Derwent Pastel Shades Paint Set, Professional Quality Long Lasting Colors, Highly Pigmented Palette, Portable, Travel Set Includes 12 Paint Pans, Mini Waterbrush, Mixing Palettes, Sponge

I have been wanting to try these pans for awhile and the price dropped so I pulled the trigger. Overall, they are wonderful. They behave differently than watercolor and are more opaque, like gouache. The graphite settles into the paper, which is more noticeable with cold press than with smooth sketchbook paper and in the light the flecks of graphite add a subtle shimmer. I used them with a light application on a drawing in my Hahnemuhle watercolor sketchbook and more heavily on 100% cotton cold press watercolor block. In both instances they were lovely to work with and allowed focus on tone without the "distraction" of a huge range of colors. The muted colors are lovely for rendering sea birds. One reviewer commented that the green grey was too similar to the other colors, but I found a significant distinction between that shade and the other colors in the palette while painting and mixing with it. I was able to get the darkest tones with the steel blue straight out of the pan, but the range of colors when mixing was impressive. I think these are a great addition to pencil and look forward to sketching with them. Well worth the investment.

I love to take a small kit of paints and a couple of paintbrushes with me when I travel so that I can draw and create remembrances of the places I visit. I was not sure what to expect when I purchased this box, but it is a wonderful size, very portable, and the colors are absolutely brilliant with regard to using as is and mixing to create everything I might need for landscapes and urban environments. I appreciate that it came with a small water-based brush, but I tend not to use them and to carry my own brushes with me. I would not hesitate to someone else who likes to draw and paint similar scenes when they travel.

These paints turned into my go-too for a metallic sheen on my paintings. Vibrant and easy to use. I would recommend these to anyone looking to add to their artwork.

As far as the paint and palette, I love it. The muted colors are brilliant for someone like me who does a lot of nature and portrait work. The paint is nice for sketchbook work and the range of colors mixes nicely. The trouble is the brush. It’s awful. The bristles don’t hold water very well and it’s just a fraction of an inch too short to fit in the palette while assembled, which means you have to screw it apart and put the little plug in it every time you finish using it. It just blows my mind that they didn’t bother to just make it a tiny, tiny bit shorter so it could fit in the palette fully assembled to save customers the trouble of having to put it back together every single time. I had this same problem with their pastel palette, too. The paint also falls out of the pans when you first receive it, so be sure to drop some water on each cake when you open it the first time and let it soak down between the cakes and the palette. When it dries, it will anchor the paint to the palette and they won’t fall out anymore. I ALMOST knocked off two stars for the brush issue simply because it would have been such an easy fix, but instead I’ll just deduct one. Overall, the paint quality and color range are great for the price. There’s plenty of room in the palette for mixing. The brush issue is just an annoyance, really.

These paints are magnificent. They handle well, and are gorgeous colors with texture. I noticed however, that the paint pans were not in the same order as shown on the enclosed swatch sheet. I simply popped them out and rearranged them. I think this is the reason some reviews mention the colors are not as advertised? In my set, the colors were all there, they simply were in a different order in the palette. Also, another review mentioned "dirty" colors. These paints are graphitint--meaning there are particles of graphite suspended in the paint. This gives a lovely granulated, muted appearance. This is *not* dirt. It is the look intended and it is gorgeous. The palette as a whole is a lot smaller than I was expecting, but the pans are fairly deep. More of a travel set. There is a small waterbrush included. Not a *bargain* at $30, but the colors are irresistible.

I love this brand . Acts like watercolor stays like ink. The pigment is wonderful.

This is a beautiful collection of 12 warm and cool shades, with a representation of browns, greens, blues, pinks and a gray, all muted with graphite. I tried to put a light wash on the paper, to show the subtle differences between the shades. The paper I used is not the best by far, and there is a smudge on the bottom of the second page, but you can see the possibilities for nature study, landscapes, florals, or whatever. These paints would work well with a permanent pen and ink. I wasn't sure whether to get them, but am so looking forward to exploring this palette and making my own blends with the colors provided.

These were a risky buy for me. Really out of my comfort zone. I've never used anything by Derwent so I can't compare them to the Graphitint pencils. But these are beautiful, muted colors that all play nicely together. They have little chunks of graphite in them, but I love that texture. People say these can rub off on your fingers if you run a finger across a dry painting, but that has not been the case for me on my usual paper (Strathmore 400). You can layer and glaze a bit with these if you do it with a light hand, otherwise the underlying color will lift up. Not a drawback, but just something to be aware of. The best part of this set is the way the colors shimmer on the page when hit by sunlight. Pictures just don't do them justice. The case is great. Plenty of mixing wells and no beading. Just buy them and go paint something light and airy or super moody. You won't be disappointed.

Beautiful watercolour set, many lovely colours not often found in other sets. Easy to use, comes with mini water brush. Overall very good

Use this set a lot for quick sketching - colours are great. Very impressed.

love these, especially on black paper. The metalic sheen comes through nicely.

Klein aber fein. Hat allerdings nur einige Grundfarben, die alle sehr Derwent-Typisch sind. Muss man halt mischen. Die Farben sind sehr kräfigt, muss man vorher meisten ausprobieren. Derwent ist wie immer nichts für Anfänger

Beautiful pastel colors! Nice little palette to have it with you when you sketch or paint outside. If they had just reduced the size of the sponge by a centimeter or so, one would have been able to keep the included water brush ready for painting! I wonder how they have not thought of that. All in all, a satisfactory purchase