Spectrum Noir Colorista Pencils Review

I received this product for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the product or the content of my review.

Review of 3 sets of the Spectrum Noir Colorista range of pencils developed for adult coloring books

This post contains affiliate links you can use to purchase the product. If you buy a book using that link, I will receive a small commission. This does not affect the price that you pay. Your support is very much appreciated x

I hope you enjoyed the video review of  the Colorista pencils including the tips on blending the pencils.     Please bear in mind, that I am a beginner colorist.

Background

Spectrum Noir is part of  the  Crafters Companion brand.  Crafters Companion was founded by Sara Davies  in 2005.   You will see Sara in many of the videos produced by the company.  The company creates a range of coloring products for crafters and colorists with an emphasis on paper crafting.

The company produces a range of tutorial videos which you may find helpful if you are just starting out in the coloring world.   You can find these videos on You Tube.  In addition, they have a free coloring course that you can sign up for here.

Types

They have developed a line of products under the Colorista brand for  adult colorists.     This range includes coloring pads, cards, pencils and markers.

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They also have a higher end range of coloring pencils called ColourBlend which I have reviewed here.

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The Colorista pencils are packaged in packs of 8 pencils.   In total there are 48 pencils in the set.  Each set is labelled, Set 1, Set 2 and so on.   The pencils are not loose in the pack but fitted to a little tray to ensure that they ship without needless damage.

In each pack the pencils that are included should work  together using the Spectrum Noir coloring system.  You can easily see which colors are included in the pack by looking at the color palette image in the bottom left of the pack.

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[easyazon_image align=”none” height=”500″ identifier=”B01M1EKG94″ locale=”US” src=”http://coloringqueen.net/my_content/uploads/2017/09/41fAxEUAoL.jpg” tag=”mygamingweb-20″ width=”194″]	[easyazon_image align=”none” height=”500″ identifier=”B01LT124BQ” locale=”US” src=”http://coloringqueen.net/my_content/uploads/2017/09/41c2BdsVExL.jpg” tag=”mygamingweb-20″ width=”194″]	[easyazon_image align=”none” height=”500″ identifier=”B01LWUZBPD” locale=”US” src=”http://coloringqueen.net/my_content/uploads/2017/09/41kr2NLf96L.jpg” tag=”mygamingweb-20″ width=”194″]

Pencil Specs

The Colorista pencils are wax based pencils which means they will blend easily and are generally softer than oil based.

Colorista pencils measure 17.5 cm approximately from barrel to tip.    They are pre-sharpened.

You can see the Colorista pencil barrel in comparison to other brands like Marco Raffine, Crayola and Colleen pencils below.

The image below shows the centering of the lead in the pencil which makes for easy sharpening and avoids breakages.  There was one pencil in my set that the core was not completely centered.

User Experience

The picture in the video was  colored entirely with the Colorista pencils.  I was impressed with how much pigment the pencils had.     The pencils feel creamy, like most wax based pencils, but there was no evidence of wax bloom on the picture that I colored.  I colored my page from the Spectrum Noir Colorista gold foil pads that I have previously reviewed here.

Color Swatch

There are 6 sets in the range.    My color swatch in the video only shows the 3 sets that I was provided with from Spectrum Noir.

There is no pencil name or number on the barrel so it is a little difficult to remember which pencil you have used.    As a way around that,  I will add a sticky label to the pencil giving it a number, and update my color swatch to reflect each number.

[embeddoc url=”http://s3.amazonaws.com/coloring-queen/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/09194008/Colorista_Pencils_Colour_Chart_2017.pdf” download=”none”]

You can download a blank color swatch for the Colorista pencils here or the precolored one above.

Sharpening

Spectrum Noir do make a pencil sharpener for use with their pencils but I do not own it.    As usual,  I used my little Steadtler pencil sharpener that I am quite fond of.    You can see how easily the pencils sharpened in the video above.

Erasing

I tested three erasers my Lyra plastic eraser,  my Faber Castell double ended eraser and my favorite,  Tombow sand eraser.  I erased a small area in the middle that I had colored on 80gsm copy paper.   With thin paper I am always wary that my Tombow is too much power for thin paper.   Even though it is the better eraser our of the three for me, I prefer the Faber Castell as there is less risk of damaging the paper.

Layering & Blending

I added a few very light layers of different shades of pencil to the image above.   A blend of a light color, then a darker with a medium to blend out was used on the blue parts of the image.

The image below is after the blending tools were used in the video.

In the video above I used a few blending methods:

• blending stump on its own to blend the colors;
• blending stump with gamsol.   Note: Spectrum Noir do make their own gamsol product but as I did not have that, so I used the one I own.  I do not know if results would be different with their own branded product; and
• Spectrum Noir blender pen

Spectrum Noir do make a pencil blending set, but I do not own it.  It contains a sanding pad, sharpener, eraser and other accessories.

[easyazon_image align=”center” height=”1000″ identifier=”B01HBSPL4S” locale=”US” src=”http://coloringqueen.net/my_content/uploads/2017/09/51v4n3KGWnL.jpg” tag=”mygamingweb-20″ width=”355″]

As always,  I find the blender pen to be the fastest and easiest solution for me, causing less strain on my wrist.   The colors blend easily with any method however.

Pros

• Affordable starter set of colored pencils that hold pigment well and blend easily

Cons

• Pencils not sold individually as open stock.   When a  pencil has worn down the set of 8 would have to be purchased.

Where to buy Spectrum Noir Colorista Pencil sets

The pencils are sold in 6 packs of 8 and not in a bundle containing the whole range.

[easyazon_link identifier=”B01M0H2ZQQ” locale=”US” tag=”mygamingweb-20″]Set 1[/easyazon_link]

[easyazon_link identifier=”B01N3N5YQ4″ locale=”US” tag=”mygamingweb-20″]Set 2[/easyazon_link]

[easyazon_link identifier=”B01N8QXRS7″ locale=”US” tag=”mygamingweb-20″]Set 3[/easyazon_link]

[easyazon_link identifier=”B01LT124BQ” locale=”US” tag=”mygamingweb-20″]Set 4[/easyazon_link]

[easyazon_link identifier=”B01LYIU6OR” locale=”US” tag=”mygamingweb-20″]Set 5[/easyazon_link]

[easyazon_link identifier=”B01M1EKG94″ locale=”US” tag=”mygamingweb-20″]Set 6[/easyazon_link]

I hope you enjoyed the review of the Spectrum Noir colorista pencils featuring sets 1-3 and an image used from the Colorista coloring pads.

Happy coloring x

Lea

 

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