HISTORY

Koh-I-Noor Hardmuth is a Czech Brand established in 1790 by Josef Hardmuth. It is popular in countries like Poland or Sweden, but less known in West Europe because of other brands such as Faber-Castell or Caran D’Ache. Koh-I-noor is one of the biggest art suppliers in the world, and they produce innovative products like the Magic pencils that I am going to introduce today.

I firstly bought a blister with 5 pencils, and I liked them so much that when I was in Prague I could not resist the temptation to buy the 24 pencils tin, which was around 19 euros (when converted into Czech crowns, as of december 2018): cheaper than Amazon!

SPECIFICATIONS

First, we have to say that these pencils come in different shapes and designs depending of their series.

These robust pencils have 5,6 mm leads and they are hard to break. They have the wonderful scent of most of the Koh-I-Noor wooden pencils (I’m guessing they are made of the same cedar wood, but they are definitely made of wood from responsible forests, as described on the tin). In spite of their size, they are not too heavy. They are wax-based and have the creamy and blendable nature than other pencils of the brand. The tones are interesting, although not always vibrant: it depends on each pencil.

The barrel of the pencil only shows the words “Koh-I-Noor Magic” and “Czech Republic” engraved in beautiful golden letters, but inside the tin there is a small leaflet with the name of the colours. Each pencil is painted on the colours that match the lead. In the case of the triangular-shaped pencils, their base end in a naked tip showing the wood, but that does not allow to see the lead. For the hexagonal version, the tips of the pencils are closed and end in a shiny tip.

Magic pencils fall in the category of “hobbies” in the 2018-2019 official catalogue, so they are not considered a professional product (although my tin says the opposite), and therefore they don’t have a lightfastrank.

One of the question that arises with these pencils is what is the difference between them and the Tri-tone pencils? Apparently, not much. While Magic pencils are thick and more children-oriented (chunky, unexpected colour combinations), Tri-tones are thinner and come with a transparent lacquer. I have the feeling that Tri-tone is a more advanced version of the Magic pencils, but this is just my opinion. I find the Tri-tone colour combinations are more coherent and the size and design is more attractive for adult colourists.

As confirmed by Koh-I-noor staff (as of february 2019), Tri-tone series are only available in America (which explains why they are cheaper in Amazon US than in any European branch), but they will be soon available in the European market.

PERFORMANCE

These pencils don’t smudge and they don’t spread crumbs during the colouring process. They aren’t very handy, as they are wide and triangular-shaped, so sometimes your hand feels tired after colouring for a while.

When it comes to sharpening, these pencils are slightly different: you either need a double entry sharpener (which often includes a bigger entrance for jumbo pencils) or a special sharpener for big pencils, a blade or the sharpener provided by Koh-I-Noor, which allows to sharpen pencils of up to 17 mms. All in all, the leads don’t need to be frequently sharpened, which is a good thing. Each one of them has 3 different colours, and it is a mystery which tone will come out from the lead with every twist of the hand. As expected, some colour combinations are better than others.

These pencils have a hard touch, but they are also creamy and cover the paper well. Lighter tones (for example yellows) are harder to apply, and the combinations of different yellows in the same lead are not obvious enough.

In this image I used 2 different blues to check the blendability. The first sample shows the 2 colors alone, the second one has been blended with Derwent pencil blender and the third one with Derwent blender marker:

SETS AND PACKAGING

Magic pencils are offered in a variety of designs and sets, from blisters to carton packages and tins. Blisters include 1, 3 or 5 pencils, occasionally mixing 2 wooden ones with a woodless one. The Magic pencils of these blisters have a hexagonal barrel, while the ones that come in carton packages or tins are triangular-shaped and slightly more difficult to sharpen than the hexagonal ones.

The pencils that come in blisters can be purchased individually (the hexagonal ones), but the ones that come in the tins of 12 and 24 (triangular) cannot be purchased out of the set. They also have different serial numbers. The triangular pencils that come in carton packages include a blender (12+1) and they are either normal size (with the barrel painted on a colour matching the lead) or jumbo (the barrel appears in a natural colour with a transparent lacquer and the tip is painted on the 3 colours of the lead). Those are shorter than the normal ones. The 23 pencils set + 1 blender come in a tin, arranged by colours and pre-sharpened. There is also a Christmas special edition called Magic Progresso (the woodless version), heavier and thinner than the original Magic pencils. Even more: Magic pencils are also available in the mechanical version (they sell the leads plus the mechanical pencil) and Magic markers. I wish I had those!

But going back to the wooden pencils, there are different cover designs depending on the country where you buy them. The European standard one offers the pencils with a blue background, while the American version have a pale grey and orange background and the word “Magic” appears in a different fontsize.

The tins for Magic pencils are the usual ones without hinges, beautiful but easy to be dented, so careful is advised while transporting them. Luckily, these pencils are sturdy enough, and thanks to their shape they will certainly not roll on the table.

COLOUR CHART AND DEMO

The colour chart for my 24 pencils tin (plus the 5 pencils blister) is the following:

Blender / Summer sun / Sahara sun / Sunny beach / Orange flower / Fizzy orangeade / Pomegranate / Poppy flower / Glowing ember / Spanish night / Erupting volcano / Strawberry ice cream / Forest violets / Evening storm / Summer sky / Water world / Quiet twilight / Tropical coast / Dandelion meadow / Forest stillness / Rainforest / Bengal tiger / Australian bush / Titanium metal / Original / Fire / America / Tropical / Neon

The last colour in the chart is duplicated (I used Neon twice). They don’t look similar, which demonstrates how unexpected the colours can be…

I twisted the pencil several times when producing the samples to offer as much variety as possible, but I think it is better to colour an entire illustration to get a better idea and to use all the potential of the pencils.

Here is an illustration where I used Magic pencils for the hair and the flower. The jeans are coloured with Aristochrom, the first multi-coloured lead pencil that Koh-I-Noor produced (inspirational source: Ashiyaart):

This landscape has been completely coloured using both Magic pencils and Aristochrom:

CONCLUSION

Magic pencils are ideal for enthusiastic colourists, children and any person who appreciates special pencils and love producing fantastic illustrations. These pencils are made to be carried away!

WHERE TO BUY

Koh-I-Noor’s Magic pencils can be purchased in the official website and in Amazon.

All of the Magic pencil sets in Amazon UK

PROS, CONS AND RATING

The best: they are original, special, robust.
The worst: the size makes them not too handy. The lighter tones (for example yellow) are more difficult to apply.
Rating: 9/10

MORE INFORMATION

Official site