Forest Choice Colored Pencils... Awesomeness

Click to visit ForestChoice.com

A while ago a good friend of mine got me a set of Forest Choice colored pencils. Since I resolved (though not technically an official New Years Resolution- I don't believe in those- the timing happened to work out that way, thanks to the holiday and a very productive weekend) to get back to creating art (see yesterday's post about all these frames I have to fill!), I decided to finally put those pencils to use.

They seemed like the perfect choice for Operation: Fill-A-Frame: Eco-Friendly! All my frames were from a thrift store or rescued from being trash-bound, so the project is inherently environmentally friendly. Combine that with the Strathmore Premium Recycled Drawing paper on which I chose to do my first drawing for the project.... It all fit together. (I can't find the actual paper online, I think they changed their line up a bit since I bought mine, but here's one that looks close: http://www.strathmoreartist.com/product-reader/items/400-series-recycled-drawing.html)

I expected the pencils to be.... okay. What I didn't expect was that I would love them so much aside from the fact that they're made from environmentally responsible sources. They are really great pencils!

So what's so great about them?

• Artistically I felt that they blended very well and the colors maintained themselves really well- meaning when I pressed hard on the yellow and then later accidentally went over it with a darker color, the yellow maintained its integrity there on the paper. The darker pencil did not trump the lighter color.
• There are 12 in the set: Two blues, two greens, a yellow, a pink, red, orange, purple, brown, black, white.
  
• Environmentally the wood in the pencils comes from well managed forests and is certified by the FSC.
• The label is printed on recycled paper (not sure the content info) and the wrapper appears to be made from some recycled and unbleached paper but I cannot find that information anywhere on the packaging or online.

I love it when I find an environmentally friendly product that is just as good as its larger-carbon-footprint-bearing counterparts.... or better! I would say I enjoy using these just as much as my Prismacolors (actually more since I like the idea behind them) and am absolutely entertaining the idea of drawing with them exclusively for Operation: FIll-A-Frame. I still have a whole box full of Prismacolors and other assorted pencils and wouldn't just get rid of them or anything. But for this project these pencils seem perfect.

I rate these pencils EXCELLENT!