These are nice watercolor pencils. Thoughtfully packaged design: with the hanger tab at the top one pulls out the two-layer tray of pencils. Pulling the tray out at the bottom reveals the sharpener's storage area. This is all nice to keep organized.
However, my inexperience caused me to think these would be similar to the Albrecht Durer Faber Castell watercolor pencils (
Faber-Castell 12 Albrecht Durer Artists Watercolor Pencils
). These are obviously student grade pencils - which is fine if that's what you expect. For the price for 48 pencils, expect student grade. There's even places provided for a student to write his/her name.
Compared to the artist grade pencils this are generally harder and the color lifts off the page into the WET brush (all caps on wet lest anyone think I was dry brushing.)
Intense color is hard to achieve on most of the pencils. Expect lighter once you wet them. If you expect the intensely colorful parrots on the front of the box, forget it. Going over an area for a second time after wetting and allowing it to dry is difficult to impossible. It's as if the pencils leave a waxy coating that will not accept a second coat. So no glazing or deepening saturation.
Frustrated, I made a color block chart of all 48 colors. Some pencils' color are softer and easier to work with, but most colors are very hard. So when the box says an additive helps prevent breakage, they mean it!
I learned to dab dab dab the water onto the color instead of brushing and to gently move the color around with the tip of the brush. As soon as you stroke into the wet color, it will streak and lift off the page.
The colors will bloom and leave hard edges if you aren't careful.
Blending two colors was not successful after wetting them - since the colors are tricky to dissolve into water to begin with.
All of my tests were done on 140 LB watercolor paper. The pencils hardness really prevents laying on enough color on the paper because the paper is textured - pencils would not fully color the paper. Pressing harder served only to mar the paper. (And I pressed hard - the pencils never once broke. Crazy strong.)
So why 4 stars when my review seems negative? Because they do what student grade pencils with an additive to prevent breaks are supposed to do. I'll keep them for sketching and for greeting cards (and save up to buy the Albrecht Durer Faber Castell brand.)
If someone else knows the type of paper these work best on, please let me know. Maybe I'm way off the mark here.
| Manufacturer | Faber-Castell |
|---|---|
| Brand | Faber-Castell |
| Item Weight | 11.8 ounces |
| Product Dimensions | 7.2 x 0.8 x 9.5 inches |
| Item model number | 4336949125 |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Color | 48 color |
| Material Type | Wood |
| Number of Items | 48 |
| Size | 48 Count (Pack of 1) |
| Point Type | Medium |
| Ink Color | Multicolor |
| Manufacturer Part Number | unknown |
