I’ve been coloring a lot. It’s been incredibly helpful in breaking through the 2D art block I’ve had for too many years. 

I decided early on that crayons were the best choice for pressure-free joy-based coloring. Good colored pencils are annoying and expensive, good markers are expensive and annoying. And so, crayons.

Silly me, I thought using crayons would prevent me from putting too much emphasis on making it perfect and release me to enjoy coloring for the sake of it. I thought this because, as everyone knows, crayons are wiley. Quickly dulled, messy to sharpen, not saturated enough, too saturated, sometimes grainy, or brittle, and worst of all, they often lay down tragically uneven, despite best efforts.

Alas, unsurprisingly, coloring with crayons has not dismantled my perfectionism, it just made me a raging crayon elitist.

What does the life of a crayon elitist look like? Elaborate handmade color and blending charts. Manufacturing and pigment research. Hours scoring eBay for bottom dollar vintage, and dare I say, antique, crayons lurking in garages and drawers. All a maniacal effort to expand my texture and tone range for optimal coloring performance and precision.

Wouldn’t the colors just be the same over time? 
No, you fool!

Texture, color payoff, and occasionally tone, all vary depending on the production date. Wax composition, tweaks to binders and opacifiers, changes in pigment supplier, pigment drift, gold and copper pigment oxidation: all factors. Give me pre Y2K asbestos-kissed talc formulations, or give me, idk, gouache. I can think of no greater hell than gouache.

Let me be the first to tell you, modern Crayola crayons can get absolutely fucked. Are there other brands? Sure, but in the world of crayons, Crayola is ubiquitous.

Anyway my Malaysia/Thailand 25′ travel 24pk includes a few modern specialty-set picks for variety, but most are somewhat easily replaced freshies from the 1991 Crayola Collector’s Colors tin. I’m too attached to my elder wax sticks to risk bring them abroad.

I am ok I promise.
And enjoying myself immensely, which is the point really.

Malaysia/Thailand 2025

• 91′ – mulberry
• 25′ – purple pizzazz – neon
• 91′ – thistle
• 25′- shocking pink – pearl neon
• 91′ – red
• 25′ – wild watermelon – neon
• 91′ – melon
• 25′ – atomic tangerine – neon
• 91′ – yellow orange
• 91′ – dandelion
• 91′ – spring green
• 25′ – lime-o-palooza – confetti
• 25′ – screamin’ green – pearl neon
• 91′ – yellow green
• 25′ – pool party – confetti
• 91′ – olive green
• 91′ – pine green
• 91′ – aquamarine
• 91′ – cornflower
• 91′ – cerulean
• 91′ – sepia
• 91′ – raw sienna
• 91′ – tan
• 91′ – grey