DerwentTinted Charcoal Pencils, 4mm Core, Metal Tin, 24 Count (2301691)

I gave them as a gift to my granddaughter. She was very pleased.

I got these for a drawing class that said in the syllabus charcoals would be needed. Since it mentioned other colored media - and never having used charcoal before - I decided to go big and order this set. Well, it turns out only one charcoal pencil, and hardness, is needed for class but I'm still glad I got these. The colors are somewhat limited and muted, but the majority of them are surprisingly beautiful and the set includes three shades of "regular" charcoal (four if the "Natural" colored pencil is included) and a white. They can be used dry or worked with water (not news to those familiar with charcoal, I'm sure, but since I primarily use water media, that info made them less daunting to this newbie) and can be sharpened with a regular art pencil sharpener, provided it is very sharp (one of my pencils has a slight flaw that was apparent when sharpened with a sharpener that was just pretty sharp).TLDR: beginners will probably love this set, which has both great but limited colors and traditional charcoal; pros may like it too for those same reasons.

I started with a landscape to learn how to use these. They are really fun to use because they blend and it's easy to hide mistakes. It's best to use the side of the pencil and lay down a lot of material and blend lightly. I also added small areas of color in a charcoal drawing I had completed and it added a lot of interest. It would be nice if there were more lighter and brighter colors, but they are charcoal based.

Advertisements are very misleading when shopping for charcoal pencil sets. Descriptions (and even labeling) will lead with "CHARCOAL pencil set/kit...." then once you read the fine print, 1/3 of the set is charcoal, the rest is graphite. If you're familiar with charcoal, there really aren't color options out there, at least not regularly. Did a lot of searching and Derwent was the only brand that offered any color/tint. The reviews were great so we thought we'd give it a shot. Great decision. Nice set, blends well, I like the pencil thickness. Very pleased with the purchase and will probably buy a 2nd set when it's time.

Honestly, you can't really go wrong with most any Derwent product, though sometimes the prices are a bit high. Their Tinted Charcoal Pencils are a boon for the pastelist because the colors included in its range are novel and cannot be found in the run-of-the-mill pastel and pastel pencil palette. For this reason alone this set is excellent, but these pencils also offer good light-fastness, good point holding ability, relatively soft application, and at least a partial ability to use water to create beautiful wash effects. The portrait and landscape pastel artist will find nearly all of the muted and earthy colors in this set appealing.Derwent also makes a line very similar to their Tinted Charcoal, which they call Tinted Graphite. It, too, is a wonderful dry media tool.

Please note this was not a planned purchase. It was purchased to help a student who was using them and having issues. The issue was not with the product. But for me, I could not find a use for the tinted colors of charcoal. The best I could manage with my meager imagination is to use a single color at a time in conjunction with my ordinary charcoal to bring attention to cheeks or lips in a portrait, to highlight the water in a landscape, to give a hint of decay in a still life. But using them all together in one painting just looked dull to me. And I’m perfectly willing to admit, I don’t know how to use them. I have their aqua tints, intense, etc. so I’m familiar with their products. Derwent as always made a fine product. Good pencil wood, decent amount of tinted charcoal inside the barrel, nicely packaged. Like I said good product for what it is.

Tinted charcoal pencils give more variety to what is important to artists. Great quality too.

The pencil on the far left is brand new & so are the others! Unfortunately they kept breaking EVERY time I sharpened them until the one was practically a nub. I stopped with the others so they weren't too small to really use efficiently (& they won't fit in any pencil extenders I have!!)..im using a 6 slot size xacto electric pencil sharpener that prevents pencils from over sharpening & ive had it for only a couple months & works beautifully with EVERY OTHER pencil (regular, colored AND charcoal) just in case it WAS the sharpener I stopped & used a different one with the same result several times. Since I'm a professional portrait artist it's important for the tools I use to work as they should & im extremely disappointed to the point I may not buy these ever again! Which is a shame because I wanted to love these so much!