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DERWENT
( The Cumberland Pencil Company )
DERWENT market the biggest range of Coloured Pencil brands and are possibly the most active in producing new products.
At the core of the range are the hardest of the pencils and some of the longest in their production,
ARTIST and STUDIO. These are most suitable on a hard surface paper like cartridge or a smooth (HP) watercolour paper.
There are a good range of greens and landscape colours and some unique shades. Most colours match across the two lines, the only difference being that ARTIST is sold in 120 colours, round barrelled with a 4mm core, and STUDIO is sold in 72 colours, Hexagonal barrel, and 3.4mm core. The Pencils in these two lines were designed many years ago and there are a larger than average number with low lightfastness. They are good pencils, though, and a lot of professional artists still rely on them.
See the Derwent site for official colour charts and ratings. www.pencils.co.uk
See also the Penciltopics chart taken from the actual pencils and available as part of the colour comparison set from this site
Derwent WATERCOLOUR pencils have been in production for many years and were replaced in 2009. The old design had Turquoise coloured wood and came in 72 colours. Some of the colours in the original line had very low lightfastness ratings.
I liked the old pencils which are medium hardness and handle well.
The new line still has 72 colours ( some new ), a softer core and higher lightfastness levels. The Derwent website does now give details, but it is not clear whether the lightfastness and colour chart shown ( August 2009 ) relates to the old or the new formulation. If the new ones, then there are still some poor ratings in some colours. I did use the new formula pencils for a picture over the 4 days of the Art Materials Live Show at the NEC in November 2009 and they worked well. A little softer than I like and I had to revert to other slightly firmer pencils for end detail, but the result was very acceptable.
I have had comment from a user of the new pencils who took them to Tunisia in temperatures
of 30 degrees and found they were inclined to soften and break easily. I think that
this could well be a problem for many of the softer cored brands. My suggestion
is to keep all Wax and oil based coloured pencils in cool conditions if you are working
in a hot climate -
See also the Penciltopics chart taken from the actual pencils and available as part of the colour comparison set from this site
Derwent Watercolour 2010 chart
If you wish to try Aquarelles ( water soluble pencils ) and notice sets of the old Derwent turquoise coloured watercolour pencils on sale at a good price, take advantage of the offer. You may see deals like ‘half original price’ and the old pencils are good, even if they are a little harder to the touch than the new ones. You may even get a fancy wooden box with them !!!! And you may also find they work well in Tunisia.
INKTENSE have been one of Derwent’s more successful innovations. There are 71 colours in the full set with a non soluble black outliner making 72 pencils in all. These are water soluble pencils which erase as a dry medium, but once washed in with water, are permanent on the paper. Don’t confuse permanence with Lightfastness, there are still a number of lower rated pigments here, though not too many. A good option if you work with bright or strong colours. A number of professional artists like them for underpainting the paper before adding dry colour. It speeds up the painting process a great deal. There is quite a major step up in colour strength when wet, and you need to know what the effect of water is going to be before you set out on a picture. I suggest the need for you to do your own chart showing the colours both dry state and also after wetting. The darker colours come up very strong ( see linked chart ) and only show differences when well diluted. I strongly advise that the first time you use them, you test the pencils and paper out first, and keep your pigment strength low on the paper until you are used to them. They Probably have the highest colour strength of any aquarelle pencils.
See the Penciltopics chart linked to this page and to the Colour Comparisons section Derwent Inktense Chart
In 2011 Derwent have introduced a further new product in the Inktense group -
COLOURSOFT are the Derwent answer to the American Prismacolor. A soft wax pencil in strong bright colours in a range of 72. The Earth colours are totally light stable but there are a few in the light shades ( e.g. Pink) to be cautious over the risk of fading.
These pencils handle well, though the 8mm round barrel does not fit in all power sharpeners and that can be inconvenient.
See also the Penciltopics chart taken from the actual pencils and available as part of the colour comparison set from this site
DRAWING. This small range of 24 natural colours are all totally light stable. The wax based pencils are on the hard side and suit a hard surfaced paper. A long standing range in the Derwent collection with some good colours for portraits and animal studies.
GRAPHITINT a water soluble coloured graphite pencil, There is a range of 24 colours. When dry colour is applied they are all shades of grey. The colour only really comes out when water is applied. The original formula was very low on fade resistance in half of the colours and the range was therefore not recommended, but an upgrade has resulted in only 4 of the colours now having a low blue wool scale rating. Very soluble and an interesting collection of shadow colours which will appeal to those looking for a different approach to colour.
There is a Penciltopics standard chart for Derwent Graphitint colours. This enables you to match the colours dry to other brands but a wash version of each colour is also shown
METALLIC An interesting line of 12 reflective colours which do excellent work on dark papers.
Best used alone -
All the new lines from Derwent are manufactured in a state of the art factory which operates to top environmental standards.
The paint used to colour the wood of the pencils is environmentally sound and uses no solvents.
Derwent seem to be standardising on sets of 72 colours which will enable them to market pencils in standard sized tins and boxes. For the serious artist, this may reduce the colour choice if the older lines are totally wihdrawn, as the main competitors are selling sets up to 120 colours in range.
Derwent also make a Blender pencil and a Burnisher pencil -
Among Accessories marketed by this company, are a battery eraser, various sharpeners, pencil extenders and tools for manipulating the colour on the paper.
Latest revision April 2010
Coloured Pencil BRANDS
LIGHTFASTNESS of pencils 1 and LIGHTFASTNESS 2 ( some test5s carried out in strong sunlight by a reader
PRICE & CONTENT of Coloured Pencils : COLOUR COMPARISONS between brands :
and a listing page by page of the various manufacturers selling Coloured Pencils in the United Kingdom and in Europe.
DERWENT ; FABER-
DALER ROWNEY ; CONTE ; CRETACOLOR.