Have you heard of the Crayola Signature collection? When I heard about it I instantly wanted to try it. Crayola was super nice and sent me all of the supplies in the picture below in exchange for an honest review. It was like Christmas when the package came. Seriously. I told my husband over and over again how excited I was. I even went out and bought two more coloring books so my kids could color with me when I was coloring for this review. We have had a fun week coloring at our house. My kids have loved everything.
Each set comes with a beautiful tin. The Gel Pens and Dual Tip Markers fit pretty snug, the colored pencil tin did not. I do not know if it came a little damage and that is why it did not fit. The other two seem to fit fine.
Inside each tin there are two trays that stack on one another. There are spots in each tray for each supply. The gel pens and markers fit in snug. The pencils do not. The trays are made of a flexible plastic.
Below are some pictures I colored with each set from the coloring book and my review.
Did you have Gel Pens when you were young? I did. I threw out my set a couple years ago because they were not working anymore. These Crayola gel pens were hands down better than my other gel pens. Two words: Glitter and Metallic. The effects were amazing! The gel pens were super pretty and sparkly. This picture does not do them justice. For some reason it is hard to capture glitter on camera. It was my favorite picture I colored. It took the longest and was the hardest on my hand to color, but it turned out beautiful.
The Gel Pens come in Metallic and Glitter. There are 9 Metallic colors and 11 Glitter colors in the package. The Gel Pens come in the same shades with the Metallic colors being lighter. I used both Glitter and Metallic colors in the picture above. I loved the shading effect when I used the glitter and metallic gel pens together.
The Glitter Pens were easier to color with. The ink came out easier. I definitely had to apply a fair amount of pressure for both types to color in everything, but less for the Glitter Pens. As it happens fairly often with gel pens, ink does not always come out smoothly. The following tips can be used to help the ink come out better.
- Clean tip with Isopropyl Alcohol
- Run warm water of the pen
- Scribble on another piece of paper.
Even with having to help the ink come out better I LOVED THESE PENS and would highly recommend them. To me they seem to work like a normal gel pen, but the colors are AMAZING.
Color List: Glitter: pink, red, orange, yellow, green, sky blue, blue, violet, gold, silver, black, Metallic: pink, red, orange, gold, green, sky blue, violet, gray, silver
Crayola Signature Colored Pencils Review and Color List
What is special about these colored pencils? Crayola specially formulated them to color on dark paper. The effect is amazing. It looks like coloring with chalk. The pencil has a smoother and thicker laydown than normal colored pencils. The lead goes quickly. I had to sharpen three of them to complete the picture. But that is a good thing. It means the color comes out very smooth.
It was interesting to note that I could color over other colors with black, but I could not color over black. I loved the effect of these colored pencils on the black paper and will definitely be using these again.
Color List: Mahogany,
Raspberry, Ruby Red, Red, Red Orange, Orange, Yellow Orange, Light
Orange, Harvest Gold, Mango, Goldenrod, Yellow, Lemon Yellow, Lime
Green, Yellow Green, Spring Green, Jade Green, Green, Pine Green, Teal,
Robin's Egg Blue, Green Blue, Turquoise, Cerulean, Sky Blue, Blue, Light
Blue, Violet (Purple), Orchid, Maroon, Mauve, Magenta, Pink, Bubblegum,
Salmon, Brown, Light Brown, Peach, Sand, Tan, Bronze Yellow, Dark
Brown, Taupe, White, Gray, Cool Gray, Slate, Black, Raspberry, Navy Blue
Crayola Signature Dual Tip Markers Review and Color List
The Dual Tip Markers come in 32 colors. I practiced my block lettering, practiced calligraphy skills, and colored a picture. The thin tips were not as thin as a pen, but produced very fine lines. They could also be used to fill in a section, but were a little harder than the other tip. The other tip is a regular Super Tip or Thin Tip marker from Crayola. It can be used to color in sections or think for detail work.
To make the block letters I used the ultra thin tips. I used both ultra thin and Super Tips for the calligraphy practice. I used a white colored pencil to highlight. It was super fun to learn the techniques and practice. I feel like I could do calligraphy now. I have always done block lettering, but it was very cool to see an official method for it. I loved practicing all the different ways to fill in the letters, add embellishments, and add shadows.
My daughter loved this picture, but there are so many things I could change about it. I usually like to do a test page first to make sure I like all the color combos and such. But I did not do that with this one. I would make the lettering all yellow, and do different colors for the flowers. And maybe use more different colors for the leaves. I did combine colors for this picture. The purple flowers and orange lettering were combos of colors. I think it turned out okay, but feel there are so many things I could have done better.
Color List: black-gray, brown-golden beige, coral reef-melon, raspberry-carnation, magenta-hot pink, primrose-flamingo pink, violet-wild orchid, ultra violet-purple mountain, indigo-battery charged blue, blue-blue lagoon, robin's egg blue-turquoise surf, jungle green-kiwi, green-electric lime, marigold-yellow, tiger orange-orange circuit, brick red-lobster red
What did I think?
I loved all the sets. If I had to pick one I would pick the colored pencils. There is no other colored pencil product in the Crayola line right now that will color the same on black paper. The Gel Pens would be next because they were so pretty. I loved the Dual-Tip markers too. My daughter loved the gel pens the best, my son the markers. He said, "The markers are so much easier to color with." All the supplies have similar color palettes and can be used together to color one page. The coloring book the sets come with gives lots of instructions and examples. It even comes with color pages inside to give examples. There are 4 pages of instruction and many pages to practice the techniques that were taught.
What Would I Change?
I would add another black pages coloring book to the set. I found myself wanting more pages. I would add more colors to the marker set. And I would make the gel pens a little smoother. I would maybe add a pencil sharpener with the colored pencils because I definitely needed one. I would make it so the colored pencils were not as loose in their tray. And I would made the trays out of a harder plastic. One of them was already starting to tear.
All in all I LOVED this set of adult coloring supplies from Crayola. These sets are good for all coloring levels. Advanced colorists and beginning colorists will love them and be able to make some really pretty pictures. If my daughter had not already seen it it would be a perfect Christmas present for her. It is super hard to shop for 7 year old girls. This set would also be a perfect present for anyone that loves adult coloring. Make sure to get the adult coloring book to go with it.
Collecting Information
This line is perfect for collectors. The tins are really nice. The colored pencils are a new type of specialty colored pencil from Crayola. The Gel Pens are also one of the biggest selections of Gel Pens Crayola has ever offered. They have made them in the past, but not with this much variation. I think collectors should definitely picked these sets up.
Box Information: 20 Crayola Signature Detailing Gel Pens, 16 Crayola Signature Dual Tip Sketch & Detail Markers, 50 Crayola Signature Blend & Shade Colored Pencils, a 40 page Crayola Signature Creative Lettering Inspiration Pad
Year: 2017
Purchase Information: Received from Crayola for Review
Where to buy: Currently available at any place that sells Crayola products. I have seen them at Target, Crayola.com and Aamzon
Style Number: 68-2005 (50 Colored Pencils), 58-6503 (Detailing Gel Pens), 58-6511 (Sketch & Detail Dual-Tip Markers), 99-0026 (Creative Pad)
Code Number: 68-2005-0-300 (50 Colored Pencils), 68-2005-0-900, (50 Colored Pencils Tin), 58-6503-0-200 (Detailing Gel Pens), 58-6503-0-900 (Detailing Gel Pens Tin), 58-6511-0-200 (Sketch & Detail Dual-Tip Markers), 58-6511 (Sketch & Detail Dual-Tip Markers Tin), 99-0026-0-960 (Creative Pad)
UPC: 071662320058 (50 Colored Pencils), 071662165031 (Detailing Gel Pens), 071662065119 (Sketch & Detail Dual-Tip Markers Tin), 071662500269 (Creative Pad)
Manufacturing Location: China (Gel Pens and Tins), Brazil (Colored Pencils), Malyasia (Sketch & Detail Dual-Tip Markers)
Here are the swatches before I added water.
