72 of the normal colors and the rest is the muted neon tones? If that's the case...YIKES! 'Cause I was thinking of buying a set, the 120's that is.
@@kdj.imagery4317 Noooo. 😄 The old 120 set had some extra normal colors and some neon and metallic ones. The new 120 set has no neons and metallics whatsoever. Insead of those neon and metallic colors that they removed, they added muted light colors. Those are much more useful than neons and metallics that no one used. The muted ones have some pinks, blues, greys, etc. Try to find a color chart online of the 120 set, and if you see no neon colors in it, that's the one you are looking for.
They have done away with all Neon and just replaced with some muted tones, a much better idea! Neon colours are also not light fast!