We spoke to Albert, founder of Black Widow Pencils, to bring you exclusive answers to all your questions about the NEW Black Widow pencil set! When is the new pencil set released? What’s included? Where can you buy it, and what’s next for the beloved pencil brand?
As a dedicated colourist, you’ve likely heard of the notorious Black Widow Pencils – popular with colourists around the world, and for good reason! These iconic all-black pencils have a strong centre to prevent breakage, a wax core for effortless layering and gorgeous shading, and a point with long-lasting sharpness for colouring details. Plus, all Black Widow pencil sets come with a 12 month warranty.
There are currently six sets of Black Widow pencils available to buy online, and each set brings its own unique qualities to the world of colouring pencils. Keep reading to find out all about the brand new set of pencils direct from the founder of Black Widow Pencils himself!
The classic Spider set contains a full colour spectrum, while the Scorpion and Cobra editions contain a curated selection of colours for the more experienced colourist.
The Skin range features a set of Light Skin and Dark Skin pencils to give you a limitless range of skin tone options.
Finally, the Monarch pencil set was released in 2020, and was their most recent palette before this month’s release.
But what about the new Dragon pencil set? Teased earlier this year as “a new set of pencils to complement the existing range”, Black Widow have kept the details of these new pencils under wraps – until now!
We have an exclusive behind the scenes glimpse at this amazing new pencil set, but before we get to that, what do we already know about these mysterious pencils?
Well, firstly, you can buy the new set of pencils now on Black Widow Pencils’ Amazon page.
Secondly, as revealed on the Black Widow Facebook page, the new set contains 36 bright and warm colours, all exclusive to the Dragon set, and not included in any previous Black Widow collections. The breakdown of shades is also incredible – with around 12 shades between red and orange, and 10 between green and blue!
We are so excited to bring you this exclusive interview with Black Widow founder Albert, who has shared even more juicy details about the new Dragon pencil set with Colouring Heaven!
My company Medihealth 1 was predominantly set up to sell feminine personal care products. You might well ask, “How did a healthcare company get involved with coloured pencils?”
It started one evening when I was watching TV and my attention was drawn to a documentary on adult colouring, a fad that I had never heard of, and was very big globally.
I was amazed at what I was watching and was mesmerised by the fantastic pictures that colourists were producing –but the thing that really caught my attention was the health benefits this pastime was giving to the consumers.
Many people that were colouring had numerous conditions such as anxiety, depression, chronic pain, etc. This hobby took their minds off their relevant issues, and they enjoyed a few hours of relief.
I instantly knew that I wanted to be part of this, hence the Black Widow Pencil Brand was born.
When we created the first 24 piece pencil set called Black Widow (Spider), we basically chose the colours from a chart that our core manufacturer had, and decided on colours that caught our eye.
As we progressed into the other sets, we took note of what our customers were saying about the lack of colours etc, and adopted this method to the next pencil sets. The customers know what is lacking, and their suggestions are gold and important to listen to.
One other interesting thing I must tell you is how we arrived at the colour names for this first pencil set. I started a competition on my Facebook page and asked my faithful audience to choose two names for each colour, and the theme had to be in line with this set. It was important to share this with my audience because we were here for the long term and wanted to release a pencil set that had their involvement. From there onward, I used my warped sense of humor to choose the names for each colour on every other set.
When designing these pencils, again, we did our research and looked at hundreds of customer reviews from other brands and noted that there were many customers that had issues with holding and colouring for a long time. We decided a hexagonal grip would be better than a round barrel, ergonomically, also a hex pencil would not roll and fall off a table with a risk of breaking the inner core.
Regarding the wax core, it was a choice between the wax or oil base, so we simply chose the wax, and not for any specific reason.
We currently have three 24 piece pencil sets, two 12 piece sets, one 48 piece set, and with this new set we decided to go with 36 pieces. All these 180 colours are unique and we have no duplicates. Each set compliments the next set.
Generally, it takes approx 6-8 months from starting until we get to the market. There are many stages to complete;the idea, the theme, designing the artwork, choosing colours, colour names, making the wax cores, tin design, producing the pencils and checking quality.
We have many ideas for the future, which does include other pencil sets, but now we have to launch the Dragon set and let the dust settle before we start on the next project – which could well be in late 2022.
“Very easy to use and to blend layers of colours. Great starter set for anyone looking to colour or to add to the other Black Widow sets. Good range of colours not found in the other Black Widow sets. Wax core but smooth on paper. Excellent pencils.”
And, of course, the most important question… where can we buy our Dragon pencil set?!
For those of you lucky enough to already be able to order a set, you can find all the links to shop on the Black Widow Pencils website.
You can also follow Black Widow Pencils on Facebook to stay up to date with new releases and updates!
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