For the first time in my life I have done a video review. I ordered the Bruynzeel Design pencils last week and when I got them in I figured….well, might as well review them as I unbox them myself. I reviewed them in the video in Dutch, so here is the written review in English :)
I had found a 100 set at some point earlier, but seeing that those are pencils that can no longer be obtained anywhere I figured I needed a new set. So now I have a 100 set which is a collectors item, and the currently biggest set of 48. The problem is, is that these pencils are pretty good so now I want to use all the other colors from the other set as well!
For the technical side of things you can always visit the Art Gear Guide (link below), he does art gear reviews better than anyone I know. I would like to give you my opinion however, and what he never does, and I will a comparison as to how they feel to me when I color with them.
This pencil is a slightly thinner pencil. When I compare to other pencils, and take polychromos to be a standard, then the Derwent’s are often a mm thicker, and these are a mm thinner. The pencil feels similar to the lyra polycolor when you hold it in your hand, and feels lighter than the prismacolor.
You would ask why this is important. Well I personally get a really sore hand from the Derwent pencils. I also like the luminance less for this same reason. Even though everybody is absolutely crazy about those.
I love the polychromos pencils, I seem to never get tired hands when I work with those….these pencils however, are pleasant in my hands, but feel a tiny bit too thing. The example drawing you can find next to this post I also had to do it in two evenings because my hands simply got tired.
That said I am very impressed with the way these pencils perform. They are very pigmented, not as pigmented as the prismacolors and luminance, but I can get a decent layer of color out of them. They feel nice when you lay them down. They are not as waxy as the prismacolors, and not as smooth as the polychromos. The luminance feel a bit more chalky than these. The Pablos are a tad smoother, but those are closer in comparison. I guess the best comparison stays the Lyra Polycolors.
They are not the cheapest pencils out there, but I do think they are worth the money. I have the Brutfuner square and the Arteza pencils and personally I would grab these before I grab those. But that’s a personal preference. Perhaps also because I like the packaging and funny enough….it’s sometimes nice to have less choice of colors…even though my standard is this massive combined set of over 400 pencils….a smaller set makes for less decision stress.
The pencils sell for 28,99 at amazon.nl here in the Netherlands, and I you buy them through this link I get a small commission for them:
Bruynzeel Design Coloured Pencils - 48 set
The picture I colored is from the book Keepers of the Enchanted Forest by Julia Rivers, for the flipthrough video you can go here: Keepers of the Enchanted Forest by Julia Rivers - flipthrough
To buy this book I had to go to Amazon usa…for some reason I could not get it here. This link.
If you want to read the full review from the Art Gear Guide, use this link: