Faber-Castell Polychromos colored pencils are high quality and oil based. They are mostly lightfast or light resistant. In this post I take a look at how these pencils perform. For those who want to try these pencils for themselves, I have included my Amazon US and UK affiliate links and my MisterArt affiliate links down below.
These pencils come in sets of 12, 24, 36, 60, and 120. I purchased the 24 set on Amazon. Currently this set is priced at $29. The sets range from $18 to $151 depending on the size. The pencils are also available open stock on Misterart.com or dickblick.com for around $2 a piece.
The back of the tin has all the colors in the set and some information about these pencils.
Cutie Boots gave them the smell test. He said that they didn't smell like fish. He was disappointed.
Inside the tin there was a pamphlet with tips on techniques and the lightfast rating for each color is listed. The set of 24 has a nice selection of common colors including several browns.
Doodlin ' Time!
The Polychromos colored pencils have the color name and number listed on them. I think these pencils have a smooth feel and blend really well. These pencils are highly pigmented and the colors are nice and bright. They are not as soft as Prismacolors, but pretty close. I still like the feel of Prismacolors the best, but I think these pencils are a bit better rated on lightfastness.
'Swallow-Tailed Hummingbird'
by Ellie Taylor
I created a picture of a blue swallow-tailed hummingbird getting nectar from a flower. On Strathmore Colored pencil paper, I used a cross hatch pattern of orange, yellow, and brown for the background. I blended yellows, browns, and reds on the flowers and greens on the leaves. On the hummingbird I used blues, reds, greens, and greys. The blues and greens blended together very well on the feathers. For the white highlights, I used an acrylic Posca pen. There was no problem adding the white highlight on the Polychromos pencils. I think these colored pencils are my second favorite kind, Prismacolors are still my favorite because of their softness and easy blending properties.
These Faber-Castell Polychromos colored pencils are definitely artist quality pencils and can be used to make professional art pieces. Their price is higher than Prismacolors, but still more affordable than many other artist quality pencils.
This picture is available for sale on my ebay store at https://www.ebay.com/str/ellietaylorartist