I own the limited edition Landscape set of 24 that came in a wrap case. The case design is almost like a fabric version of the dictionary book and was my reason for buying it. At first, I didn’t love the pencils because of how hard they were, but I was always drawn to play around with them simply because they are so gorgeous and feel nice in the hand. After a lot of trial and error, I’ve found the papers that they perform best on, and I’ve started to really enjoy them, especially as a travel set for urban sketching. If you own these pencils, try using them on Midori MD Cotton paper and you might enjoy using them more. That paper works well with even the cheapest, hardest leads.
I appreciate your review. I was so attracted to the colors in the Irojiten sets and bought all of them. I tried to make them work, but they were just too hard for me. Hard, scratchy, and hardly any color saturation meant I ended up gifting them to my niece. I don’t regret that choice. They were not the pencils for me.
Glad you enjoyed it! Yes I know just what you mean, it’s such a shame really, as they are just beautiful pencils! Another commenter mentioned that the way the intended blending works is by using very similar shades and going from light to dark. Im hoping to do an artwork with them at some point soon just to see if I can make it work this way. 🤷♀️
I was supper excited when I received my set they look so pretty.However a bit disappointed with the vibrancy of colour and poor blending. However as you commented Sunshine they are a joy to use.
I had a feeling these would end up being a middling pencil when you started testing these - not because they're bad, but because I think they fill a little bit of a niche that most other pencils don't do. While I probably wouldn't reach for these to do an art piece, they have been working wonderfully in one of my colouring books (Hanna Karlzon's Daydreams) and I feel like the intention is to use a couple of sets together. It does require buying more than one of the assortments, but I feel like you're _meant_ to use the pale tones 1 and 2 together same with the dull tones 1 and 2, and then the others fill in gaps to allow for gradients within the colour families. Working outside of the colour families is a lot more tricky, so I agree with you in that these seem to be "colouring book" pencils as you can create some nice blends so long as you keep to that rule of using most colours from the same set type, but for more specific works where you want (and _need_) to create those gradients from different families, there are many other options around
Okay that’s really interesting. How many sets are you using for your colouring? I usually try and end up doing an art piece with each pencil set so grabbed myself kit one to go with kit 2 as it had the vibrant colour book. Haven’t had a chance to use it yet but I was hoping what you w re saying always the case. I think I could mix both kits to get the piece I have in mind done☺️💜
@@StuffBySunshine I went and checked the pencils I pulled out for the page, and I'm using 20 colours for it - 4 vibrant, 7 EXtra, 7 Deep, 1 Dull and 1 Pale This makes 10 pencils from set A/Rainforest (1 from pale vol 1, 4 from vivid vol 1, 5 from deep vol 1), 2 from set B/Woodlands (from deep vol 2), 1 from set C/Seascape (from dull vol 1), and 7 from the EXtra set of 10 available individually only Some choices could be swapped out for other colours with a little difference in the outcome, but it is very much a piece where it uses set A and the extra pencils far above any of the other sets If you want to see the page and my colour choices, let me know - though I'm not 100% sure how I'd show you/link in the comments here
I own all 100 colors but have transferred them into a case. I love the looks of the boxes they come in but it wasn't very practical and took up a lot of space. I also needed a place for the extra 10 that I picked up from Cult Pens when I was ordering some other things. The yellow that you picked is one of the lightest ones. I do wish there was a white. There is a black, its not terrible. I like that they are hard since I can be a little heavy handed. They look and feel really nice and there is a lot of different colors that don't come in other sents that I have. I really like them over all, though they are not like my other pencil sets. I kind of think of them as their own art supply.
Very pretty! I wonder if the reason for their hardness is cultural? Like, maybe a special japanese pencil or art technique? I feel like they could also be good for writing letters or something. They'd certainly be hardy in a classroom!
Possibly! But more likely it’s just what the manufacturer decided when they were designed. There are many more Japanese pencils out there which range from soft to hard though I’m yet to find another one this hard😂
The Tombow watercolor markers also come in Kits and individually. The kits are purposed for a style, look, mood, of painting (like your painting of death). The lack of reds and browns is to restrict those colors in the creation of a picture to stay true to the look, however there are blending techniques to get around that, which I am certain they had in mind as well. Tombow colors do have a lot of similar colors, it’s relating to the style of kits, however the similar colors do blend significantly differently. With Tombow colors I put the light color down first, then blend over with the darker colors. It looks to me Tombow applied the same color schemes with their pencils as they did with there markers. Looking like a traditional Oriental style art supply I’m assuming the color pencil style of painting it is designed for light application to begin with then layer in the dark patches. The watercolor marker kits seem designed for western watercolor painting. I find the Tombow brand to be a lot like Faber-Castle, hit or miss.
Hello my friend! Okay that’s really interesting 🧐 I’ll keep it in mind if I do an art piece with them. I’d love to see if this is actually the case! Hmm I’ll let you know how it goes 💜
I didn't know that Japan had colouring pencils! That's a shame that they didn't blend well! But now I'm tempted to get these pencils! Also a wild dinosaur was spotted! Hallo Cecil
Haha they do! Some very pretty pencils at that ☺️. The Holbein was another Japanese pencil as well, not quite as pretty packaging but much better in the blending💜
I really like their lightest (pastel) pencils to use in combination with other brands in my mixed media pieces - possibly because of their hardness, they deliver a light colour no other brand I own really gets (when used at higher pressure). Also because of this, I like using them as 'blending' pencils in combination with my Polychromos. But I have to admit, I haven't used the more 'vibrant' hues in the pack as much, because for those colours, other brands are just better.
I got the full set at a really great price (a third of their usual price) but they were still quite expensive, so I was really disappointed the first time I tried them. I had decided I would resell them, but then I talked myself into testing them once more before parting with them and suddenly things clicked and I really loved them. You have to put them down in quite small, delicate motions, and build them up layer after layer. It takes longer to do than with creamier pencils but the results are beautiful and can get quite saturated. Now I love them and would never part with them. For me the only negative is the lack of lightfastness. But they are a pleasure to use in my sketchbooks
I do think that at full price they are quite overpriced here, though (I often see these in shops for £69 per volume!) . In Japan these sell for around £15 per volume, which I think is a fairer price taking into account the lack of lightfastness and how they handle. They are gorgeous though - very interesting pencils. I am happy I kept them. I also love the unusual colour range, but I do have other (artist) pencil collections.
Oof that’s a big price difference! Maybe that’s where the Amazon ones are coming from as they are so much cheaper than I’ve been able to find in stores. Interesting, I’ll keep that in mind with the layering. I was considering trying them with a blending stick as well. How bad are they ligthfast wise?
@@StuffBySunshine I have not done any lightfastness tests myself (I decided not to bother because I have other fully lightfast artist-grade sets that I would go to first for any professional artwork) but there are quite a few others online who have (can't link on here unfortunately, but they are easy to find). The biggest gripe is that the pencils are sold in art shops but do not carry lightfastness ratings, which would be helpful. Not all of them are fugitive but quite a lot are, particularly the paler colours, of which there are many this being a Japanese set with a Japanese colour palette. I think perhaps in Japan these are aimed at a different market, hence why no lightfastness info. But at the prices they are sold elsewhere it would be nice info to have before making a purchase.
Thankyou☺️. I’m planning on itbut as I’m paying for these myself I’ll have to wait a little bit into the future unfortunately. Can’t wait to try them through💜
These pencils are so interesting! Honestly, despite the limitations you'd identified, I thought they seemed cool and inexpensive enough to possibly check out... and for some reason on the UK site, the same set is £65! (That's AUD $123, can you believe?!) Guess I'll stick with my bland but functional Derwents 🙃 As always, love your thoughtful and rigorous testing and review process! x
These pencils are £52 at Cult Pens, or £2.40 each (though there is a summer sale going on with a 10% discount on them, making it less than £47 for a set of 30 [£1.56 each in a set] or £2.16 individualy). One possible reason for the large price difference might be shipping times/costs as Australia is needless to say, closer to Japan than we are in the UK XD
Whew! That’s very pricey! Although to be fair I think I paid double the price they are advertised on Amazon because I brought them from a brick and mortar store. Always love to support local stores but sometimes it does Wack you straight in the hip pocket😂.
If you know you really really want them (I did because I absolutely love Japanese colour palettes) and your heart is set on the entire set, you could order them from Japan directly? The shipping costs are high but if you get the whole lot (and make sure you don;t add anything to your order that would make it go over the customs limit of £135 including shipping) it's quite the saving! I paid £45 for the 3-volumes lot, plus shipping. I don't do this kind of thing much as I like to support my local art shops (and my most local art shop is...the brick and mortar Jacksons flagship, haha) but the price of this particular set of pencils here in the UK (and in some other European countries I have family in) is astronomical (I sincerely don't know why) and considering these pencils' limitations for this one thing it's worth getting a Japanese friend to bring these back for you, or to order them direct. You can then replenish individual pencils as you run out from your local shops (that's what I have been doing).
also get some nice toothy pencil paper because these babies are HARD 😆. They do release a surprising amount of pigment, considering their hardness, if you layer them patiently though.
Oh my! These are some really hard pencils! Maybe they're just simple student grade pencils. The Japanese have the art to make all their stationary look so pretty and worth gifting!
It’s strange and frustrating that there are 10 colors not included in these three sets, and yet tombow doesn’t offer a good storage solution for them. It doesn’t make a ton of sense to not care about storage and display when one of the main selling points of the irojiten is their book-shaped containers.
True! I looked at those bonus 10 pencils. I guess they come in some type of packaging but it’s hard to tell. It looks like they are being offered when you buy all 3 packs at once by some sellers so maybe there is something coming in the future? Do you use them?
@@StuffBySunshine They come with no packaging at all, just a plastic bag (at least in US). The extra 10 colors are way softer and more pigmented than the original 90. In fact, I often use these 10 and never anything from the 90 cool packaging.
Really? Oh damn that’s dodgy! For a pencil that’s selling point is the cool packaging that’s so strange! Interesting it almost sounds like they are another mix altogether, I may have to try and get them as break test those suckas!
Shame you didn't find them so effective. I have the full range and they are my go to pencil for laying down many layers 1st to 80%. I find the layers really pop when you blend/burnish them at the end; I like using a stump or a softer complementary pencil like a Holbein for it. As for the colour range I think they are chosen to capture more traditional Japanese art swatches. I think having an actual illustration example would be very beneficial for your process in these videos for the viewers that respond better to practical application versus quantifiable tests. Cheers.
Hmm interesting that you find them so effective! I gave them a crack with an actual art piece after the review and sadly they’re still not my favourite. But we all use pencils for different things 😌
@@StuffBySunshine Man you are so right about getting these on paper because of the “hardness” it really just digs in the paper causing tiny tears. I don’t like these pencils right now or probably ever. I just like the eraser that came with it and the sharpener, a tombow sand eraser. 👍
Freely sharpener and eraser? Total win! I’m going to do a full art piece sometime this week with them so I’ll probably have that same issue, but I’m hearing people combine these with other pencils for light shading effects. May help you love them more ☺️
I bought these pencils years ago and never used them past swatching them because I hated them so much. Besides the blending issues, they are so hard and scratchy. So if you like hard and scratchy consistency pencils, I would recommend them. If you like a creamier softer core, you will hate these like I did and I would recommend POSCA or Prismacolor pencils instead. I also really love my Holbein pencils, but those are incredibly pricey and if you sell your art, Holbein has questionable light fastness. I just use them in my sketchbook so light fastness doesn't matter to me. I really wanted to love the Irojiten pencils though so it was such a disappointment when I tried them out and they were so hard, scratchy and difficult to blend and layer.
It is unfortunate as they are such a pretty pencil! People are telling me lots of light layers will give you a much better result. I’m going to be curious when doing a piece with them whether that helps. Fingers crossed!💜
I heard Holbein gouache and watercolors are one of the most high quality you can get, and that Holbein uses the same pigments in their pencils, so it's likely their lightfastness claims are, indeed, true. If you look at their new sets they've sold to the US, they include more comprehensive information about their ratings. I have a smaller set I got more recently from the US while I have a larger set that I imported from Japan last year, and the insert booklets are a little bit different as far as that section goes. I think they all have to have a LFI or LFII rating to comply with ASTM D6901 but some of them do (the ones with 3 stars bc Holbein is confusing like that). So they're not all lightfast, but some of them are, and that can be said with most sets marketed to artists like Prismacolor, Polychromos Coloursoft, etc. They've all got some colors that are highly lightfast, but not all of them are (although I don't think Prismacolor has any of that information readily available like Derwent or Polychromos does where they include it in their booklets). Only Caran D'ache Luminance and Derwent Lightfast are 100% compliant with ASTM D6901 (as far as I have seen, but maybe the Derwent Drawing line is also compliant). If you want to know more about that you can look it up for yourself as there are a plethora of resources online that have more information about that, I just shared what I understand from my reading. Hope this helps you at all!
@@ReverieOfThorns Oh yay! Thank you for that information. I just know the last I heard people saying it’s hard to get information from Holbein on what methods they used because I thought they used a proprietary method for testing lightfastness but maybe they’ve updated it. And yes, their watercolors and gouache are amazing so I would like to think the lightfastness for the pencils would be held to the highest standards too. Especially when you consider their price. I will definitely look into that more.
