Who holds the pencil

Somebody always holds the pencil. Before we settle a paper weight, a tip or the number of colors in a set, we try to picture that hand: how big it is, how hard it presses, whether it is the left one.

We are Soucolor. We make paper and nearly everything that leaves a mark on it: sketchbooks and hardcover pads, colored pencils, alcohol and water-based markers, gel pens, dot markers, brushes, and whole art sets packed into cases.

Three arguments we settled early

1. Paper comes before colorA marker is only as good as the sheet under it. That is why pads fill the first rows of our card, and why every cover states its weight plainly, from 100 gsm sketch paper to 400 gsm mixed media.
2. A color you cannot find again is a lost colorSo barrels are numbered, caps are color-coded and a blank color card goes in the box. Fill it in on day one and you will always know which blue made that sky.
3. Running out is ours to solveSixty gel pens travel with sixty refills. Sketchbooks come in packs of two, three and four. Several alcohol marker sets can be refilled. Supplies that have to be rationed do not get used.

The hands we picture

A toddler's fist

Dot markers with a thick barrel and a 0.7 inch sponge tip, in ink made to wash out.

A left hand

Top-spiral pads that flip all the way round, so no coil sits under the wrist.

A heavy hand

Soft pencil cores made to resist snapping, and 150 gsm hardcover sheets that take the pressure.

A hand in a hurry

Alcohol ink that dries in seconds, with a chisel tip for filling large shapes.

A hand coming back after years away

Seventy-two pre-sharpened pencils and a hundred sheets with nothing precious about them.

Our banner says Discover Your Creative Journey. We mean all of it, wobbly first page included. Begin with the full card of supplies, or read how to make a swatch card and test before you draw.