Anyone besides me notice the drop in quality of these pencils since they switched from Sanford to Prisma-color?
I love sketching in red, and doing cleanup on top in purple. I've always gotten a nice clean up going with this combo because the purple is very dark and shows up well over the red. Easy to erase too.
Long story short, I ran out of my purple sanfords last week so I ordered some new ones from Dick Blick. Well, to my horror while sketching, I soon discovered the difference. They're now a lighter color, and so waxy that they can barely draw on top of the red sketch. I've now got four boxes of these duds!! ARRGHH!!
What's the friggin deal? Every time I find some art product I love, they change it into some cheap ass version that I'll never buy again.
Oh and just to give you a bigger kick in the berries, the company brilliantly decided to put a wrap around sticker at the eraser end of the pencils. So when you finally work your way down to the end, you have no choice but to sharpen the pencil with the sticker on. Nice way to ruin a pencil sharpener, right? And god forbid you were to have the forethought to remove the sticker, because then it conveniantly leaves just enough adhesive behind to annoy the crap out of you while you draw. Thanks, Prismacolor!!
Sorry to rant over art supplies, but I just had to vent these fustrations to someone. If anyone knows of a place where on can buy the old pencils, gimme a shout, will ya!
Thanks!
The pencil nazi :)
38 comments:
I feel your pain ;_;
We get the prisma and sanford colerase in our local university art shop, and I've noticed the drop in quality too.
And the stickers on the blues, arrrgh!! But it's a little better now (though I'd prefer no stickers at all). They used to be on the non-eraser end. So you had to peel them off, then try and get the residual sticky stuff off with eucalyptus oil, and then try and sharpen it. I got went a little crazy on the fumes, and it was a perplexing process to go through.
... there's a long and pointless story for you from total stranger who digs your art :)
The sucky part is this, Steve. Sanford owns the Prismacolor line, yet somehow, instead of just putting the Prismacolor name on the Sanford pencil they change up the ingredients and ruin a great thing.
I actually ran into a guy this weekend that works for Sanford and made the very same complaint. He just shook his head and said, "I know. I know."
I think these new "Col-Erase" are universally disdained. I just hope Sanford gets the memo.
stickers in your sharpener -- BAH! -- try sharpening your wacom stylus -- that'll put a twist in your knockers
knickers -- not knockers
I don't use them to often but I was wondering when somebody was going to get pissed about that fact they changed them. Good Luck finding the old ones. There must be plenty out there still.
Yeah man, i TOTALLY hear you... I was actually laughing as I read your entry (AND nodding my head in agreement)!
I miss the old 'Sanfords,' too... The new pencils are VERY waxy, like you said, and just don't have the same integrity at all... I cherish my exisiting 'Sanfords,' I
really do.
-Dagan
Love your stuff!
Just found your blog through your posts on the flight forums, and just added you to my links!
You rock!
man I thought I had problems!
The lot I have has the sticker at the tip. So you start out with the dull sharpener/sticky fingers.
I had the same problem. Pentel actually makes pretty good red and blue lead for 2mm lead holders that have worked out pretty good for me so far. Good luck.
Man.... so that's what real pencils actually look like.... it's been so long since I've used one that they've actually started growing horns and lookin' all evil-like.... sad really.... :(.... My wacom pen usually smiles at me and gets me the morning paper.... poor pencils.
I'm still bummed that Ticonderoga stopped making Light Blue a couple years back... and the constant rumors of Prismacolor discontinuing their Light Blue have me in a constant state of anxiety.
....I'm gonna go play Nintendo now.
I like to paint and draw with my poop.
Man, I hate that for you Steve. That's just like adobe disabling the preview of .PSD files in the file browsers after installing Photoshop CS2, forcing people to use the adobe Bridge! I spent two days getting those icons back on. Folks ought not be messing with process!!
I hope you find new weapons soon. Hey, also good to see you're still doing color work. Thought you forgotten how. :)
Yes, the new version of those pencils DOES suck!!! The stickers are WORSE!!!! Those things drive me insane! I say we revolt.
what's a pen-cil?
cum' on now Steve we all know it's not the "quality" of the tool it's the way you use it!!! cum' on now! you should be able to do good drawing with a crayola if you have to! hen ha
Great post Steve.
When I was young, Primascolor was making awesome colored pencils and they were selling them at a cheap price, but they change them.... now you've got the "scholar" box (cheap quality) and the "artist" box (like the good old ones... High price).
Now they screwed up the col-erase too. At least, I have a couple of boxes of the old version :P
we should start a petition or start emailing them like mad men & women... to let them know!!?
super sticky stickers that don't peel off completely leaving yucky sticky chunks... i hate that.
oh, and thanks for the comment!! hope you don't mind i've already linked without permission :)
I know what you mean about the stickers Steve. Although i just received a new box of reds. And guess what? No sticker!!! The UPC is printed on the pencil near the top and doesn't interfere with the sharpening at all. I think the Gods heard your prayers and reacted QUICK!
Thanks sir, for the heads up on this issue.
I hate those pencils and stickers! I thought I was the only one with complaints about them.
On the pencils I have been using the sticker is at the beginning of the pencils which is also lots of fun.
Pffft... typical...
Youre always bitchin' bout somethin'...
;)
I haven't had a problem with the sticker because I stopped using it about a minute into a drawing. Those things suck ass! The biggest problem I have with them is that you can't erase a damn thing! I very much hate these pencils and no longer use them. I'm trying to get my studio to stop buying them. They suck soooooo much! I'm glad I'm not the only one super, ultra, mega, lighting pissed about these things.
i have the same problems with pencils. i used to love the sanford but I am having a hard time finding anything I really love now.
Welcome to my world. Tria markers aren't going to be Pantone anymore soon. Blah!!
I too loved the Col-Erase, but they are hard to find, and suck too boot. I've switched back to the pencil I started out with, the good old Number 2. It's hard to Fuck up a Number 2 pencil.
Oh God...I haven't noticed yet cause I still have a box or two of Sanfords. Might just hafta clean up with a Tombow - they erase like a dream on animation bond.
I totally agree with you on the Sanford vs. Prismacolor. I noticed the drop in quality from Sanford to Prismacolor about a year ago. It was my final year in Animation College and I was in the middle of creating a student film when all of a sudden these crappy prismacolor knock-offs starting hitting the market. It was quite hard to hunt down the good old Sanford versions of the col-erase pencils...ebay is still a good place to find them now and then......but I've adapted to the new prismacolor ones and for anyone who needs them still, you can find them at http://www.chromacolour.com/
I agree however in prismacolors defense I have to say that the blick store is responsible for putting those stickers on the pencils.
another reason to be an art supply hoarder! Now, when I find something I like that won't dry out or crumble with age, I stock up...but I've got a big attic and all ;)
It's the way of the art supply biz. Just like you said, they go and change a good thing. How 'bout when the drop the product all together?
Sorry for refloating such an old post but this matter gets me mad. It´s not that Prismacolor suck that bad.
In fact this has been a long and painful process: old Faber Castell were just awesome. Then Eberhard Faber took their place and were ... uh worse, but still usable. Sanford appeard to be hard to make worse and then Prismacolor came out. So keep your Prismaclour pencils, because something much worse will land. :(
Good old Faber Castell Col-erase. I still have a box of brand new brown pencils...
Same deal with Ebony pencils. Bought 12 pack on Amazon, got the Prismacolor Ebonys, cheap imitation of the Sanfords. Looked on back, Copyright 2010, made by Newell Rubbermaid, in MEXICO. Went to Hobby Lobby, got a two pack of Ebonys, Copyright 2002, made by Sanford, in USA. The problem is obvious. Going to stockpile while I can.
Wow, nice post,there are many person searching about that now they will find enough resources by your post.Thank you for sharing to us.Please one more post about that..
Hi! I know this is an old post. I am having a real hard time buying col erase in carmine red because Prismacolor and Sanford do not ship to the Netherlands. Sounds stupid, I know but that's the reality. I have tried amazon.com amazon.co.uk and amazon.de and no one ships to the Netherlands.
I was wondering if you changed brand or if you have any recommendations for me.
Thanks for the info, just wanting to buy some Prismacolors for a friend and was confused by the "Sanford" and "Prismadcolor" tags.
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