HISTORY

Koh-I-Noor is a Czech brand established in 1790 by Josef Hardmuth. It is well known in countries like Poland or Czech Republic, but not so much in West Europe, because of other brands such as Faber-Castell. Koh-I-Noor is an innovative brand, and one of the biggest producers of art supplies in the world. It is also one of my favourite brands in terms of quality and price.

SPECIFICATIONS

Progresso pencils are the line of pencils without wood, and it comprises several series such as Progresso Magic or Progresso Fluorescent, which is the one I am going to introduce in this entry.

Progresso Fluorescent pencils fall in the category of “hobbies”, so they lack of a lighfast rank. They are an interesting line of pencils to work on dark surfaces, such as black paper.

These pencils are made of graphite, clay and pigments, and they are wax-based with an oil bathe. They have some scent, although not a particularly nice one. Progresso Fluorescent are rounded, heavy but fragile, because they don’t have a wooden case to protect the cores, so it is easy they break into two or more pieces if they fall on the floor.

The Fluorescent pencil is handy, and on one side of the barrel has the printed words “Progresso Fluorescent” followed by the serial number (8740) and the number of the colour, no name attached. On the other side of the barrel it has the words “Koh-I-Noor Hardmuth”, a serial number, the barcode and the manufacturer country (Czech).

PERFORMANCE

Progresso Fluorescent have medium hardness, so their pigment covers the paper well without leaving excessive wax traces. The tips of these pencils are sharp, and they last a lot before having to sharp them. To do so is easy with any standard sharpener,

Progresso Fluorescent are pigmented and quite vivid in the case of yellow and orange, which are the most fluorescent tones in the palette.

These pencils don’t smudge thanks to the transparent lacquer that covers their barrels. They can spread some crumbs tough, if pressed too hard against the paper. The colours can be blended.

Here is a sample of the 6 colours on a piece of dark paper:

COLOUR CHART AND DEMO

The colour chart for the 6 pencils set is the following:

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

In this illustration I used the Fluorescent pencils to colour the headphones (inspirational source: Qinniart):

SETS AND PACKAGING

Progresso Fluorescent are a special edition within the woodless pencils category, and are only commercialized in sets of 6. They can be purchased individually, but they are quite expensive.

Progresso Fluorescent come in carton packages with transparent and sturdy plastic trays. Inside, the tray have dividers for each pencil, which prevents them from rolling inside the tray, something quite clever in my opinion. The pencils come arranged by colours and pre-sharepened. Although the hard plastic tray helps, the packaging does not seem to be sufficiently safe to protect the pencils in case of an impact, so careful is advised.

WHERE TO BUY

Progresso Fluorescent are for sale in the official website and in Amazon, being Amazon the cheapest option. All in all, these pencils are normally around 13-14 pounds in Amazon, while in the physical shop are only 4 euros (converted from Czech crowns, as of december 2018).

Progresso Fluorescent pencils in Amazon UK

CONCLUSION

These pencils are attractive to work upon dark paper and to colour interesting details in an illustration such as stars or any other glowing effects. While not essential, they are an interesting tool in the field of illustrations.

PROS, CONS AND RATING

The best: they are original.
The worst: not easy to find, and the colour palette is limited.
Rating: 6/10

MORE INFORMATION

Official website