The Favourite Coloured Pencil Awards! (2010 Brand Poll Results)

760 people voted during 2010 in the 2010 POLL: Which is the best brand of artist grade coloured pencil? to determine which is the best brand of artist grade coloured pencil? on Coloured Pencils - Resources for Artist.

The poll is now closed and below you can find the results

Having studied the results I've split the favourites into three different categories

• The Favourite Coloured Pencil in 2010 - Faber Castell Polychromos
• The Favourite Lightfast (6901) Coloured Pencil  in 2010 - Caran d'Ache Luminance
• The Favourite brand of Coloured Pencil Media in 2010 - Sanford Prismacolor

Which is your current favourite brand of artist grade coloured pencil?
2010 Opinion Poll from Coloured Pencils - Resources for Artists

Key points:

• 760 artists voted during  2010 compared to 792 in 2009
• in 2010 the different brands of pencil were disaggregated under each manufacturer
• Prismacolor appears to be ahead of Faber Castell as a brand leader - however 10% of that lead is accounted for by the woodless coloured pencils Art Stix (which are also marketed to pastel artists)
• the favourite brand of coloured pencil is Faber Castell Polychromos
• the favourite brand of Lightfast coloured pencil is Caran d'Ache Luminance

You can see the 2009 results below and in Two new coloured pencil opinion polls for 2010 which has a chart for the previous poll

Coloured Pencil Manufacturers (all brands)	2009	2010	Increase / (decrease)
	%	%
Bruynzeel	1.1	0.0	-1.1
Blick Studio Artists	0.0	2.0	2
Caran d’Ache (all brands)	10.4	10.7	0.3
Derwent ( all brands)	22.5	21.3	-1.2
Faber Castell Polychromos	27.3	26.4	-0.9
Lyra Rembrandt	7.2	4.2	-3
Sanford Prismacolor (all brands)	29.4	32.6	3.2
Royal Talens van Gogh	2.0	2.8	0.8
	99.9	100.0	0.1

 
Note:  There's a rounding error in the 2009 total

Commentary

Most of the percentage changes are minor apart from those relating to the smaller brands.

I'm hoping nothing happens to Lyra Rembrandt which is one of my favourite brands of pencils.  They mix extremely well with Faber Castell Polychromos

Caran d'Ache Luminance (6901) appear to have succeeded in capturing significant market share where previous brands of lightfast pencils to the ASTM 6901 standard have not.  This is despite being the most expensive coloured pencil on the planet!

I'm guessing here - but I do wonder whether the significant presence of Art Stix in the 2010 Poll may be due to one or more of four factors and significant changes in the way coloured pencil media is laid down

• easier to use for those wanting to use solvents with their coloured pencil media
• easier to use for those wanting to use heat with their coloured pencil media
• easier to use for those working on larger pictures
• multiple marketing - they are also bought by pastel artist

Do let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.

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Zest-it Blending Sponge

Many coloured pencil artists will be familiar with the use of Zest-It as a solvent for getting speedy coverage of paper as an underpainting for artwork

Recently I was looking at the Zest-It site and spotted something that's new to me - and I guess a few other coloured pencils artists too.

It's called a Zest-It Blending Sponge.  It immediately put me in mind of one of those sponges that a lot of people use to apply "stuff" to their faces - and I was guessing it probably worked in pretty much the same way.

Zest-It Blending Sponge

For blending Coloured Pencils and Pastel for Parchment and other work on vellum or paper. An easy, clean and convenient way of using Zest-it to moisten paper stumps, tortillions and shapers.
Pre-impregnated with 15 ml of Zest-it and ready for use. Re-moisten when necessary with 5 ml of Zest-it Brush Cleaner, Pencil or Parchment Blend.

Then I took a look at the website page which pictures the product.

So - the bit I'm puzzled about - given the photo on the website page - is where is the sponge!?

What it looks like is a tub of transparent shoe cleaner.  So is there a sponge in there and does it lift out?  Or do you use it like shoe cleaner and wipe it onto surfaces using a tool - such as a paper stump or tortillon?  If the latter - why call it a sponge?  [Anyway, I've written to Zest-It to ask and am awaiting a reply]

Has anybody got theis product already - and if so, how do you find it.  More particularly, have you written a review of it which I can link to?