jennster55's Full Review: Caran d'Ache Supracolor II Set of 12 Colors
Recently I added some Caran d'Ache Supracolor II watercolor pencils to my collection of various brands of watercolor pencils (Derwent, Daler Rowney, Derwent Inktense, Prismacolor). As part of my recent commitment to doing daily sketches, I've been using them very often, and love how portable and easy they are to use. Being fortunate to have many pencils of so many different brands, I've been comparing how each brand performs on different papers, and I'm highly impressed with Caran d'Ache Supracolor II pencils.
For those unfamiliar with the medium, watercolor pencils are average sized wooden pencils with a "lead" of watercolor pigment. They may be used wet or dry, and give artists the ability to create watercolor paintings with nothing more than a brush and plain water: Draw with the pencils on watercolor paper, go over the drawing with a brush dipped in water, and you have a painting.
Caran d'Ache is a Swiss company. According to their literature, these hexagonal shaft cedar pencils have 3.8 mm leads, with high breaking strength (meaning, the leads don't easily break), and have excellent lightfastness, though I haven't had a chance to test that yet. The manufacturer also makes permanent colored pencils, gouache and artists crayons and says these watercolor pencils may be combined with the other mediums, so I am assuming the color range matches throughout all these products.
They come in sets of 12, 18, 30, 40, 80 or 120, and are packed in flat, hinged metal boxes, or you can buy individual pencils at some art supply stores.
The range of colors is good: the smaller watercolor pencil sets of some other brands come with many "off" colors (gray purple rather than a purer, brighter purple, dull lavender rather than a purer, brighter pink). The range of colors in Supracolor watercolor pencil sets, especially important in the smaller sets, is better: they have more vibrant bright colors, and reserve the duller colors for the larger sets. This is good because it's easy to dull bright colors on the paper by layering a brown or black or opposite color on top of it; but it's much harder to brighten a color that's dull to begin with.
As far as the quality of the pigment, I was very surprised at how vibrant the color is and how smoothly it goes on the paper, and yet it doesn't get noticeably or garishly brighter once water is added to it. The pencils work beautifully on all the papers I've tested them on (smooth watercolor, smooth sketchbook, textured sketchbook). They're just as nice to use dry as wet. They take water washes well: they create smoother gradients than most of the other brands I tested.
The only thing I don't like about them is the price. They tend to be expensive (ranging from about $25 for a set of 12 to $250 for a set of 120), and at least in the U.S., somewhat difficult to find in person (though I have had luck finding them online in many art supply stores).
But for the excellent quality and wide range of available colors, I think even the higher price is worth it.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
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