Sorry the pic is sideways, and a bad picture… the cut off pencil ID is FC PC 123.

You can see how the raffine is luminous and has a bit of translucency and clarity, whilst the other two are quite dull in comparison – though not as dull as this pic makes it look.

The lack of any lightfastness info for the el cheapo raffines is what prevents me using it, except for practice. The practice sheets are popping with bits of that raffine in there. I’m tempted to imperil my immortal soul by using a blasted kid’s crayon! (Not really, but you get the idea!)

Ah!

Thank you, that would explain it… Oh Poopy Pants! I’ll have to devise a way to use another medium for those parts.

My friend here dropped by to check out the colours – don’t know how to break it to him – he says ‘Hi, and thank you!’, as do I.

Thanks so much, everyone!

The polychromos look so dull because it’s a crappy i-phone pic in bad lighting – believe it or not, that paper is bright white. I was swatching, and so don’t even know what paper it was, just a scrap. Not printer paper though!

But you can still see the difference in the swatch of the cheapo pencil.

I agree, that the values are what’s important, but I find that that particular clear pink is sooo useful in what I like to do with CP – which is usually something surreal.

Between that clear bright pink and another the same value, the only difference in the same subject is that the one with the clear pink is screaming ‘look at me!’, and the other one is nice, but humdrum.

I only use such tiny bits of it, but it tends to ‘throw’ all the other colours into a vibrancy that’s missing when you use the others.

Not that important, but I’m just not satisfied with the FCPC pinks.

Thanks latedrawer, I’ll put those pencils on the list to try when I get to the supplies shop in a few months. Unfortunately, North American shops are impossible for me, so Dick Blick et al, are out.

Seems that pinks are troublesome – I’m quite happy with the blues in this 120 set – I can layer and get pretty much any blue shade that I like.

Cheers,
Janis :thumbsup:

Thanks Tiago,

I’m learning fast about pencils and their limits, thanks to all the great people on here – I’m dabbling at the moment, coming from acrylic paint.

I somehow got bitten by the pencil bug, and haven’t been able to leave it alone for months. And now graduated to good pencils.

I think I’ll just have to mix my media to be happy… I’ve been using OMS to get blended backgrounds. You can take the pencil girl out of the painter, but you can’t take the painter out of the pencil girl? (Vision of pencil in a little black dress, with a spiritous drably smocked painter reaching out ghostly claws… brush handle sharpened to a deadly point – about to knock off the pencil’s nicely sharpened tip!)

I keep looking at the pinks and been thinking of ink as a base to get what I want. A thinned alcohol ink? I had some suggestions on another thread.

I can’t believe how kind you all are, so helpful! Thank you all.