Holbein Colored Pencils in Japan Cost From Japanese Super Art Store

Uni Posca colored pencils

The Uni Posca proper noun might be best known among sketchers for its line of opaque pigment markers. I reviewed them a couple of years agone at the Well-Appointed Desk-bound, and they are specially fun to use on black or other dark colored papers. (I did a sketch of koi at the Japanese Garden with Posca paint markers a while back.) I discovered recently that Uni Posca is now in the colored pencil game, too: A set and open up-stock pencils are available at Blick for about $2 each. Although I'd be reluctant to purchase a set of 36 as a trial (the only set size available at Blick), their availability as open stock made my decision piece of cake. I bought one each of red (15), lemon yellowish (28) and blue (33). (My contempo experiments with triads have convinced me that iii primaries are an ideal number for testing application and blending properties.)

The 3 colors I tried

First, let's await at the pencil's exterior: Posca pencils, made past Mitsubishi (I don't have the packaging to know whether they are fabricated in Nippon), have matte black, circular barrels that feel very smooth and comfortable to hold. (I have been known to repeatedly run my fingers along that lovely, pleasant finish.) Uni Posca's chief colored logo, which too appears on its markers and other products, gives the design a whimsical wait.

Shine matte stop and rounded stop caps

Color numbers on the ends

Rounded finish caps indicating the pencils' colors have the aforementioned matte finish. Color numbers are on the ends – a prissy touch on for people similar me who store pencils in cups instead of in boxes. Unfortunately, color names are not on the barrels.

Look at that thick core – the start sign that these pencils might be pleasant to use. According to Blick, the oil-based cores are "fade-resistant, highly opaque, and blendable." A close look at the collar gives an interesting clue: Instead of dipping the end cap color onto the painted pencil, the end cap color is painted first, and the black glaze is added afterwards.

Thick core and a telltale collar.

1/viii/20 Uni Posca pencils in Stillman & Birn Epsilon sketchbook

Using a Stillman & Birn Epsilon sketchbook, I started sketching an apple tree with the Uni Posca pencils, and I was immediately struck by how creamy and smooth the super-soft cores are. Among the softest I've used, they use similar a dream and blend beautifully without feeling waxy. In fact, the feeling was familiar. . .

i/eight/20 Uni Pericia pencils in S&B Epsilon

I reviewed Uni Pericia colored pencils for the Well-Appointed Desk a while dorsum, but it had been a while since I last used them. Later on I finished the Posca sketch, I pulled out my Pericia set to refresh my memory. Using 3 colors in the Pericia palette that are as close as I could find to the Posca triad, I sketched the apple again. Pericia pencils are also oil-based. There it was – that same super-soft, creamy application.

I put the cores side past side: The same thickness, and the wood looks the aforementioned, as well. In fact, the round butt, matte finish and rounded end caps are likewise very similar.

From top: Pericia and Posca

Since opacity seems to be a selling point of the Poscas, I swatched both side by side on blackness paper.

Opacity test in Stillman & Birn blackness Nova sketchbook

I'd be willing to bet coin that Posca and Pericia cores are the same!

How are they different, then? Mainly the price. Although Blick doesn't carry Pericia pencils, so I can't compare directly, JetPens' cost is about $iii each. Pericia pencils come in a faux leather storage case that looks like it should contain jewelry. Blick'due south images of Posca packaging bear witness plastic trays. When I reviewed Pericias, I wondered how much of that cost was for the fancy case . . . and now I think I know how much.

I don't know if Pericia pencils are available open up stock (I've never found them sold that way online), merely Posca pencils are, and so that also makes them a better option. I say go for the Poscas. At to the lowest degree right now, Blick seems to be the only place conveying Posca pencils.

Edited 1/17/twenty: Using Blick's nautical chart of 36 open up stock colors, I matched as many colors equally I could from my set of 24 Pericia pencils. Except for a scattering that appear to be unique to Pericia, I found close matches for all the rest. Color numbers exercise not match.

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Source: http://tina-koyama.blogspot.com/2020/01/review-uni-posca-colored-pencils.html

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