Marco Raffine / Prismacolor / Polychromos Conversion Chart!

6/3/2018

A couple of days ago I put a poll up on social media asking whether anyone still uses Marco Raffine pencils and whether a conversion chart to Prisma & Poly would be useful. I wanted some feedback from you because I wasn't sure whether Marcos are used much anymore- they were really popular in 2016/17 but I don't hear much about them on the colouring groups these days. Maybe now that the colouring trend is over and only the die-hard dedicated colourists remain, Raffines just don't cut it in the colourist's arsenal.

However 60-70% of you said you'd make use of the chart, so I got to making it! It didn't come easy though... I'm one of these people who seems to go around things the hardest way, completely blind to the simplest solution. I decided I wanted the chart to look really different, so I selected a shape for each brand of pencils. After much copy/pasting, I finally had a blank frame to colour. So I printed and coloured it by hand, and re-uploaded to the computer for final edits (basically, smoothing the colours so they didn't look as washed out as they did on the scan). Then I realised one fundamental error...

I had forgotten to leave any space to write the colour numbers! Major fail! I deliberated over how I was going to rectify this and eventually ended up digitally adjusting the space between every single row, making room for the numbers. This was much more time-consuming than it sounds! Finally, I had the completed chart, both blank and coloured, which I have turned into a PDF download for you all to print/save as you wish. I hope you find it useful and excuse any wobbly lines! I really never want to see this chart again for as long as I live, it really has been the bane of my life for the last few days haha!

How to use the chart: Raffine colours are in the square shapes, Prismacolor in triangles, Polychromos in circles. The numbers for each pencil are written underneath each shape. From left to right, the Raffines are in order from pencil numbers 501-571.

DOWNLOAD CHART

26 Comments

Nat Ford

6/3/2018 09:19:08 pm

Could you do this for the complete sets of Polychromos (120) and Prismacolors (150), please, instead of just the 72 Raffines? I know that would mean a lot of red / symbols but for those of us with complete sets of Polys and/or Prismas and a small (24 in my case) set of Raffines it would be more useful to be able to find which Raffines to use when using #n Poly for example.

Janet Thieman

1/12/2021 06:50:12 am

thanks so much for this chart. I have the marcos, but don't use them much. now I will.

Shirl Cross

6/3/2018 09:20:31 pm

Love this idea. I have all three brands and its very handy to be able to use them all at any given time. It's good to see the slight differences in each brand and sometimes it helps when you need either more vibrant or less. Great job thanks for this.

Aileen

6/3/2018 09:33:43 pm

Thank you so much for doing this comparison chart. Amazing how closely the MR match the expensive brands. Do you like the MR pencils?

Claire

6/3/2018 09:53:02 pm

I think they’re good for one or two layers, but not beyond that x

Deanna J Hirz

6/3/2018 09:56:30 pm

Thank you so very much. Wonderful!!!! So helpful in many ways, especially when you lose a pencil or used one all up, a person knows they can go to such and such number in their 'other' set of pencils and find an exact or almost exact color. I appreciate the time, your thoughtfulness and the brilliant way you shown the 3 sets of pencils. I always look forward to your website as I know I can learn more about this wonderful world of colors. Again, I thank you and appreciate you. Deanna in Washington State,USA

Kyralae

6/3/2018 11:39:53 pm

Thank you so much for your time and effort. I charted just the 160 Hero's and it took me several days to get it all. I appreciate how much you dedicate yourself to your followers and want to thank you again and again.

Julie McCullough Hale

7/3/2018 12:04:41 am

Thx very much Claire! Quite a project, & we all appreciate your fabulous work!

Kris

7/3/2018 12:06:32 am

Thank you for this chart! Wow, this was a lot of work for you but greatly appreciated!

Rikki Williams

7/3/2018 12:44:25 am

Great Chart. I have all three brands.The 72 M/R were my first oil based pencils, they are great for Millie Marotta books.
Thanks for sharing.

Shawna

7/3/2018 01:19:57 am

THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I personally do use my Marco Raffines and they are my favorite pencils! I have tried so many of the others that have come out only to waste my money because I always go back to my Raffines. Thank you again this will be useful!!

Doreen (Buffalo Gal)

7/3/2018 02:15:33 am

You DO realize that you are a bit of a nut, right? lol. Seriously, this would have been an enormous amount of work WITHOUT the hassles you had setting up your chart, etc. I really do appreciate the amount of work you put into your colour charts and comparisions. I only work with Prismacolors so far, but I am saving your charts just in case.

Bev

7/3/2018 07:43:30 am

You are a gem! I don’t have any RM but do have the others plus I have Derwent so will use your chart to compare with the colour soft, pro colour, inktense. Thank you so much.

Creagirl

7/3/2018 08:27:37 am

Thank you for your hard work, Claire. I have the Marcos and the Prismacolours. The Polychromos are yet to expensive for me. I'm very happy with your colour charts! :-)

Trish

7/3/2018 12:37:04 pm

Thank you! It is helpful to see the near identical colors side by side.

Lisa Burns

7/3/2018 02:51:53 pm

Oh my goodness Claire! From someone who used to have to work with Excel quite a bit to set up budget sheets and workbooks to tie into one complete summary report on the front page of the workbook....I look at this, read what you did, and my mouth drops open...and you didn’t even have to do this! You rock! Thank you doesn’t cover the amount of work and heart you put into this! What a sweet woman you are! Now, all I have to do is get the Polychromos, which are on my wish list, and the other ones you speak of...I have my favorite Prisma's! 😉🤗. XOXO

Kathy C Bradley

7/3/2018 10:03:06 pm

Claire,
I so appreciate all of your time and effort into putting this awesome chart together. I know how little time you have with everything you have on your plate - so it is very appreciated! Kathy

8/3/2018 12:07:40 am

Hi Claire,
have you done any charts with Irojiten Pencils?

8/3/2018 08:12:03 am

No I don’t have those x

Kristy Tyra

8/3/2018 01:59:18 pm

Wow! What a lot of work. I have two out of three of the pencils. Polychromos will have to wait awhile before my piggy bank grows. But I appreciate all the work you put in this. Thank you!

Darlene Bosley

9/3/2018 03:51:52 am

I want to thank you for all the hard work you have put into these charts!! I am just starting to color and this is making my decisions so much easier and puts the frustration to nil. I painted with oils in the 80's so I do have some knowledge but not with making the colors do what I want because I think of how my oils worked. I am now just thinking of the colors and how they work on paper and using some of my strokes that will work with pencils. Thank you again so much I a having a great time. Darlene

Gloria

9/3/2018 05:15:34 am

WOW! Thank you so much for all the time you put into this. Much appreciated.

Cynthia Langford

9/3/2018 07:14:03 pm

Oh my goodness! What a gem you are! Thank you thank you!!!!! Having worked with excel I appreciate all the time much less the thinking this required. You rock girl!

Cheryl Turtlemoon

9/3/2018 09:05:25 pm

Aha! Thanks! My Chartreuse Prismacolor is completely broken, and I can only get single polychromos pencils, so this is invaluable and excellent timing. Thanks for doing this, it looks really hard work!

Connie Edwards

17/3/2018 05:33:37 pm

Thanks so much for taking time to do thks🍀🍀🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Deborah Bussell

9/8/2018 01:31:39 pm

Thank you so very much! I have been looking for something like this on the web, for weeks. My original set Marco Raffine pencils are down to the nubs and I was desperately needing replacements. Your chart is very helpful and just what I needed. Bless you!

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Marco Raffine / Prismacolor / Polychromos Conversion Chart!

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