Prismacolor
 | |
| (subsidiary of Newell Rubbermaid) | |
| Industry | Stationery |
| Predecessor | Berol |
| Founded | 1938 |
| Headquarters | Oak Brook, IL, United States |
Area served | North America |
| Products | Pencils, art materials |
| Parent | Newell Rubbermaid |
| Website | www.prismacolor.com |
Prismacolor is a brand of professional artists' supplies originated by Berol in 1938, and now manufactured by Newell Rubbermaid. Among the items in the Prismacolor line are colored pencils, Art Stix, pastels, watercolors, and alcohol-based permanent art markers.
Berol
The Eagle Pencil Company founded in the 1800s in Yonkers, New York on John Street. After 5 years, Daniel Berozlzheimer’s son Henry purchased the city’s first iron framed building for the new factory. The company produced pens, pencils, pen holders and erasers. In 1897, the London branch confirmed the policy of selling manufactured goods with high quality at a low price. Over the years, the company changed focus and goods. In 1952, Margros Ltd was founded by Mr P.G.Hooley, who invented Powdered Colour and sold it directly to schools. Business grew such that the owners were unable to finance operations adequately, and the company was sold to Eagle Pencil Company in 1967.[1]
The company which later became Osmiroid International was started in 1824 by James Perry who joined his brother in the pen‑making business.[2] In 1989, the company was bought by Berol Ltd. The Newell Company joined forces with Berol on November 2, 1995. The merging of the two companies made Berol a branch of the Sanford Corporation.[3]
Newell Rubbermaid
Newell Rubbermaid Inc. produces consumer and commercial products around the globe. The company’s products are distributed under a variety of names such as Rubbermaid, Irwin, Lenox, Graco, Aprica, Calphalon, Levolor, Goody, Paper Mate, Sharpie, Dymo, Parker, and Waterman.[4] Newell Rubbermaid's headquarters is in Atlanta, Georgia.[5]
Colored Pencils
One of Prismacolor's main products are their colored pencils. They can be bought in sets for about $1 a pencil. Prismacolor pencils are liked for their professional look on paper and high quality. Many artists use Prismacolor colored pencils for realistic portraits due to their professional quality and blending capabilities.[6]
Prismacolor colored pencils are made with a soft wax that tends to break easily. Softer lead tends to break easier when a pencil is sharpened. With Prismacolored colored pencils a common trend is to microwave your pencils.[7] Microwaving a colored pencil helps to heat up the cold and brittle lead within it. However, Prismacolor discourages this practice.[8]
Prismacolor currently offers a range of 150 colors and a variety of blending products to blend colors together in an artwork. The blender pencil is a clear, colorless wax pencil used overtop of the colored layer to aid in the color cohesion.[9] Other types of blending products are sponges, colorless markers, and tortillons or blender stumps. All products aid to blending colors together in different ways.
Markers
The line of markers Prismacolor produce are illustrating markers. Each marker is double sided for fine to thick lines. The formula inside the marker gives the pigment a rich color and allow for smooth application onto paper.[10] The recommend use of a Prismacolor marker is to apply the colors in layers. The different tips allow for the color to be applied in various ways on the application being worked on. You can use varying colors from the same color line to create shadows and textures on the art work. Prismacolor markers can also be used to sketch drawings as well as color.[11]
Charcoal
Prismacolor Charcoal is used for sketching in general or under paintings. The sticks come in many forms including vine, compressed, and wooden sticks.
Pastel
Prismacolor pastels are available in several different styles. Hard, soft, oil, and pencil pastels which each offer different textures and styles to a piece of art. Pastels are made into sticks for easy handling. The sticks are pure pigment with very few fillers to help support the structure and lay of color. There are two qualities to pastels: Artist and Student. Artist quality pastels have a higher ratio of pigment giving more intense color. Student pastels contain more fillers and byproduct to help the stick keep shape and allow the pastel to withstand pressure and crumbling. With artist pastels, the richer pigments and lack of binder cause the product to be more fragile yet costly. Hard pastels are made the same way as a soft pastel but contain more binder and less pigment. Hard pastels are more stable in different drawing techniques and come in both artist and student quality. Pastel pencils are for fine details and control. The shape and size of a pastel pencils resemble colored pencils and are suitable for outdoors work. Many manufacturers offer up to 80 different pigments of pencil pastels Oil pastels offer texture in drawings. The make up of oil pastels is pigment coated in wax or oil giving lines and shading a crayon like texture. Oil pastels are more stable than a soft pastel and do not require a fixative to work. Unlike the other types of pastels, oil based pastels will not smudge, crumble or give off dust when working on paper. Although oil pastels lack the ability to blend into other colors, the pigments can be spread on a canvas like oil paints and are available in both student and artist quality.[12]
Products
Prismacolor's range of products include:[13]
| Line | Range of Products |
|---|---|
| Colored pencils | Colored pencils, watercolor pencils |
| Graphite | Graphite pencils, mechanical pencils |
| Pastels | Softpastels, Nupastels |
| Charcoal | Charcoal sticks and pencils |
| Markers | Markers, highlighters |
| Accessories | Sharpeners, erasers, fixatives, pencil refills, |
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A Prismacolor colored pencil sketch of painter Ross Bleckner
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Berol Prismacolor pencils