Holbein Colored Pencil Review! (and a supply swap)

Hi friends! A few months ago artist Jane bush on YouTube asked me if I would like to try Holbein pencils as she had an extra set. I thought that would be fun as I had been curious about them but they were hard to find here.

I set to work putting them through their paces and today I have a full review for you!

Be sure to check out my friend Jane’s channel to see the review on the set of pencils I sent her! Affilate links are used in this review.

Today we are reviewing Holbein Artists Colored Pencils. Until recently they have been very difficult to find in America and very expensive if you did manage to score a set on Ebay. Now that Blick is stocking them we have a reliable source of both sets and open stock Holbein pencils.

Pros:

• Highly pigmented Fast laydown of color
• Ability to layer several layers and mix colors
• Good for folks with arthritis as little pressure is needed
• Great color selection (range of 150 colors)
• Really unique range of robust pastel tones
• Lightfast ratings are provided on the pencils with 3 stars being highest.

Cons:

• Price ($3.19 per pencil)
• Availability (only Blick has them in USA and they can be hard to buy outside of Japan)
• Tips wear down quickly

Bottom line: The most unique feature about the Holbein Artist Pencils is the pastel tones. I plan to add a few more of those to my collection where I do not have similar shades in Prismacolor, Coloursoft, or Lightfast. I urge you to try a few open stock pencils before committing to a full set if you are not sure as there is not a huge per pencil savings in the sets and they mix and layer well so I don’t think the full set is necessary to create beautiful art. I recommend these pencils but I do hope the price comes down as they become more popular and available. One more thing, I referenced Arteza colored pencils as a very similar pencil. They have changed the numbering on the pencils so I am not sure if the pencils are still the same quality but they did start offering open stock pencils with the same names of the ones I have but different numbers for anyone who wants to try a couple and see. I have inquired about these new numbered pencils and I will update it here if I find out more.