Pastel Pencil Review & Demo | Carbothello v Faber-Castell v Derwent v Caran d'Ache 

AT LAST!!!!! I’ve finally found an art RU-vidr who doesn’t waffle on and waste my life, but gets straight to the point! 10/10 from me, and five stars too 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

An intelligent, trustworthy review when I needed it. So appreciated, Will! Thanks.

A little heavy handed on the Derwent and focussed largely on the experience with opening the box and sharpening the pencils. As they say, first impressions count! In the end they were probably the nicest looking from the four - my opinion.

I'm a newcomer to pastel pencils, and before I even started stocked up on Carbothello, Faber-Castell, Derwent and Bruynzeel. In order to get a "feel" for the various properties, I've been playing around with all the different makes I purchased. They all have pros and cons; it depends on the technique you apply to make them work properly. Contrary to you, I love working with Derwent. Also don't have any problems sharpening the pencils.

You are a very well spoken gentleman. Your voice is also very soothing. I had so much stress before watching your video, but now I can take a baby nap.

Fantastic review of these pastel pencils. Your review changed my mind to purchase the Carbothellos over the FC Pitt Pastels Pencils and I appreciate your review so much. I also soooo appreciate you getting to the point and doing so in a positive way. You also happen to have one of the smoothest and most enjoyable voices I have yet to hear in my 5 plus years of watching tutorials and reviews on RU-vid. Thanks so much for your time and for sharing your experience on these pencils. Also, your Jakar electric pencil sharpener just went to the top of my list of next purchases! Blessings! xxx

Heya, another pastel pencil you may want to review are the Koh-I-Noor gioconda pencils. They come in a range of 48 and are a less expensive option but are very good quality. Jason Morgan did a review on them and their soft pastels the toison d'or and was very pleased with both and now recommends them to those wanting to start with pastels on a budget. I have several of the Koh-I-Noor products including their colored pencils and watercolor pencils as well and all have been excellent at a good price point and as mine always ship from Poland, you shouldn't have trouble finding them if you want.

Caran d’Ache are by far my favorite products and have no qualms spending the extra dime on them even though I’m poor. They are that great. I’ve not used the pastels, but the colored pencils are flawless and wonderful. Haven’t had a pencil break during sharping like prismacolors do it any other brand. I did recently order the FC Polychromos Colored pencils and excited to try them out. I hear they are pretty great as well.

Thank you for your time I’m going to have Caran D ‘ Ache for a Christmas present cannot wait Sandy UK

What a lovely calm neutral voice to listen to. Great review too. Thanks😌

You have the BEST review videos out there. I love an honest opinion being voiced! So many review videos are sooo fluffy that I just want to ask how much the endorsement check was! I honestly feel that after watching this video I can make an informed purchase. Thanks for all you do!!! And btw your art is absolutely amazing!!!

This was my absolute favorite compare/review video to date...and I watch them frequently! Just perfectly done. It was so helpful as I have just ordered my first set of Panpastels and was trying to decide what companion pastel pencil set I was going to buy. It felt honest, was concise, well explained and covered the most important qualities. As I have not watched your videos before I feel I must now go check them all out! Thanks for this very helpful information-Happy New Year!

finally i have got this real video about comparison, not just only open a new box of pencil and draw a color card! now i definitely know which pastel pencil i should buy. thanks a lot, Unmask Art, your explanation is so clear and valuable.

Thank you for a comprehensive review of these pastel pencils. I learned a lot and found your small project done for each brand very helpful.

Thanks so much! I have been sitting here debating between the stabilos and the faber-castells for about 30 minutes. Though you gave the faber-castells the lower score, I think I’ll go with them as I generally enjoy the brand’s other products, I prefer a more oily feel with pencils, and their product is apparently manufactured with environmentally conscious practices. Many thanks again.

This is so useful. I’ve been equivocating over which pastel pencils to buy. Thanks!

I was so excited to discover a sharpener that sharpened pastels! I wish it wasn’t more expensive than the pencils themselves though. Great, informative, and to the point review. Thanks!

Thank you for this review. I own the Carbothello, the Caran D'Arche and the Faber Castell pastel pencil sets. I totally agree with you. Never tried the Derwent but I won't be tempted to buy it now. I also have the full Conte pastel pencil set but stopped using it because I found them too hard for colouring in, only good for fine details or lines. Thank you again...

You forgot the oldest one Conté à paris. They are like Caran D'ache. For details I like the Cretacolor more than Faber-Castell.

I feel so much better now that I've watched this review. Previously I doubted my sanity re Derwent pastel pencils.

I DO NOT KNOW WHICH ARE BETTER, BUT WHAT I KNOW IS THAT YOU ARE A REAL TALENTED ARTIST.

I found your review as I was looking for recommendations for my first pastel pencils. Great video, thank you! As someone else said, love how you cut to the chase!

Thank you for sharing. I’m impressed by your review of these pastel pencils. I was disappointed Derwent fell to the bottom. I’ve found the other Derwent products wonderful to use. Thank you, again. You have saved me money not buying the wrong pastel pencils. Happy New Year!🎊🎆 Fran

Great review and thanks for getting straight to the point.

You have such a nice calm voice it's nice to listen to your talk about the products and I love watching you draw especially with colored pencils I'm trying to learn that medium thank you

This was a great review. I have never felt the serious desire to purchase any of the Caran D'Ache products due to the price, but this review has me wishing I could afford this one set. 😂😂 In the meantime, I can trust in my decision to go with the Carb-Othellos.

Thanks for the great review! I was considering the Pitt pencils, but now I think I'd like Carbothellos better. Of course any Caran d'Ache pencil would be considered 'cream of the crop', but I can't justify that right now after recently purchasing both Polychromos & Caran d'Ache colored pencils lol

I like the final Derwent still life the most. It looks natural and not too shiny/rubbery which is what the second and fourth still life’s look like.

Thank you for the video. It is very to the point and has helped me make my decision which pencils to buy. Also, you're voice is very soothing.

Now this was one of a helpful video. Thanks for your time to work this out! I was unsure about bying the carbothellos, now I am quite sure that this should be my choice. thanks

Wow! I got the pitt and carbothello for christmas. I haven't used yet, glad I didn't ask for the derwent. I got the pitt after watching artist collin bradley doing pastels, carbothello because of your use and Jason morgan. Thank you for the review and helping me see the differences. Will you review the 36 general pastel pencils or the Koh i noor? would love to see those in action. peace

What an excellent review. I will be taking a class in pastels and I was looking for a decent review of different pastel pencils. This was excellent.

Super valuable comparison. Thank you!

For about a month I have been debating on which set of pencils I should purchase. It was a toss up between Derwent or Caran D'ache. And with your demonstration i have watched it has sealed the deal on which I should purchase. The Caran D'ache family maybe in the higher range on pricing but you do get what you pay for in which is quality. Thank you for making this informative segment

I'm sorry but, Dude. Your Dreads. They're on point.

I ordered a set of Faber Castell Pitt pastels and a set of Stabilo carbothello pastel pencils, this video was so helpful!

Exceptionally well done, inspiring, encouraging, honest and frank. Having not yet tried working with pastels, you have saved me hours of research. I'm very pleased to have subscribed. Looking forward to your next post.

This is vital information for me! Thank you very much.

Great review. I just decided to give pastel a try (I'm colored pencil DRIVEN ...lol) so I had purchased SC. I haven't broken them in yet. Glad to know I got a good beginner set. Just joined your Patreon and FB. I'm very excited to be off work so I can really get in to your beginer pastel class.!!

I am SO HAPPY that I came across your channel, your honesty and assertivness is refreshing! I'm also considering buying one of your courses on colored pencils, which one would you recommend me to start with?

Great review! Not too long, and you show how each brand of pastel pencil holds up. Thank you!

Thanks for the great honest review

I just bought a 24 pack of the Derwent. I'm new to pastel pencils and I've only used them to make a swatch page so far. They seem okay to me. And to me, the color in this video looks just as good as the others. But maybe I'll go with Stabilo if I decide I want a bigger set.

I have only tried the CarbOthello pencils (I have the wooden box set, but I HATE the case because the foam inside melted and stuck to my pencils in the hot Georgia summer), but I love the pencils! I really want to try some other brands because I feel limited by the colors at times. For example, I don’t feel there are enough pinks in their range, especially my favorite coral/salmon pinks. The Pitt Pastels seem really interesting, especially because I prefer less saturated colors! I almost bought the Caran d’Ache recently and held off.

Thank you for the great straight forward comparison!

hello, i stumbled across this video while doing research on which brand i should start off with when first experiencing pastel pencils, and i must say that this is such a wonderful and informative video!! thank you so much for putting in the time and effort to make it!💕

Another informative and concise review. Bravo!

As a newcomer for pasyel you explained very well what brand i should pick to start my journey on pastel painting.😊

I have been waiting for this video 👍🏻 Thank you so much hello from Mexico 🇲🇽

I really loved the stabilo ones and the pricing ia the best part! 😍

I agree about the Pitt pastels. I only use them as a secondary set as I find the pigments less vibrant than the Carbothello's and Caran D'ache, and even the Koh-i-Noors. My other issue with them is that 8 out of the 10 Greens are NOT light-fast. So I do not even bother to use these in any of my landscape pieces. Interestingly enough, I have had no sharpening issues with the Derwent pastel pencils yet, but I have with the Pitt pastels, and the only sharpener I have found that works with them is the Staedtler 2 hole metal sharpener. They remain my least favorite of the pastel pencils. I actually find the Koh-I-Noor Gioconda's wonderful.

Great review. Straight to the,point. Great visual too. Thanks

Different pencils - but when I spent a fortune buying the full set of favour Castel polychrome’s- I made the mistake of buying them in the gorgeous wooden box... Let me just say that the wooden box somewhere at my parents house - my pencils however are in a place that I bought on well eBay - that holds each individual pencil, nicely.. I’ve never again spent a fortune on a wooden box... Thanks for your great review.. This is the first amount of decent information I’ve been able to find about pastel pencils. Considering the price for good quality ones isn’t that dear, I might just try them. The good news is considering the price point I can buy what appears to be the best and a 60 set... thank you for your help it’s greatly appreciated - good work. Although it might be a teacher you are not just teaching the students in your class but educating anybody who wants to learn about the topic, greatly appreciated for those of us that aren’t up to an art class for one reason or another (in my case it’s due to be critically ill). 🍎

Atlas I was confused which pastel pencil to buy. But now you solved my problem. I decided to try the carbothellos......Thanks.

Thank you for the review. Just found you on youtube and right away you seem like a great guy!

This was a great review, loved how you said what you thought as you used them.

Fantastic review, thank you!

Fabulous video ~ love your style and professional advice. I've never liked Derwent much either, except for Graphitint.

Happy New Year !

Great review!

Absolutely fantastic comparison, thank you! Where can we get the Jakar pencil sharpener in the US?

thanks, this was very helpful and i agree with your reviews, except i have not yet been able to master the caran d'ache. i'm not sure why, but perhaps their texture is so different than the carbothello, which is my go-to set. i also enjoyed your calm, quiet presentation.

Wonderful review thank you, and your voice is so soothing! x

Could you please expand your review with a comparison of Kalour, Conte Paris, Cretacolor and Kohinoor Gioconda pastel pencils? Thanks in advance for your time and help.

I have the derwent and I was very confused why it’s so bad and these are my first pastel pencils

Hi I've used Dewent drawing, watercolor and pastel pencils over the years and never had a problem with them maybe because I always hand sharpen with manual hand sharpener, and not a hand crank or electric sharpener.

So useful, clear, practical. Great video. Thank you!

I have the Derwent set 😅

I just love this review

Super helpful, thank you!

I have been thinking about trying out this media, but I coudn't decide witch brand to get a 12 set first. Maybe I will get derwent, as it's a little cheaper where I live and actualy has a decently lightfast variety of colors.

I have yet to use pastel pencils but your work makes me want to try some! Thanks for the review!

Thank you for the review. I'm new to pastel pencils. ❤

Awesome review! I like how you cut right to the pros and cons with no riff raff. I just ordered CarbOthellos and am glad I did! Is it safe to sharpen them with an electric sharpener?

I' totally agree with your review but your marks on Derwent is little harsh it should be marked 6 out of 10 despite its sharpening issues

Hi, I just bought the 84 wooden box of carandache, hope they come OK after shipping

thanks for that great review and for saving me from buying the Derwent set. after watching your review I'll either go for the stabilo or even the Caran d'Ache!

This afternoon, someone gifted me a wood boxed set of 90 DERWENT pastel pencils ... I have rarely used any pastels (crayons) in the past, but I was happy to receive them - all unused, as the man who gave them has been sitting on them for a while - he went digital -- I came here to the YouuuuTuuuuube to find out exactly how they work before going at it myself - and laughed at your review! Oi vie!! Mind, my box is quite the luxury compared to the one you have, and all 'cils are held quite tightly secure in 3 trays. Even with the poor review, I hope to get some good watercolour paper soon so I can give these a go. Normally I draw in black ink with a 005 nib, but I absolutely LA-HAVVVVV colour, so .... ya, it was fun watching and listening to your reviews, esPECIALLY the one that pertains to what I now have! HA! Wish me luck Joe -- Guelph, Ontario

Huh. So Caran d'Ache ...last I'd tried pastel anything, they were the messy sticks and I was like, a young teen. Loved 'em, but ewww! Now I need one white Carbothello for a watercolour. ONE. Now I think I'll look at the set of Caran d'Ache. Doing _all that_ in a pastel that's a pencil? Eh, maybe I'll find a deal. (Sure, in Covid '22 super-inflation no-job-security New World Order.) Like your hair. _Excellent demonstration!_ *SUBBED!*

Just the info I needed.

Ive been waiting for a video like this thank you!

I have a set of derwent pastel and its true! Its really hard to sharp them and its also easy to break the tip😔

Regarding the practical end results: are the softer Caran d'Ache more vulnerable to smearing? How does spray fixative affect the surface, and especially fine details? My charcoal drawings all definitely go fuzzier but can't reasonably leave them bare, either. Help!?

The best review! Thanks so much!

Hi, From what you are saying, I would give a 10 for Caran D'ane Genviève pencils because bigger is better when it comes to holding pens and pencils when you start to suffer from articulations in your hands, like stiffness. So it demands less efforts to hold it. So thank you very much for your review !

Wanting information on pastel pencils this was very helpful! The CaranD’Ache are too thick for an ordinary sharpener? Is this correct? Can they be sharpened with a craft knife? Thanks for your help as I was thinking of buying Derwent you changed my mind! Do Schmincke ( my go to brand ) make this type of pencil ?

thank goodness this exists. i needed ths so much

You may like the Derwent with a small brush with solvent for blending

Great review. I have been using the Carbothellos for my life drawings, but now I think I am going to try out the Pitts.

The sensible thing to do is buy set of 60, pull out the crappy lightfastness pencilsnand replace them with one from another set. Use pan pastels as your under-painting to use less pencil. Use sandpaper to sharpen one adge and it keep moving to obtain very sharp points. Mix & match your pencils, it saves a lot of hassles and you can do it bit by bit. A 60 set and some extras from other sets (single pencils) to get the palette you need. It works perfectly. Great video buddy, you've a new sub. Thank you for sharing. :)

What a great REVIEW and COMPARISON!!! 😍😍

Interesting. Because I stopped using my Derwent pencils for the same reason. They also dragged too much across the paper, not a smooth experience. I have ordered Caran d'Ache pencils before seeing this video - Phew! Lucky guess to go ahead with them after seeing they came out top in this review! Thanks!

Great review This is how should it be done Thanks a lot

Great and super helpful video, so relaxing as well which I really appreciate!

Great comparison. I have the 72 set of the Derwent. These were actually the cheapest option where I am. Loving using them but might have to try to save up for the others lol

excellent review! thanks for the comparisons video👍

Excellent review. Thx.

Thanks for the honest review! Keep it up 😊

I actually like the derwent but they are the only one I own and they always break so I want another set with a different brand so thank you,

It would be interesting to see some lightfastness tests on these brands as usually the more bright luminous colours (especially magentas and purples) have optical dyes or aren’t truly lightfast. So even if carbothellos are said by the manufacturer to be lightfast as the fabercastell or other brand they may not be. I’m going to do my own lightfastness tests once I’m moved house.