This is the third post in a series of posts featuring pencil tests on paper. Today, I’m doing Caran d’Ache Pablo pencil tests on Bristol paper. You can read the previous posts in the series here and here. They featured Faber-Castell Polychromos on Stonehenge and Derwent Lightfast pencils on Bristol Vellum paper.
Pablo Pencil Tests on Bristol Paper
To keep the tests as similar as possible, I did the same three tests this time that I did in the previous two tests. As before, I did a test using light pressure, one using heavy pressure and, finally, one using directional strokes.
I also used similar colors.
For those who are not familiar with Pablo pencils, they are a harder pencil than Caran d’Ache Luminance. I have heard that they’re similar to Prismacolor Verithin, but I’ve found them to be somewhere between Prismacolor Premier and Faber-Castell Polychromos in feel and behavior.
I’ve been using them mostly on Pastelmat and like the way they lay down. This test is the first time I’ve tried them on Bristol Vellum.
Test #1: Light Pressure
As you may know, I have a naturally light hand, so I almost always start tests like this using light pressure.
I chose Light Olive for the lightest color and Moss Green for the darkest color.
I applied two or three layers of Light Olive with vertical back-and-forth strokes. Then, I applied one or two layers of Moss Green over that, still using light pressure and vertical strokes. As you can see, color application was fairly smooth, though there’s still a lot of paper showing through. For the number of layers on the paper (less then ten), I was satisfied with the coverage.
For the next step, I changed the direction of my strokes with each layer of color. I continued to keep my pencils sharp and continued layering color until I had smooth color.
The end result is pretty satisfactory. There are still paper holes, but they’re minimal and could be filled in with burnishing. I didn’t do any burnishing because I wanted to see how far I could go with light pressure. As you can see, the paper is quite well covered and the color is smooth using only light pressure.
Test #2: Heavy Pressure
Using the same two colors, I used directional strokes applied in different directions (vertical, horizontal, and diagonal) to apply color with heavy pressure. I used heavy pressure from the start and was able to get decent coverage.
However, as I look at this sample, I am surprised to see that the color is less smooth here than with the sample drawn with light pressure. The only reason I can think of for that result is that I didn’t apply the color as smoothly this time as I thought I did!
However, I was able to get five or six layers of color on the paper and could probably add a few more to smooth out the color. That’s fewer layers than I got with Derwent Lightfast on Bristol Vellum, which suggests that these pencils may be a bit more waxy than Derwent Lightfast.
Test #3: Directional Strokes
Here’s the final test: directional strokes. For this test, I used three colors: Olive Grey, Moss Green, and Dark Green.
This test was satisfactory, though the strokes aren’t as thin and tapered as I would like to see. That is, I think, because Pablos are a bit softer than the other pencils I’ve tested.
This stroke would work very well applied over a base layer or two of smooth color.
The Bottom Line
Caran d’Ache Pablo pencils performed well on Bristol vellum. On the heavy pressure test, I was able to get a decent number of layers of color on the paper, but they performed best with light-pressure.
I confess to a certain degree of interest in doing a complete landscape on Bristol vellum either with just these pencils or combining these pencils with others.
After all, Afternoon Graze was drawn (twice) on Bristol Vellum. Maybe it’s time for a revisit!
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