New vs Old Prismacolor Pencils // Comparison & Review

New vs Old Prismacolor Pencils // Comparison & Review
After hearing a lot of complaints from people that Prismacolors were not as good as they used to be I decided to compare a brand new set to some colors I had for the 1980's and 1990's. I have been always loved my prismacolor pencils but was hesitant to recommend them after hearing other peoples experience with the new ones made by Newell Rubbermaid in Mexico.

*Disclosure, I bought the pencils I am using.

This is the set I picked up to test: http://amzn.to/2ALGeAw it is currently $7.66 I didn't want to buy a big set in case they were bad quality.

The larger sets have been really cheap lately on Amazon.
The 72 set is probably the best deal at $24 http://amzn.to/2BCeJN5 but they have sets from 12 to 150 pencils.

This is the toned tan sketch pad I used: http://amzn.to/2kZxLG0

Prismacolors pencils are known for their smooth, creamy waxy lead that is more opaque than other colored pencils. They blend well. The downsides to these pencils is that the fragile lead can shatter in the pencil and break whenever you use it. Also the wood casing have been known to separate and crack.

The complaint of the new prismacolors were that the leads were not centered so they broke more easily and some say the pencils are less pigmented.

What I found was the lead was the same quality as the lead in my pencils from the 90s and 80s but I found the lead size to be a bit thinner, maybe to reduce breakage. I noticed some of the newer pencils had off center leads.

The new pencils come pre sharpened and I think that may be a way to check them for breakage before they leave the factory. Back in the "olden" days we would glue out pencil stub to a fresh pencil and keep on truckin' so no pencil was wasted but this is not possible with the new pencils.

Bottom line: I did not notice a major quality difference between the new and old pencils. I DO think that when Rubbermaid first took over the line they sent out some shoddy product but I would say after the new set I purchased that they have worked out the kinks. Making the lead slightly thinner and pre sharpening the pencils have probably solved a lot of breakage issues that other artists complained of. The prices of these pencils are about half what I paid in the 90's for the majority of mine and I think it is a great deal. I assume when Prismacolor earns back the trust of the consumer the prices will return to what they were. For now tho I recommend grabbing them if you see a good deal!

New vs Old Prismacolor Pencils // Comparison & Review

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