Derwent Chromaflow Pencils, Set of 72 in Tin, 3.5mm Round Core, Premium Core Strength, Blendable with Smooth Texture, Ideal for Drawing, Colouring & Layering, Professional Quality, 2306014

Product Information

Although suitable for all coloured pencil artists, they are aimed particularly at students and hobbyists, for whom price is a determining factor. Chromaflow pencils offer a good quality of creative experience without breaking the bank, and are a great option for beginners to experiment with and build on their skills. This doesn’t mean that professionals cannot use these pencils, it just means that you will need to factor in the lightfastness of some of the pencils ahead of using them. I for example would use them for creating a piece to make prints from and would keep the original if I had used any of the lower lightfast rating pencils in the mix. The Derwent Chromaflow are one such pencil that are aimed toward those of use who just love drawing, adult colouring book artists, crafters, people like myself who love to use colored pencils and then slip the work into a wallet never to see the light of day again. Derwent Chromaflow Price With regards to the plan or vision that Derwent first expressed to me regarding the Derwent Chromaflow, now that the range has been extended to 72 everything makes perfect sense. The manufacturing of the core to appease colored pencil artists who enjoy Prismacolor has most certainly been accomplished as far as I can tell. Here is a side by side comparison of the three ranges that I have put together so that you can compare more easily the key differences between them. You can find a full matrix of all of the Derwent pencils (except Chromaflow) here. Range Derwent released a new line of coloured pencils called Chromaflow in the Spring of 2021. As a relatively big fan of Derwent products, I was curious to try these pencils for myself. There seemed to be a lot of anticipation amongst coloured pencil artists for them, but who are they really best for and do they live up to the hype?

Derwent Chromaflow Pencils | Pencils | Derwent

The old design had Turquoise coloured wood and came in 72 colours. The more up to date design has a dark blue hexagonal barrel. Caran d’Ache brought out the Luminance range a few years ago and these were the best attempt so far at a pencil to meet the American ASTMS 6901 standard. Previous attempts by Prismacolor were dropped as unprofitable and the old Derwent Signature departed many years ago as they were too dry and scratchy (the combination of pigment and binder at that time was not at all good).You will note the very strong colours involved and the high pigmentation. Most colours show up much stronger after the addition of water. The first column of the chart shows the colours in their dry state. The second shows the addition of water, first in concentration and then as a sweep of a small amount of the wet colour off into a paler, less concentrated form. The paint used to colour the wood of the pencils is environmentally sound and uses no solvents. This does mean, however, that some colour may be expected to leach from the barrel of the pencil on to your hand when used on a hot day.

Derwent Chromaflow FAQs | Derwent Derwent Chromaflow FAQs | Derwent

There are many pencils available in the Derwent ranges but for this feature I want to focus on the three that I use most within my own work – Derwent’s Drawing, Lightfast & Chromaflow pencils. This doesn’t mean that I don’t also utilise some of the others not mentioned here in my work when I am looking for a specific application but these are more my ‘go to’ pencils.The two issues I had with this style of marketing were as follows, if the Chromaflow were to be a replacement or at least near as dam it replacement to the Prismacolor for UK based colored pencil artists, why release them first in the US, when they are supposed to fill a gap in the UK market? My second issue was, if you are going to try and fill in for a product that sports a palette of 150, surely releasing only sets of 12 and 24 is way off the mark. It should be noted that this set includes a white pencil as one of its 12. Derwent is the maker of my all-time favourite super opaque white pencil in their Derwent Drawing line. The Chromaflow pencil, however, does not offer the same or even similar qualities. I used it in some areas as a burnish blender or to lighten up some of the areas and I didn’t feel like it really added any additional value. Derwent is one of the few companies that I feel has been smart about giving artists another colour instead of a white pencil in a 12 set but in this case, I feel like a grey or another red even would have been more beneficial. FINAL RESULT Derwent seem to be standardising on sets of 72 colours which will enable them to market pencils in standard sized tins and boxes. For the serious artist, this may reduce the colour choice if the older lines are totally withdrawn, as the main competitors are selling sets up to 120 colours in the range. Accessories to consider The photo above shows an amalgamated set of Derwent pencils. All these colours are rated LF Blue Wool Scale 4 or above. Derwent Lightfast Pencils Derwent Watercolour pencils have been in production for many years and were last reformulated and replaced in 2009.

Derwent Chromaflow Pencils, Set of 36 in Tin, 3.5mm Round Derwent Chromaflow Pencils, Set of 36 in Tin, 3.5mm Round

Lightfast coloured pencils have been a holy grail that artists in coloured pencil have wanted for a long time. I love to use these in my animal portraits to help speed up the initial laydown of pigment, especially when working on a textured support. They are opaque but soft and my other ranges then glide beautifully over them when used as a base. You can also use them on their own but it is slightly more difficult to get fine details because of the width of the core. That is when I will turn to one of the other ranges. Derwent LightfastI think it is important to note that Derwent did not create the Chromaflow to be highly lightfast and aimed at professional colored pencil artists, if you are looking for a highly lightfast product from Derwent there are plenty of other pencils in their range that will cater to your needs. One of the things I think Derwent excel at is providing pencils for certain groups, every group from young artists, crafters, adult colouring book artists, Professional Colored Pencils artists and many more are all catered for under the one banner.