HISTORY

Faber-Castell is one of the most popular art supplies brands in the world, and also one of the oldest. In 1761, a cabinetmaker called Kaspar Faber established an art material factory in Stein, Germany, which has been a family business for eight generations. Faber-Castell specializes in pencils and graphite, among other products.

Faber-Castell has three profesional pencil series: normal pencils (Polychromos), water-soluble pencils (Albrecht Dürer) and pastel pencils (Pitt).

SPECIFICATIONS

Polychromos series date from 1908. Its name derives from Greek, and it means “many colours”. This line comprises 120 lightfast and water-resistant tones, which can be blended effortesly. Their high quality pigments are bright and have a guaranteed colour intensity even after several layer overlaps.

The Polychromos lead is oil-based, which makes it hard, yet creamy. These solid pencils have 3,8 mm leads and are rounded, painted on a colour that matches the lead. The top of the pencil is closed, so we cannot see the lead. On one side of the barrel we can read the name of the brand, the series and the manufacturing country (Germany). On the other side appears the number of the series (9201), the colour number and the lighfast degree (from * to ***). Most pencils in this series have an excellent lightfast degree.

The leads are break-free thanks to the SV bonding system. The safety bond joins the mine with the wood by means of a glue that is spreaded on both sides, which reinforces the lead and allows a better sharpening. If it breaks, the lead does not detach from the pencil.

PERFORMANCE

Oil-based pencils are unusual, because they are more expensive than the wax-based ones and because they are notorious for being hard and for offering worse blendings. Luckily, this is not the case with the Polychromos series.

I don’t have any Polychromos set, because I purchased the pencils individually, choosing the most convenient tones. Right now I own 23 pencils. It is more expensive this way, but if we take into account their quality, it is not too excessive to pay 1,50 euros per pencil. The reason why I didn’t buy any Polychromos set is because at that time I already had a Prismacolor and a Caran d’Ache Pablo set. Now I feel glad I didn’t buy a Polyhromos set, because I have the most interesting colours chosen by hand.

These pencils are made of cedar wood. They are creamy but resistent, and can be sharpened to a fine point. Polychromos cover the paper in an excellent way, and the leads don’t use up as quickly as other brands. Because the palette has 120 tones, one can expect amazing greens, browns, blues or skin shades, plus amazing blendings. It is not surprising then than this series is one of the favourite ones among artists.

Polychromos are light but solid pencils, easy to transport, they don’t smudge and don’t spread crumbs when colouring. However, they are hard to handle: fingers may hurt after a while colouring with them.

SETS AND PACKAGING

Polychromos are commercialized in tins of 12, 24, 36, 60 and 120 pencils, and also in beautiful wooden boxes for certain sets. The tins come with hinges and the pencils are presented on plastic trays.

COLOUR CHART AND DEMO

Here is the colour chart for the 23 tones I have:

102 Cream / 205 Cadmium lemon yellow / 183 Pale yellow ochre / 112 Glaze orange / 115 Dark cadmium orange / 121 Pale geranium lake / 226 Alizarin crimson / 146 Sky blue / 145 Light phthalo blue / 171 Light Green / 165 Juniper Green / 163 Emerald green / 189 Cinnamon / 131 Medium flesh / 123 Fuchsia / 156 Purple violet / 141 Delft blue / 186 Terracotta / 197 Burnt ochre / 169 Caput mortuum / 189 Raw umber / 176 Van-dyck Brown / 178 Nougat

This illustration was completed with Polychromos:

Because I only have 23 pencils, some of the browns were repetitive, so I used one from the Goldfaber series (also by Faber-Castell). I inmediately felt the difference (Goldfaber tones are waxier). They are decent student grade pencils, but obviously cannot be compared with the Polychromos.

WHERE TO BUY

Polychromos by Faber-Castell are commercialized both in physical shops and in Amazon, where they are more economical. As I said, the pencils can also be bought individually. In the UK, one of the cheapest shops to buy individual pencils is Jackson’s Art, although they are also affordable in physical shops.

All Polychromos sets in Amazon UK

CONCLUSION

Polychromos are reliable pencils and one of the best options to work on a comission. It is difficult to beat their quality.

PROS, CONS AND RATING

The best: vibrant colours, good blending and a solid lead.
The worst: because they are rounded, they can roll on the table and fall on the floor easier. They are hard to handle, so they may hurt your fingers after a while.
Rating: 10/10

MORE INFORMATION

Official site