HISTORY
Derwent is an English company that was born in the 19th century, but launched its first pencil in 1938. Particularly famous in the United Kingdom, this prestigious brand from Cumbria (the place where lies the valley where graphite was firstly discovered) it manufactures not only pencils but also watercolours, pens and all types of art supplies.
Derwent has a wide catalogue of colour pencils, from Artist to Coloursoft. If you want to know more about its pencil lines, please visit the Articles section.
Drawing series is a professional series thought for drawing natural landscapes and animals, feathers or fur. The colour palette includes a wide variety of greens and browns.
SPECIFICATIONS
Derwent Drawing leads are 8 mm and the barrels are painted in brown. The tip of the pencil is painted on a colour matching the wax-based lead. On one side of the barrel we can read the brand, the series, the name and the colour number. The barrels are wide and chunky for a better gripping. The lead is so thick and creamy that it almost feels like a pastel pencil.
According to the official colour chart, 23 of the 24 tones have a good lightfast degree (number 8), with the exception of the blue ink tone, which is number 7. These pigments are therefore excellent to work professionally with.
PERFORMANCE
These pencils can be sharpened fairly easily. They give off a scent which is not particularly nice, which likely comes from the outside lacquer and not from the wood. As in the case of other Derwent lines, Drawing pencils are made of cedar wood.
Derwent Drawing are thick but light, they are handy, they don’t smudge and rarely spread crumbs or produce clots when colouring. These pencils can be blended and have a creamy texture when applied on the paper.
SETS AND PACKAGING
Derwent Drawing pencils come in tins of 6, 12 and 24 units. The total number of colours in the chart are 24. I purchased the 6 pencils set, which comes in a beautiful silver narrow metal case with a plastic tray inside containing the pencils. They come pre-sharpened and arranged by colours. The 6 pencils tin also includes a sharpener.
COLOUR CHART AND DEMO
Here is the colour chart for my set of 6:
5700 Brown ochre / 6110 Sepia (Red) / 6220 Sanguine / 6600 Chocolate / 6700 Ivory black / 7200 China white
Here is an illustration I entirely coloured with Derwent Drawing:
WHERE TO BUY
These pencils can be bought in Amazon. They can also be bought individually.
CONCLUSION
These pencils are an excellent option for those who specialize in drawing animals or landscapes. The set of 6 pencils is limited, but I think the 24 colours presented in the palette are fair enough for the case.
PROS, CONS AND RATING
The best: the appearance. It is also good they have sets of 6 pencils which gathers the best tones. It is also great that Derwent has thought of a set of pencils for landscapes and animals.
The worst: they are a bit expensive.
Rating: 8/10
MORE INFORMATION
Learning to draw 