Crayola Removed Dandelion – Here’s What Pencil Artists Advise to Cope With Loss
Goodbye Dandelion. Crayola decided to ditch this particular shade of yellow, even sending “Dan D.” on a one-month farewell tour of the country. For some of us, it doesn’t really matter – my kids’ package of 128 crayons contains at least five other yellow and orange colors; and if the sun now has a little more red sky sensation at night, who cares?
If you’re in a “oh well” camp and have a 64-color box, Goldenrod is pretty close. In a box of 128 crayons, you have a few more options from the yellow family: canary, laser lemon, delicate yellow, (supposedly soft) yellow, and even banana mania.
But for some of us, it’s difficult to change anything. You get used to the color of a pencil, like a shade of lipstick or a cut of blue jeans, and it’s hard for us when a brand stops producing it. So how do these true connoisseurs of Crayola flowers tune in?
I got in touch with some of the artists who mainly work with crayons to get their opinion on the news. Jeffrey Robert, known as the Pencil Artist , said: “I personally love the Dandelion colored pencil and will miss it. Many times when creating, I wanted the muted yellow to give me a lot of saturation … rather than bright yellow so that the dandelion would satisfy my need. It’s yellow without much orange, and I like it because the yellow-orange crayon is not a good substitute for dandelion. ” He suggests overlaying layers of yellow and peach or yellow and apricot to create a dandelion, and notes, “Keep in mind that hand pressure or saturation of each color will give a variation of the color you want.”
Then I asked Herb Williams , an artist from Nashville who builds sculptures with colored pencils. I expected him to say something like “Banana Mania,” but Williams’ response was more … artistic and a hint of the greater role pencils play in children’s lives. He said: “I will miss Buttercups, we were close. It would be great if Crayola created a new color called Galaxy, which is black with a splash of metallic blue, pink, red, silver and yellow. They could donate some of the sales to NASA. Maybe inspire a new generation to have big dreams and thoughts outside our earthly “box”.