Derwent PENCIL CRDED SET GRPH SKETCH

As someone with drawing for a hobby, I really like to check out different products from time to time to see how hold up compared to what I am currently using. This time though I needed new pencils because my others were getting quite short so I got these.These were disappointing, I may be picky when it comes to pencils but these were not up to par. The casing for the pencils is a big weak point, they constantly splintered no matter the sharpener I used. This caused lots of breaking of the pencil lead below the tip as the casing couldn't support much pressure from drawing. The casing also wasn't very smooth can you could tell just by sharpening the pencils. It felt like the wood grain on the pencil wasn't tight so that causing the weakness in the casing. This weakness in the casing applied for all the pencils not just one or two. The pencil lead was sub par as well, especially the 9h-2b range where the clay in the lead wasn't refined enough. The unrefined clay caused many scratches into the paper when drawing or writing and made many of the hard "h" pencils unusable. Though the problems with these pencils don't end there. Their higher gradient "B" pencils also had problems, such as, the lead being too weak to sharpen and constantly breaking. This also had the side effect of them not being able to hold a sharp tip without breaking easily.Overall, they're not the worst I have used, but they are certainly bottom tier when it comes to the artist grade pencils I have used. Lyra Rembrandt pencils are much more refined in their "h" pencils they are very smooth, while remaining quite light in gradient. Tombow mono pencils are also very smooth and have amazing tip retention in their "B" pencils. They also get noticeably darker than the derwents. The Mars Lumographs are also an amazing well rounded set of pencils as well. Each of those sets I would easily pick over the derwents, and its not even close. Now I know that I could have gotten a bad batch of pencils, which is the only reason why these are at 2 stars instead of 1. I wish I could say better things about these pencils.

I've been trying to get back into drawing over the past year and with it, I've been trying to clean up my style and find the perfect pencil. I draw mainly portraits, sometimes with background scenery and sometimes not. Due to the large amount of positive reviews, I thought I'd give these pencils a try, but I'm really not that impressed. I've also have Prismacolor and Staedtler Mars Lumograph that I use regularly.My biggest complaint is that there seems to be some sort of impurities in the graphite. Especially in the H-2B range, the ones I use the most, there's something in there that scratches against my paper. You can hear it too, it's faintly reminiscent of nails on a chalkboard. It even sometimes leaves marks in the graphite. I'm constantly trying to adjust the pencil so I'm not drawing on that side, but it shouldn't be there.Another problem I've noticed is that the B gradation is much smoother and darker than the 2B gradation. If I didn't know better, I'd think the B was either a 3 or 4B. Also, the softer pencils will not keep a sharp point so if you need to make fine, dark lines, such as eyelashes, good luck.For now, I like the Staedtler ones the best, but I'm still going to try other brands until I find the ones that work best with my style.

I do a lot of pencil drawing and usually keep it simple; most of my work is done with a #2 or HB pencil, and final dark shading is done with 2B and 6B. However, as I continue to improve my drawing ability, I decided that it would be helpful to have a few more pencil options for shading work.This Derwent set is perfect. At first, I figured I would just use a couple of the pencils and buy the entire set merely for the convenience. However, in my most recent piece, I found myself using about 2/3 of the different hardness values during my shading process. I usually just lay down some graphite and use a Q-Tip to spread it around each area, with the downside being the lack of precision afforded by this method. With the harder pencils, though, I could merely use the pencil to shade thoroughly, allowing me to get into tight corners without making things too dark. This is probably just basic drawing practice, but for me it was a new approach and one made possible by this set.The Derwent pencils are very high quality and this set includes all hardness values from 9H to 9B; there are a few duplicates as well for the total count of 24 (19 different hardness values). If you need a range of pencils for any kind of pencil art, look no further than this excellent set.I have attached a photo of my most recent piece (a 1969 Camaro), drawn using these pencils, in the product images above. I hope this gives a good idea of the potential of this set.