Oh I JUST noticed the full 72 set on Amazon US last night. I am so excited for these. I love the 24 set I bought and I honestly love most Derwent pencils and products Edit* like you said, thus isn't a set I'd use for any commission work, but any time I am creating for myself, or doing some coloring, this is what I would use. While I prefer a harder, oil based pencil, these have a lot of oil based characteristics while still blending like butter. The first things I ever ever drew with the 24 set I had were Ballerina Tulips. They're gorgeous, vivid orange flower with beautiful shades of orange. The oranges and yellows from the 24 set alone just created such beautiful shades and blends. I know that they might not be ideal for everyone. But if I've said it once I've said it 1000 times- I have a lot of Derwent sets, amd I'd have them all if finances allowed. And Derwent sets, when they are created, I REALLY feel they are made to work WITH the other sets and fill any absences in their full colored pencil line, rather than function on their own. Surely they CAN stand on their own but Derwent pencils SHINE when used with other Derwent sets. Im sure I should like I work for Derwent but I swear I wish I did lol. I have beautiful pictures I've created using a mix of Lightfast for full, opaque color, Derwent Artist pencils for fur and hair, Drawing pencils for highlights and lowlights, graphitint for shadows, Procolour for details, and Coloursoft for fuzzy, out of focus details. I think they're a speciality brand which creates specialty sets to fill an exact purpose. Rather than create a set that does EVERYTHING kind off half assed, they create very specific sets that do 1 thing perfectly. While it is expensive has hell to get all the sets and use them together, it is also the only way to see all of these pencils at their best.
Thank you for your review of the Derwent Chromaflow pencils. After I saw your swatch chart of those brilliant colors and your review, I went to Amazon US and ordered them. Yes, they are pricey, but my desire to have those beautiful colors was much stronger than me not wanting to pay the price to have them in my hand. The International Shipping price was waived as well, so that helped compensate for the overall purchase price. Your Botanical drawing with these pencils was amazing. You are so skilled with color blending, highlights and shadows and the fine lines of the leaf veins... such beautiful work.
So, I bought the 150 set and I really REALLY loved the color combo they made BUT I had struggles when sharpening every damn pencil. I did sadly return them and I still mourning them. 😢. Now I am looking at your review and I am so glad you mentioned the wood and composition of it, I too, noticed to be more of wood bristles stuck together to make the barrel than actual wood.
I was lucky to see the 24 set quite cheap (£24.99), so I treated myself and I'm glad I did. I love them, they feel so wonderful to use. I was intrigued by your comparison to Coloursoft. The "dryer" feel didn't sound as nice, so I wasn't going to bother, but then curiousity set in and I bought a small set. And your description is spot on, but actually the Coloursoft feel lovely to use too. So far, I've found they work very well together, and helps bump up the colour range. I do really like watching your reviews, you're very impartial, which is not always easy to find in review videos. You weigh up each, good and bad, and that's exactly what I'm after. I don't want to be "told" which I should buy, but hearing the pros and cons let's me make up my own mind.
thank you for all your information .ive been an artist for 27 years ,it wasnt till a few years ago that i even knew about lightfastness i am into watercolor now big time ,i got the 12 set of these pencils ,im just now drawing im used to painting in acrylics ,i love all art supplies.
I broke up with Prismacolor this year after getting a bad set, then a bad replacement set. Then these went on a holiday sale. I can’t wait to get stuck into this set. I love the way the colors look and lay down. Coloursoft was too soft for me, but Chromaflow seems perfect for me.
There are a LOT of people who are not professional artists who enjoy using nice pencils. Lightfastness doesn’t concern me though it will a professional artist.
If you are making prints or using the art for online purposes lightfastness doesn’t matter. Copics aren’t lightfast either and are used for professional purposes.
Yep I am one of those people, I would use only use Luminance, Lightfast and Holbein if I could afford it, but I do color a lot of Prisma and Poly Chromos. However as I get better lightfast is becoming more important to me to keep work for my family as I get older
Thank you so much Harry for be so honest, because sometimes it's necessary to say if the colored pencils are for professional artists, or just for coloring in books, thank you very much for such an in-depth review. Many blessings Harry!❤🤗❤
Timely review! A Derwent online shop recently opened in our country. currently offering Chromaflow 24 for about $25 with free burnisher, blender and kneadable eraser. Bought it coz of the deal.
Part of me will miss hearing your kids - but I’m sure most folks will appreciate the lack of distractions. Congratulations on the new studio - I’m envious of having a dedicated space! I always watch the reviews first and then go to the Blog.
I waited until November 2023 to buy the 72 set. I have to admit I’m in LOVE with these pencils. They work perfectly with Prismacolors. I hope more colors come forth!!
Unfortunately Lori I think Derwent favour the 72 count for their pencils, I would also love to see a larger count. Hope you are well and thank you so much for your support
Thank you Harry for another wonderful review! 💕 A little tip when blending pencils. If you want to mix a very clean grass green you use a cold blue (like the chromaflow Blue) and a cold yellow (a lemon Yellow, like citrus wellow or Yellow Lime). If you want to mix a nice purple you should use a cold red or magenta with a warm blue, like Ultramarine (here called Violet Blue). Watercolour artists are very aware of this but colored pencil artists don't talk so much about pigments and mixing and I see this mistake a lot in reviews, where the artists says the pencils don't mix well, but the reason is the choise of colors they mix.
I love the range of colors. I'm from the US and totally love Derwent products and this set is no different. I love that the range of browns. So many times I don't get a nice range of browns. I want to eventually have the complete set. Thanks for your review. Never disappoint.
I'm a satisfied owner of the Derwent Lightfast pencils and will stick to that. The full set of chromaflow (72) costs more than the prismacolor premier 150s. Will stick to my Premier pencil for the soft creamy core feel. Thanks Harry!
Prismacolor are manufactured in a huge factory in Mexico while these are made in the Derwent factory in England. That alone makes it impossible for Derwent to match the price of Prismacolors. I'm also inclined to believe that the quality control on these is way better (we all know that's the downfall of Prismacolors) but I can't say that for sure. If you ask me, Derwent is taking advantage of the "omg we need to find a Prismacolor dupe at all costs" craze in the coloring community. Hell, they're a pencil company. Let them make as many ranges of pencils as they want. 😂
@@RamoArt derwent does make quality pencils I never compared the built of the pencils. My point was on the choice of colors 150 vs 72. I'm pretty sure that the folks at prismacolor would've know the bad reputation their pencils have. They must've simply ignore it as maybe they feel its the only way to keep the cost down.
I bought the 24 set and loved them from the off, apart from the sharpening issues of a couple of them. The T’gaal saved the day. Horrible thing but it has its uses. Loved the review Harry and a bit jealous of your new man-shed! Really missed seeing you swatch them though.
I love these pencils, waiting for the price to drop to get the 72 set. I use the staedtler double hole tub sharpener and they come up great. I'm new to Adult colouring books and at the moment I prefer chromoflow to prismacolor. (need more practice with them) thanks for a great review.
Great review as usual Harry. I have loved the Chromoflow pencils since the original release and will be purchasing the 72 set when they are available again. They have been sold out, I am patiently awaiting for stock. Thanks again for the review, I love having a reviewer who I trust completely!
24:19 that one single heavy application of the red shade on the Hannamule paper looks like marker. Now I LOVE Derwent. Love them. I use Lightfast, Drawing, Procolour and FC Plolychromos in my own artwork. But when I do adult coloring or art in my sketchbooks, I use these, the Coloursoft and the Procolour in conjunction with each other. They're lovely and they all compliment each other so well. Those 3 sets are all you need for adult coloring or beginning coloring if you want go with Derwent. I love it because I get to experience their range of high quality and well thought out pencils in different levels of hardness and softness and textures. Derwent makes excellent quality art stuff and I envy you for being so close to the Derwent museum!
I am in Australia and cannot possibly afford the volatile when for less I can buy 150 prisma's. I am hoping you are right Harry that the price will go down, even when I went to Derwent to buy them they were Au$200+, which shocked me to the core for 72 pencils. I have avoided buying the smaller sets in the hope that Derwent would bring out a larger set and I am disappointed to be unable to justify the cost. Even on Aussie Amazon they had to be shipped from the UK & my worry is that being such a soft lead that I would end up with broken cores. My friend in the USA has purchased them and paid US$145. I think the price will dissuade ppl from.purchasing these pencils as it has me & I love my Derwent pencils but being able to get 150 prismacolour cheaper is absolutely astounding. Thanks for your review Harry, love your new set up. Much love & *Virtual hugs* xxx
Hullo Harry! I am glad that you have made a video on these pencils! I have used non lightfast supplies for professional art works! I DO NOT recommend it but if you use UV glass and museum quality framing supplies your artwork can last the years without fading. If you sell art created with temporary or limited lightfast ratings without telling your customers that they MUST frame and Matt with professional and Museum quality supplies is wrong. Just my opinion but I feel qualified to speak about this issue. I believe that I have no reason to switch to or buy these pencils. I am sure new to the field artists may consider a purchase of these pencils! I am excited for your “shed” I am wondering if you have looked into solar power? I know that you have a lot of cloud coverage in Great Britain, I have read of new technology that works with UV and that comes through the clouds! Direct sunlight is best but not essential for panels to create electricity! I am going to go check on your artwork video! See ya ver there!
Thanks for the review and demonstration of pencil characteristics. I always love your in-depth and informative reviews. I like the Derwent Inktense pencils, but I may have to pass on these, since whoosh, at just under $150 for 72, they are expensive. Better than double the price for the same number of Prismacolor which comes in at $59.
I find the quality control on Prismas to be pretty terrible now. I have a lot of problems with off-center cores and cores crumbled or broken into several pieces and loose inside the wood casing.
Great review Harry! The only complaint being the music during the OMS part. But thankfully we have a mute button. 😉Now that there are 72 pencils I’m getting them! 😀 I love all Derwent products. The Derwent Drawing being my favorite! Here it is 3 months later and the Chromaflow are running $107 for the 72 set. From your written review it sounds like they dropped about $40. Now I’m off to see the new art shed video!
Choosing good copyright free music is so difficult, I once sat for over two hours, listening to copyright free clips and it was driving me mad because it was such a waste of time.
Got mine the second I saw them on Derwent's website and I absolutely love them. I really liked the 24 set so I was so pleased they've expanded this to their 72 size range. The colours are very vibrant, although I did have six pencils that had broken tips/broke when sharpening. I think that's a lot to do with the cores just being that much smaller than most other Derwent pencil product ranges and I was using a Helix helical bladed crank handle sharpener which is usually failproof.
Hi Mirrigold, I know what you are saying. Thing is I have every set of pencils Derwent make and I have extensively tested and demonstrated them over the years. Every set that I have tested and demonstrated has been well crafted, strong barrels and well centred cores etc. so I know Derwent make excellent quality pencils and it is this fact that leads me to conclude it has more to do with the incredibly soft core, soft wood barrels and slime line form. However, Derwent are creating such a pencil for demand, there is a large demand for such a pencil and Derwent in my opinion are trying to please their customers whilst gaining new customers. The only other pencils I have experienced problems sharpening with have been the Studio. Again they are a slim barrel pencil but with a much harder core over the Chromaflow. We coloured pencil artists and I very much include myself in this up coming analogy want it all, we want the perfect core, not too hard and not too soft, we want no sharpening issues at all, we want every pencil to be the very highest lightfast be it blue wool or ASTM, we want a palette that is perfect for every genre under the sun and we want them to be almost free if not free. Of course these pencils only exist in our Colored pencil dreams and I am sure, if a pencil company could provide such a pencil, not free bu reasonably priced, I am sure they would. However I don’t think we as the artists have any idea the level of lab testing and all sorts of other scientific tests that go into creating a new batch of Colored pencils that are noticeable different to other pencils on the market. Thank you so much for you amazing comment I really appreciate it.
I love that they've added some new colours to their family. Some of them are 7/8 on the BW scale, so you COULD use those for sellable work. They put the chart back up on their website, so maybe they completed it by the time you filmed this.
Thank you for your thorough review I love my prisma pencils but upon listening to your review I'm excited to buy the cromaflow pencils by Derwent and give them a try I think they would also complement my prisma pencils also
I've had my eyes on them since they have came out! I've seen other YT channels using them, saying about the same thing! It's been awhile since I've looked at the prices since they have came out, so going to look now. Thank you for sharing!❤️🔥🛡️🕊️👍👋👋
Hi Harry, (it's Lindy writing this not Stuart) thanks again for such a comprehensive review. I purchased the 24 set last year and really wasn't sure about them, with there only being 24 colours I didn't really use them but I loved the colours and the vibrancy (I am an adult colouring book artist and tend to use only 1 set of pencils per illustration rather than mixing sets or brands) and to be honest I forgot about them until I saw that larger sets were coming out a month or so ago. I did purchase the 72 set direct from Derwent about a week ago, but got 20% off as a new customer so they were £95 rather than £119 (otherwise I would have waited until the price hopefully dropped). Like you I had huge issues finding a sharper that would work with these pencils as they very slim compared to all my other sets (I have a number of different pencil sharpeners) my Derwent manual helical SuperPoint was way too brutal and I couldn't bear to see how much of the one pencil I did try was lost (lovely sharp point though), the best sharpener I found to work was a cheap one-hole sharpener that came in a tin of Derwent graphite sketching pencils. The Chromaflow pencils fit perfectly in this sharpener and the result is a really nice sharp point with no savage loss to the length of the pencil.
Wow, your studio looks great! Thanks for the update on the Chromaflow pencils. I've been interested in them, but just couldn't justify spending the money with just 24 colors initially available.
so glad to learn of this enlarged set of Chromaflow. I just went to your US Amazon link, and they will ship from UK Amazon Global in 2 to 4 weeks as of this morning of April 11th. Chkd the UK page, and "out of stock".... I am excited! I also really learn a lot by listening to your reviews and like that you speak about Colorists and Artists slightly differing needs and wants from art mediums.
For 145 dollars for only 72 pencils I think the wood quality should be better. That is MORE than Prisma (I can pay $99 for 150, and have a lot more skin and grey options). I like Derwent and will get this eventually but unlike Lightfast 100 box set, I am not counting down the day to having the full set of Chromaflow. I have been looking for a better quality product than Prisma that is soft, but I am not sure this is meeting my criteria. Thanks Harry for the review. You never steer wrong. I have a lot of professional pencils and I always turn to your reviews before I get them.
I really appreciate your thorough review! I found this video from your site and I really appreciated the thorough review there too. I’ve been struggling with coloursoft breaking on me and think these will be much better for my purpose. 🙂
Congratz with your new place. Looking forward to watch more reviews in the future. My 72 set arrived in the begin of this week but still have to swatch them, maybe this afternoon 😀
Thank you Harry for this review, they do seem to be lovely pencils. Your shed looks fabulous, a bit grand to just be called a shed though. Looking forward to seeing more videos from you now you have your own space, take care 🖖
Dear Harry, thank you for this excellent review. As you know I was waiting for this. Hope they will be available soon in the Netherlands too, so I want have to pay extra taxes.
Love your videos, the content and your presentation style. I am not a professional, I just like nice art supplies. Stay safe and well. Much love to you and yours.
What a cute shed! I wish I had a space just for drawing.
2 года назад
I love how soft and creamy the Chromaflow are. I have 2 sets, one I made by buying separate pencils & a tin, a set 12 pencils set Ken Bromley had in offer, and I want to buy more. These are the only non watercolourable pencils I own. Personally I don't like the drier feel of Coloursoft, though they're more like pastels so I guess it makes sense.
I have purchased the set of 72 Chromaflow pencil set. When I was swatching them out the tips continued to break off which I haven't had occur in any of my collection of pencils. When you swatched out your set did you have breakage when you applied the most pressure? I also had some other issues with these pencils. One was uneven cores on a few of the pencils. Another was more QC issue was a few pencils had indents in the barrel like someone chewed on it.
I love the backstory of these pencils that you share, and wish Derwent entertained other suggestions like the extension of the Drawing line. I haven’t seen a single review that doesn’t love those, and while I get the “niche” they serve, they may very well come up with other muted tones, or tones for botanical drawing.
Nice you have a coloring place for it's own. I have the 24 Set. Like them. Didn't think i buy the 72. But for shure not for this price. I can get a full set of Polychromos or Prismacolour in Germany. Bye the way they wand to compere with Prismacolour. So sharpening issue😅
Hello all, I always enjoy the depth of detail and time you spend to inform your viewers. I do have two questions. Are the pencils from the 12 and 24 piece sets included within the 72 piece set? Who performs the music you used to accompany the mineral spirits application testing?
Derwent does not ship to Canada from their website any longer, and there are no suppliers (as of yet) that have them that I know of. HOWEVER, having no patience to wait, I DID order them off the Amazon UK site, and when I did so, the price listed on the product page was dropped by 20 pounds. They're listed for 119 pounds, but I was only charged 99.
It is extremely annoying to be a Canadian artist. The Derwent thing really pissed me off. Why did they do that? We have money too! We want to spend it too!
@@jennhall522 There's a lot of places they aren't shipping to. It's just an inconvenience, but there are other options. And one that worked out to be cheaper for me anyhow.
I've not tried these but they do look like they lay down similarly to Prisma. Derwent need to get over their 72 set block though. It's not enough and the 150 Prismas have some wonderful pale shades that are invaluable for shading and skin etc for colouring book colourists. There are no obvious skin tones in this 72 set. You just can't make satisfactory pale shades by layering and blending. You need them in the pack. I hope you really enjoyed making your first video in your new studio!
Absolutely Sue, I have no idea what this 72 block is all about. The palette in the 120 set of Artists is gorgeous, they can create a good 120 palette and so I am completely stumped as to why so many of their lines stop at this number. In this day and age Colored pencil artist are after larger 120 sets.
I didn’t mean to hit the send button I hadn’t finished. I loved making my first video in the studio and now I am getting used to everything and how to work I am loving it. Thank you so much Sue for your excellent comment and as always your wonderful support thank you so much
@@TheArtGearGuide It is a strange thing, the 72. They stretched to 100 with Lightfast, but it’s as if they haven’t noticed that a huge number of their customer base want as many readymade colours as possible. Derwent do make some lovely colours, but Prisma make many more. Black Widow are up to 144 I think now. With sets of 72 there are not enough 3 colour blend varieties.
@@TheArtGearGuide It’s lovely that you have your own space. Everyone needs a bit of personal space to work in. And I bet the sitting room is much nicer again now. Have fun out there. I’m so glad that you have insulated it. We are in the throws of clearing out an old stone barn in our garden. Hundreds of years ago it was a simple poor dwelling called a hovel. It currently looks like a garage. But on 25th April builders are coming to extend and restore it into an independent mini house for my elderly Mum. We’ve spent 3 weekends clearing years of junk out and still have a way to go. But Mum is so excited. My husband has set up an Instagram account for the project. If you want to see a a slightly different garden project emerge it’s @chantry_barn.
And I can't believe people are really saying anything about the price! For the 72 set! The price is about the going range for the Prisma, and other top end pencils. I would pay for them, and I'm going to get the 72,set. If you want something that you can depend on the quality of it! You pay for it! I love my Prismacolors. And I love my Derwent pencils I've already have,as the same with my Caran d'Ache, Kon, and many other top end pencils! You pay for what you get! I think it's about time someone came out with a pencil that's as good as the Prisma, and really mean it! So many other have said there pencils are nice and creamy easy to blend, and it's a out and out lie! So hats off to you Derwent for getting it done!🤷🙋❤️🔥❤️🔥👍👍👋👋
Thank you so much for your review 💙 Love it as always. My set arrived today. So now I'll swatch them out and play with them. So far I can see many colours that are in other sets. So not that many new colours, for those that have all the other set's, but it looks like a well balanced pallet. Except from the gold and silver, that I consider pointless. Especially sense Derwent already have a full metallic set out. 😀 And I agree that this 72 set is a good start, but it's be even more happy, with more colours. We always wants more colors😂 As a side note, I do expect all Derwent products to go well together. Like you should be able to use the pencil extender on all the pencils sets. Maybe they will someday make products for the slime line and some for the chunky line? 🤔 My biggest concern is the wood. Of course they try to keep the price down, with using "cheap" wood, just let hope it will not be too dry wood. So we still can sharpen them years after the purchase. 🤔
Hi May my lovely friend, thank you so much for your comment. I am completely with you regarding the Gold and Silver. With regards to the wood of the barrel, I think so many companies are under pressure from environmental groups to start using much more sustainable wood, this isn’t just about cost, only 40% is cost and the rest is environmental. I’ve not researched this properly right throughout all the pencil companies, but I have been told that Pine, whilst not the best wood for pencils due to its softness, there are many Pine Nurseries specifically grown for things such as furniture and pencil barrels and lots of other things, I was told it’s quite a fast growing wood in comparrison to much harder woods and so as one nursery is deforested and other is planted but many more in wait at various stages of growth. I know it is all very complicated and I am not an environmentalist or horticulturist, but I am defiantly researching this area better and will make a video on when I have all the facts. What I am saying at the minute is third party information which I am always cautious about, I prefer to go directly to the source. I also know that Caran d’Ache are using their own locally grown trees for some of their pencils and minimising the importation of California Cedar Wood which was always the giro wood for pencil barrels. Anyway thank you so much for your lovely comment and support and talk to you soon.
I do mention Coloursoft in the video, you are absolutely correct in saying that they used to be considered UK version of Prismacolor, but that was mainly by the artists and never the company. This time Derwent have mad a conscious effort to provide a Prismacolor type pencil. In my opinion whilst the Coloursoft are a soft pencil, they are a little bit powdery in comparison to the Chromaflow, the Chromaflow is a more glossy silky consistency to the core
I he@r you about the fuel costs. Frankly I’m buying stuff like mad anticipating even higher prices in the near future. I’ll wait for these to go on a flash sale. Everything goes on sale eventually. I managed to get a full set of 24 of the drawing pencils and the graphitint for $21.50 USD a piece this week! You just have to stalk the prices
When you mentioned a set of 72 of Drawing pencils my heart skipped a beat. That would really be a dream come true. Derwent has done such an amazing job with the range of colors here, as usual Feels extremely well rounded for a set of 72. There's pastels of every color, desaturated colors and very deep shades to create lively shadows. This color range is more complete than the 120 set of Polychromos.... Still, more pencils is always better so I second that we need a 120 set 😂 I'm looking forward to trying these in the future once the price has gone down a bit. Can't justify it at this current price as these aren't lightfast.
I would certainly give these a go when they arrive in Australia. Or a could just get one of my sisters who live in the UK to send them. Derwent are quality I hesitate to buy the prismacolours due to the quality control issues. Do wish they had cedar barels though.
I got these 72 Chromaflows a couple of weeks ago, and I do really like them, but totally agree, if they really want to seriously compete with Prismacolor, they really do need to make bigger sets of these, ideally matching prismas 150. I've used these a bit now, and I do feel like I'm still missing too many shades, and have had to use my prismas with them now and again. Ideally living in the Uk, I'd prefer to just stick to derwent, but we need more shaded please! 😉🤞
Hi, may l ask what you think of them ? There's an offer on Amazon again, l'm not a professional but what scares me is the issues with sharpening (l have a dahle which l find wonderful and a faber castell just in case). Thank you in advance 🙂
Hi Harry, thx for the review. Now, I don't own Prismacolor, though they are on my wishlist to try. But how do these Chromaflow and Prismacolor compare to the Posca Pencils? I have the full set of Posca Pencils and love them, but would like a larger range of colours from a similar kind of pencil.
I like these coloured pencils but with my set of 24 I've had a fair amount of breakage. I use top quality Sharpeners only. Tip : 4 of them were breaking, one is halfway down now. So I took out my Stabilo sharpener meant for their pastel pencils. Its super gentle, takes off onlyba smidgen of wood and so far no more breakage. Also I think it's better to have a short point rather than a long one. I noticed with a long point, that even with medium pressure sometimes the core would break.Anyway, hope this helps someone. Not sure I'll get a bigger set. Have to wait and see if my existing set keeps performing okay. Also I think these are overpriced. Cost a fortune here in Canada. Even with that said, I really like their laydown and blending and colours.
Hi there, is there any chance you could ask your contact at Derwent's whether they intend to sell the Chromaflows open stock (preferably in the near future)?. I'm a true fan of Derwent's but I've been trying to get in touch with them for 2 weeks - they won't pick up the phone or answer emails, which is extremely irritating. I'd love to get a set of Chromaflows but they would have to sell open stock, other than that I'm just not interested. I would really appreciate your help there (if at all possible). Thanks :-)
I will definitely talk to them but in the meantime you can buy them open stock from this link bit.ly/ColPenShop Emma runs the shop and she is amazing, she will ship anywhere in the world and the pencils are safe as houses, well packaged.
@@TheArtGearGuide Thanks a heap!!! I hope you realize you've just virtually made a huge dent in my bank account - I had never heard of this particular shop!!! ;-) ;-) Anyway, keep up the good work, I love your reviews and thanks again :-)
You can just separate them into lightfast and non lightfast and use any for most art and ONLY lightfast with original commission work. Its what I do with prismacolours and all my pencils really. There are a few Polychromos that are not lightfast. Use separate containers/pencil cases. Pretty simple really. Still hopeful the final lightfast test results will make them worth investing in.
Hey Harry, Great review QUESTIONS about something else: Just wanted to ask you about the best sharpener for the Lyras? I know you recommend the M &R generally for Prismacolors and Neocolor 2's, would the hole be large enough on either of the double sharpeners for the Lyra standard? They are standard not the giants. Most sharpener large holes say 11mm, I have the Tgaal in black, and the Prismacolour sharpener with the bad thin plastic hinge, but wanted one that is very sharp for my Neocolor 2s and Lyras. Should I just go to a large hole one for makeup, a timber one, or could I find a brass one would be my choice! Could you measure the internal size large hole from the double, for me on the M & R for me? Also a bit of fun; Ah, you won't know yourself, in your little studio! How lucky are you! Now all you need is a hanging sign on the door for every occasion; "Daddy will be available in 48 minutes, as I am busy reviewing a product and I am recording. If in case of emergency, please ask a neighbour to phone an ambulance. If you have already asked your mother, the answer is still no." or "Recording till 2:16pm. Do not enter. Don't make daddy cranky." or "Chilling to an album it will take 52 minutes to hear it. Please come back at 7:52pm" "Crocodiles have been seen in these waters sitting on timber verandahs..." In kindred spirit, Eliza most beautiful day is today! Sydney Australia 10th of April 2022 ; 8:29pm bed office; after nice day out sketching in Royal Botanic gardens on the only sunny day so far this Autumn with no rain. :) xx
Problems with sharpening, break in sharpener, it's a brand new Faber Castell sharpener so that's not the problem, I have also noticed that some of the cores are badly off center in my 24 set.
Thanks for this thorough review of yet another sweet Derwent product. They're definitely not for me, i love the dryer and harder artist and procolor range and I definitely do not like prisma or polychromos (just my personal taste in pencils and not intended to be anything negative about their amazing qualities, I would recommend those to anyone who wants artist quality regardless of my opinion)
Can't get them in Canada yet. I love a sample I got in a subscription box and was really hoping that I wouldn't. Derwent North America doesn't ship to Canada which is in North America.
According to their chart, which was available before you made this, about 10 are less than 5 on the bws. As for using pine, the worst, cheapest wood, that is a mistake and will take a number of complaints to change it to a harder wood and given the price of these things, I think that will need to change.
I got spoke to my contact at Derwent on the 23rd of March, I went strait to the source regarding certain facts and what I told you regarding lightfast is word for word what I was told. I must admit I am not an expert on what wood is best for pencils but I can tell you that sustainability is pushing loads of companies to source different woods for their barrels and fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your outlook of priorities regarding our planet and using Colored pencils, these companies are going to continue to try other more sustainable woods. Also I’ve mentioned this in the review and in comments, in the 6 years I’ve been reviewing Colored pencils I have been really fortunate to have reviewed quite a few brand new pencils to the medium. Every single pencil that I was lucky enough to review on launch day, dropped in price at least two months later by as much as 35% in some cases and little as 15%. The reason I mention this in my reviews is because I keep notes and follow up on all the mediums I review and so I mention it in the hope people don’t rush out immediately and buy the product for that reason. There is nothing worse spending £100 on a product and a short while later said product is being sold for £65. I try my very best to help people avoid this based on my own personal experience but more importantly following the trends of pricing. Thank you so much for your comment I really appreciate it.
@@TheArtGearGuide With the current situation of this government doing nothing, as usual, I don't expect the price to drop that much here and given the price is "professional" level, that's not going to go well. As for wood, they'd be better off looking at sycamore as we have loads of that here, although maybe a tad too hard :) as it's a type of maple.
I like your reviews very much. Your tests are very helpfullI! I get the impression, that you put a lot of time and effort into giving honest reviews about art supplies. I am not an artist. I draw for my well-beeing. So far I didn't dare to write comments because of my School English. (Unfortunately I forgot so much.) But now I warted to give you some feedback. The issue of Chromoflow colored pencils and marketing in particular seems very complex to me. But I am very interested in these colored pencils, because I love to draw on dark paper. I look forward to hear more about them. Hopefully they will lower the price. Thank you very much for your reviews! Greetings, Susann (Germany)
I know when I got my Lightfast pencils I got 1 bad one and when I emailed them they got back to me straight away, I had a replacement pencil within 48 hours. I've found their customer service to be really good so I'd assume it would be the same with these.
Oh I completely forgot to mention that, yes they will indeed be open stock in fact you can order them now from the Derwent Website and I know that Emma from The Coloured Pencil Shop here in the U.K. will most definitely be selling them, if not now, very soon.
Derwent haven’t even officially announced the expansion of the range, so those prices will reduce quite a bit. On the other hand, isn’t everything professional priced, it’s getting impossible to heat our homes. My wife finished work at 13:00 today and sat in our living room with a scarf and hoodie on cause we can’t afford to put the heating on outside of the set times, it’s crazy. When the Derwent ProColour first came out they were highly priced also but came down quite a bit. But you are absolutely right about the prices now
I mean 60% lightfast is about as much as prismacolour is. I looked at the list of fugitive colours and honestly if the Magenta was a 6 instead of 5 it would be usable for professional work. They are all tested now. The 60% is the percentage of pencis that hits 6 or higher. 29 shades are fugitive, and it's mostly pinks, purples, and some yellows as you'd expect. If you're okay with a 5, then it's only 7 shades that are unusable.
Oh I JUST noticed the full 72 set on Amazon US last night. I am so excited for these. I love the 24 set I bought and I honestly love most Derwent pencils and products
Edit* like you said, thus isn't a set I'd use for any commission work, but any time I am creating for myself, or doing some coloring, this is what I would use. While I prefer a harder, oil based pencil, these have a lot of oil based characteristics while still blending like butter. The first things I ever ever drew with the 24 set I had were Ballerina Tulips. They're gorgeous, vivid orange flower with beautiful shades of orange. The oranges and yellows from the 24 set alone just created such beautiful shades and blends.
I know that they might not be ideal for everyone. But if I've said it once I've said it 1000 times- I have a lot of Derwent sets, amd I'd have them all if finances allowed. And Derwent sets, when they are created, I REALLY feel they are made to work WITH the other sets and fill any absences in their full colored pencil line, rather than function on their own. Surely they CAN stand on their own but Derwent pencils SHINE when used with other Derwent sets. Im sure I should like I work for Derwent but I swear I wish I did lol. I have beautiful pictures I've created using a mix of Lightfast for full, opaque color, Derwent Artist pencils for fur and hair, Drawing pencils for highlights and lowlights, graphitint for shadows, Procolour for details, and Coloursoft for fuzzy, out of focus details. I think they're a speciality brand which creates specialty sets to fill an exact purpose. Rather than create a set that does EVERYTHING kind off half assed, they create very specific sets that do 1 thing perfectly. While it is expensive has hell to get all the sets and use them together, it is also the only way to see all of these pencils at their best.
Thank you for your review of the Derwent Chromaflow pencils. After I saw your swatch chart of those brilliant colors and your review, I went to Amazon US and ordered them. Yes, they are pricey, but my desire to have those beautiful colors was much stronger than me not wanting to pay the price to have them in my hand. The International Shipping price was waived as well, so that helped compensate for the overall purchase price. Your Botanical drawing with these pencils was amazing. You are so skilled with color blending, highlights and shadows and the fine lines of the leaf veins... such beautiful work.
So, I bought the 150 set and I really REALLY loved the color combo they made BUT I had struggles when sharpening every damn pencil. I did sadly return them and I still mourning them. 😢. Now I am looking at your review and I am so glad you mentioned the wood and composition of it, I too, noticed to be more of wood bristles stuck together to make the barrel than actual wood.
I was lucky to see the 24 set quite cheap (£24.99), so I treated myself and I'm glad I did. I love them, they feel so wonderful to use. I was intrigued by your comparison to Coloursoft. The "dryer" feel didn't sound as nice, so I wasn't going to bother, but then curiousity set in and I bought a small set. And your description is spot on, but actually the Coloursoft feel lovely to use too. So far, I've found they work very well together, and helps bump up the colour range.
I do really like watching your reviews, you're very impartial, which is not always easy to find in review videos. You weigh up each, good and bad, and that's exactly what I'm after. I don't want to be "told" which I should buy, but hearing the pros and cons let's me make up my own mind.
Feel like derwent pencils always feel dry or chalky a little bit but that’s not always a bad thing
I love your reviews a listening to you talk is so soothing and musical.
thank you for all your information .ive been an artist for 27 years ,it wasnt till a few years ago that i even knew about lightfastness i am into watercolor now big time ,i got the 12 set of these pencils ,im just now drawing im used to painting in acrylics ,i love all art supplies.
Thanks for the reviews Harry! I love my Prismacolor, so I am going to give these a go! 😊
I broke up with Prismacolor this year after getting a bad set, then a bad replacement set. Then these went on a holiday sale. I can’t wait to get stuck into this set. I love the way the colors look and lay down. Coloursoft was too soft for me, but Chromaflow seems perfect for me.
There are a LOT of people who are not professional artists who enjoy using nice pencils. Lightfastness doesn’t concern me though it will a professional artist.
If you are making prints or using the art for online purposes lightfastness doesn’t matter. Copics aren’t lightfast either and are used for professional purposes.
Yep I am one of those people, I would use only use Luminance, Lightfast and Holbein if I could afford it, but I do color a lot of Prisma and Poly Chromos. However as I get better lightfast is becoming more important to me to keep work for my family as I get older
@@PursuingHeaven Not to be incendiary - truly jistnwonderong - why do you include Holbein with Luminance & Derwent Lightfast?
Thank you so much Harry for be so honest, because sometimes it's necessary to say if the colored pencils are for professional artists, or just for coloring in books, thank you very much for such an in-depth review. Many blessings Harry!❤🤗❤
Timely review! A Derwent online shop recently opened in our country. currently offering Chromaflow 24 for about $25 with free burnisher, blender and kneadable eraser. Bought it coz of the deal.
Part of me will miss hearing your kids - but I’m sure most folks will appreciate the lack of distractions. Congratulations on the new studio - I’m envious of having a dedicated space! I always watch the reviews first and then go to the Blog.
I waited until November 2023 to buy the 72 set. I have to admit I’m in LOVE with these pencils. They work perfectly with Prismacolors. I hope more colors come forth!!
Unfortunately Lori I think Derwent favour the 72 count for their pencils, I would also love to see a larger count. Hope you are well and thank you so much for your support
Further 78 being released in UK this April! 😃
Thank you Harry for another wonderful review! 💕 A little tip when blending pencils. If you want to mix a very clean grass green you use a cold blue (like the chromaflow Blue) and a cold yellow (a lemon Yellow, like citrus wellow or Yellow Lime). If you want to mix a nice purple you should use a cold red or magenta with a warm blue, like Ultramarine (here called Violet Blue). Watercolour artists are very aware of this but colored pencil artists don't talk so much about pigments and mixing and I see this mistake a lot in reviews, where the artists says the pencils don't mix well, but the reason is the choise of colors they mix.
I love the range of colors. I'm from the US and totally love Derwent products and this set is no different. I love that the range of browns. So many times I don't get a nice range of browns. I want to eventually have the complete set. Thanks for your review. Never disappoint.
I'm a satisfied owner of the Derwent Lightfast pencils and will stick to that. The full set of chromaflow (72) costs more than the prismacolor premier 150s. Will stick to my Premier pencil for the soft creamy core feel. Thanks Harry!
Prismacolor are manufactured in a huge factory in Mexico while these are made in the Derwent factory in England. That alone makes it impossible for Derwent to match the price of Prismacolors. I'm also inclined to believe that the quality control on these is way better (we all know that's the downfall of Prismacolors) but I can't say that for sure.
If you ask me, Derwent is taking advantage of the "omg we need to find a Prismacolor dupe at all costs" craze in the coloring community. Hell, they're a pencil company. Let them make as many ranges of pencils as they want. 😂
@@RamoArt derwent does make quality pencils I never compared the built of the pencils. My point was on the choice of colors 150 vs 72. I'm pretty sure that the folks at prismacolor would've know the bad reputation their pencils have. They must've simply ignore it as maybe they feel its the only way to keep the cost down.
@@Saomn89 Oh yeah, the color range of Prismas is unchallenged as well.
Looking at it that way... It makes Prismacolors sound like fast fashion.
I bought the 24 set and loved them from the off, apart from the sharpening issues of a couple of them. The T’gaal saved the day. Horrible thing but it has its uses.
Loved the review Harry and a bit jealous of your new man-shed! Really missed seeing you swatch them though.
I love these pencils, waiting for the price to drop to get the 72 set. I use the staedtler double hole tub sharpener and they come up great. I'm new to Adult colouring books and at the moment I prefer chromoflow to prismacolor. (need more practice with them) thanks for a great review.
Great review as usual Harry. I have loved the Chromoflow pencils since the original release and will be purchasing the 72 set when they are available again. They have been sold out, I am patiently awaiting for stock. Thanks again for the review, I love having a reviewer who I trust completely!
Thank you so much Deborah for your incredibly kind comment I really appreciate it, thank you so much
24:19 that one single heavy application of the red shade on the Hannamule paper looks like marker.
Now I LOVE Derwent. Love them. I use Lightfast, Drawing, Procolour and FC Plolychromos in my own artwork. But when I do adult coloring or art in my sketchbooks, I use these, the Coloursoft and the Procolour in conjunction with each other. They're lovely and they all compliment each other so well. Those 3 sets are all you need for adult coloring or beginning coloring if you want go with Derwent. I love it because I get to experience their range of high quality and well thought out pencils in different levels of hardness and softness and textures. Derwent makes excellent quality art stuff and I envy you for being so close to the Derwent museum!
I am in Australia and cannot possibly afford the volatile when for less I can buy 150 prisma's. I am hoping you are right Harry that the price will go down, even when I went to Derwent to buy them they were Au$200+, which shocked me to the core for 72 pencils. I have avoided buying the smaller sets in the hope that Derwent would bring out a larger set and I am disappointed to be unable to justify the cost. Even on Aussie Amazon they had to be shipped from the UK & my worry is that being such a soft lead that I would end up with broken cores.
My friend in the USA has purchased them and paid US$145. I think the price will dissuade ppl from.purchasing these pencils as it has me & I love my Derwent pencils but being able to get 150 prismacolour cheaper is absolutely astounding.
Thanks for your review Harry, love your new set up. Much love & *Virtual hugs* xxx
Hullo Harry! I am glad that you have made a video on these pencils! I have used non lightfast supplies for professional art works! I DO NOT recommend it but if you use UV glass and museum quality framing supplies your artwork can last the years without fading. If you sell art created with temporary or limited lightfast ratings without telling your customers that they MUST frame and Matt with professional and Museum quality supplies is wrong. Just my opinion but I feel qualified to speak about this issue. I believe that I have no reason to switch to or buy these pencils. I am sure new to the field artists may consider a purchase of these pencils!
I am excited for your “shed” I am wondering if you have looked into solar power? I know that you have a lot of cloud coverage in Great Britain, I have read of new technology that works with UV and that comes through the clouds! Direct sunlight is best but not essential for panels to create electricity! I am going to go check on your artwork video! See ya ver there!
Just love your reviews - clear and consistent without the bs that is so normal in other channels. Thank you!
Thanks for the review and demonstration of pencil characteristics. I always love your in-depth and informative reviews.
I like the Derwent Inktense pencils, but I may have to pass on these, since whoosh, at just under $150 for 72, they are expensive. Better than double the price for the same number of Prismacolor which comes in at $59.
When the likes of Cult Pens, Jacksons, Jerrys and Blicks etc start to stock them the pricing will become much more competitive.
I find the quality control on Prismas to be pretty terrible now. I have a lot of problems with off-center cores and cores crumbled or broken into several pieces and loose inside the wood casing.
Great review Harry! The only complaint being the music during the OMS part. But thankfully we have a mute button. 😉Now that there are 72 pencils I’m getting them! 😀 I love all Derwent products. The Derwent Drawing being my favorite! Here it is 3 months later and the Chromaflow are running $107 for the 72 set. From your written review it sounds like they dropped about $40. Now I’m off to see the new art shed video!
Choosing good copyright free music is so difficult, I once sat for over two hours, listening to copyright free clips and it was driving me mad because it was such a waste of time.
Got mine the second I saw them on Derwent's website and I absolutely love them. I really liked the 24 set so I was so pleased they've expanded this to their 72 size range. The colours are very vibrant, although I did have six pencils that had broken tips/broke when sharpening.
I think that's a lot to do with the cores just being that much smaller than most other Derwent pencil product ranges and I was using a Helix helical bladed crank handle sharpener which is usually failproof.
Hi Mirrigold, I know what you are saying. Thing is I have every set of pencils Derwent make and I have extensively tested and demonstrated them over the years. Every set that I have tested and demonstrated has been well crafted, strong barrels and well centred cores etc. so I know Derwent make excellent quality pencils and it is this fact that leads me to conclude it has more to do with the incredibly soft core, soft wood barrels and slime line form. However, Derwent are creating such a pencil for demand, there is a large demand for such a pencil and Derwent in my opinion are trying to please their customers whilst gaining new customers. The only other pencils I have experienced problems sharpening with have been the Studio. Again they are a slim barrel pencil but with a much harder core over the Chromaflow.
We coloured pencil artists and I very much include myself in this up coming analogy want it all, we want the perfect core, not too hard and not too soft, we want no sharpening issues at all, we want every pencil to be the very highest lightfast be it blue wool or ASTM, we want a palette that is perfect for every genre under the sun and we want them to be almost free if not free. Of course these pencils only exist in our Colored pencil dreams and I am sure, if a pencil company could provide such a pencil, not free bu reasonably priced, I am sure they would. However I don’t think we as the artists have any idea the level of lab testing and all sorts of other scientific tests that go into creating a new batch of Colored pencils that are noticeable different to other pencils on the market.
Thank you so much for you amazing comment I really appreciate it.
I love that they've added some new colours to their family.
Some of them are 7/8 on the BW scale, so you COULD use those for sellable work. They put the chart back up on their website, so maybe they completed it by the time you filmed this.
Yes I totally agree - even though it’s a year later!! They’re all so breathtakingly gorgeous. Love ‘em!!
Very exciting - new colours (78) released this April so 150 in total, can’t wait!
Thank you for your thorough review I love my prisma pencils but upon listening to your review I'm excited to buy the cromaflow pencils by Derwent and give them a try I think they would also complement my prisma pencils also
I've had my eyes on them since they have came out! I've seen other YT channels using them, saying about the same thing! It's been awhile since I've looked at the prices since they have came out, so going to look now. Thank you for sharing!❤️🔥🛡️🕊️👍👋👋
Hi Harry, (it's Lindy writing this not Stuart) thanks again for such a comprehensive review. I purchased the 24 set last year and really wasn't sure about them, with there only being 24 colours I didn't really use them but I loved the colours and the vibrancy (I am an adult colouring book artist and tend to use only 1 set of pencils per illustration rather than mixing sets or brands) and to be honest I forgot about them until I saw that larger sets were coming out a month or so ago. I did purchase the 72 set direct from Derwent about a week ago, but got 20% off as a new customer so they were £95 rather than £119 (otherwise I would have waited until the price hopefully dropped). Like you I had huge issues finding a sharper that would work with these pencils as they very slim compared to all my other sets (I have a number of different pencil sharpeners) my Derwent manual helical SuperPoint was way too brutal and I couldn't bear to see how much of the one pencil I did try was lost (lovely sharp point though), the best sharpener I found to work was a cheap one-hole sharpener that came in a tin of Derwent graphite sketching pencils. The Chromaflow pencils fit perfectly in this sharpener and the result is a really nice sharp point with no savage loss to the length of the pencil.
Wow, your studio looks great! Thanks for the update on the Chromaflow pencils. I've been interested in them, but just couldn't justify spending the money with just 24 colors initially available.
so glad to learn of this enlarged set of Chromaflow. I just went to your US Amazon link, and they will ship from UK Amazon Global in 2 to 4 weeks as of this morning of April 11th. Chkd the UK page, and "out of stock".... I am excited! I also really learn a lot by listening to your reviews and like that you speak about Colorists and Artists slightly differing needs and wants from art mediums.
For 145 dollars for only 72 pencils I think the wood quality should be better. That is MORE than Prisma (I can pay $99 for 150, and have a lot more skin and grey options). I like Derwent and will get this eventually but unlike Lightfast 100 box set, I am not counting down the day to having the full set of Chromaflow. I have been looking for a better quality product than Prisma that is soft, but I am not sure this is meeting my criteria. Thanks Harry for the review. You never steer wrong. I have a lot of professional pencils and I always turn to your reviews before I get them.
I really appreciate your thorough review! I found this video from your site and I really appreciated the thorough review there too. I’ve been struggling with coloursoft breaking on me and think these will be much better for my purpose. 🙂
Congratz with your new place. Looking forward to watch more reviews in the future. My 72 set arrived in the begin of this week but still have to swatch them, maybe this afternoon 😀
Thank you Harry for this review, they do seem to be lovely pencils.
Your shed looks fabulous, a bit grand to just be called a shed though. Looking forward to seeing more videos from you now you have your own space, take care 🖖
Dear Harry, thank you for this excellent review. As you know I was waiting for this. Hope they will be available soon in the Netherlands too, so I want have to pay extra taxes.
I appreciate your reviews!!
Thanks Harry, I thought it was just my set, 3 of the pencils had breakage issues and 2 were scratchy, otherwise I much prefer them to prismacolour
Love your videos, the content and your presentation style. I am not a professional, I just like nice art supplies. Stay safe and well. Much love to you and yours.
Thank you for such a complete review on Derwent. Wishing you many happy hours in your new Studio. Gayle in New Jersey🕊🙎
You are most welcome Gayle and thank you so much for your lovely comment and support I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it thank you so much.
Congratulations on your new art shed! As always, appreciate your reviews and the interesting side details.
What a cute shed! I wish I had a space just for drawing.
I love how soft and creamy the Chromaflow are. I have 2 sets, one I made by buying separate pencils & a tin, a set 12 pencils set Ken Bromley had in offer, and I want to buy more. These are the only non watercolourable pencils I own. Personally I don't like the drier feel of Coloursoft, though they're more like pastels so I guess it makes sense.
Thanks. Only to let you know. Today the 72 set is available in amazon US
I have purchased the set of 72 Chromaflow pencil set. When I was swatching them out the tips continued to break off which I haven't had occur in any of my collection of pencils. When you swatched out your set did you have breakage when you applied the most pressure? I also had some other issues with these pencils. One was uneven cores on a few of the pencils. Another was more QC issue was a few pencils had indents in the barrel like someone chewed on it.
I love the backstory of these pencils that you share, and wish Derwent entertained other suggestions like the extension of the Drawing line. I haven’t seen a single review that doesn’t love those, and while I get the “niche” they serve, they may very well come up with other muted tones, or tones for botanical drawing.
Thank you for the update and review Harry. Very nice shed. Enjoy!
Nice you have a coloring place for it's own. I have the 24 Set. Like them. Didn't think i buy the 72. But for shure not for this price. I can get a full set of Polychromos or Prismacolour in Germany. Bye the way they wand to compere with Prismacolour. So sharpening issue😅
Thank you for this review! I have got to try these as soon as they are available.
Hello all, I always enjoy the depth of detail and time you spend to inform your viewers. I do have two questions. Are the pencils from the 12 and 24 piece sets included within the 72 piece set? Who performs the music you used to accompany the mineral spirits application testing?
Just saw a set of 72 hope to buy a set today.
Derwent does not ship to Canada from their website any longer, and there are no suppliers (as of yet) that have them that I know of. HOWEVER, having no patience to wait, I DID order them off the Amazon UK site, and when I did so, the price listed on the product page was dropped by 20 pounds. They're listed for 119 pounds, but I was only charged 99.
It is extremely annoying to be a Canadian artist. The Derwent thing really pissed me off. Why did they do that? We have money too! We want to spend it too!
@@jennhall522 There's a lot of places they aren't shipping to. It's just an inconvenience, but there are other options. And one that worked out to be cheaper for me anyhow.
Sometimes it has to do with import/ export laws. Either country could be the culprit, not the company itself. Not sure in this case.
Another fab review...thanks for including Australia in your info :))
Great pencil review again Harry!! Look good but $200+AU here so will be quite a while before I think of indulging. LOVE the new art shed!! TFS!!
I've not tried these but they do look like they lay down similarly to Prisma. Derwent need to get over their 72 set block though. It's not enough and the 150 Prismas have some wonderful pale shades that are invaluable for shading and skin etc for colouring book colourists. There are no obvious skin tones in this 72 set. You just can't make satisfactory pale shades by layering and blending. You need them in the pack.
I hope you really enjoyed making your first video in your new studio!
Absolutely Sue, I have no idea what this 72 block is all about. The palette in the 120 set of Artists is gorgeous, they can create a good 120 palette and so I am completely stumped as to why so many of their lines stop at this number. In this day and age Colored pencil artist are after larger 120 sets.
I didn’t mean to hit the send button I hadn’t finished. I loved making my first video in the studio and now I am getting used to everything and how to work I am loving it. Thank you so much Sue for your excellent comment and as always your wonderful support thank you so much
@@TheArtGearGuide It is a strange thing, the 72. They stretched to 100 with Lightfast, but it’s as if they haven’t noticed that a huge number of their customer base want as many readymade colours as possible. Derwent do make some lovely colours, but Prisma make many more. Black Widow are up to 144 I think now. With sets of 72 there are not enough 3 colour blend varieties.
@@TheArtGearGuide It’s lovely that you have your own space. Everyone needs a bit of personal space to work in. And I bet the sitting room is much nicer again now. Have fun out there. I’m so glad that you have insulated it.
We are in the throws of clearing out an old stone barn in our garden. Hundreds of years ago it was a simple poor dwelling called a hovel. It currently looks like a garage. But on 25th April builders are coming to extend and restore it into an independent mini house for my elderly Mum. We’ve spent 3 weekends clearing years of junk out and still have a way to go. But Mum is so excited. My husband has set up an Instagram account for the project. If you want to see a a slightly different garden project emerge it’s @chantry_barn.
Good for you! What a wonderful creative space!
Interesting review. I always color with Polychromos and Colorsoft.
And I can't believe people are really saying anything about the price! For the 72 set! The price is about the going range for the Prisma, and other top end pencils. I would pay for them, and I'm going to get the 72,set. If you want something that you can depend on the quality of it! You pay for it! I love my Prismacolors. And I love my Derwent pencils I've already have,as the same with my Caran d'Ache, Kon, and many other top end pencils! You pay for what you get! I think it's about time someone came out with a pencil that's as good as the Prisma, and really mean it! So many other have said there pencils are nice and creamy easy to blend, and it's a out and out lie! So hats off to you Derwent for getting it done!🤷🙋❤️🔥❤️🔥👍👍👋👋
Thank you so much for your review 💙 Love it as always.
My set arrived today. So now I'll swatch them out and play with them. So far I can see many colours that are in other sets. So not that many new colours, for those that have all the other set's, but it looks like a well balanced pallet. Except from the gold and silver, that I consider pointless. Especially sense Derwent already have a full metallic set out. 😀
And I agree that this 72 set is a good start, but it's be even more happy, with more colours. We always wants more colors😂
As a side note, I do expect all Derwent products to go well together. Like you should be able to use the pencil extender on all the pencils sets. Maybe they will someday make products for the slime line and some for the chunky line? 🤔
My biggest concern is the wood. Of course they try to keep the price down, with using "cheap" wood, just let hope it will not be too dry wood. So we still can sharpen them years after the purchase. 🤔
Hi May my lovely friend, thank you so much for your comment. I am completely with you regarding the Gold and Silver.
With regards to the wood of the barrel, I think so many companies are under pressure from environmental groups to start using much more sustainable wood, this isn’t just about cost, only 40% is cost and the rest is environmental. I’ve not researched this properly right throughout all the pencil companies, but I have been told that Pine, whilst not the best wood for pencils due to its softness, there are many Pine Nurseries specifically grown for things such as furniture and pencil barrels and lots of other things, I was told it’s quite a fast growing wood in comparrison to much harder woods and so as one nursery is deforested and other is planted but many more in wait at various stages of growth. I know it is all very complicated and I am not an environmentalist or horticulturist, but I am defiantly researching this area better and will make a video on when I have all the facts. What I am saying at the minute is third party information which I am always cautious about, I prefer to go directly to the source.
I also know that Caran d’Ache are using their own locally grown trees for some of their pencils and minimising the importation of California Cedar Wood which was always the giro wood for pencil barrels.
Anyway thank you so much for your lovely comment and support and talk to you soon.
Holy mackerel!they are almost $150 for 72. I can get 150 prisma color for $120.00
I thought Coloursoft was supposed to be Derwent's answer to Prismacolor. 10 minutes in. I might have more to say later.
I do mention Coloursoft in the video, you are absolutely correct in saying that they used to be considered UK version of Prismacolor, but that was mainly by the artists and never the company. This time Derwent have mad a conscious effort to provide a Prismacolor type pencil. In my opinion whilst the Coloursoft are a soft pencil, they are a little bit powdery in comparison to the Chromaflow, the Chromaflow is a more glossy silky consistency to the core
I he@r you about the fuel costs. Frankly I’m buying stuff like mad anticipating even higher prices in the near future. I’ll wait for these to go on a flash sale. Everything goes on sale eventually. I managed to get a full set of 24 of the drawing pencils and the graphitint for $21.50 USD a piece this week! You just have to stalk the prices
When you mentioned a set of 72 of Drawing pencils my heart skipped a beat. That would really be a dream come true.
Derwent has done such an amazing job with the range of colors here, as usual
Feels extremely well rounded for a set of 72. There's pastels of every color, desaturated colors and very deep shades to create lively shadows. This color range is more complete than the 120 set of Polychromos....
Still, more pencils is always better so I second that we need a 120 set 😂
I'm looking forward to trying these in the future once the price has gone down a bit. Can't justify it at this current price as these aren't lightfast.
Hi Harry, I'm trying to ignore my FSS - What's your thoughts on the 150 set... Seems a good price on Amazon atm?
I would certainly give these a go when they arrive in Australia. Or a could just get one of my sisters who live in the UK to send them. Derwent are quality I hesitate to buy the prismacolours due to the quality control issues. Do wish they had cedar barels though.
Beautiful studio!!!
Do we know anything about possibly geting open stock?
Are these pencils available open stock in the UK I’ve tried Jackson’s art supplies and they don’t have them ?
I got these 72 Chromaflows a couple of weeks ago, and I do really like them, but totally agree, if they really want to seriously compete with Prismacolor, they really do need to make bigger sets of these, ideally matching prismas 150. I've used these a bit now, and I do feel like I'm still missing too many shades, and have had to use my prismas with them now and again. Ideally living in the Uk, I'd prefer to just stick to derwent, but we need more shaded please! 😉🤞
78 further colours are being released this April - Cult Pencils have them on pre-order!
I guess I’ll wait until the price drops down… 🧐
Fantastic review. Thanks Harry :)
These are on offer on Amazon for £56 atm I’ve had to grab them for that price
Hi, may l ask what you think of them ? There's an offer on Amazon again, l'm not a professional but what scares me is the issues with sharpening (l have a dahle which l find wonderful and a faber castell just in case). Thank you in advance 🙂
Hi Harry, thx for the review. Now, I don't own Prismacolor, though they are on my wishlist to try. But how do these Chromaflow and Prismacolor compare to the Posca Pencils? I have the full set of Posca Pencils and love them, but would like a larger range of colours from a similar kind of pencil.
Love your studio. I have the same problem can’t find quiet time to film.
I like these coloured pencils but with my set of 24 I've had a fair amount of breakage. I use top quality Sharpeners only. Tip : 4 of them were breaking, one is halfway down now. So I took out my Stabilo sharpener meant for their pastel pencils. Its super gentle, takes off onlyba smidgen of wood and so far no more breakage. Also I think it's better to have a short point rather than a long one. I noticed with a long point, that even with medium pressure sometimes the core would break.Anyway, hope this helps someone. Not sure I'll get a bigger set. Have to wait and see if my existing set keeps performing okay. Also I think these are overpriced. Cost a fortune here in Canada. Even with that said, I really like their laydown and blending and colours.
Hi there, is there any chance you could ask your contact at Derwent's whether they intend to sell the Chromaflows open stock (preferably in the near future)?. I'm a true fan of Derwent's but I've been trying to get in touch with them for 2 weeks - they won't pick up the phone or answer emails, which is extremely irritating.
I'd love to get a set of Chromaflows but they would have to sell open stock, other than that I'm just not interested.
I would really appreciate your help there (if at all possible). Thanks :-)
I will definitely talk to them but in the meantime you can buy them open stock from this link bit.ly/ColPenShop Emma runs the shop and she is amazing, she will ship anywhere in the world and the pencils are safe as houses, well packaged.
@@TheArtGearGuide Thanks a heap!!! I hope you realize you've just virtually made a huge dent in my bank account - I had never heard of this particular shop!!! ;-) ;-)
Anyway, keep up the good work, I love your reviews and thanks again :-)
I love Derwent Chromaflow perfect for Portraits
You can just separate them into lightfast and non lightfast and use any for most art and ONLY lightfast with original commission work. Its what I do with prismacolours and all my pencils really. There are a few Polychromos that are not lightfast. Use separate containers/pencil cases.
Pretty simple really.
Still hopeful the final lightfast test results will make them worth investing in.
Hey Harry, Great review
QUESTIONS about something else: Just wanted to ask you about the best sharpener for the Lyras? I know you recommend the M &R generally for Prismacolors and Neocolor 2's, would the hole be large enough on either of the double sharpeners for the Lyra standard?
They are standard not the giants. Most sharpener large holes say 11mm, I have the Tgaal in black, and the Prismacolour sharpener with the bad thin plastic hinge, but wanted one that is very sharp for my Neocolor 2s and Lyras.
Should I just go to a large hole one for makeup, a timber one, or could I find a brass one would be my choice! Could you measure the internal size large hole from the double, for me on the M & R for me?
Also a bit of fun;
Ah, you won't know yourself, in your little studio! How lucky are you!
Now all you need is a hanging sign on the door for every occasion;
"Daddy will be available in 48 minutes, as I am busy reviewing a product and I am recording. If in case of emergency, please ask a neighbour to phone an ambulance. If you have already asked your mother, the answer is still no."
or
"Recording till 2:16pm. Do not enter. Don't make daddy cranky."
or
"Chilling to an album it will take 52 minutes to hear it. Please come back at 7:52pm"
"Crocodiles have been seen in these waters sitting on timber verandahs..."
In kindred spirit,
Eliza most beautiful day is today!
Sydney Australia
10th of April 2022 ; 8:29pm
bed office;
after nice day out sketching in Royal Botanic gardens
on the only sunny day so far this Autumn
with no rain.
:)
xx
Problems with sharpening, break in sharpener, it's a brand new Faber Castell sharpener so that's not the problem, I have also noticed that some of the cores are badly off center in my 24 set.
Thanks for the review. I didn’t see the leaf you mentioned. Did I miss it ?
Thank you for the review, they are gorgeous and have vibrant colors. However, almost $150 for just a set of 72, it’s over priced. I’ll pass for now
I thought that the Derwent Colorsoft series was the equivalent to the Prismacolor ?
Thanks for this thorough review of yet another sweet Derwent product.
They're definitely not for me, i love the dryer and harder artist and procolor range and I definitely do not like prisma or polychromos (just my personal taste in pencils and not intended to be anything negative about their amazing qualities, I would recommend those to anyone who wants artist quality regardless of my opinion)
Thank you for all you do sir!
No green ochre yellow ochre or French greys? Kind of a killer for me
I use an electric sharpener on all my pencils. No problem on my Derwent Chromaflow 24.
What kind of wood are they made of?
Slightly off topic, but where did you get those wooden drawers on your desk where you keep your pencils?
Can't get them in Canada yet. I love a sample I got in a subscription box and was really hoping that I wouldn't. Derwent North America doesn't ship to Canada which is in North America.
I ordered the small set when it came out and I returned them. Interested in what you have to say sir!
According to their chart, which was available before you made this, about 10 are less than 5 on the bws. As for using pine, the worst, cheapest wood, that is a mistake and will take a number of complaints to change it to a harder wood and given the price of these things, I think that will need to change.
I got spoke to my contact at Derwent on the 23rd of March, I went strait to the source regarding certain facts and what I told you regarding lightfast is word for word what I was told.
I must admit I am not an expert on what wood is best for pencils but I can tell you that sustainability is pushing loads of companies to source different woods for their barrels and fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your outlook of priorities regarding our planet and using Colored pencils, these companies are going to continue to try other more sustainable woods.
Also I’ve mentioned this in the review and in comments, in the 6 years I’ve been reviewing Colored pencils I have been really fortunate to have reviewed quite a few brand new pencils to the medium. Every single pencil that I was lucky enough to review on launch day, dropped in price at least two months later by as much as 35% in some cases and little as 15%. The reason I mention this in my reviews is because I keep notes and follow up on all the mediums I review and so I mention it in the hope people don’t rush out immediately and buy the product for that reason. There is nothing worse spending £100 on a product and a short while later said product is being sold for £65. I try my very best to help people avoid this based on my own personal experience but more importantly following the trends of pricing.
Thank you so much for your comment I really appreciate it.
@@TheArtGearGuide With the current situation of this government doing nothing, as usual, I don't expect the price to drop that much here and given the price is "professional" level, that's not going to go well.
As for wood, they'd be better off looking at sycamore as we have loads of that here, although maybe a tad too hard :) as it's a type of maple.
I like your reviews very much. Your tests are very helpfullI! I get the impression, that you put a lot of time and effort into giving honest reviews about art supplies. I am not an artist. I draw for my well-beeing. So far I didn't dare to write comments because of my School English. (Unfortunately I forgot so much.) But now I warted to give you some feedback.
The issue of Chromoflow colored pencils and marketing in particular seems very complex to me. But I am very interested in these colored pencils, because I love to draw on dark paper. I look forward to hear more about them. Hopefully they will lower the price.
Thank you very much for your reviews!
Greetings, Susann (Germany)
Is Derwent going to replace the bad pencils?
I know when I got my Lightfast pencils I got 1 bad one and when I emailed them they got back to me straight away, I had a replacement pencil within 48 hours. I've found their customer service to be really good so I'd assume it would be the same with these.
Hi. Are (or will be) these pencils available open stock? Thank you for your detailed review.
Oh I completely forgot to mention that, yes they will indeed be open stock in fact you can order them now from the Derwent Website and I know that Emma from The Coloured Pencil Shop here in the U.K. will most definitely be selling them, if not now, very soon.
@@TheArtGearGuide Thank you for your very quick reaction 🙂 Bye
Beautiful set🤩
OVER PRICED bro.. Not for pro's but the price of them is a professional price. lol..
Derwent haven’t even officially announced the expansion of the range, so those prices will reduce quite a bit. On the other hand, isn’t everything professional priced, it’s getting impossible to heat our homes. My wife finished work at 13:00 today and sat in our living room with a scarf and hoodie on cause we can’t afford to put the heating on outside of the set times, it’s crazy. When the Derwent ProColour first came out they were highly priced also but came down quite a bit. But you are absolutely right about the prices now
I mean 60% lightfast is about as much as prismacolour is. I looked at the list of fugitive colours and honestly if the Magenta was a 6 instead of 5 it would be usable for professional work. They are all tested now. The 60% is the percentage of pencis that hits 6 or higher. 29 shades are fugitive, and it's mostly pinks, purples, and some yellows as you'd expect. If you're okay with a 5, then it's only 7 shades that are unusable.