Derwent Artists Black & White Pencils, Set of 6 Art Pencils (2302342)...

These were much better than I expected. From the reviews I was worried they would be too hard, and not color well. They were fantastic! While they are hard enough to hold a point, they color just fine, have plenty of pigment for good coverage, and I don't have to use too much pressure to color with them. They glide easily over the paper. In fact, they felt fantastic coloring with them. I also really like the shades of both black and white. I highly recommend them.

I like this small set of black and white colored pencils. I use black quite often to outline forms while coloring and trying some different tones of black provides more creativity. I think theyre good and I dont find them to be as scratchy as the 120 set of the derwent artists pencil set produced under the same umbrella. Who knew?

I've used Primsmacolor for years and was floored at how much they wanted for one white pencil! Or of course I can buy a set of 12 for a slightly higher rate but then I would have them taking up space forever. ... Why not 3? Or 3 white and 3 black? Anywho... Used this on some art and it did not 'pop' out the way a white Primsmacolor pencil would. Not sending them back but still not 100% happy. Guess I can look forward to spending $5 or more on one pencil. Used a blueish white Primsmacolor to finish this piece.

Obviously you need a larger set of pencils, but this adds to the sets you have. I think its not worth it for coloring books, but if you are actually drawing they are very good idea. They are the Derwent ARTIST set, they have a different feel than Prismacolor or Derwent Coloursoft or Drawing.. It's a harder formulation. Yet they aren't like Polychromous either. I want to say they are more scratchy, but that sounds unpleasant and they are very pleasant to work with. You want to use technques more like cross hatching and scumbling rather than blending. You can use a tortillon. You need good paper with a slight tooth. I wouldn't say that they have color, so much as that there's a traditional black and white, and then also a cool white and cool black, and a warm white and a warm black that are very noticeably warm and cool. the whites are true whites, not creams, and the black are true blacks, not dark grey.

It's the great Derwent quality, they come sharpened in a tin with a pencil sharpener. They feel a bit smoother than the drawing pencils in the orange tins, the same as ones that come in 6 piece sketching set with a regular black and white. If you're looking to make this a gift I'd pare this with a or so they can be used right away. These work on the smooth black sketch paper pads too. Raven and Pure would be the closest to the drawing set black and white, Forrest has a green tint and oyster a slight pink tint, Midnight has a blue tint but reflects slightly red when black paper is tilted in the light, Arctic looks even whiter than Pure. Use them where you might use black and white charcoal, chalk, or Conte but don't want the powder. I would recommend using fixative on finished work. In the picture I sampled the pencils on white, black, and toned grey paper. Use them where ever you'd use a black or a white charcoal or pastel pencil but don't want to deal with all the powder.