Staedtler Mars Lumograph 100 Pencils Review.

The Staedtler Mars Lumograph are the premium quality pencils Staedtler make for artists. I was curious to see how they compare to the cheaper Staedtler Tradition 110 and Staedtler Noris 120 pencils. My first impression was that they have quite a lot of resistance when you are drawing. They feel very similar to the Staedtler Tradition pencils to draw with. They do not glide over the paper like the Staedtler Noris pencils which I fell in love with.

The Mars Lumograph pencils come in 24 degrees from 12B to 10H which is a really good range. They are very consistent as they go up through the grades, there are no sharp jumps in tone unlike the Faber-Castell 9000, which change markedly between the harder and softer grades. Below is a comparison between the Mars Lumograph and Tradition pencils and the Faber-Castell 9000.

The Mars Lumograph also blend well and I found them good for fine detail. The only issue being that when I sharpened them, the leads started splintering, making it hard to get a fine point. I had the same problem with the Staedtler Tradition pencils. Using a knife would probably solve that problem but, personally, I don't trust myself with a knife.

There were no instances of scratchiness which I had with the 2H Staedtler Tradition pencil. All in all I should love them but I don't. I think the resistance when drawing is my deal breaker. I prefer my pencils to glide across the page like the Faber-Castell 9000 and the Staedtler Noris pencils. If you like some resistance when drawing and don't mind using a knife to sharpen pencils, then these are probably the pencils for you.

The Mars Lumograph are not cheap pencils. I bought the pencils individually in my local art shop for £1.80 a pencil, but it would probably be a bit cheaper buying a set. According to Staedtler they are made from wood from sustainably managed forests. They have a super bonded lead and special break resistant lead formation. They also state that lines reproduce well. I was unsure what that means, so I am assuming it means the work reproduces well. I had no problems when photographing my work. The drawing and sketchbook page below were done with Mars Lumograph pencils.

Comments

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