SAKURA 12-Piece Cray Pas Specialist Colors May Vary Oil Pastel Set

Here's what you get for spending a lot less money than what other brands of artist quality oil pastels cost: -- Lightfastness ratings on every stick (they tend to be pretty good, actually) -- Very high pigment density (probably the defining characteristic of 'artist quality' colors, along with lightfastness) -- Handling characteristics somewhere between Holbein and Sennelier (buttery and low-crumbling, yet not like lipstick) -- A good color range (I think there are 88 colors in the entire range) -- Large sticks in popular square shape -- Available as open stock, with good prices (I think Blick has them for about $1.79 per stick, with mix-and-match price breaks) Most of the colors behave exactly as expected, but Specialist is far less expensive than all other professional brands. Other colors are downright jaw-dropping in how well they look and feel, most notably the metallics, blues, and blue-greens (the blues and blue greens have the appearance of translucent oil paint or a very high-end oil pastel or oil bar). The cadmium reds are actually red, with no detectable off-primary coloration. The yellows are eye-popping, even on very bright paper. The sticks have a slightly hard feel, but are creamy and buttery, especially once the tooth of the support has been filled. Specialist colors have an odd kind of velvety texture, too, almost similar to working with soft pastels. I find the overall feel of Specialist oil pastels to be somewhat similar to Holbein, but have their own unique handling quality that I find very pleasant. There is enough pigment stuffed into each stick and they are soft enough to easily make very appealing impasto strokes. Sakura does not use a siccative in their formula for the Specialist line, unlike several other artist-grade oil pastels (so, they will never really dry, oxidize, or bloom). Sakura seems to really understand how to price-point their products. Their Expressionist oil pastels, though very pleasant to work with and probably the best for the money in their respective class, cannot compare with the look and feel of Sakura's Specialist line. I've used Mungyo Gallery Artist Extra Soft oil pastels and they are very nice to work with, but Mungyo has almost nothing to say concerning the lightfastness of the pigments they use. Lightfastness data for Mungyo Gallery Artist Extra Soft just isn't available. Mungyo claims that their product is "fade-resistant," which does not inspire confidence. That's too bad, because the Gallery Artist Extra Soft oil pastels have a nice look and feel for the price. Anyone interested in trying a professional quality product would do well with Specialist oil pastels. They cost less than half what other brands cost, yet give you that same experience of working with soft, densely-pigmented sticks. I will definitely be adding sticks of open stock to my collection. Highly recommended.

These pastels are actually very good. I like the Sakura brand and bought amazing travel watercolor boxes and water reservoir brushes from them in the past, also on Amazon. I own these and the Landscape Set from Sennelier. Comparing the two, I can say they are both very good, very different and complement each other nicely. As other reviewers noted, these are harder pastels, maybe medium hardness. The Sennelier are very soft in comparison. I found the Sakura/Cray-Pas to have great, vivid colors. The colors from Sennelier were great as well and are more suited for blending because they are so soft. The Sakura/Cray-Pas was definitely harder to blend, even using one of those tools with a little blending sponge at the end. They are better for underlying detail. The Sennelier were especially good for heavily laid accent colors on top of some Sakura/Cray-Pas. The two sets also complement each other in terms of shape, this one has square sections and the Sennelier are round. The shape of the Sakura/Cray-Pas was actually one of the qualities I was looking for. I wanted the possibility to drag one of the rectangular pastel corners over the paper, which up to now I could hardly do with the rounded Sennelier. I also wanted to mention the addition of, interestingly, silver and gold to the pastels of the set. I have not tried them yet though.

Mixable and preferable for lower layers because they are harder than Neopastel and Holbein. They come with a very useful mixing bar to soften the mixture. My opinion is based on my technique and style. I work on paper previously waxed with beeswax, which facilitates the application of various brands of oil pastels. It is preferable to work with them on textured or softly serrated papers for better grip of these oil pastels.

This is an oil pastel for artists which they can be used alone on Mixed-Media or Bristol smooth papers for a better result. They are the most firm oil pastels that I have never used before. They can be used as first layer under the Mungyo Gallery or Sennelier. They become very fast saturated after three layers by becoming crumble even patchy. They are mostly not opaque as well as than the Expressionnist one of the same brand.. They are supposed to be better than others Cray-Pas Expressionist or Cray-Pas for juniors, but they aren’t. For advanced beginners as well as for artists ones, I am recommended the Cray-Pas juniors, then Cray-Pas Expressionnist, then Pentel Art as first layers better than Cray-Pas Specialists. This one works well alone in particularly, according to my experiences as being artist

El paquete me llegó abierto y usado en la tapa de arriba, además los pasteles no son suaves, son mas duros que los semi-profesionales, dificultando la liga, le sugiero que compren el de la caja verde, esta a mejor precio y la calidad es mejor .

I bought these to complement my Sennelier oil pastels, which are more lipstick-like in consistency. The Cray-Pas colors help me paint the sharp details I put into my work. Gorgeous pigments and a lovely consistency. Nice work, Sakura!

Colors are brilliant and buttery. No sicative (drying agent like sennelier) is a boon. Have owned a set of cray-pas expressionist set for 20 years and they are still good, however fresh is always best. Specialist line has different color range so can be combined with Expressionist set. Square shape can be a little frustrating to get those sharp lines in the right place, but the advantages of the square shape far far outweigh this one disadvantage. They also do not develop a haze like carandache', a more expensive brand. Very good value. If you've never tried oil pastels, so much fun. A great beginning artist's medium as well. Looking to increase the expressive content of your work--great medium to practice this skill

原色の色が美しいです。柔らかくて72色のオイルパステルを持っていますが72色もあるのに原色のハッキリした色がなくて思い通りの色がだせませんでした。こちらのオイルパステルは柔らかくないですが他のオイルパステルと併用すれば表現の幅が広がると期待しています。硬さもあり細かい表現もできそうです。 丸型のオイルパステルは絵に集中していると転がり落ちてしまうので角型であるのも嬉しいです。 細身であるし柔らかいオイルパステルと併用が良いと思います。

I usually try to do better and take a photo of these, but the picture is exactly what you get. Black, white, yellow ochre, burnt sienna, cobalt blue, ultramarine, prussian blue, viridian hue, middle green, cad. yellow, cad. orange, cad. red. If you want to know exactly the pigment looks like, go look at the Sakura watercolors, they are exactly the same as those shades, since they are made by the same company (and I own a set so I know from experience). I bought these for $21 and already the price is raising again (currently at $23). I would say they are a great deal for $20. But if they keep pushing past that mark, I might look beyond Amazon to any online art store or locally. Dickblick sells them online $1.50 per stick to give you a general idea on pricing. These are lovely. First night I got these I already burned through a lot of them working for a few hours. They are very creamy, but hard enough to still hold form. I bought the Jr. set of these to have a wider range of colors, and went through the trouble to return them and get the much smaller set of these--and I definitely think that was the best choice. I look forward to more colors when I have the opportunity to afford a larger set of these, but these are great to have for now. The lightfast rating on ALL of these is 3. I have no idea what system they are rating off of, but I generally get the impression they are implying that they all past light fast regulations (they're all printed on the side of the stick). I have really enjoyed working with these. The difference in material in these compared to the cheaper sets is very noticeable. When I add solvent to the other ones the colors drastically faded. But with these there is no change. Brilliant!

Wish I had known about them sooner! and delivery was very prompt!

First time I used it to add smooth skin tone on portrait painting and I must say it is really good than other pastels in this price range. This is my second review and I must say it is fantastic colors. I usually use Sennelier. Because they are soft and smooth like butter. But these colors are quite harder than sennelier. And this result to do fine details and also they are enough soft, so that you can easily blend them on papers.

サクラの発色、適度なぬるぬる感が好きです。どっちにしても絵を描く場合、１社の製品に限られず、いろんなパステルを使うと思います。サクラ製品は是非備えたい、というか必携といったところか。