I choose some prismacolor pencils mostly among LF I to LF III ratings and a few pinks and violets to fill the gaps in color spectrum. Thankfully most of them are resistant to light and with careful selection you can get a fairly lightfast range of prismacolor pencils.
Great video have a lot of Derwent pencils, Faber castell, prismacolor, Lyra, Jasart ,staedler, Kmart Monte marte ,Carand'Ache pencils wondering what the lightfast ratings of the cheaper pencils are.
Hi there! :) I don't buy any more pencils right now, as I have everything I need. So this was just a test of what I had. I'm currently testing the luminance from Caran d'Ache, but that's it. I have no interest in buying more from Faber Castell either, after the poor results of the polychromos.
@@stephanie.kilgast FYI there's no real need to test the Luminance pencils for lightfastness as they have the ASTM-6901 certification and that's the highest you can get in colour pencils. If you've already undertaken this it would be good to know the results though.
Thank you for sharing!! I'm quite angry though to see the polychromos where not up to their lightfastness claims 😨 I will be testing my 120 set, which was bought in 2021
Merci pour cette vidéo très intéressante 😊 Pour le papier qui jaunit, normalement c’est à cause de la cellulose qui le compose. Même s’il est sans acide. C’est la lignine contenue dans la cellulose qui provoque ce jaunissement même à l’abri de la lumière mais ça sera moins rapide (on peut le voir sur les livres qui jaunissent plus ou moins vite selon la qualité de papier). Un papier 100% coton ne jaunira pas, c’est pourquoi il est préférable d’utiliser un papier 100% coton pour un dessin destiné à être exposé. Par contre, si tu as utilisé le même papier pour tous tes tests mais que certains n’ont pas jauni, je ne comprends pas trop pourquoi 😅 Bon voyage en Australie et très belle expo à toi !!
Ah d'accord! Non, justement j'ai utilisé du cotton pour les van gogh, merci! Je ne savais pas du tout. J'utilise que du papier cotton pour mon travail, mais pour les tests, j'avais commencé avec un papier moins qualitatig d'études que j'avais à la maison.
@@stephanie.kilgast De rien ☺️ ah c’est logique alors si c’était du coton pour les Van Gogh, j’ai pas dit de bêtises alors 😆 c’est quand même fou cette variation en si peu de temps ! Encore merci pour ces tests, c’est super
I don't recognize the numbers in the Koh-i-noor 24 set but the colours seem identical to the set that I own. Please can you corfirm it's the Polycolor line? The Polychromos are truly disappointing tho. But oh well at least I know I don't have to save them for "fancy art" and gifts. I cringe thinking that there are artists who use Polychromos and sell their work and are clueless about the massive fading.
I too was concerned by tests I have seen so I’ve done my own lightfast test on Polychromos - a set purchased in the last 10-15 years. The results are very good. I’m thinking the formula must have changed. I will definitely keep using them. I found their own lightfast ratings to be pretty accurate.
I'm not surprised by the results of the Polychromos and these line up with other lightfastness tests carried out on these pencils. Faber Castell don't actually have ISO or ASTM certification for lightfastness - they only have a manufacturer star rating on the side based on their own internal testing method. They're roughly the equivalent of Derwent Procolour and Coloursoft in terms of lightfastness.
quel boulot impressionnant j'aurais même pas pensé à une perte de coloration des dessins aux crayons impressionnnant ps ils sont beaux ces nuanciers♥ ne les jette pas !! et alors cette expo en Australie?
It is very disappointing. Especially considering their price point. It also makes me a little sad, as I have been in love with their range since I was a little kid.
I saw a short documentary video about Faber-Castell, one of their staff is a chemist, he put the swatched pigments in a microwave-like machine for 100hrs, most of the pinks and violets turned out to be trash while the others are completely fine. Also, I saw someone who tested Polychromos 60 for a whole year, I think he just hanged it in his glass panel window and there were no significant changes in general after 2 years except for a few. I would still stick to the former as they are certificated by Blue wool. You can brag about those ASTM rated pencils, fine I consider it as more advanced testing than Blue wool but they aren't widely available especially if you want to get them in solos.
I know this may not help, but they are available open stock in Japan. Both the regular and watercolor set. I think it's because Royal Talens is current under the Japanese Sakura Group. I got the watercolor pencils on a 40% off deal and I'm thinking of going back for the color pencils (which are on a permanent 20% off deal) in hopes of finding some nice hard leads I can color hair/fine details with.
The yellowing of the paper is because the paper is given a tiny bit of blue to make it appear whiter! It is not a natural white, so the sun takes the paper to the more natural colour
another viewer said it was cellulose paper that would yellow because of lignin. Haven't double checked though, but the cotton paper certainly didn't yellow.
@@stephanie.kilgast it depends on the paper. The "bright whites" may turn creamy even when acid free because of this, the natural white should not change if high quality
it should be criminal to sell so most of these l brands when they fade so badly. i am sorry you ended up with so many fugitive pencils. Kinda makes it discouraging to color anything. and there are different ways of rating them and bleh lol. i wish someone would just sell a blend of all the best lightfast pencils from the various brands. Thank you for this.
Sadly it's not only in the colored pencil world, certain artist-grade paints are sometimes marked as lightfast when they are in fact not at all. That's why it's always best to have pigment information because at least you can pick the safe pigments rather than trust a brand. On the bright side, having so many non-lightfast colored pencils made me use them a lot more in my sketchbook, and at least I've enjoyed using them :)
@@stephanie.kilgast And I guess because of the nature of how sketchbooks are stored and closed the colors may be less likely to fade? That sucks that it happens with paints too. Sure makes me wonder how all the old masters paintings lasted so long. I've seen a painting from 1603 in a museum and sometimes i wonder if that is the real one even though i see the cracks in it. I wonder if it is even possible for one of us to make something that could last that long now? It is very sad, it really makes me discouraged tbh. its why i haven't made stuff in a while.
Oh no, a LOT of old masters paintings have faded (ever noticed the pasty coloration of skins? Alizarin crimson was used a lot in the past but has faded since then) many blues have gone too. A lot of the old paintings look ochre because only the earth tones have survived time. And many had to be restored. We have better pigments now, by far, in the reds quinacridones and pyrroles are much more lightfast and non-toxic, and in the blues, phthalos, and ultramarine are great as well. To be honest, we're pretty lucky nowadays because we have a better understanding of pigments and how they age and also about binders in general. It's also all quite cheap and ready to buy. There are even UV protective varnishes that can help with less lightfast pigments, though I personally don't see the point of using non-lightfast pigments, since there are so many of those easily available. You even have great websites like artiscreation(dot)com for pigment information if you're starting out. So don't let such videos discourage you in the slightest! :) Also most brands do properly rate the lightfastness, it's just better to double-check. My core palette in pigments (just in case - easy to find among different brands and paint types) - reds: PR122 (quinacridone magenta), PR255 (pyrrole red) - blues: phthalo blue PB15:3, ultramarine blue PB29, - yellow: nickel azo yellow PY150 or Benzimidazolone Yellow PY154 (other options: PY153, PY175) black and white You also have cobalts and cadmiums that are very lightfast, but those tend to be very expensive and depending on the medium less versatile. I hope that helps! :) Lastly, yes, sketchbooks don't see the sun all that much so the pigments stay put, even if you're using fluorescent dyes. @@devernepersonal3636
@@stephanie.kilgast You are so incredibly kind to put that responce together for me. I truly appreciate it. Thank you :) I will take this to heart and i will make magic happen :) Yeah i tend to forget when i look at paintings in museums that they didnt always look like that. it was just such a wakeup call when i realized "oh crap! fading!" This helps so incredibly much. This makes me feel better! I will just have to use up what i have the best that i can, and then use this lovely comment of yours as a stepping stone to a brighter more lightfast future. Again thank you so much for all of this. That is going to help me so much more than you can imagine. :)
honestly, as long as you take the pencils who have a high rating 4 or 5 ASTM, those have done great. Sadly they don't give you easy access to that list on their website, but you can find the chart online. I added a link in the description, but you can also online search for the ASTM chart.
@@stephanie.kilgast Whoops, I meant Polychromos. I almost wish I hadn't bought the Polychromos. I only bought the Polychromos because I wanted a lightfast set. I much prefer using Prismacolor for smoothness (mine don't have the breakage problems, don't know why, maybe because I use the Prismacolor sharpener?). Since the difference in lightfastness is negligible (Polychromos worse?), I could have avoided getting the Polychromos. They are pretty though, and thankfully I only bought the 36 set plus a few, so it's fun to have small set... I DID buy the whole 150 set of Prismacolor, a treasure to me that I'll always be thankful I have because I enjoy them SO much. Thank you for the great review.
Thank you for sharing your lightfastness tests. I really appreciate!
Glad you found it helpful!
I choose some prismacolor pencils mostly among LF I to LF III ratings and a few pinks and violets to fill the gaps in color spectrum. Thankfully most of them are resistant to light and with careful selection you can get a fairly lightfast range of prismacolor pencils.
They've got a lot of light-fast ones, so yes, you can easily do that.
Great video have a lot of Derwent pencils, Faber castell, prismacolor, Lyra, Jasart ,staedler, Kmart Monte marte ,Carand'Ache pencils wondering what the lightfast ratings of the cheaper pencils are.
Fascinating! And very informative. Thankyou
you're welcome! ^^
Thank you for the informative video. Hope you have a good trip to your art exhibition in Australia.
thank you!
Please test Faber Castell Albrecht Durer Pencils as well as Staedtler Karat
Hi there! :)
I don't buy any more pencils right now, as I have everything I need. So this was just a test of what I had. I'm currently testing the luminance from Caran d'Ache, but that's it.
I have no interest in buying more from Faber Castell either, after the poor results of the polychromos.
@@stephanie.kilgast FYI there's no real need to test the Luminance pencils for lightfastness as they have the ASTM-6901 certification and that's the highest you can get in colour pencils. If you've already undertaken this it would be good to know the results though.
Thank you for sharing!! I'm quite angry though to see the polychromos where not up to their lightfastness claims 😨
I will be testing my 120 set, which was bought in 2021
Yeah, I was really sad about it.
Merci pour cette vidéo très intéressante 😊 Pour le papier qui jaunit, normalement c’est à cause de la cellulose qui le compose. Même s’il est sans acide. C’est la lignine contenue dans la cellulose qui provoque ce jaunissement même à l’abri de la lumière mais ça sera moins rapide (on peut le voir sur les livres qui jaunissent plus ou moins vite selon la qualité de papier). Un papier 100% coton ne jaunira pas, c’est pourquoi il est préférable d’utiliser un papier 100% coton pour un dessin destiné à être exposé. Par contre, si tu as utilisé le même papier pour tous tes tests mais que certains n’ont pas jauni, je ne comprends pas trop pourquoi 😅 Bon voyage en Australie et très belle expo à toi !!
Ah d'accord! Non, justement j'ai utilisé du cotton pour les van gogh, merci! Je ne savais pas du tout.
J'utilise que du papier cotton pour mon travail, mais pour les tests, j'avais commencé avec un papier moins qualitatig d'études que j'avais à la maison.
@@stephanie.kilgast De rien ☺️ ah c’est logique alors si c’était du coton pour les Van Gogh, j’ai pas dit de bêtises alors 😆 c’est quand même fou cette variation en si peu de temps ! Encore merci pour ces tests, c’est super
This video is very helpful! Thank you!
you're very welcome :)
I don't recognize the numbers in the Koh-i-noor 24 set but the colours seem identical to the set that I own. Please can you corfirm it's the Polycolor line?
The Polychromos are truly disappointing tho. But oh well at least I know I don't have to save them for "fancy art" and gifts. I cringe thinking that there are artists who use Polychromos and sell their work and are clueless about the massive fading.
It bugs me a lot that most polychromos claims 100yr+ LF (***), and performs way worse than Derwent, even the good ones of prismacolor
me too. Especially at that price point. Big disappointment.
I too was concerned by tests I have seen so I’ve done my own lightfast test on Polychromos - a set purchased in the last 10-15 years. The results are very good. I’m thinking the formula must have changed. I will definitely keep using them. I found their own lightfast ratings to be pretty accurate.
I'm not surprised by the results of the Polychromos and these line up with other lightfastness tests carried out on these pencils. Faber Castell don't actually have ISO or ASTM certification for lightfastness - they only have a manufacturer star rating on the side based on their own internal testing method. They're roughly the equivalent of Derwent Procolour and Coloursoft in terms of lightfastness.
quel boulot impressionnant j'aurais même pas pensé à une perte de coloration des dessins aux crayons impressionnnant
ps ils sont beaux ces nuanciers♥ ne les jette pas !! et alors cette expo en Australie?
l'expo est dans un mois et je pars la semaine prochaine :)
@@stephanie.kilgast Ok merci Stéphanie bons préparatifs alors
Polychromos is not as lightfast as they claimed, it disappoints me a lot despite its nice package and smooth lead texture.
If Faber Castell have a pigment into about polychromos it is more obvious to know which colors are lightfast and which are not.
It is very disappointing. Especially considering their price point.
It also makes me a little sad, as I have been in love with their range since I was a little kid.
@@stephanie.kilgast So we should take the lightfastness information manufacturer provided with a grain of salt.
I saw a short documentary video about Faber-Castell, one of their staff is a chemist, he put the swatched pigments in a microwave-like machine for 100hrs, most of the pinks and violets turned out to be trash while the others are completely fine.
Also, I saw someone who tested Polychromos 60 for a whole year, I think he just hanged it in his glass panel window and there were no significant changes in general after 2 years except for a few.
I would still stick to the former as they are certificated by Blue wool. You can brag about those ASTM rated pencils, fine I consider it as more advanced testing than Blue wool but they aren't widely available especially if you want to get them in solos.
The Van Gogh are so underrated, I don't think they are available open stock which is a shame. They could compete with the more expensive brands.
I've never seen them open stock indeed.
I know this may not help, but they are available open stock in Japan. Both the regular and watercolor set. I think it's because Royal Talens is current under the Japanese Sakura Group. I got the watercolor pencils on a 40% off deal and I'm thinking of going back for the color pencils (which are on a permanent 20% off deal) in hopes of finding some nice hard leads I can color hair/fine details with.
The yellowing of the paper is because the paper is given a tiny bit of blue to make it appear whiter! It is not a natural white, so the sun takes the paper to the more natural colour
another viewer said it was cellulose paper that would yellow because of lignin. Haven't double checked though, but the cotton paper certainly didn't yellow.
@@stephanie.kilgast it depends on the paper. The "bright whites" may turn creamy even when acid free because of this, the natural white should not change if high quality
it should be criminal to sell so most of these l brands when they fade so badly. i am sorry you ended up with so many fugitive pencils. Kinda makes it discouraging to color anything. and there are different ways of rating them and bleh lol. i wish someone would just sell a blend of all the best lightfast pencils from the various brands. Thank you for this.
Sadly it's not only in the colored pencil world, certain artist-grade paints are sometimes marked as lightfast when they are in fact not at all.
That's why it's always best to have pigment information because at least you can pick the safe pigments rather than trust a brand.
On the bright side, having so many non-lightfast colored pencils made me use them a lot more in my sketchbook, and at least I've enjoyed using them :)
@@stephanie.kilgast And I guess because of the nature of how sketchbooks are stored and closed the colors may be less likely to fade? That sucks that it happens with paints too. Sure makes me wonder how all the old masters paintings lasted so long. I've seen a painting from 1603 in a museum and sometimes i wonder if that is the real one even though i see the cracks in it. I wonder if it is even possible for one of us to make something that could last that long now? It is very sad, it really makes me discouraged tbh. its why i haven't made stuff in a while.
Oh no, a LOT of old masters paintings have faded (ever noticed the pasty coloration of skins? Alizarin crimson was used a lot in the past but has faded since then) many blues have gone too.
A lot of the old paintings look ochre because only the earth tones have survived time. And many had to be restored.
We have better pigments now, by far, in the reds quinacridones and pyrroles are much more lightfast and non-toxic, and in the blues, phthalos, and ultramarine are great as well.
To be honest, we're pretty lucky nowadays because we have a better understanding of pigments and how they age and also about binders in general. It's also all quite cheap and ready to buy.
There are even UV protective varnishes that can help with less lightfast pigments, though I personally don't see the point of using non-lightfast pigments, since there are so many of those easily available.
You even have great websites like artiscreation(dot)com for pigment information if you're starting out. So don't let such videos discourage you in the slightest! :) Also most brands do properly rate the lightfastness, it's just better to double-check.
My core palette in pigments (just in case - easy to find among different brands and paint types)
- reds: PR122 (quinacridone magenta), PR255 (pyrrole red)
- blues: phthalo blue PB15:3, ultramarine blue PB29,
- yellow: nickel azo yellow PY150
or Benzimidazolone Yellow PY154
(other options: PY153, PY175)
black and white
You also have cobalts and cadmiums that are very lightfast, but those tend to be very expensive and depending on the medium less versatile.
I hope that helps! :)
Lastly, yes, sketchbooks don't see the sun all that much so the pigments stay put, even if you're using fluorescent dyes.
@@devernepersonal3636
@@stephanie.kilgast You are so incredibly kind to put that responce together for me. I truly appreciate it. Thank you :) I will take this to heart and i will make magic happen :) Yeah i tend to forget when i look at paintings in museums that they didnt always look like that. it was just such a wakeup call when i realized "oh crap! fading!" This helps so incredibly much. This makes me feel better! I will just have to use up what i have the best that i can, and then use this lovely comment of yours as a stepping stone to a brighter more lightfast future. Again thank you so much for all of this. That is going to help me so much more than you can imagine. :)
Ah, I'm really glad I could help! Have fun creating then :)@@devernepersonal3636
Ew boy. I am shocked. I almost wish I hadn't bought my Prismacolor.
honestly, as long as you take the pencils who have a high rating 4 or 5 ASTM, those have done great. Sadly they don't give you easy access to that list on their website, but you can find the chart online. I added a link in the description, but you can also online search for the ASTM chart.
@@stephanie.kilgast Whoops, I meant Polychromos. I almost wish I hadn't bought the Polychromos. I only bought the Polychromos because I wanted a lightfast set. I much prefer using Prismacolor for smoothness (mine don't have the breakage problems, don't know why, maybe because I use the Prismacolor sharpener?). Since the difference in lightfastness is negligible (Polychromos worse?), I could have avoided getting the Polychromos. They are pretty though, and thankfully I only bought the 36 set plus a few, so it's fun to have small set... I DID buy the whole 150 set of Prismacolor, a treasure to me that I'll always be thankful I have because I enjoy them SO much. Thank you for the great review.