HISTORY

Koh-I-Noor Hardmuth is a Czech Brand established in 1790 that is popular in countries such as Poland, but it is less known in West Europe because of other brands such as Faber-Castell. Koh-I-Noor is one of the biggest producers of art supplies in the world and offers a great variety of innovative products, like the Progresso Magic pencils that I am going to talk about in this entry.

SPECIFICATIONS

Magic pencils by Koh-I-Noor are designed for hobby purposes. They feature leads of 3 colours, so that if you twist the pencil you get a different colour every time. While some combinations are not noticeable, others are quite interesting, such as green and yellow or blue and pink. The original Magic pencils are made of wood and they are much thicker than a normal pencil. However, the Progresso edition (which is the woodless line) is much thinner, perhaps because these pencils are heavier than normal.

Progresso Magic pencils have leads of 5,6 mm and are made of graphite, clay and pigments. They are rounded (and certainly handier than their wooden twins), solid and heavy, but because they don’t have any wooden case they are more likely to break if they fall on the floor. The barrel has a shiny lacquer and it is painted on the colours matching a lead that ends in a closed tip. The barrel includes the word “Magic”, the country of manufacturing (Czech) and some snowflakes, because it is a Christmas edition.

Since Progresso Magic pencils are considered hobby pencils, they lack of any sort of lightfast information, so I will have to investigate this myself with the passing of time.

PERFORMANCE

Progresso Magic don’t smudge because of the transparent lacquer, although they can do it slightly around the tip, where there is no lacquering. They have some scent, though not as nice as the wooden pencils. Progresso Magic can be sharpened to a fine point without problems, although they last a lot before having to do so (I already coloured several illustrations and I still don’t have to sharpen them). The pencils spread some crumbs if they are pressed too hard against the paper.

Depending on the colour, these pencils are more or less pigmented. Some colours such as green or blue have strong pigmentation, while pink or yellow aren’t strong enough, so we have to create more layers. It seems to me the performance of the Magic wooden pencils is better than the Progresso ones. They are not as creamy as those, but they can be blended without problems. Anyway, who needs to blend multi-coloured lead pencils?

Progresso Magic have a soft touch, and they produce pastel colour effects quite beautiful in my opinion.

SETS AND PACKAGING

The pencils come in sets of 12 and 24 pencils, in a nice tin without hinges that can be easily dented. The cover of the tin varies: I have seen the one with the blue background identical to the one for the Magic wooden pencils, a Christmas pattern cover and the one that I own, which appears at the beginning of the entry. Inside, the pencils are disposed on a plastic tray and come arranged by colours and pre-sharprened.

COLOUR CHART AND DEMO

The colour chart for my 12 pencils set is the following:

Sahara Sun / Orange flower / Granate / Poppy / Strawberry ice cream / Violet forest / Water world / Quiet twilight / Dandelion meadow / Rainy forest / Australian bush / Titanium metal

The colour palette is parallel to the the Magic wooden pencils one.

Here is an illustration I made using the Progresso Magic:

WHERE THE BUY

Magic Progresso pencils are expensive, maybe because they are a special edition or they are more a craving than an essential. They are normally around 35 pounds, but if you keep checking Amazon, from time to time they launch offers: I bought mine for 19 euros. You can find them both in Amazon and in the official site. Individual pencils are also available to purchase.

All of the Progresso Magic pencils in Amazon UK

CONCLUSION

These are a beautiful gift for people who loves pencils, for children and artists alike, and anyone who wants to try something different. I would recommend them for those who want to achieve unexpected effects in their drawings. I love any product that Koh-I-noor releases and I love the wooden Magic pencils since I tried them, so when I found an offer for the Progresso Magic, I decided to buy them for Christmas.

PROS, CONS AND RATING

The best: they are original and ecologic.
The worst: some colours are too pale. They are also expensive.
Rating: 8/10

MORE INFORMATION

Official site