Castle Art Supplies 72 Colored Pencils Set | Quality Soft Core Colored Leads for Adult Artists, Professionals and Colorists | Protected and Organized in Presentation Tin Box

I recently purchased the Astle Art Supplies 72 Colored Pencils Set, and I'm thoroughly impressed with the quality and performance of these pencils. As an adult artist, I am always on the lookout for supplies that offer rich, vibrant colors and smooth blending capabilities, and this set delivers on both fronts.Pros:Vibrant Colors: The range of 72 colors is truly impressive. Each pencil provides a rich and vivid hue, allowing for endless creative possibilities. Whether you are working on detailed illustrations or expansive landscapes, you will find the perfect shade in this set.Soft Core Leads: The soft core leads are a dream to work with. They lay down color smoothly and evenly, without the need to press hard. This feature is particularly useful for blending and layering, making it easy to achieve depth and dimension in your artwork.Durability: Despite the soft cores, the pencils are surprisingly durable. I have not experienced any breakage issues, even with frequent use and sharpening. The leads hold up well, which is crucial for maintaining the integrity of your artwork.Comfortable Grip: The pencils are comfortable to hold, even during long drawing sessions. The ergonomic design reduces hand fatigue, allowing you to focus on your creativity without discomfort.Affordable: Considering the quality and the number of pencils included, this set is very reasonably priced. It offers excellent value for money, making it an ideal choice for both amateur and professional artists.Cons:Honestly, I haven't found any significant downsides to this set. If I had to nitpick, I would say that a color chart or guide could be a useful addition to help artists quickly identify and select colors.

I love drawing and coloring and am an admitted art supply hoarder, if I see a new art product come out and the price is reasonable I purchase it. After seeing these I decided I would give them a try.The pencils are stored in a nice metal tin and have 3 layers total of pencils. The sorting of these are a bit strange, not like other pencils which go by hue, so I did resort them according to hue. The barrels are round and have a nice black coating and on the end of each pencil is a color indicator, the ends of the pencils are rounded so you are unable to tell if the leads are straight or not. The cores are fairly thick but not as think as the more popular Prisma's are. Leads are pre-sharpened and these sharpen easily with a quality sharpener.The color on the pencil is not nearly close to the color of the actual lead, some are, but most are either darker or lighter, I suggest you do make a swatch sheet. Because these have no number or color indicated on them I did number them myself after sorting and marked them with a permanent marker.The leads are very soft and creamy as others indicated, they do lay down color quite well and are vibrant. The only colors which are not are a few of the yellows. There's also a very nice array of colors in each spectrum. This set is very similar set also found on Amazon in terms of lay down, color and storage but it does have the exact same hues or colors the Colore' set does not so they compliment each other really well.These blend really well together and with other pencils that are decent wax based pencils on both smooth paper and paper that has a bit of tooth to it. You will find on paper with tooth there will be white gaps, this is normal in general and if you layer additional colors on top or blend with an alcohol blender or odorless mineral spirits you easily fill in the gaps.The biggest issue, other than lack of color number or name, with these pencils is that they do have significant blooming, the colors look shiny, after you add a few layers or blend them with an alcohol blender, this is par on course for many soft wax based pencils.These pencils are great for general coloring and budding pencil artists. It doesn't appear they were tested for lightfastness so it is difficult to determine how they will hold up over time, it takes about 6 months for an actual test. For the price these are a really nice starter set for budding artists or for individuals who enjoy coloring.

I own two sets, one for work and one for home (I am a teacher). I have had these pencils for 3.5 years now. I am very happy to have chosen these pencils to get me into the world of colored pencils. I have made many, many drawings and also just colored in books and sketches with these, so I feel like I can speak to the pros and cons.Pros:- solid core and durable tips- MANY colors for blues and greens- Decent amount of yellows and light browns- Last a long time- They go on the paper well enoughCons:- Because of the type of pencil (and the decision to make the core and tips strong), they do not lay down like butter, despite the ad claiming that they do- There are way too few grey pencils- There are too few red pencils- There are too few medium brown pencilsFor what you are paying for, these are fantastic pencils. Generally, if you want durable core and tips for pencils, you are going to give up the buttery smoothness (which are found in pencils such as the Prisma Premieres). I would recommend buying a few grey pencils on the side, as well as a few reds in the colors that are lacking.With any colored pencils, you don't need hundreds of colors to achieve the result you want... but that's harder with pencils with a durable tip. It would have been nice to have a few more greys in both warm and cold shades, especially lighter greys. To my mind, there is only one vibrant "true" red here, which makes it rather sad for drawing in red colors.

Castle makes a super selection of colors. The pencils go down easily and smoothly, they sharpen well and they last a fairly long time. My wife has several sets of their pencils and loves every one of them. She says she has a lot of fun using them.

Smooth and vibrant. My only complaint is the black colored pencil kept breaking. None of the others did.

They are great soft leaded colored pencils.