Faber-Castell24 Piece Polychromous Colored Pencil Set in Metal Tin

These penciled are great. They don’t break, colors are bright and go on smooth not chalky or like graphite. They don’t have a good green or a brown at all. I wish the set came with a blender pencil, but Injust used the white. I’ve tried other brands and these are the best quality. They’re fun and functional.

So I’ve used quite a few colored pencils. Prismacolor was my favorite because I thought it could not get any better than Prismacolor. Come to figure out, it’s no longer my favorite colored pencil anymore. Polychromos is expensive, but the investment is worth it as these are very high quality. I’ve not had a single breakage after 4 full color drawings and they hold a point for a LONG time, they are very pigmented and layer beautifully, no wax bloom, beautiful colors, nice thick core, easy to hold and color with, they sharpen well and not to mention the lovely shavings smell of cedar wood! Knowing that each color is lightfast with no fade for a lifetime is icing on the cake. Polychromos is the best colored artist pencil I’ve ever used. I highly recommend these colored pencils to anyone who has the patience to use these correctly with the right paper to just buy these! It is not a waste of money and I’m getting a larger set.

Great pencils. Bright colors.

These colored pencils are AMAZING! I am starting to get into light sketching and working on coloring abilities and I have also gotten into adult coloring books. I did a ton of research on some of the best colored pencils I can use. I needed them to be able to be easily blended and I needed decent pigmentation without having to press too hard to get the effect I needed. I sometimes get cramps in my hands when using the cheaper brands, depending on how hard it is to get the color to lay down. Throughout my research I was told by many to get Prisma Color. I was set to grab those until I found out that there are many issues with the quality control and that the pencil lead, if not centered, can cause a lot of breaking issues. The real issue is that now it's a toss up of if you're going to get a useful set or a set that you ultimately can't use. Therefore I came to Faber Castel Polychromous because that was the second name I heard the most. These pencils can be very expensive, I have found. Due to this I chose to get the 24 count collection to make sure that these are worth purchasing. Now I wish I had gone the next collection up because I am in love with these pencils. They are super smooth to color with and the good part is the pencils don't ware down too quickly meaning you will be getting some good use out of the pencils. The blending was off the hook, I don't think I have ever owned a set of pencils that was so fluid in blending. The colors are nicely pigmented and I'm shocked at the ability to use little to no pressure and I was still able to get a lot of color on the page. The biggest coup for this pencil company is that these are oil-based. I had no blooming whatsoever while I was layering, and I do a lot of layers. This is amazing because the more layers you have the more intense your artwork will look. Now that I have 24 pencils I am going to add to this collection a little at a time. There are other companies that sell these pencils separately for under two dollars a piece so eventually I will have a complete collection. I definitely recommend this brand from Amazon as this was the cheapest I found them. You won't be sorry!

I tried four different types of colored pencils before ordering these. But I kept hearing how great they are, so I had to try a small set.First, if you are coming from Prismacolor Premier pencils, these are superior. No doubt about it.But if, like me, you're coming from other oil-based sets, like those made in the Koh-I-Noor factory in the Czech Republic, you may wonder what the big deal is.From what I can tell, a key difference between these and Koh-I-Noor, Blick, and Utrecht colored pencils is the color variety. The first three really don't offer the difference in colors that you can get here, and even let many similar colors into their collections. This is disappointing. So I was pleased to hear that the Polychromos line has a nice color spread.Another difference is in the lightfastness. But if lightfastness is really that important to you, have a look at other expensive products too, because superior lightfastness can be achieved. To me, lightfastness is of practically zero importance until I have a paying project or family project that expects longevity. At that time I will just go out and buy the most lightfast set that fits my need, and the price premium will be already taken care of in my estimate or in my overall project considerations.Another thing to mention is the fit and finish. These are really nice-looking, nice-feeling pencils.The case has actually been pretty annoying to me. Why would I want it to open up vertically, on a hinge? The hinged lid finds a way to make itself unwanted pretty fast, because there's usually something in its way. Ditch the case and use another method of transporting these. I use a Nite Ize Gear Tie.Finally, this particular 24-color set contains a strange assortment of colors. No purple, excessive reds, and warm blue hues that I wouldn't have picked. The purple, not a big deal--blend it up. The blue hues though, well that's actually pretty annoying. I can't just blend up a nice light cool blue. But when I'm ready to dish out another $35 or so for some open-stock additions, this should make a nice set. I thought about buying a larger set, but a) some colors I want only come in the very large sets, and b) I don't like very large sets right now because I don't want to lug them around all the time, between home and office, home and vacation, etc. Also I like trying different types of pencils and find variety more fun.If you are really budget-conscious, and are not really an experienced colored pencil artist, and are wondering if the actual experience of using these is worth it vs. the generic Czech pencils like Blick or Koh-I-Noor or Utrecht (now owned by Blick) offers, I really suggest that you start out with a small set of these Polychromos or just order a large set of the Czech stuff first.If your expectations are that these will blow your mind and that you'll be in love from the moment they touch paper, prepare for some potential disappointment. They are just colored pencils, and while the Polychromos name does have that cool cachet, it's really got to match your personal circumstances and needs to be worth it.I'm including a small drawing...that could be done with just about any colored pencil set on the market. :-) But still, these are nice pencils, and you might like them.