Derwent Colored Drawing Pencils, 5mm Core, Pack, 6 Count (0700476)

These are one of my favorite colored pencils (tied with Holbein) 🥰. Excellent quality, a true soft core and dreamy colors.Holbein and Derwent Drawing are my favorites out of all the pencils I’ve tried because they have the least “dry” and least scratchy sensation when using. As a highly sensitive person in all the sensory ways, I’ve always hated colored pencils because of the scratchy noise and feeling, as well as the crayon-esque coverage/texture. I’ve been excited to find that some brands don’t have this issue, which has awakened a new mixed media lane for me ☺️Here’s my breakdown of all the pencils I’ve tried:Holbein — high-end feel, a softer pencil (though not so soft you can’t apply pressure easily or control details), lays down smoothly with no scratchy sound or feeling, oily rather than dry feeling, really covers solidly with ease, shows up beautifully over watercolor & gouache. Lovely and wide color selection.Derwent Drawing — the softest pencil out there I’ve tried so far. The softness does make it a bit harder to control details unless you have a very sharp point. Also the thickest pencil I’ve tried with the biggest diameter color core — very pretty design & comfortable to hold. Really smooth and easy lay down, oily feeling rather than dry, dense pigment that shows up easily over watercolor & gouache. Very limited color palette but I personally ADORE all these particular colors for landscapes, botanicals & portraits.Prismacolor — a small step up in quality compared to Brutfuner, with most of the colors less dry feeing. Pigment load is much better though — on par with Holbein & shows up over watercolor & gouache. HUGE color selection and great price point, though not the most classy looking pencil out there — compared to the more expensive competition, these seem somewhat childish looking (to me, anyway). They are the narrowest pencil I’ve tried and not the most comfortable to hold but the color core diameter is equal to Holbein.Brutfuner Macaron Pastel set of 50 — a deliberate dupe of the Holbein set of pastels — very similar to Holbein & Prismacolor, though a bit more dry feeling, smaller color core diameter and less pigment load. Gorgeous colors that have dense pigment on white paper but don’t show up very well over black paper or watercolor/ gouache. A great set for the price.Faber Castell Polychromos — similar quality to Holbein, equal feeling when laying down to Brutfuner (more dry leaning but smooth and not scratchy), good pigment load & shows up well over watercolor and gouache.Luminance — a high-end feel soft pencil but definitely more “dry” almost chalky feeling when laying down. Shows up well over watercolor & gouache. A bit wider barrel than Holbein (about equal to Derwent Drawing) with an equal color core size. Lovely muted color selection but not the widest color palette available.

Years ago, I was introduced to Derwent Drawing pencils as part of a promo and received a 6 piece set through an art supply vendor. As a colored pencil artist, I was soon amazed at the quality, pigment and feel of these pencils. I liked them so much that I decided to recently upgrade to the full 24 set and saw that Amazon had a fantastic price.The colors in this set are subtle, beautiful shades that I could not find in other sets of popular pencils. These pencils are truly the elite artist grade colored pencil, in that they are super creamy/waxy and pigmented and layer flawlessly. Though they appear to be marketed for rendering animals, they are equally impressive for rendering flesh tones, and architectural pieces. They work very well combined with other pencils and layer well with oil-based or wax-based brands. The sensory feel of these cross between a wax- based and oil-based colored pencil but with wider leads. From what I've observed, they leave no wax bloom or excessive residue. The pigments are intense that you can go over several previous layers of colored pencil (other brands) and easily leave rich, broad strokes. They are perfect for final detailed accents on pieces. The Chinese White pencil in the set is also perfect for highlighting over layers of pencil, and covers well on darker papers.As for being erasable, they will erase to a certain degree on most paper. Though, they do so very well on black, smoother illustration board. They don't erase as well on other papers, but I find that if I apply them over subsequent layers of colored pencil, they erase better.For these pencils, paper choice plays an important role. They are bit too rich and bold for regular sketching/copy paper. I find that they work beautifully on vellum bristol, illustration board and erase especially well on black illustration board. They also hold up well on artist professional grade drawing paper that has a weight of 90lb or more. If you are trying to achieve a smooth finish, I probably wouldn't use these on general sketchbook or heavy, broad toothed paper or you will see a lot of the paper's texture.For the colored pencil artist or those with special interest in drawing, these pencils are very much recommended. They're well made, of excellent quality in durability and lightfast ratings (the colors won't easily fade) and the leads last a long time. *Important: You will need a wider hole pencil sharpener for these. Something metal and durable.The Derwent brand pastel pencil sharper is perfect for these pencils.I cannot say enough good things about these amazing pencils and am fortunate to have acquired the full set!

I recently purchased these pencils and I adore them. I've used them on both pastel paper and bristol board and they worked fine on both. The white and black in this line are really the best. The black in this is much darker than my prismacolor black pencil. These are much softer than prismacolor pencils. Imagine a combination between prismacolor premier pencils and oil pastels. I like the smudgy way they blend. These however are not for everyone. My prismacolor's hold a point better. These would be rubbish for detailed adult coloring books because they do not hold a point very well. People were commenting in the reviews that they liked them for portraits. I'm a portrait artist and I've done a portrait with them but I didn't love them for that purpose. They were perfect for drawing furry animals. I love the color range. It's really well thought out. Great greys for shadows. I do not recommend these for lots of tiny detail work, you'll be wasting them sharpening like crazy. I love these to pieces but will be buying some Faber Castell Polychromos for my most detailed work.Something important to know about these. They are incredibly lightfast, that's not common for colored pencils. All but one has the highest lightfast rating of 8 and the one that doesn't is a 7. This is important to me because I sell my originals and wouldn't want my work to fade on my customers.These work great with my prismacolor pencils so I often use both in the piece. The nose on the tiger drawing is the only part where I used prismacolor instead because there is no pink in the derwent drawing pencils set.