As always, with any make of coloured pencil, I find some of the names given to the colours a little weird; why specify anthraquinoid pink, or perylene brown, and then label your greens ‘grass green’ or ‘spring green’? This is a much heavier approach again and is based on someone else’s very old painting of the River Yar, with the Downs behind. Caran D'Ache Luminance Colour Pencil Sets feature top of the range permanent lead for artists and creative professionals. com/products_images/prod_11257/d_boite-100-couleurs-luminance-6901-2-blender-caran-d-ache-detail8-0. Its delicate texture, along with the vibrancy of the many recently developed shades, open up exciting new vistas in the realms of overlaying, mixed techniques and gradation.

Caran d'Ache Luminance 6901 artists' pencils are the most lightfast permanent colour pencil ever designed. Supreme lightfastness with a creamy, highly pigmented core of intense colour make the Luminance range a top quality choice for even the most demanding of pencil artists. And why offer Prussian blue and pthalocyanine blue in the same set – when an ultramarine would have given us a red-leaning blue?Caran D'Ache Luminance 6901 Pencils are top quality coloured pencils that have exceptionally high lightfastness and pigment levels. In summary, Caran d’Ache Luminance 6901 Permanent Pencils are a high-grade product and, in the hands of professional coloured pencil artists, would be certain to improve their work.

Luminance 6901™ colour palette has been expanded with 20 new colours – all with the same 100% lightfast guarantee – meaning the range now comprises 100 different shades. But after I got over my fear, I actually started to enjoy using these wonderful pencils, works of art in their own right. In most cases, when people hang a beautiful work of art, it is because they want to admire it and so will place it in a well lit place during the day and perhaps a picture light for the evening.

com/products_images/prod_11257/d_boite-100-couleurs-luminance-6901-2-blender-caran-d-ache-detail9-0. The range of colours supplied in this set – I did not attempt to supplement it with other brands – would be good for portraiture (better, if there were a yellow ochre included) and are adequate for landscape work. Its extreme lightfastness is confirmed by the most rigourous tests, earning Luminance 6901 top results. However, it was a good test – the colour is strong, easily darkened, but I should have reserved some lighter parts; I tried a touch of putty rubber, but soon abandoned it – it works well on darker colours, but not so well with the mid-tones, especially the greens: tends to smear them.

On the occasions I’ve used coloured pencils in the past, the one thing you could rely on was that the wood would splinter, whether exposed to craft-knife or sharpener, and the ‘leads’ would shatter. Over time, colour fades and tarnishes to a yellow colour, however, if the pigment you are using has been treated for lightfastness, this is not going to happen for many years, which is one of the reasons the Caran Dache Luminance pencils are that little bit more expensive. With solid leads and a wide range of colours created from highly concentrated pigments, they have been made for professional level work. This was even more of a play with the materials than the others, but does show what can be done – the pencils’ opacity was useful here; they can be used transparently, it’s just a matter of how much colour you apply. com/products_images/prod_11257/d_boite-100-couleurs-luminance-6901-2-blender-caran-d-ache-detail3-0.The Caran d'Ache Luminance 6901 white is a round coloured pencil with the creaminess of a permanent lead combined with unbeatable light resistance. In addition the wood casing is harder than normal and while a lesser (handheld) sharpener works, it can grind a bit on the casing making the wood fuzzy. Luminance 6901™ colour pencils combine exceptional lightfastness with the smoothness of a permanent lead. If they are what you are looking for, my advice would be to purchase the largest set you can afford. I’d like to try them on watercolour paper, both rough and hot-pressed (especially on the latter) on their own or in conjunction with watercolour, ink, even gouache and acrylic.

In the Luminance line, the sets available are 20, 40, 76 and 80, however the 80 set as mentioned above is the gift box set and some of the colours are duplicate. com/products_images/prod_11152/c_boite-20-couleurs-luminance-6901-assortiment-portrait-caran-d-ache-front-0.

Just incase you are unfamiliar with the term Lightfast, this simply refers to how long the pigment in the coloured pencil, when applied to surface, stays bright a vibrant as opposed to fading and tarnishing. com/products_images/prod_11152/d_boite-20-couleurs-luminance-6901-assortiment-portrait-caran-d-ache-front-0. Since its beginnings at the dawn of the 20th century, Caran d’Ache was the one and only manufacturer of writing and drawing instruments on Swiss soil, it has been part of this same lineage of excellence, technical quality and craftsmanship. mm wax leadfor clean and accurate lines which allows maximum covering power and high pigment concentration for intense, bright colours. p>Caran d'Ache won the innovation prize 2010 of the SMAC (Fair of the creative professions and activities) with its Luminance 6901 colour pencil.