YouTube Channel Review: The Coloring Diva

 

Before I get started, I would like to disclose that the owner of The Coloring Diva, Monai Austin, has been a friend of mine for a couple of years now. However, my personal connections to someone do not influence my reviews, and I will give this one as fair an audit as I would a complete stranger's. 

With that out of the way, let's dive in. The Coloring Diva's "About" section describes the channel thus: "Adult coloring channel. Books and products reviews. Book flip throughs and GIVEAWAYS." All of that is absolutely accurate, but there is much more to this channel. 

First, let's remember that there are hundreds of these channels on YouTube. That's the main reason I have no intention of connecting this blog to YouTube, that and the fact that I don't have the funds to invest in the equipment,I look terrible on video, and I'm insanely vain. It is my experience, after watching countless hours of these channels, that 99% of them are nothing more than people buying coloring books and taping themselves flipping through the books. Or buying art supplies and giving their misinformed opinions on those art supplies. (When I say misinformed, you perhaps might think I'm being indelicate; I'm merely being honest. Most of the people that have ColorTube channels have no background in art, and know next to nothing about what makes for good colored pencils, watercolor paints, acrylic paints, soft or oil pastels, gouache, etc. They have no business reviewing supplies or making recommendations about them. I said what I said.)

The Coloring Diva is different. Monai started out with a Facebook group, then migrated over to YouTube. I'm not sure if her intention was to get quite as big as she has gotten, but her channel is not just about flip-throughs and product reviews. To begin with, while not a classically trained artist, she does have quite an extensive practical knowledge of art supplies and other materials, like brushes, blenders, and things of that nature. And she actually uses these things on a regular basis. So when Monai does a review of a product, it's a reliable review. She knows the difference between good and bad, not simply because it's expensive or inexpensive (cost doesn't equal value) but because she knows how to recognize certain attributes in various media that an untrained person simply wouldn't be able to pick up on.

Take this video, for example, where she compares the Brutfuner Macaron and the Pastelowe Colored pencils. She's knowledgeable enough to be able to pick up differences and similarities, even in budget pencils.

 

And of course, while art supplies are highly personalized and what I like you might hate, you can trust that if she says something is a good product, it's a good product.

Her channel also isn't heavy on the flip-throughs. She does a balanced number, because everyone wants to see every page in the new coloring books, but I personally can't stand getting 5 notifications a day about channels doing a flip-through. That's just me, though. This is a recent flip-through of"Mandallen (Moon Valley)" by Maria Trolle that she did a few months back.

There are also some of the usual "haul" videos, but not a huge number. It's not that kinda party, and it's not the type of channel where everyone gathers to ooh and aah over what got bought that month. And while she does have affiliate links in her descriptions (which in no way impact your purchase price), Monai is NOT SPONSORED BY ANY COMPANY, nor does she receive payment for her reviews, either in cash or supplies.

But there's the other stuff that makes this channel so unique. Monai does a live stream every Sunday. It's a swatch and chat or a color and chat, and her channel is like a real coffee klatch. The chatter is truly like a gathering of old friends, and there's never any nastiness or any need for moderation, unlike in other live stream chats that I've been bullied out of on other channels. During these live streams, Monai does giveaways of art supplies. Granted, you have to have watched all the videos of the previous week and left a comment, which is a promotional tactic, but I have no problem with that. It's a hugely generous thing to do. Other channels have heavy promotional tactics that in no way benefit their viewers.

And that's the thing about Monai. She is always, invariably, thinking about how to bring value to the channel to benefit her viewers. She's one of those people that's always looking to make things better for other people, and she's really a rising star in the coloring community. At one point another person in this community, a self-styled "influencer" (you have no idea how much I hate that word, especially when someone applies it to themselves), accused her, indirectly, of giving good reviews for free product. I can 100% assure you that Monai would NEVER give anything other than an honest review. She certainly doesn't need free budget pencils; I've seen her studio, she doesn't have room for what she already has, and she's giving away Caran d'Ache and Polychromo pencils that she's paid for out of pocket. It's sad that we can't, as a community of artists, raise each other up and cheer for each other instead of being bitter and angry and trying to tear each other down. There's room for us all. But that's just one person. For the most part, this community is amazing.

So I highly recommend The Coloring Diva to anyone interested in learning more about coloring supplies, the latest coloring books, and for really fun live streams and chats. Monai is a real gem of a person and a really great video personality. I'm proud to be her friend and I'm sorry if you guys thought this was biased.

Colored Pencil Review: Qili QL-150 Artist's Pencil 150 Colors

Qili QL-150 Artist's Pencil

I had the Qili QL-150 Artist's Pencil 150 Color set on my Amazon shopping list for over a year before I finally took the plunge. They're not widely talked about, but every now and again, I'd come across a picture in one of my coloring groups, either on Facebook or Reddit, that had been done with these pencils. And when I asked about them, I'd get one of two rather extreme reactions from the artist. Either they'd rave about them, telling me that they were the best pencils they've ever used. Or else they'd rant, telling me they were terrible, awful, waxy monstrosities and they wished they'd never bought them. It was never anything in between.

I finally decided to roll the dice. I'm a sucker for a bargain, and there was a 10% off coupon on Amazon, so I figured, "What the hell." There had been more raves than rants and, in all honesty, a lot of the work I'd seen in my groups that was attributed to Qili pencils was really nice. At $29.90 for 150 pencils, it was worth the risk.

The pencils arrived decently packaged (for Amazon) in a box that was not extremely oversized, although it was too large for the box of pencils, which was free to slide around inside. There was no padding to keep the pencils from being banged up during shipping. That is the fault of the seller, in this case HongliUS through Amazon, and not the manufacturer. 

Upon opening the outer box, I discovered no damage to the actual box of pencils. The box is sturdy cardboard, with very pretty artwork as you can see in the picture at the top of the post. The lid is not hinged, and lifts off with ease. It doesn't appear that it will rip easily, although time will tell.

Inside, on top of the first tray of pencils, there is a thin foam pad. This is to provide some protection against breakage during shipping, as well as to absorb some of the chemical odor that emanates from most Chinese pencils. It doesn't work too well for that purpose, at least not with these pencils. The odor wasn't overwhelming to me, but it was there. I don't have a particularly sensitive sense of smell, and art supply smells don't bother me. I'm used to working around things like oil paints, turpentine and other thinners, and other chemicals, so the minor smells that people talk about coming from colored pencils have never been something I'd even noticed until I joined Facebook, but if that's something that bothers you, I would suggest taking the lid off these pencils, separating the trays, and letting them sit for half an hour. The smell isn't overpowering, but again, it's there.

Top Row

There are three rows of pencils; on the top row there are two slots with small hand-held pencil sharpeners. Not the greatest, but you can use them for eyeliner if that's your thing. I wouldn't use them for colored pencils. The pencils come in a reasonable order, although I wound up rearranging them to my liking, which I always do and most others do as well. I prefer my pencils in color family order, and then separated within color family order. I'm weird like that.

The trays themselves are very sturdy plastic, with perforated cardboard handles for lifting out of the box. Due to space limitations, I usually prefer to keep my pencils in cases, especially large sets like this. But the packaging in this set makes it feasible to keep the pencils in the original box, although I'm not sure how long the paper handles would hold up to repeated use. The plastic trays are definitely sturdy enough.

Handles for Lifting

Okay, now to performance. Normally, I swatch a set before I review them, but I wanted to get this post up so I decided to skip that part. I promise to do a swatch page with blending and layering, and I will do a separate post. 

When I first looked at these pencils, I have to admit, my soul died a little. I took one out, scribbled in a sketch book, and a voice in my head whispered, "Sudee Stile." I bought a set of those back in 2017. It was the first "big" set of "good" hobby pencils I had ever purchased, and they were a huge disappointment to me. I don't know if it's an entirely fair assessment, though. I was used to Prismacolor. I got those pencils and I expected them to act like Prismacolors. When I got less pigment than Crayola, I was pissed.

Anyway, these pencils look just like Sudee Stile, right down to the grey barrel.They feel extremely light in your hand. They're pretty, but they have no weight to them. The entire barrel is grey; the end is dipped in a color that does not match the core (Again, I will swatch and I will make a post). Written on the barrel is Artist Color Pencil along with NO: followed by the color number. There are no color names. So, swatch these before you start coloring, or have a sheet of paper next to you so you can see the color before you put it to your picture. The core does NOT look the same on paper as it does on the pencil and it certainly doesn't match the end cap.

My first caveat: sharpen these pencils before you use them. I would say that about all colored pencils. They usually have some kind of film covering them to protect the core during shipping. But these pencils are all but unusable until you sharpen them. When I picked up that first pencil and tried to color a box with it, I almost cried. I was pushing hard and getting almost no pigment. However, once I sharpened, it got better.

I chose a picture from Coloring Bliss, printed on Neenah 94 Bright White 110 lb Index card stock (199 g/m^2). I laid down extremely light layers. I mean, really light. And this paper takes a lot of layers. The problem is, these pencils only give so much pigment. Here's an example of light pressure to super hard pressure:

That's one of the darkest purples. And while you can't really see it in the picture, there's a huge amount of bloom even on the lightest pressure. It's a chore to add layers with these pencils. I found myself going in with a cotton swab to rub off the wax bloom, as well as working over them with a colorless blender during the coloring process far more than I normally would just so that I could get other colors over the top.

I didn't finish the picture I started. Here's what I managed after 3 hours.

That's 6 layers of pencil, using a blender pencil and Gamsol during the process, so not even an accurate representation of the pencils on their own merit. I found myself getting frustrated with the pencils, having to really push to get the colors to blend, and if I'm fighting with my pencils, I'm not going to keep going.

I wanted to love these pencils, I really did. The thing is, some of them are great. Several of the pinks, some of the yellows, the blues, a couple of the violet purples, all good. But they're inconsistent. Some of them are SO waxy it's almost like using a cheap crayon. 

On further investigation, I've seen other Qili pencils (aside from the watercolor pencils) in different packaging. Perhaps those are the pencils that created the beautiful artwork that made me want to try these pencils. Or, maybe I just had an off day and didn't give these a fair shake. I will do a full swatch chart and blend test and do a second post, just to be 100% fair. But if you're looking for a quality hobby set to make your coloring more enjoyable, this ain't it, sis.

The links below are NOT affiliate links. I am not an affiliate of anything I review on this blog.

Picture from Coloring Bliss

Qili 150 Colored Pencils on Amazon

Prismacolor Is Doing It Right

All Hail The Queen of Colored Pencils

 

I have been an ardent fan of Prismacolor Premier colored pencils since the 80's. That's correct. The 80's. Right after I got out of high school, and had money to spend on art supplies (outside of college costs that weren't covered by student loans, which are STILL not paid off), I discovered the joys of Berol Prismacolor pencils. In those days, colored pencil art wasn't taken as seriously as it is today, and my only exposure to artist grade pencils was in the studio of much older friends (people I had no business being around at the time, to be perfectly honest, but it was New York in the 80's). A lot of the work was fashion design. These people were using Etud pencils from Russia, and Caran d'Ache, and Carb Othello.  But MOST of them had a set of Prismacolors. So I made it my mission to get myself a set.

The OG Prismacolor

Up to that point, I had only drawn with Crayola and, occasionally, Staedtler or another, softer brand, the name of which escapes me at the moment. So on that June day in 1985 when I walked out of A. I. Friedman's on W. 18th Street in Manhattan with a 72 pack of brand new, unsharpened pencils, a fresh sketch pad, and a new kneaded eraser - effectively ensuring that I was going to be eating Ramen for the rest of the month - I was more excited than I'd ever been, before or since. I sat on a bench in the park, meticulously hand sharpening every last one of them, admiring the pigment, swatching them on the Strathmore sketch pad, taking quiet satisfaction in the brilliance of the color and the smoothness of the lay down, the way they blended perfectly to form a third color, the perfect ease of layering. 

Since that day, I have not wavered in my loyalty to this brand. Newell Brands took over the company from Berol in 1995, but the quality of the pencil cores has not changed at all. I can state that unequivocally. I have not, in the 36 years that I have been using these pencils on an almost daily basis, noticed any change whatsoever in the quality of the pigment or the materials used in the cores of the pencils.

Newell did, however, start making production changes. In order to bring cost savings to the consumer, they moved the pencil production to Mexico in 2010. I can't state for certain that it's the Mexico part that is at fault, but it was around that time that the quality of the barrels and the placement of the cores started to fall off drastically. The wood started to split. Pencils arrived damaged, with cracks sometimes extending the entire length of the pencil. The cores weren't centered at all, making sharpening a nightmare. Leads would literally fall out of the barrel as soon as they were sharpened. At one point, I bought a new set of 150 pencils, and 36 of them were sharpened down to a nub or completely unusable due to damage immediately after I opened the box. And, while Newell Brands has always been responsive to customers that provide documentation of their damaged products, the fact that it was a consistent thing wasn't a very good look for the brand.

This is not going to end well...

Meanwhile, over this time, adult coloring blew up. People had become obsessed with it, and they were investing in quality pencils for their hobby. I'm not talking about Crayola Adult Pencils here; I'm talking about Polychromos and Caran d'Ache Luminance and Holbein. If someone is willing to drop $465 on a set of pencils to color in a $9 coloring book, they're going to have zero problem badmouthing the $112 pencils that are continuously showing up broken and crumbling, no matter how good the cores really are or how old and beloved the brand is. And I am a lone voice in the wilderness. I'm willing to sit and wait for Newell to correct the problem, mostly because I usually buy open stock replacements rather than a full set so I don't have an urgent need but also because I am certainly not in a position to drop Luminance or Holbein money on a coloring hobby (nor would I, but that's just me). But for most people, if they spend $90 - $110 on a set of 150 Prismacolor Premiers, and those pencils show up at their door in horrible shape, it's a big problem, and they're not happy about having to take pictures, contact the company, and wait for replacements. And I can't blame them for that. I adore these pencils but I wasn't very happy either. Not everybody has been using them for 3 plus decades.

However, I recently (a couple of months ago) bought a new set, and I was very happy to see that every single pencil in the box was in perfect condition. No cracked barrels, the cores were centered, and I had no issues sharpening any of them. And I feel like I need to get this news out there. Because there has been a trend on the internet to just bash the life out of things that we don't like. We don't realize that when we do this, and a company takes a hit in sales, even a company as big as Newell, it can cause real damage over time. If the company makes a legitimate effort to effect change, that should be noted as well. As I said earlier, I have never had a problem with the actual cores of Prismacolors. They're beautiful pencils. They blend, layer, lay down like butter, they're highly pigmented, they're vibrant, and while they may not have the highest light-fast ratings, I have a piece I did with them 20 years ago that hasn't faded at all; that should tell you something. And honestly if you're using them in a coloring book, does it matter if they're light-fast?

I didn't purchase my most recent set through Amazon; I bought it from an art supply shop. It's quite possible that if people are still getting bad sets, it's due to the fact that Amazon doesn't keep tabs on what their sellers are putting out there. You could be getting a set from 3 years ago. But I believe that the current merchandise being put out by Prismacolor is getting better, and I think that should be acknowledged. The fact that Amazon sells crap art supplies from sketchy sellers is another post of its own.

So, here's to big companies that listen to their customers and actually take steps beyond pulling out a replacement box and hoping we'll shut up about it. Newell Brands did this one right. Let's give credit where it's due. And if you get a bad set from a seller on Amazon, complain to Amazon and the seller on Amazon that you got it from. Also let Newell Brands know. It's their name on the product, and if sellers are taking old product and putting it out there as new, they need to be aware of it.