I have been waiting for months to finally open this box.
This... I'm a bit nervous.
Is that weird?
This box is huge.
And inside...
Well, let's take a look.
But first, let me take you back to where this all began.
On the 26 February 2021, I posted a video announcing my goal
to reach 100,000 subscribers on my YouTube channel by the end of the year.
Wait...
What's todays date? No way.
That was basically exactly a year ago.
We should have published this video
on Saturday and it would have been like, perfect.
Anyway, I only had 15 and a half thousand
subscribers at the time, so it was a pretty ambitious goal.
But if you know me, I tend to be a pretty ambitious person.
But I wanted to make this goal fun and bring you along on the journey.
So I decided to give away a huge set
of 120 Polychromos in a wooden case to someone else when I reach that goal
and also to treat myself with the same set as a reward to look forward to.
Long story short, we had an amazing year, but we didn't make the goal.
And I have a whole video talking about how that felt here.
But we decided to extend the giveaway.
And today our day has finally come.
This week we finally passed the huge goal
of 100,000 subscribers on this YouTube channel.
And I want to extend a huge thank you to every single one of you who has
supported my channel and helped me get here.
I will be announcing the winner
of the giveaway later in this video, but for now, I've got my own set here
and I am just as eager as you are to take a look inside.
So no more talking. Let's open it up.
I wonder if this is like a typical Amazon
thing where it's like, the box is huge, but the product is like, tiny.
Our boxes now use less material, but there's a box inside a box.
I'm going to do a nerdy crafter tribute here.
This one's for you, Jackie. No, that didn't work.
Try it again. Shane
please don't include that one in the video.
This one's for you, Jackie.
Takes more skill than it looks!
Can we magically make the box underneath disappear?
This looks a little bit more
of a realistic size for the pencils I was expecting.
Here we go.
Sorry, Shane. It's getting real now.
Getting a lot smaller, too.
It's shrinking very quickly.
I don't even know what to do next.
What do I do?
I feel like I just need to sit here for a moment and just admire this.
Wow. Okay.
Before I pull this amazing sleeve off, we have
all of our colors in the back.
That giant sleeve.
How's that for a pencil sleeve?
Here is the main event.
This thing is massive.
It's actually a lot bigger than I was expecting.
I was expecting it to be more like the size of my luminance pencils.
So for comparison, here is my Caran d'Ache pencil box.
Look at how much bigger that is.
That is huge.
All right, let's do this.
No way.
When I first saw the option to buy these
pencils with the extra box, I didn't realize just how nice it was.
The box adds about an extra $100
to the price, so I thought it was an expensive gimmick
and was only treating myself because this was a celebration of such a big milestone.
But now that it's here,
I can see that this box is definitely high quality and justifies the price.
It makes the pencil so accessible and presents them beautifully,
which is definitely a great way to get your creative ideas flowing.
And no, this isn't a sponsored video.
I'm just really excited.
I've been waiting to open this for a year.
Just make sure you keep it on a flat surface to avoid injury.
Let's check out these colors.
One of the things I hear people rave about
these pencils the most is their well thought out color range.
There are 120 colors total with a great
mix of colors and some really vibrant hues.
I know some people find the process of swatching to be tiring, but honestly,
when the pencils are as nice as these, it's kind of fun.
I always use it as a chance to practice
my shading and even coloring and to catch up on some of my favorite YouTubers
on my phone or my iPad while I'm swatching - watching and swatching!
I like to color my swatches with more pressure on the left and less on the right
so I can see the different layers of color each pencil can create.
And in a moment you'll see how I cut these
into strips to make them even more useful for matching colors.
This printable, by the way, will be available soon on my website as
a part of a larger bundle of swatches and charts that I'm currently working on.
I've been talking about it for a while and it's almost ready.
The best way to find out when it comes out
is to jump on my email list where I send out weekly updates about new videos,
freebies and products, so you'll always be the first to know
there's a link in the description to sign up for free.
With the swatching done, you'll notice that most of these pencil
colors are almost a perfect match for the colors of the barrels.
This is a feature that you only get with quality pencils and is so helpful if
you're wanting to skip the swatching and just grab a color as you go.
I have a few videos on my channel where I
talk through how to blend colored pencils to create beautiful gradients like these
and each time I've used Prismacolor pencils, which have a wax base.
So I've often been asked to show how this
process works with oilbased pencils like the Faber Castell Polychromos.
I actually did an example of blending with the Polychromos pencils a while ago,
but it was later on in one of my earlier videos, so you might have missed it.
So let's do it again.
I've chosen the same paper that I used on these Prismacolor gradients,
and I want to use similar colors to either this first or this last gradient so we can
get a closer comparison with the end result.
The actual blending process is the same, and it does take practice to get a really
smooth result, but you can do it with any pencils.
Keep your pencils sharp and your layers light.
Aim for at least three to four layers of color, but add more layers if you need.
There's no perfect amount of layers here.
As you use each color, make sure it overlaps with the color next
to it, slowly using less pressure on each side.
The more it overlaps and fades
into the next color, the smoother it will look in the end result.
I've done a short video on my channel
showing the difference between blending with overlapping colors and without
overlapping colors, and it's even more important with oil
pencils because they are not as forgiving as the wax based pencils.
The key to doing this well with the oil
based pencils is to give more attention to your lower layers and not rely as
heavily on your top layer to magically fix everything like it might be able to do
with a more blendable pencil like the Prismacolor.
There are other blending tools that you
can use to help this process, which I'll talk about shortly,
but for this example, I wanted to show that it is possible
to achieve this effect with pencils alone, so if the Prismacolor is easier to blend.
What's so special about these pencils?
The Faber Castell Polychromos are the go to pencils for many professional artists.
They are one of the highest quality pencils you can buy.
They have a high lightfast rating, meaning the colors last over many years,
making them a great choice for professional artists.
They have a very strong core and they are
easy to keep sharp, so they are perfect for fine details.
Oil based pencils do take a bit more skill
and practice to blend and layer than wax based pencils, but they have a very strong
core and are easy to keep sharp, so they are perfect for fine details,
which is something that most pencils advertised as blendable, lack.
Many artists choose to use Polychromos
pencils alongside another brand like Prismacolor or Caran d'Ache Luminance to get
the best of both the blending and the fine details.
In fact, this is how I will probably be using them the most.
By the way, if you're interested in learning more
pencil techniques like this, make sure you subscribe.
Even when I'm just having fun or taking
on an art challenge, I always love to slip in little tutorials or find ways to teach
you tricks that can help you to become more creative.
The color intensity of this is just... Wow!
And when I compare this to my Prismacolor
page, I've noticed something that I didn't see earlier.
My Prismacolor artwork actually has wax
bloom, which is where a cloudy film develops over time on wax based pencils.
You can just wipe this off with a tissue when it happens, but this is one thing
that won't happen when you're using oil based pencils.
So about our different blending options.
I covered these in more detail in a video
a few months ago, but here is a quick look at the results after some time has passed.
The first watch here is the same as the method that we've used,
and these blender pencils are a great simple option if you need to remove extra
white grain in your paper or smooth out your colors just a little bit more.
I was really surprised to see that on all my samples, the baby oil has actually now
left a stain, even though I see this recommended all the time.
The alcohol marker and the solvents all
worked really well, but not the Zest pencil blend.
Although to clarify,
I don't think this was actually the Zest It pencil blend that I added to my cart
at the time, but it didn't just ruin the swatches, it also ruined my 50K
Crayola artwork and has left these horrible yellow stains over everything.
But if you want to see more about these blending tools, I will link to the full
video below so that you can see them in more detail.
I've also tested the Polychromos in the past as a part of my paper
recommendations video, and I still have those watches because I keep everything.
Your paper choice comes a lot down
to preference, and I go through this in far more detail in the paper video.
But for these Polychromos pencils specifically, I didn't really like any
of the smooth papers, even the high quality smooth Bristol.
Instead, I prefer something with a bit of texture to allow for more layering,
since that's where these pencils perform the best.
My favorites are probably the hot press watercolor paper and the Bristol Vellum,
especially the 100% cotton paper, although that is pretty expensive and they
do work on black paper too, although I haven't really tried a full
colored pencil drawing on black paper to push any of these brands to their limits.
But all this testing wasn't just for nothing.
I wanted to prepare myself for a special piece of original art with these pencils.
I wanted to create something special with these to celebrate reaching 100,000
subscribers, but I also didn't feel I could possibly do it justice in the short
time frame that we had to put this video together this week.
So I'm going to spend the next two weeks working on what will probably be
my biggest colored pencil drawing ever, and I need your input.
I want to create an art piece with 100
different items that represent the video and the journey of the first 100,000
subscribers of this channel so please tell me in the comments what reminds you
of this channel and what you think should be included in the art piece.
I've already made a start on a basic sketch but I've left plenty of room
for all your ideas and in two weeks time I will show you the full process
and the final piece that I create with the Polychromos pencils.
Make sure you're subscribed with your notifications on so that you don't miss
that video and to finish up the announcement we've all been waiting
months for a huge Congratulations to our winner of the 120
Faber Castell Polychromos pencils in a beautiful box to match mine here,
Karyna Macias Franco! I hope you treasure these pencils as much
as I know that I will and thank you so much to everyone else who participated.
This is just the beginning of our art
journey and I'm glad that you're coming along for the ride.