Swan Stabilo All Surface Pencils are made from the highest-quality pigments and finest graphite, giving them the ability to write on almost all surfaces including glass, plastic, and metal. In this Artist Review of the Month, Noora Ahokallio discusses how the black pencil in this range allows her the produce the deepest blacks on paper, while also experimenting with its watersoluble potential.
Artist Review of Stabilo All Surface Black Pencil
by Noora Ahokallio
The Stabilo All Surface pencil’s drawing mark is truly black, matt, and deepens when activated with water. Interesting and varied marks can also be obtained by drawing with the pencil directly on a damp paper surface. Sometimes I rub the pencil against sandpaper or on the rough side of the Caran d’Ache Palette Aquarelle (which is specifically intended for watersoluble pencils and crayons) and sprinkle the resulting black powder on the damp paper surface.
The versatility of the tool allows me to strike the fine balance between control and chance that interests me in my artwork. The warm matt black tone of the pencil is beautiful and interesting, and its watersoluble nature gives many more possibilities for use. The pencil is complete in itself – suitable for everything from precise graphic work to rich, painterly, and powerful expression.
Shadow, 2024
Noora Ahokallio
Stabilo Pencil, sumi ink, and colour pencil on Sennelier HP 100% cotton watercolour paper, 30 cm x 30 cm | 11.8 x 11.8 in
Lately, I have been making mostly black and white drawings using the Stabilo All Surface pencil, as well as black watercolor (special granulating pigment PBk11) and sumi-e ink – with just these three colors and a few drawing and painting tools, you can do wonders! Sometimes I use more colors in addition to the black mark: watercolor, gouache, colour pencils and pastels, and sometimes tempera and acrylic. I mainly work on paper, but I have also tried the Stabilo pencil on hardboard and wood, for example. I have no experience with the pencil’s suitability for other materials (such as glass, plastic, etc.). It is worth noting that the pencil’s mark is not easily erasable.
Garden, 2024
Noora Ahokallio
Stabilo pencil, sumi ink, and watercolour on Sennelier CP 100% cotton watercolour paper, 24.5 cm x 10.5 cm | 9.64 x 4.13 in
Considering its quality and versatility, the black Stabilo All Surface pencil is a really affordable purchase. I also use other slightly similar pencils, such as Viarco Artgraf Watersoluble pencils and various brands colour pencils. Perhaps some crayons, such as the black Caran d’Ache Neocolor II Watercolour Crayons, could also be compared to a black Stabilo pencil. Of these, however, the Stabilo All Surface pencil is more precise than crayon and offers the blackest black. The mark is also coarser and grainier in a way I like than, for example, Caran d’Ache’s top-quality black watercolour pencil Museum Aquarelle.
Garden (yellow), 2025
Noora Ahokallio
Stabilo pencil, sumi ink, and watercolour on Sennelier CP 100% cotton watercolour paper, 24.5 cm x 10.5 cm | 9.64 x 4.13 in
The casing and lead of the Stabilo All Surface pencil are of a more uniform and stable quality than the Viarco Artgraf Watersoluble pencil. However, the Viarco pencil also has a pleasant, interesting and versatile mark, and it has a lot in common with the Stabilo pencil. In terms of price, Stabilo is at the lower end of the scale – most of the similar products I use are more expensive.
According to the manufacturer’s product information, Stabilo All Surface pencils are of the best quality in terms of lightfastness and are therefore suitable for professional artwork. This is professionally important to me. However, I would have liked a colour chart and detailed information about the pigments used, but I have not found any. The pencil also looks high quality: I have never had a defective Stabilo pencil, the lead in the pencil does not break when sharpened, the lead is balanced in the middle of the wooden barrel, and the lacquer surface of the pencil with the product information has been flawless. Uniformity is also a criterion by which I choose the tools for my artwork.
Kintsugi, 2024
Noora Ahokallio
Stabilo pencil, sumi ink, and watercolour on Sennelier CP 100% cotton watercolour paper, 24.5 cm x 10.5 cm | 9.64 x 4.13 in
About Noora Ahokallio
Noora Ahokallio is a Finnish visual artist who lives and works in Helsinki. Ahokallio works mainly with drawing on paper, but also combines painting techniques in her works. The themes of her works are usually human-made structures in the environment and urban nature, even very small things, and the reality that humans do not control the environment, not even in cities; nature takes its place in one way or another.
Further Reading
The Dark History of the Pencil
Review of Jackson’s Pencil Blending Medium
Artist Review: Faber-Castell Polychromos Warm Grey Pencils
Holbein Artists’ Coloured Pencils and Meltz Pencil Blender
Shop Stabilo Pencils on jacksonsart.com
The post Artist Review of Swan Stabilo All Surface Black Pencil appeared first on Jackson's Art Blog.
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