The Well-Appointed Desk

Review by Tina Koyama

Last year Moleskine released two sets of pencils as part of its Art Collection – watercolor pencils and graphite drawing pencils. In my review of the watercolor set, I mentioned features that are common to both, such as the unique square barrel, matte black finish and semi-gloss end caps (please read the introduction to that post first). In this review I’ll talk about specific qualities of the graphite drawing pencil set.

Like their colorful cousins, the Moleskine graphite pencils have the same design esthetic that fits well with most Moleskine products. While the colored pencils have end caps of consistent length, the graphite pencil set’s end caps are stair-stepped to indicate the different grades. I love this kind of detail that makes the set look wonderful in the tin.

The five graphite grades – H, HB, 2B, 4B and 6B – are sensible and functional, and they span the range I use most often. Although most drawing sets include every grade within a range, I usually find that there’s so little difference between, say, a 3B and a 4B that skipping grades is perfectly adequate.

The grades are clearly stamped in black on the silver end caps, which I appreciate for clarity and ease of identification. My only complaint about this clean, unfussy appearance is that I wish the grade were stamped on each of the four sides so that the pencil wouldn’t have to be turned to identify the grade.

On the colored pencil set, the (overblown) color names are printed in glossy black on matte black. To match that lovely (though difficult to read) design touch, the graphite pencils are stamped with nonsensical descriptions such as “Echo” (4B) and “Respire” (HB). The enclosed brochure (which includes the usual Chatwin legend on the reverse) explains these descriptions this way: “From the rumbling echoes of smooth and dark 6B and 4B. . . to the natural sigh of HB. . . How are your sketches sounding today?” (The color names are silly, but these are downright ridiculous.)

Despite the names, like the colored set, the printing is in the southpaw direction, which delights me because I encounter it so rarely in the pencil world.

Now onto the nitty-gritty – the cores. I compared them grade-for-grade with Mitsubishi Hi-Uni and Staedtler Mars Lumograph, the two drawing pencil lines I’m most familiar with. Moleskine is easily comparable to Hi-Uni in darkness. In feel, however, it’s closer to Staedtler, which is rougher than Hi-Uni at these grades. While sketching with the Moleskine pencils, I also hit gritty spots occasionally. Despite being spoiled by the silky smoothness of Hi-Unis, I didn’t find the feedback of the Moleskines objectionable; in fact, it’s pleasant, especially in a Baron Fig notebook, which I used for these test swatches.

Using grades H through 4B, I made the small test sketch in a Stillman & Birn Alpha sketchbook, which is much toothier than Baron Fig paper. I tend to prefer a smoother core on toothy paper, but sketchers who appreciate more feedback might prefer Moleskine.

Another surprise was using the square barrel. Hex, round, triangle, even pentagon – I’ve used ‘em all for writing and most for drawing and coloring – but this was my first square-barreled pencil for either writing or drawing. I thought it might be uncomfortable (I’ve held a couple of Moleskine’s older pencils and pens that are shaped like flat carpenter’s pencils, and I found them unwieldy), but the square didn’t faze me at all. In fact, the barrel looks so sleek and distinctive that I wish more pencils came square.

Final Impressions

Unlike their colored pencil counterparts, which I deem an overpriced novelty, the Moleskine graphite drawing pencils are a decent, functional set that I will happily use. At $14.95 for five pencils, they are a bit pricier than Mitsubishi Hi-Uni, which is considered high-end for pencils. Wearing the Moleskine name, however, they are priced as expected for those lovely design elements. I think the square barrel alone is worth it.

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Tina Koyama is an urban sketcher in Seattle. Her blog is Fueled by Clouds & Coffee, and you can follow her on Instagram as Miatagrrl.

Review by Tina Koyama

As it may have been for many stationery addicts, the Moleskine notebook was my gateway drug. Way back (and I mean way back, like before Facebook, blogs, maybe even the whole Internet), I’d occasionally find Moleskine journals in nicer stationery stores and fondle them lovingly, imagining the possibilities. When I began sketching, one of the first sketchbooks I bought was a Moleskine (the kind with the weird manila-envelope paper). Eventually as the paper quality declined and so many other notebooks came onto the market, I stopped buying them. But every now and then I’ll pass a spinner rack of the huge variety of notebooks they produce, and on some level, the name Moleskine still gives me a small tingle from the memory of that stationery high.

It’s no wonder, then, that when I discovered that Moleskine had come out with sets of colored and graphite pencils, I felt that tingle again. (This post will cover the colored pencils; stay tuned for the review of the graphite drawing pencils.)

Before I get to the details of the Naturally Smart Palette Watercolor Pencils, I thought I’d point out a few things that are common to both pencil sets, which are part of the Moleskine Art Collection. Designed in Italy, both sets of cedar pencils are manufactured in Vietnam. With paper wrappers, they come in black (of course) tins with a small Moleskine logo printed near the bottom of the lids.

A detail that amuses me is the one that appears on the inside of each lid: The familiar “In case of loss, please return to__” and “As a reward: $___” suggestion.

Both pencil sets feature a matte black barrel with sparks of narrow stripes, text and M logo in glossy black. But the more distinctive physical feature is that the barrels are square with semi-gloss end caps (the colored pencil caps indicate the core color; the graphite caps are silver). In my vast collection of colored pencils and growing collection of drawing pencils, these are the only ones with a square barrel. At first I wondered if the square shape would hinder drawing, but I forgot about it immediately, so it wasn’t a problem at all.

My initial thought was that these colored pencils are slightly over-designed (perhaps to justify the price), but the more I looked at them, the more I liked them. They fit beautifully with the rest of Moleskine’s design esthetic – mostly matte black, touches of color, squared off and tidy.

OK, onto the colored pencils, which are, in fact, water-soluble.

As mentioned earlier, the end cap colors indicate the core colors. A color number is stamped on one side of the end cap. For the name of the color, however, you have to tilt that side of the pencil toward the light so that you can see the glossy black text. And those color names? “Breathe Green,” “Plunge Blue,” “Rave Purple,” “Pulse Red.” A bit over the top, though not as bad as the copy on the mandatory brochure (on the reverse side of the usual Chatwin legend): “Hold your breath as you explore plunging blue depths, or capture the fleeting reflection of dazzling pure white.” (Whew – I’m sweating.)

I give Moleskine bonus brownie points for printing the pencil text for lefties!

The color range is typical of a set of 12, although the two greens are too similar to be useful. Relatively dry in application, they feel like average novelty colored pencils (which is disappointing after that blush-producing copy). Activating the swatches with a waterbrush takes quite a bit of scrubbing, and the washed colors are not as rich as I want them to be. That said, the hues are true to their dry state, which is often not the case with water-soluble colored pencils. (Swatches done in a Canson XL mixed media sketchbook.)

I also tested them in a couple of other ways that I like to use watercolor pencils. First, I smeared water on the page with a waterbrush; then I ran a pencil through it. In the second test, I “licked” the pencil tip with a waterbrush and applied the color to the paper with the brush like traditional watercolors. In both cases, if there’s plenty of pigment, the color will show as rich and vibrant. These are somewhat lacking.

Given the test results, I didn’t have high expectations for performance in a sketch. Again, I find the pencils to be very average in vibrancy and ability to blend and activate with water. (Sketch done in a Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook.)

Final Impressions

I mentioned earlier that Moleskine watercolor pencils fit the brand’s esthetic perfectly. Unfortunately, similar to the notebooks with engaging concepts and designs but inferior paper, these pencils look and feel better than they perform. They really are no worse than most novelty watercolor pencils, but at $24.95 for 12 pencils, they are not novelty priced.

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Tina Koyama is an urban sketcher in Seattle. Her blog is Fueled by Clouds & Coffee, and you can follow her on Instagram as Miatagrrl.