Polychromos 36 Pencil Metal Tin Set

I purchased this set about a month ago and have been really pleased. I use them for adult coloring books. I do a lot of coloring and the rich colors and smooth lay down are amazing.These are outstanding artist-quality pencils. But I'm not an artist, so don't trust me - instead, watch this great YouTube video from Lachri reviewing Polychromos pencils versus Prismacolors: [...]. It's 12 minutes long, but really worthwhile to watch - not only is Lisa reviewing the pencils, but you also get to speed-watch her creating side-by-side versions of artwork using each brand.I figure you might as well spend some time learning about these before laying down your money. After all, you're probably planning on spending a lot of quality time with these. Lisa convinced me before I bought the pencils that I would be really happy with them. And I am!Pros:Amazingly rich colorsLeads don't breakSharpen to fine pointBlend and layer beautifullyTin is sturdy and snaps closed securelyGood color selectionI have been able to blend colors really easily, so this set has waaay more colors than 36.I like the traditional artist's color names, printed on the pencils.Total of 120 Polychromos colors are available.Cons:I could say expense, but you get what you pay for! Actually surprised by reasonable price now that I know their quality.Obviously a set of 36 pencils is a little less convenient for carrying around! Case protects them, though.Colors will smudge slightly if your hand rubs over artwork very much.In spite of good color selection, 36 pencil set does not have something like sky blue.Some colors in the tin are almost exactly the same, or extremely close, to my eye.There are no lighter flesh colors, just browns and soft, dull reds.Solutions:To prevent smudging, put a piece of tracing or copy paper under your hand as needed. But usually smudging is not a problem.A plastic artist's eraser, such as Staedtler Mars, usually removes smudging or stray marks.I ordered a couple of flesh tones from Dick Blick. (DB's prices aren't bad, just no free Prime shipping!) I put away a couple of almost redundant colors and store my new flesh tones in the tin.Again, I'm really enjoying these and hope you will too.Cheers.

Overall I am very happy with these. They work exactly as I'd heard and are very pleasant all around. A few limitations made me think 4.5/5 for a rating but I considered it worthy of rounding up.Physically The box looks extremely pleasant but I'm sure it would dent easily. In this regard I think I'd have preferred the Polychromos 36 Pencil Studio Set simply because of the more compact and robust packaging. The pencils themselves are extremely pleasant. The entire barrel is coloured and reflects the colour of the core nicely. The core lays down the colour you'd expect meaning that you don't get any unpleasant surprises.With respect to the colour selection I am happy to see familiar pigment names on the pencils which makes colour selection and matching between media helpful. One negative is that the "rainbow" colours are skewed toward the warm end of the spectrum. I think I'd have preferred a more uniformly distributed collection in that range, in particular the warmer colour range could have been reduced in favour of some other "non rainbow" tones. There are a few browns as well as two mid greys which make the selection suitable for monochrome/sepia drawing. The one lacking in my opinion, is in flesh tones.In use the pencils are fairly hefty with a nice thick lead. The colour applies smoothly but the leads themselves feel very hard (i.e keep a point and are break resistant). The hardness of the lead means they can take an extremely sharp point and keep it well. They sharpen nicely in a regular sharpener or with a blade and can hold a variety of shapes should you with (chisel, short/long point or extended exposed lead).The colours are almost all rated as "three star" light fastness which I believe is considered permanent/archival quality. As far as I understand the (very few) "two star" light fastness rated colours. When applied with the tip they give an extremely deep/dense colour and when applied with the edge of the lead coverage is quick while also showing paper texture through. The application has a smoothness that reminds me of a graphite pencil that I find very enjoyable. The colours also layer extremely well and can be mechanically or chemically (OMS or mineral oil in very small quantities) resulting in a very clean/pigmented finish.Despite them being a coloured set I find myself enjoying how they feel on the paper and I've been using the black for initial sketching quite a bit. The contrast between the lightest/darkest tones is comparable to my harder charcoal with none of the dusty, scratchy application. They are quite comparable in feel the the "Pitt oil base" pencils but with a slightly harder/less waxy Additionally they sharp point they can take gives comparable capability for detail as a graphite pencil. In fact, if they sold a monochrome 12 set of grays and earth tones, I'd definitely purchase it.Overall I am enjoying these pencils a lot. The easy layering/blending almost makes up for the lack of flesh tones and the easy of application makes them quite suitable for sketching. With the lack of a nice monochrome I might pick up a "walnut brown" just for sketching, or even make my own out of open stock. I feel like I'll be augmenting/replacing this set as it gets more use. Given the blending/layering I suspect even the set of 12 would be usable: get some and enjoy.

I had been using LYRA Rembrandt pencils previously. The 600 series of those pencils are extraordinary and are a wonderful product. However, recently they have discontinued this line and thus I was forced to find a replacement product. After an exhaustive search, I decided to try the Faber-Castell POLYCHROMOS pencils. These are also oil based colored pencils and are absolutely as excellent as the former LYRA Rembrandt 600 series product. They draw smoothly and give a truly fabulous rendering with a perfect sheen as would be expected from an oil based pencil product. They are easy to sharpen, hold a sharp edge and truly give everything an artist or draftsman would be looking for in a fine artist grade colored pencil set. The color assortment in this 36 color set is a wonderful selection of the entire line and should be sufficient for everything except the most demanding color usage. In addition, the pencils allow the artist to blend 2 or more colors to get a different color which allows the artist to get precisely the color they need, even if it is not one of those in the set.I highly recommend this set and would put them up against any other oil based Artist Color Pencil set on the market anywhere. I cannot imagine anyone being disappointed in the quality of the renderings that are possible with these pencils. Any artist I believe will be more than satisfied with the results they get from this line of oil based colored pencils. Do not be hesitant to give them a try.