Caran d'Ache Fancolor Color Pencils, 18 Colors

These are nice drawing pencils, but they are not metallic in any immediately obvious way, so I am not certain to what "Metallic" actually refers . . .I thought that they would have lead that looked like metal, perhaps with some tiny metal flakes, but they look pretty much the same as the Prismacolor Premier Softcore and Premier Verithin color pencils, which I really like . . .For reference, what I wanted was silver and gold metal "stuff", so after trying these "metallic colored pencils" and not being able to see anything obviously metallic I did a bit more searching and recalled that there are labeling pens that have an ink like Testors metallic paint, which is the look I want, so I ordered a few sets of Sanford Oil-Based Gold and Markers, which work very nicely . . .Sharpie Oil-Based Fine Point Paint Markers, 1 Gold & 1 Silver Marker(37368)Sharpie Oil-Based Extra Fine Point Paint Markers, 1 Gold and 1 Silver Marker (30588PP)The Sharpie Oil-Based Gold and Silver Markers are different from drawing pencils, and since they are oil-based you need to allow time for drying, but this is the look I want . . .Another strategy is to get the Testors All-Purpose Gloss Enamel 8 Color Paint Set (SKU# 9146X), which has both gold and silver enamel, although the Amazon.com listings for the kit only show 7 colors when there actually are 8 colors and a bottle of thinner. The TCP Global kit is the correct one, but finding it via searching Amazon.com is not so easy, so you have to select one from another source and then put the TCP Global kit in your shopping cart to get the correct link where you can see the photograph that matches the kit at the Testors Paint website . . .Testors Promotional Paint KitTestors also makes acrylic paints in metallic colors, so if water-based works better, then try acrylic . . .I like Testors metallic paints (gold and silver, specifically), because they have a soft, distinctly metallic lustre . . .The Caran d'Ache Fancolor Metallic Colored Pencil Kit is nice, and it is professional quality, so I will use it for drawing but not for this specific type of metallic enhancing . . .

I thought the FC metallics were better but these are more true to metallic effect! The FC are more soft and smooth but they have been worked in a little. The only thing I like better is that FC has more colors but the colors mesh too close. I will update these later the more I play around with them. The photos attached have Caran D'a at the bottom and Faber Castell on top. 1st photo was taken in sunlight, 2nd indoors with flash, 3rd pic is blended out with water brush, and 4th pic I penciled back in on top of the wet paper. I haven't tried mixing or blending to see what these can truly do and I haven't tested on watercolor paper. The swatches are done on regular paper. As you can see in the 3rd pic, the colors disappear as soon as water touches & the 4th pic you can easily layer color back over. In person you can still see a subtle effect of the colors in the 3rd pic and if you use watercolor pencils I know you can create beautiful work with these pencils! It looks like it disappeared but it leaves a subtle color/sheen to it and just looking at the pink up close, what comes to mind is creating Clouds with a beautiful pink effect! I'm more fascinated with these than FC metallics for sure. I will mess around with both and update. They can kind of go hand in hand for color variation purposes as well. I don't regret purchasing the FC's by any means.

These pencils are from one of my favorite brands. With Caran d'Ache you will be right, for sure. These in particular are large in size and seem more suitable for children but that does not take away from their quality. They are suitable for adults (who find the size comfortable), also for drawing (filling in) larger spaces, for example. They have a lot of pigment and the colors are bright. Highly recommended, especially for people who prefer to invest in quality, because the price is higher than most brands.

So elegant and light and smooth

These fall squarely into the "okay" spectrum of metallic pencils I own. They hold a nice point and sharpen well, two things that are very important to me, but aren't very metallic, the specific thing I purchased them for. They have a slight sheen but it doesn't hold up well when wet (not something I use much but it might be a big deal for someone else). They don't blend that well either so I find myself limited to using them in small areas.I'm torn about this set of pencils. I like the color assortment and have enjoyed using them in accent areas in some of my drawing and adult coloring books but they aren't something I'd use in my sketching or in larger drawing pieces. I wish they had more of a glitter metallic finish, something similar to the gold and silver pencils in my Prismacolor set rather than their more satin finish.

While I was so excited to finally own some Caran D'Ache pencils my choice of these metallic pencils kind of blew my first impression down the drain. The pencils and leads are very durable you will need them to be sturdy to lay down an amount to paint them with water. Don't expect any metallic look from them and very muted colors. I think I will stick to my metallic watercolors for just that purpose. I'm not impressed in the least and feel like I really got had with these. Too bad because I expected so much more from these. I wonder if all their products fail expectations.For those that need that metallic look on your paper you might want to seek elsewhere.