HISTORY

Koh-I-Noor Hardmuth is a Czech brand that started in 1790. Founded by Josef Hardmuth, it is very popular in countries such as Poland. In other countries in West Europe is less known because of other prominent brands such as Faber-Castell or Caran D’Ache. Koh-I-Noor is an innovative brand which includes amazing items such as Progresso woodless pencils or Tri-tone multi-coloured pencil leads. It is my favourite brand in terms of quality and price.

SPECIFICATIONS

Polycolor pencils are ergonomic, light and handy. They are made of cedar wood that has a wonderful scent, which you can feel the moment you open the tin. They are painted in a colour that matches the 3.8 mm lead. These pencils are hexagonal, ended on a shiny golden tip that covers the lead, so we cannot see it. Outside the barrel comes the name of the brand, the series (3800) and the number of each colour, no name attached. The numbers have changed several times since the release of these pencils, something that I heard it confuses some artists. I guess this complicates things when it comes to purchase individual pencils, something that can be done.

Regarding the lightfast rate, the 2018-2019 official catalogue indicates that, in the scale of * to *****, 27 of the 72 colours reach the maximum grade, 22 reach 4 stars and 11 reach 3 stars. That leaves only 12 of the colours with grades 2 and 1, which is a good average.

PERFORMANCE

Polycolor pencils are wax-based with an oil bathe. They have a creamy texture that is particularly evident in warm colours. In spite of having a creamy nature, the lead has a somewhat hard touch, which is ideal because we don’t have to press the pencil too much against the paper to spread the pigment. Polycolors don’t smudge, but they can spread some crumbs on the paper. They can be sharpened to a fine point with any sharpener.

Polycolor pencils have vibrant colours that offer mixed blending depending on the tone. For example, yellow tones are more difficult to blend, as they have a more waxy nature. Greens and blues, on the other hand, blend better.

In this image I used one red and one orange to check the blendability. The first sample shows the two colors alone, the second one has been blended with Derwent pencil blender and the third one with Derwent blender marker:

SETS AND PACKAGING

Polycolor pencils are Koh-I-Noor’s most popular series. They come in tins without hinges of 12, 24, 36, 48 and 72 pencils. Some sets are available in carton packages, all of them are available in tins and the 36 pencils set is also available in a nice wooden box. Although the biggest Polycolor set comprises 72 pencils, there is a total of 95 colours if we take into account some special tones that are only included in the landscape and portrait sets, and in the grey and the brown tones set. One could expect to get all the pencils by purchasing the biggest set (72), but this is not the case with the Polycolor series, something that I don’t understand. All in all, some of the 72 tones look very similar, so I think that purchasing the 36 or the 48 pencils set is sufficient.

The tin with 48 pencils comes with 2 plastic trays with pre-sharpened pencils arranged by tones, which enables us to access faster to the colour that we need. The tin includes carton wings that helps us to reach the second tray. The box is metallic but fragile, so it can be dented easily. It is advisable to transport it carefully to prevent it from falling on the floor, as the trays won’t protect the pencils in case of an impact.

COLOUR CHART AND DEMO

Here is the chart for the 48 colours set:

1 / 41 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 126 / 5 / 170 / 48 / 132 / 9 / 131 / 178 / 177 / 8 / 13 / 179 / 182 / 15 / 16 / 18 / 57 / 53 / 54 / 19 / 20 / 17 / 63 / 27 / 25 / 21 / 24 / 22 / 23 / 59 / 26 / 28 / 29 / 30 / 31 / 32 / 68 / 33 / 69 / 35 / 34 / 71 / 36 / 39 / 40

Like I said, the pencil barrels don’t include the names, only the numbers. However, in the official catalogue happens the opposite: the pencils come with names but don’t include numbers. Since I purchased the 48 tones set, I cannot know the name of each colour (I would have to find my 48 colours among the 95 available ones). Back in the image above, numbers 39 and 40 (the last ones) correspond to “standard silver” and “standard gold”, which I purchased separatedly in the physical shop. In total, together with this 2 colours plus the 48 colour set plus the portrait set and the grey tones set, I have 81 Polycolor pencils with 7 duplications.

Here is a couple of illustrations I made with the 48 colours set (the second one is inspired in the cover of Gorillaz’s Plastic Beach album):

WHERE TO BUY

All the Polycolor sets can be purchased in Amazon and in the official Koh-I-noor website, although it is more economical to choose the first option. Prices change, but the average price for the biggest set (72) varies from 50 to 70 pounds.

All the Polycolor sets in Amazon UK

CONCLUSION

Polycolor pencils are beautiful, affordable, competent and can be used for both beginners and professionals who are looking for good pencils that fit in their budget. My 48 colours set include all the necessary tones to create a complete illustration, so there is no need to get a bigger set unless you want more browns or greys, for example, or more skin tones, in which case Polycolor also provides a big variety. If you want to read more reviews about other available sets, please check the Koh-I-Noor brand in the Reviews section, as I have quite a few.

PROS, CONS AND RATING

The best: the price, the presentation, the vibrant colours…
The worst: the arrangement by numbers is confusing, and some colours are similar and others don’t blend so easily.

Rating: 9/10

MORE INFORMATION

Koh-I-Noor official site