Derwent Lightfast Pencils - small set review

I had the chance to check out the new line of Lightfast Pencils from Derwent - I was sent the set of 12 pencils, and I thought I'd challenge myself to do a quick drawing using only the pencils I was given. It's an interesting collection, not your typical set of bright rainbow colors...

When the line is complete, there will be 100 colors to choose from (there are 36 now), all formulated to be 100% fadeproof and lightfast.

I tried to work quickly, but still do what I could to match the colors in my reference photo with the small set of pencils I had to work with - the blue was a little more difficult to match, since the blue in the set is more of a sky blue, but I managed, with some combinations of purple, green, and brown. It was a fun challenge!

 I added a quick background with some mixed watercolor from the lid of my palette. Not bad for a quick little exercise - this probably took me 1.5 hours to complete.

Overall I liked the pencils, and look forward to adding more colors to my collection! With my pet portraits I've gotten used to the harder cores of the Polychromos pencils, and these were softer, but I was still able to get good detail in this small sketch. I ran the pencils through some typical tests, and they proved to be highly pigmented, responsive to varying levels of pressure, and blended well with other pencils as well as with a solvent. I was able to layer them to build up the texture of fur and hair. They'll work well with other brands as well. I did experience a little breakage issue with a couple of the pencils - the core of the black pencil was broken in a couple of places - but otherwise, not too much of an issue there.

With a lightfast rating at 100% and their great blendability, these will be wonderful pencils for portrait work, and I'll look forward to working these into my collection as the set is completed next year. And I'm loving this little bird!