Viarco Soft Carbon Pencil Review.

Viarco is a Portuguese family owned business that has been producing pencils since 1907. The Soft Carbon Pencils are part of Viarco's Art Graf range. Viarco state that they are similar to traditional charcoal pencils but have a special composition that makes them very soft. The pencils come in beautiful retro packaging and are unsharpened. The pencils sharpen easily although I did get some core breakage.

I was expecting a dry, powdery composition but the pencils feel waxy. They have a similar consistency to some metallic pencils I have used. I realised that I could not erase the carbon pencils with a putty rubber or a normal eraser, which I found frustrating. I also found that I could not blend the carbon pencil either. I tried using a blending stump, my finger and a brush and could not blend with any of them.

At this point I thought I would try using some water as the carbon pencil is water soluble. I got a deep black akin to the black you get with ink rather than watercolour. This made it difficult to get any contrasting tones. I added in some Daniel Smith Primatek Bloodstone to try and get some contrast and texture into the work.

I did two drawings/watercolours on hot pressed watercolour paper and a sketch of trees in a sketchbook. I am not happy with any of them and am debating whether to work over them in white pastel pencil or just leave them alone. I may come back to the Viarco Soft Carbon Pencils at some point as I can see they have their uses, particularly if you want a deep, inky black and an impressionistic feel to a work. I think the issue is that they just do not suit my drawing style. I will have to find them a new home.

Comments

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