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.