Viarco, a small traditional pencil manufacturer in Portugal, continues to innovate.
The ArtGraf pencils are a pair of 22cm black and white pencils. The matte black finished “Soft Black” is a carbon based pencil, while the glossy white finished “Water-Soluble” is, as the name states, a water soluble pencil.
The format and presentation are unique and compelling, yet modest. Pencils of this dimension are truly unusual (a standard pencil is about 17.5cm) , and the combination of the two artist specialty formulas results in a very nice product.
The specific formulas may be a matter of prefence (I found the Caran d’Ache water soluble pencils easier to use as a beginner), but it is hard to imagine than anyone who likes graphite based artistic media would not be impressed by a gift of ArtGraf pencils.
Neat. This and all your posts are very interesting. I may need to get back into drawing with pencils.
Can you comment on the fineness of the graphite with respect to the Caran D’Ache? I find the C d’A to be very fine and to generate a smooth wash. The Viarco ArtGraf was coarser but moved much more on the page. They are both fun to use. From your quick sketch, it appears that they might have refined their grinding process.
Bill, thank you very much.
chepablo, I found the ArtGraf somewhat “unsoluble” compared to the Caran d’Ache. This aspect of “solubility” seemed more noticeable to me than the issue of fineness vs. coarseness. But I am not an expert or anything other than a very occasional user of this type of media. I do think the product is a lot of fun!
More concerned, I think, I would be of the length – 22cm. I couldn’t imagine tacking 4.5cm on to my Faber Castell 9000’s, even if used for art purposes. A lot of artists find 175mm too long and chop standard pencils in half…but I suppose it depends on your technique.