Caran D'ache

Caran D'ache, as I am sure you can tell from the logo, is a Swiss based company and as with the Germans, only excellence leaves this country for export. Now, you would be forgiven if you thought that the Swiss may not put as much into their pencils as they do other Swiss products, but you would be so wrong, as I was. Caran D'ache is a class act, they are the crème de la crème of art products period, in my opinion. However, you will pay for their products. 

Caran D'ache produce a huge range of art materials, however, as this is a blog on Coloured Pencils, I will only be focusing on pencils and pastels. As it turns out, this year, 2015, Caran D'ache are celebrating 100 years in service, quite a mile stone I am sure you will agree. Happy Birthday Caran D'ache. 

As far as their range in coloured pencils are concerned, there is a wealth available, which I can't wait to review for you, but for now I'll give a brief overview. 

Starting with the Caran D'ache Luminance Coloured Pencil, these pencils have the highest light fastness of any coloured pencil on the market. I've briefly gone over what Light Fastness is, but I will go much more in-depth during my reviews. 

As with all coloured pencil companies these days, no collection would be complete without a watercolour pencil and Caran D'ache are no exception. Museum Aquarelle are the highest grade watercolour pencils in this range. 

The Caran D'ache Supracolor Soft Aquarelle are another brand of water soluble pencils, however they are of slightly lower grade than the Museum, therefore dropping the price slightly on these pencils. However, just because they are slightly lower grade than the Museum, does not mean they are bad pencils, on the contrary, these are still very capable water soluble pencils. 

The Pablo are next in the Caran D'ache line, again as with the Supracolor Soft Aquarelle, the Pablo are a slightly lower grade version of the Luminance, with a slightly harder core. But still a decent quality coloured pencil. Although there may not be much difference in quality with both groups of pencils, the biggest difference is the Light Fastness ratings, which is vital when selling your work. 

Caran D'ache also produce Pastels, Pastel Pencils, graphite pencils, erasers, water brushes and many more items to complement such high precision and quality art materials. 

Although these pencils are the best of the best, the price bracket will reflect this. I purchased for myself the Caran D'ache Luminance 76 set, the largest set in this line and when I got them, I soon discovered, that the pencils themselves were too good for my artistic abilities or lack of. I would say these pencils, in particular the Museum and Luminance are aimed toward established coloured pencil artists.