Product Review: Staedtler Mars Lumograph Colour Aquarell Pencils

 

Staedtler Mars Lumograph Colour Aquarell pencils (set of 12)

Preamble: Surprised to see me writing a colored pencil review? So am I! Even before making my commitment to downsizing and destashing, I had lost my motivation to try every new colored pencil and review it. I had passed the point in a hobby when it stopped being fun and became a burden – both materially and mentally. But now when a product does pique my interest enough to try it, it’s fun again!

Staedtler’s Mars Lumograph brand is not new to me. I’ve used the graphite line and especially enjoy the Black (carbon) pencil line. The new Mars Lumograph Colour Aquarell line is part of Staedtler’s “Artist” series.

As far as Staedtler’s watercolor pencils go, I’ve tried the German company’s Karat Aquarell and Design Journey (which I apparently never reviewed) collections, but neither excited me. The Karat Aquarell set had been recommended by a Gage class instructor who tended to favor very hard colored pencils, and those certainly qualify. Overall, Staedtler’s colored pencils haven’t particularly impressed me.

Two things about the new line caught my attention: While inexpensive sets of colored pencils from China or India are a dime a dozen (sometimes literally), and new ones seem to pop up daily on Amazon, colored pencils from major pencil manufacturers are relatively infrequent (though Derwent seems to pump them out often enough). I hadn’t seen anything new from Staedtler in a long time. The second thing was when a YouTube reviewer conjectured that these were comparable to Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelles! What?? Now, that’s a bold and intriguing statement. I picked up a small set at Blick.

A matte black hexagonal barrel with glossy, color-cued end cap; lightfast star rating and color number and name are on the barrel

When I first swatched the Mars Lumograph Colour Aquarells fresh from the tin with their factory sharpenings, they seemed surprisingly soft. Once I sharpened them and swatched again (which is my habit; pencils always feel softer when they aren’t sharp), they were definitely not as soft as Museum Aquarelles but perhaps close to Cd’A Supracolors. Even this degree of softness is surprising, as German pencils in general are not known for softness (Faber-Castell’s Albrecht Dürer and Polychromos lines being the best examples of typical German hardness).

The bigger surprise, though, was their pigment quality when activated. On my swatch page, I included a few sample swatches of both Museum Aquarelles and Supracolors for comparison.

Swatches made in Hahnemuhle Akademie Aquarell sketchbook

I never expect white watercolor pencils to be as opaque as Derwent Drawing (at right), which is my personal state-of-the-art for pencil opacity, but I like to make comparison swatches just to check.

Full lightfast information is provided in an enclosed brochure for those who care, and each pencil barrel indicates a lightfast rating.

For my test sketch, I used a reference photo that will look familiar to you; I used the same one a few days ago for Pencilvember. My result looks quite different here using a palette I wouldn’t ordinarily use, but the photo seemed to beg for the entire rainbow, giving me an opportunity to use as many of the set of 12 as possible.

11/4/26 Staedtler Mars Lumograph Colour Aquarell pencils in Stillman & Birn Delta sketchbook (photo reference)

For the way I like to use watercolor pencils, especially in the field, the softer, the better (in fact, I now heavily rely on Caran d’Ache Neocolor II crayons, which are softer than any pencil could be), and a thicker core is always better, too. I also prefer a heftier barrel (more comfortable in the hand). For those reasons, the Staedtlers would never surpass Museum Aquarelles in my kit. Nonetheless, Mars Lumograph Colour Aquarell is an unexpectedly good pencil, and I could see taking some into the field.

Left: Museum Aquarelle; right: Staedtler

Museum Aquarelle barrel (top) is just a smidge larger
than Staedtler

Regardless of how I prefer to use them, it’s impossible to dismiss the price difference: Per open-stock pencil, Museum Aquarelle is $4.64 each; Albrecht Dürer is $2.88. Although I haven’t seen open stock prices, the per-pencil price of the Staedtlers in its largest set is about $1.62. That’s a hard price to beat for such good pigment!

The brochure includes this explanation of how Staedtler's logical color
numbering system works. It's a refreshing change from the seemingly idiosyncratic
systems some other manufacturers use.

By this point, there was a time when I would have already rushed out to get the full-range set of 120 colors. With my commitment to staying downsized, I’m not even tempted. If they truly are artist quality, then Staedtler will offer them open stock, and it’s likely that Blick would carry them someday. If that happens, I would definitely look at the natural greens (which I can never find enough of) and especially look for holes to fill in the Museum Aquarelle line (many of which there are). That’s the way I’d like to buy any pencils from now on – only unique colors or ones that seem missing in a well-used line.

In any case, Staedtler Mars Lumograph Colour Aquarells are the most exciting watercolor pencil to join the over-saturated market in a long time.