Prismacolor Premier Nupastels, Firm Pastel Color Sticks, 36 Count - For Textures, Blending, Shading

So, I had these all wrong. When I first bought them, I had no idea what I was doing. I thought these were going to be like a semi medium hard pastel that was somewhat soft, but this was not the case. These were hard, chalky as all can be when used, and mine broke >:-[ This clearly made me disappointed, because I really wanted to enjoy them. However, after MANY trial and errors, I realize that these are pretty great! I started using these like watercolor paint and they are super blendable, creamy when wet, and make painting/drawing so asthetically pleasing. I can say that I am happy with them and the colors are super vibrant and pretty. If you feel like they are not working for you, don't give up because you will find what works best for you when using these.

Better Overall Performance: - Superior to Rembrandt, Caran d'Ache, Faber-Castell, and Koh-i-Noor. - More affordable and a top choice for harder soft pastels. Multimodal and Versatility: - Ideal for underpainting. - Compatible with water and other mediums. - Can be broken into 1/4 or 1/2 sticks without losing stability. - Excellent for details due to breakability, consistency, and hardness. Impressive Color Range: - Especially good for skin tones. **Overview:** The Prismacolor Premier NuPastel Firm Pastel Sticks provide an affordable, high-quality option for artists. Their versatility suits various techniques, from underpainting to detailed work. With a rich color palette and durable design, these pastels are perfect for both beginners and experienced artists.

Fun to work with, decent colors and easy to blend... but a little dusty, which is to be expected.

My granddaughter, an art hobbiest, loves Prismacolor color sticks and asks for them at birthdays, Christmas etc. When she opened these on Christmas, she was surprised that Prismacolor has a set with so many color sticks in them. I see her using them regularly especially when watching tv and doing her artwork.

I love these! I use them for the early layers in nearly every painting I create. Decent variety of colors for a set of 36, and because they are harder than other pastels, they last forever. My only complaint, and it's a big one: the foam inserts that they sit in are not attached to the bottom of the box. Every time I lift out a stick, no matter how careful I am, I end up lifting the entire insert, the pastels all go haywire, and then I have to take them out of the box and rearrange every piece of pastel in that row. That's especially frustrating when you've broken most of them into smaller pieces to make them easier to work with, and you have to set all those pieces aside and fit them back in. One wrong move as you're doing this, and you have to start over yet again. It's maddening. I finally gave up and took out the inserts. I'm planning to buy a bigger set sometime soon, and when I do, I am will probably glue the inserts to the box. This is the only reason I gave them four stars. The pastels themselves are a five-star purchase, and the price is reasonable. PRISMACOLOR, if you're listening, please redesign the box inserts so they don't flop all over the place.

Great selection, the colors are rich and last. They blend easy and they don't crumble. Will reorder

Excellent

Really nice pastel sticks, not too soft & not too hard.. really nice color selection & quantity for the money. Blends well.

Die Qualität der Pastelle ist gut. Die Lieferung war prompt und alle Pastelle sind in einem guten Zustand angkommen. Einzig, was mich stört, ist die Schaumstoffeinlage in der Schachtel, in der die einzelnen Pastelle zum Schutz liegen. Sie ist im Karton nicht befestigt und hat sich beim Öffnen und Anheben der ersten Lage der Pastelle gleich hoch gewölbt und alle Pastelle sind darunter verrutscht. Es war mühsam, alles wieder an seinen Platz zu sortieren. Das wäre nicht passiert, wenn die Schaumstoffeinlage im Karton fixiert worden wäre. Da ist Vorsicht geboten, beim Herausnehmen der Pastelle, dass man den Schaumstoff nicht mit anhebt, sonst hat man jedesmal diese Puzzlearbeit.

Lo conseguí con descuento, por lo que resultó una compra excelente. A precio regular estaba más caro que entras partes. Fue un regalo para mi esposo y está contento con la calidad y variedad de colores.

I was very disappointed. I paid 120 euros for what arguably was a 25 or 35 euro item. Two pastels broke into pieces upon touching them. The interior of the box that held the pastels was cheaply made and designed, and did not hold the pastels in place. I usually have good results when ordering Amazon products, but this time was a disaster. I feel I was ripped off.

i do quite a lot of pastel work and teach it too, i took a chance on this set and am glad i did. the colour range is pretty good, they're a harder pastel but still blend well, being thinner, they're easier to draw with (some makes are like a house brick) so they are good for detailed work. they come without wrappers which i prefer and being harder don't crumble/break as easily as the softer ones. a good value set, cheaper than many comparable brands.

One of the toughest decisions in getting started in soft pastels is you must make a choice in what set to buy to get started to even see if this medium is right for you. I'm still in my first year, but as I gain the opportunity to try lots of different kinds of pastels and how unique they all are I keep coming back to this set. 1. They are clean, compared to most soft pastels, they make very little dust. There's still dust and dusty fingertips, but their hardness is helpful at first and is less off-putting to people who don't much like to make a mess with their art. (that's not me!) 2. They are small. They allow you to easily make very small marks, something most people used to sketching will miss this with the size of regular soft pastels. You can hold them, and sharpen them like a crayon if you wish, making them feel more familiar to artists from other mediums. 3. Because the rule with pastels is you must put your softer pastel marks on top of your harder pastel marks these make excellent sticks for making your underpaintings and backgrounds. 4. If you watch YouTube pastel painting tutorials you will find that almost all of these artists have a set of these - proving they remain useful even to the professionals. 5. These are the least expensive per stick for such a high quality color selection of any set. I have tried many of the lower cost sets and some I have given away to children, but not these, ever. 6. They can create sharp dense lines, soft smooth strokes, they blend nicely together, the colors are lovely if a bit overly vibrant, I am always tempted to use their ability to create tiny marks to create my final highlights on paintings, but they are not best for this as they just don't lay down well on top of other softer pastels. 7. You can use alcohol or even water to wet them and use them like watercolors. There, you just saved yourself 100% of the price because now you don't need to buy Caran D'ache.