Overall impression of both
Admittedly when I added this medium to my Creative Plan I wasn’t very serious about them. My belief was that if any good was to come from them it was solely to help me loosen up and have some fun.
The multicolour pencils impressed me so much that I extended the time allocated to it. Even the Crayola crayons turned a simple drawing into something quite intriguing.
And as mentioned in past posts, I can be very colour challenged, ie I can only design/illustrate with three colours at a time, so it allowed me to see colour in a different way. A way my conservative mind wouldn’t have allowed me to on its own.
Colour pencils
My preference was for the Daiso pencils because they were normal in size and shape with the lead being soft and pliable. Also, I couldn’t work out why the Kohl-i-noor Magic pencils always came out a bit muddy or dirty in comparison to the Daiso ones.
On closer examination I could see where the issue was. The Kohl pencils had all their colours zig-zagged within the lead. The upside is so no matter what side of the pencil or angle you used all three colours would come out. But that also meant overlap, so the darker colour might dominate over the brighter ones.
You can see with the picture below, the middle drawing was made with the Kohl pencil that contains yellow, bright blue and maroon but the colours are more earthier and blended. Admittedly my photo is very dull but even in comparison to the Daiso example its not as vibrant.
If the pencil itself was more comfortable to hold and the lead itself wasn’t so rough, it would be a great artist’s tool.
The Daiso pencil lead however is segmented like a pie chart which allows for each colour to come through cleanly. You do have to rotate the pencil to work in all the colours but I tend to do that with an ordinary 2b graphite anyway.
The colour difference is with the Kohl pencils the brighter colours act as highlights or dashes of brightness, whereas the Daiso every colour can have its moment.
Yes? No? for future
Without a doubt I will be using more of the Daiso pencil, in fact I’ve been looking online for a better sources for these pencils because in-store they only come in two, wrapped in plastic – which I loathe. They don’t feel like a novelty item at all and using the right paper I’m sure you could achieve some high-end results.
Crayolas
The upside
These were a lot of fun and much better on larger sheets than small.
The downside
They’re always blunt. You could possibly sharpen them but the lead is only about 10cm long so that could eat away at the crayon quickly plus they wouldn’t stay sharp for long so its not worth it.
The other thing I found frustrating was that despite the fact you get eight crayons with different combinations, the majority of those combinations are made up of the same ten colours. So despite my idea of using a combination of two or three crayons for one drawing you may find that collectively there are only six colours in use. Sometimes you’d also have to angle or turn the crayon to get the other colours to come out as well.
Yes? No? for future
This is a fun tool, as the name implies, but I don’t think I can include it as a regular art-making tool. It’s too clumsy and limited in its handling.
Though if you’re in a bit of a funk they’re perfect to play around with for inspiration. There’s also some potential to create interesting things with watercolours or other mediums I’m sure, but work big.
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The Creative Plan – Part 2 Multicolour Pencil
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