ARTEZA Colored Pencils, 72 Wax-Based Color Pencils, Vibrant Coloring Pencils in Tin Box for Adults, Professional Art Supplies

I am not a professional artist but do have enough art background and experience to recognize good quality products and tools. I have sets of very expensive professional level colored pencils, as well as kid level sets. I have sets made in Europe, Asia, USA...in other words, I have a LOT of colored pencils. I have been so disappointed with the quality of my most expensive set, breakage, unable to handle pressure, rough wood interior, cost per replacement pencil, etc. In a bit of desperation I decided to try these...and they are lovely!! The color line is gorgeous, they sharpen beautifully (small hand sharpener, not a regular pencil sharpener!!), the box they come in is well made (usually I recycle the box, but not for this set). The lead is nice and thick, so for fine lines I do need to sharpen them, but they layer and blend so well!! The color name is on each pencil, which helps with remembering which colors I use. They came pre-sharpened, so the first needed sharpening is very easy. The wood inside seems to be very smooth so it doesn’t catch on the sharpener blade. The lead is on the soft side, so very fine lines might benefit from a harder lead, but they sharpen so easily that it is not difficult to get a nice thin line.I’m sold on these pencils and highly recommend them.

I’m usually a watercolorist or digital painter but I wanted to get back into colored pencils. I have used Arteza paints and sketchbooks and really like those so I went for these pencils.Pros- not waxy or dull. Vibrant colors that layer well.- responds well to the solvents I tried. Baby oil and Meltz. The latter was superior.- Works okay with a Prismcolor blender. Im not a huge fan of those in general as they can dull the colors being so waxy.- Soft but I didn’t have any issues with breakage. Sharpens fine in a basic manual sharpener.Neutrals- the tin they come in is nice but the plastic trays that hold the pencils in layers are flimsy. I tend to draw on my lap so this may not annoy someone who sits at a desk. I moved them into a bag instead- the paint on the barrel of the pencil doesn’t always quite match what’s inside.- they are rated for lightfastednessCons- The white pencil is not great. I replaced it with a Cretacolor Permanent White (available here on Amazon)- lacking in reds and orangesThis drawing was made with these pencils, Meltz colored pencil solvent applied with a q tip (available here on Amazon too), and Cretacolor Permanent White. On a slightly toothy canson mixed media pad.

i like to draw - it gives me a feeling of great satisfaction and pride as well as i really like getting into that "zone" drawing for 6-8 hours at a time - although i am not an artist by any means of the word. i do not have any real techniques and i use references quite a bit. so i just do it for fun and sometimes it comes out ok and sometimes not but the idea is to have fun.in these 3 years or so i have come to own Sargent, Marco Raffine (72), FC Polychromos (120), and recently Arteza (72), Prismacolor premier (72) which i have yet to use.the pencils came in a tin stacked with plastic 3 plastic trays - the tin is wrapped in a thin plastic bag. when i received my pencils some of the pencils came loose and the tin cover was slightly opened - nothing appeared to be broken.the pencils have very vivid colors and sharpen very well - they do come to a very sharp point - however i have a habit of pressing too hard and the sharp point sometimes crumbles from my heavy handedness.i was able to try out the pencils over the weekend and i broke them in with a picture of St Basils Cathedral in Moscow, Russia.they blend fairly well - i am lazy so i do not use solvents but then again i do not have experience with solvents. i used the prismacolor premier colorless blender.i have attached my drawing - i look forward to using these pencils again.10-24-20 update. I am ramping up my production because I need to fill up my sketchbook of 100 sheets (canson universal) - this is my goal.I find that arteza colored pencils are great to work with. I think the colors are fantastic- prismacolor premier is creamier than these but these are great to work with too.

First off this would be an excellent budget set for a child, or an adult who needs to buy budget priced pencils for their coloring books. For those purposes I would highly recommend them. The color choice in the 72 set is excellent, though some could use more depth in shade and I wish there were a really dark inky blue color, however this set is more than enough to blend and get colors you want. They are very soft in lay down and sharpen to a nice point which does not easily break as some brands do. They layer and blend reasonably well though not as good as my Polychromos do but I did not expect that at this price point. I love some of the colors, the pinks and purples and greens are well represented. The big downside to sets like this is that you cannot buy individual pencils when one wears out, this is a huge disadvantage to someone like myself. I like to be able to buy only the colors I use the most as often as I need to without buying a whole set. I got this set for travel purposes, and it will be great for that. It comes beautifully packaged in a metal tin with 3 layers. The metal tin is covered in cellophane and then put into a sturdy form fitting box and then shipped in the Amazon box. Because of this the pencils arrived in one piece with no damage. Kudos for the packaging. I can certainly recommend these pencils and they would be great for anyone starting out or who does not want to spend a fortune. All in all a very good buy and I do not think you will be disappointed as long as you understand these are not the same as Polychromos, or Pablo's or other high end brands.