Blick Studio Artist Colored Pencils Review

...and my first trip to Blick! Yes. You read that correctly. This weekend, my boyfriend and I drove an hour and 15 minutes from home just to go to Blick. I'd never been, and I was STOKED. It was everything I'd ever dreamed. Pencils, paper, markers, paints, pastels, and more... as far as the eye can see! We stayed for roughly two hours just browsing. I came home with six Prismacolor Premier colored pencils (replacements for shorties in my 150-set), three new Faber-Castell Polychromos colored pencils (to add to my 12-set since I'm slowly collecting them), and a 72-set of Blick Studio Artist Colored Pencils. That's what I'm going to review for you today, both in this blog and in the accompanying video. About Blick Studio Colored Pencils

Some of you may already know that Blick pencils are the exact same as the Utrecht pencils manufactured in the Czech Republic. Some folks even think they're the same as the Koh-I-Noor Polycolor pencils because they have the same colors, same laydown, and same font printed on the pencils. I personally have never used the Koh-I-Noor, but I can tell you for certain these are absolutely Utrecht colored pencils under a new name. My Mistake

After a very kind Blick employee handed me a pad of paper and allowed me to test colors directly from the Blick Studio open stock, I decided to go with the 72-set. The colors were nice and I could see myself using them often, so I went for it. Besides, at the $49 price, it was hard to say no, especially when they're usually $60 on the dickblick.com website on sale. I didn't check the back of the tin closely enough before I left the store and drove all the way home. While swatching my colors, I found that there was only one pink in the entire set. No peach. No flesh. No madder. No anything of the sort. Just one, plain, lonely "pink". Apparently, there are six other pinkish hues, but these are available in the Blick Studio Portrait Set... not the 72-color set. I was bummed. For $6, I could have gotten them while I was in the store. However, this is completely my fault and I should have paid more attention. (The pencils will be on order from the website soon.) What I Liked about Blick Studio Artist Colored Pencils

Even though I don't want all my reviews to become comparisons, that's frankly what they are. Prismacolor and Polychromos are the go-to brands, and when I use ANY colored pencil, I compare them in my own mind. Blick Studio colored pencils are harder than a Prismacolor, and they stay sharp longer, too. They're softer than a Polychromos, but I think only slightly. Some colors are softer than others, but this is true for many brands and I expected it. The colors blend beautifully, even without a blender or solvent. The colors are bright and vibrant, and while some of the colors were fairly similar, I felt like I truly received a set of 72 different pencils. They're a delight to use, they sharpen well, and they're great on a variety of papers, both smooth and toothy. What I Didn't Like I was a bit annoyed that there was only one pink in the entire set. I think Blick could certainly benefit from offering all 91 of their colors (the six pinks in the Portrait set as well as the additional colors found in their Gray and Landscape sets) in one package. I'll have to wait for my pinks, but like I said, I could have avoided it. While the colors do layer nicely, and they allow you to use multiple layers of color, they don't "mix" well. This means I can layer blue over yellow, then go back and forth with blue and yellow numerous times, but I won't get a clear green. Instead, I'll get a mottled area of blue and yellow with some green undertones. Not even odorless mineral spirits could resolve this. Finally, I found the pencils to be quite dusty, especially on toothier paper. You'll need a brush or other tool to carefully remove the dust to prevent discoloration of your image or art. The Bottom Line

I LOVE these pencils. I will use them regularly, especially in my nicer coloring books. I'm not sure if they're exactly "artist" grade if you're doing commissioned work, especially when there are at least 10 pencils with one star out of four in terms of lightfastness, but if you're an adult colorist looking to graduate from Crayola and Prang but Prismacolors are too soft, then Blick is a great brand for you.

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