Why Lightfast Color are Important.

Light-fastness is a property of a colorant such as dye or pigment that describes how resistant to fading it is when exposed to light for a period of time. So if you want your art to last for years it is ideal to consider using lightfast colors as no one would want to buy a painting that will fade over time.

Different countries / brands use different rating standards. Usually it is the Blue Wool Rating or the ASMT rating. The ASTM D6901 standard and The Blue Wool Scale are indicated in 2 different ways.

ASTM -The results are divided into five categories, with the lowest number being the best and the highest being the worst. The categories are labeled with Roman numerals and look like this. I (1,) II (2,) III (3,) IV (4,) and V (5.) Any color with a I ranking is said to be very lightfast. Colors with a V ranking are very poor.

Blue Wool Scale- The results are divided into eight categories, with the lowest numbers being the most likely to fade. They rate their pencils on a star system. A color with one star is more likely to fade than two- or three-star colors.

Most artist use a mix of brands and do follow the lightfast color chart published by each brand to pick their lightfast mediums. Since going to each brand website and looking for the charts are a headache I decided to list them here. Listed below are the product detail and brand name from authentic websites.

Some of the Lightfast colour charts of materials that I use-

Reference

Lightfastness

Why UV Fades Color

Questions about lightfast colored pencils