- Ellie Taylor
My 2017 Black Friday SketchBox Haul.
This year for Black Friday, SketchBox had a sale that consisted of buying 2 or more boxes and getting 10% off your order plus a free mystery bag of art supplies. I have been itching to try the new pan pastels so I thought I'd see if SketchBox had any of those boxes left. Sure enough they did and I got the 2017 February Premium Box and the 2017 June Basic Box. Both of these featured pan pastels and their application tools. For those who want to try out these supplies for yourselves, I have included my Amazon and MisterArt affiliate links down below.
One of the mystery supplies was a pack of Twenty Stabilo fineliners with a 0.4 mm nib. You can get a pack of these fineliners on Amazon for $11.18.
The other item in the mystery supplies was a silver 4 Artist Marker. This is an oil based paint marker. The color I received was Silver. You can get these markers in a set of four for $17.43 on Amazon or open stock at Michaels.com for $4.99.
The first box I opened was the February Premium Box for 2017. The cover featured art from noiz2shutup.
When you open the box this is what you see. The Pan Pastels are wrapped very well.
The first item was five Pan Pastels with sponge tools. The compartments screw into each one above it. I think you can buy lids for each container if you don't want the pastels stacked together.
The Pan Pastels that were in this box were mainly from the pearlescent series. The colors were Pearlescent White, Light Gold (from the metallic series), Pearlescent Blue, Pearlescent Violet, and Pearlescent Green. There was also several different shapes of sponges included. Pan Pastels retail from $5.39 to $7.39 a piece depending on where you buy them.
The next item was a starter set of Sofft sponges. There were three big sponges and a sponge tool with four covers. You can get this set on Amazon for $11.74.
There was also a Stabilo Sensor fineliner pen. It had black ink. These pens retail for $1.95 a piece or you can get a set of four for $7.36 on Amazon.
Lastly there was a MOO eraser. You can buy this on Amazon in a 2 pack for $4.39.
Next, there was the supplies list, a SketchBox sticker, and a print from the artist of the month. For February 2017, the artist of the month was Joanne Barby.
The next box was the 2017 June Basic box. The cover of the June box featured art by Hannah Hill.
This is the what you see when you open the box. This group of Pan Pastels was nicely packed too.
There were two Pan Pastels in this box and their colors were Pthalo Green and Turquoise. You can find these on Misterart.com for $5.39 a piece.
These Pan Pastels look so much like makeup that they have to put a warning on the bottom of the container. They really do look a lot like eyeshadow!
In this box there was also a pack of Sofft art sponges. There were four different sponge shapes. This pack is available on Amazon for $6.54.
The next item was a black Conte Paris pastel pencil. Amazon sells these in a set of twelve for $21.72.
Last there was a Le Pen Technical Drawing pen. This pen had a brush nib and black ink. You can find it for $1.59 at Misterart.com.
Also there was the supplies list, a SketchBox sticker, and a print from the June 2017 artist of the month. The June artist was Angela Fife.
Doodlin' Time!
The Stabilo point 88 Fineliners had a wide range of colors and are very nice for fine detail work. The Pebeo 4 Artist Marker had a nice shiny silver paint with good coverage. The pearlescent Pan Pastels are easy to apply and have a shimmery look. The Stabilo Sensor Fineliner pen is very impressive. It is the smoothest drawing pen that I have ever used!
The Conte pastel pencil sharpens to a point and works well for details. The Le Pen brush pen makes thick and thin lines and gives a nice brush like feel. These Pan Pastels also went on very smoothly and the colors were bright and vibrant.
'Tree Silhouette'
by Ellie Taylor
I tested out the Pan Pastels in this 5X7 inch quick pastel sketch. I used all the Pan Pastels for the sky colors and used the sponges to apply and blend them. I used colored pencil paper and the pastels blended very smoothly on this paper. I used the Conte pastel pencil to draw the tree and bush silhouettes. I also used the LePen brush pen to darken the black areas and sketch in some twiggy bushes.
My first impressions of Pan Pastels are that they will work nicely for large areas and smoothly blended areas. For fine details pastel pencils still work best for me and for a thick highlight, stick pastels will still be the best. In conclusion, I think Pan Pastels are a nice addition to a pastel artist's tool box, but for me they don't replace the pencils or sticks for the detail work. I think they do save a lot of time for areas that are large or need a lot of blending. I would like to get some more colors and use them for a larger painting!
If you want to check this box out, SketchBox offers two subscription levels: the Basic Box for $25 plus $5 shipping and the Premium Box for $35 plus $5 shipping in the US. Right now, SketchBox only ships to the USA and Canada. Check them out through my referral link. https://getsketchbox.com/refer/Elean-IFGGOHVY