The Art of Pencil Crayon Painting 5

In my last blog I said I would speak more about this type of pencil crayon once I had a chance to try them out. I purchased two of the colour dictionaries: Volumes 1-3 and Volumes 4-5. I plan on getting the last three volumes soon.

I have found these pencil crayons superior in many ways to Prismacolor in the depth of pigment and the coverage that they give. By coverage, I mean that when other pencil crayons stop accepting new layers, these keep on going. This is a quality I found in Faber-Castells as well. The Irojiten pencil crayons seem hard and dry, somewhat like Faber-Castells in their feel but they behave a little differently and have a richness of hue that is just exceptional. They lay down very softly and blend beautifully. The yellows and greens are great. After I get more used to them and have my favourites, I will go on to purchasing open stock.

I am going to do one picture that will be in just Irojiten pencil crayons to see how they behave on their own. Although I use a combination of pencil crayons from the various makers, I keep them well separated in my jars and make trays of the ones I am currently using on a particular picture. After the picture is done, the crayons go back to their jars. Some little rituals that follow a finished piece can be a meditative exercise.

One thing I really like about the leads in the Irojiten crayons, is that they seem sturdy and less likely to break, a big bugaboo I have with Prismacolor. I have just met these pencil crayons and I already love them. I did not have this response with Faber-Castell pencil crayons although I find them a good crayon with rich pigmentation and quite responsive action in blending.

I don’t wish to give the impression that I am searching for the ultimate pencil crayon. As each of these brands of pencil crayons behave differently I think I will want to keep all of them in my tool kit. Sometimes the weakness in a product is its strength on the paper. It all depends on what the piece demands at the time.

I will flag the Irojiten “only” picture in my gallery when done.