Blackwing Pencil Review - Falcon Drawing

Blackwing pencils are some of the most expensive graphite drawing pencils. Are they worth the price? We'll find out in this review of Blackwing drawing pencils. We also take a quick look at drawing a Falcon on Canson Heritage hot press watercolor paper with these pencils.
***
***
***
***
(The following links are affiliate links which means I make a small commission of you purchase at no additional cost to you)

[thaweezl]

The Blackwing matte (black paint) is the softest.
The pearl (white paint) is next.
The 602 (dark gray) is next hardest.
The natural (wood tone) is the one listed as extra firm.

Tbh, you have the right formula to get a ton of comments, narrating the wrong info.

[endezeichengrimm]

They're not $40 per pencil. Those were just the originals. The new ones are a reproduction of the original.

[maddyglasses]

Actually the 602 is the hardest of the 3. The Pearl is softer than the 602 and the matte is the softest of the 3.
There's also another pencil that Blackwing produces as part of their set, which is the Natural--harder than the 602.

[stevenj]

I've used Faber Castill Blackwing 602 ORIGINAL pencils since the mid 1970's....In fact I have 4 (12 count) boxes left. I'm a professional musician and this was THE pencil of choice for musicians, composers etc since the 1940's. Palomino issued the Blackwing Matt first and it is the closest to the Orig, F.C. Blackwing 602. Even then, it's still not as nice to use as the Orig. The Palomino 602 is much harder than the F.C. Blackwing 602...Now in my mid 60's I will use the remaining 4 dozen F.C. 602's as they will last until I leave the earth. I wish everyone could try the OLD original pencils, NOTHING writes like they do and that was why people paid $40 per pencil...

[taranthyll]

I bought a set of these three pencils years ago and I still haven't used them. Now I'm eager to try them out; thanks for the review.

[ponderanceofagravedigger]

Blick art has them.i bought a box of each. Love them.

[MrChinchilla_hn]

Great video, informative and instructional. I enjoyed very much. I used to draw when younger. Now 59. Greetings from Honduras.

[artbykcappadona]

According to the Blackwing website Pearl is softer than 602 but firmer than Matte. They sell 12 pencils for 24 dollars. Beautiful drawing.

[thatisartnotpffft]

Mars Lumograph are very smooth/nice to draw with and less expensive, and I've heard Caran d'Ache are very smooth too. After watching this I would like to try these. Love this bird drawing! Techniques of drawings like this can be used for so much. For example the feathers themselves look the same as what can be used as short and tall grass in a field.

[thesleeplessspook]

I got a pack of 12 for $25 over at Blick. I've paid much more than that for far less when it comes to an art supply, tbh . I dearly love these pencils and use them quite heavily in addition to the Prismacolor Ebony pencils in my illustrations. An art subscription box (properly) introduced me to the Blackwing, though I have faint memories of my grandfather (also an artist) having a few in his studio back in the day that I toyed with as a child. I think the important thing for an artist to do is to try out something like the Blackwing to simply see if it works for them or not. If it works, it's worth the investment.

[AncientNovelist]

Hi Virtual Instructor, A couple of clarification may help your followers. First, the Palomino Blackwing 602 (currently available) is NOT the same as the discontinued Eberhard Faber Blackwing 602, which was last produced in 1998. It's not just that the ownership of the Blackwing brand changed; the entire formulation changed. The Palomino Blackwing 602 has darkness D11, softness S6, smoothness L11, pressure sensitivity P5. The fabled Eberhard Faber Blackwing 602 was darker at D13, *much* softer at S11, and *much* smoother at L14. pressure sensitivity was P4, so quite similar to the current Blackwing 602. These data are from testing I completed in 2015 (Pearson's Graphite 2015, available at bookstores worldwide). So the two variants of Blackwing 602 are quite different from each other. Contrary to your reports, Palomino claims the Blackwing Pearl has darkness and softness in between those of the 602 and the Matte (formerly Blackwing Dark). My results corroborate Palomino's findings. That your results were different is of course completely possible, but you really ought to point out that your results were not the same as those claimed by the company, and perhaps explain why your results differed. I found darkness D11, D13, and D15 for Blackwing 602, Blackwing Pearl, and Blackwing Matte respectively.

[zemansk]

The pearl is the hardest? Isn’t it supposed to be in between the 602 and the matte?

[DP-Dignity]

I am so impressed with your drawing and love this video. Thank you for making it.

[vivioprea]

Stunning work, man! Going to try drawing this.

[lordmonty]

The 602 is the firmest. The Pearl is the mid-range. The Blackwing is the darkest.

I’ve own all of these. Dozens of them. Have for over a decade.

[sclogse]

As I understand it, the first reissue of the 602 wasn't up to snuff to the original, but the second release was. I believe the second release says Palomino BlackWing 602, but the first reissue does not say Palomino.

[ohbli_oh]

The way you pronounce the word drawing. Adorable ☺️😂

[joanpavlick]

This was the second time watching this video. Found it intriguing that I have order a box of 12. I always use only a general's 6b pencil as I was taught in college. I found going straight to Blackwing site, and ordering them. It is alot less than Amazon. Even with the $5 standard shipping. Total cost was $29.95.

[jacquelinebudd]

Thank you for this comparison. I have the black pencil, you’ve made me itch to try the 602 now.

[TjVoelkerArt]

Dick Blick online has the boxes of 12 for just under $25 a box....nearly half the price of Amazon!