Faber-Castell Polychromos Artists' Single Pencil - Colour 180 Raw Umber

I purchased a full tin of these polychromos colored pencils to start doing some drawings with. These are very nice pencils. I don't need to use any fixative and the color won't fade. They are easily blended and layered. In my most recent drawing I used a total of 35 colored pencils in it, and didn't have any trouble blending any of them. However my new puppy got one of them and chewed a portion of one end and split the pencil up about an inch and a half. It was my cadmium yellow light. It is a beautiful yellow, one that I absolutely do not want to be without, so I ordered two more to replace what she chewed up. I have no regrets on the purchase of this set of polychromos colored pencils.

I’ve been a longtime fan of Faber-Castell products and I use the brush pens almost every day. Then I came across these after watching another artist use them for the darkest shadows in their graphite drawings. Just wow, brought the drawing to life and almost in 3D. This black pencil is for those artists that can’t decide between graphite or pen and I am happy to say you can have both now! I haven’t done a project yet with these due to the upcoming holidays but I cannot wait. Right out of the packaging and just a few strokes I noticed the quality is top grade. I know what your thinking, it’s just a pencil right? No, just holding this pencil was magical and inspiring. Anyone that has used less expensive products and immediately disappointed with results can appreciate this. I did my usual swatching and gradient testing for values and it was super easy to achieve from light to dark. When using graphite I find myself having to do too many layers or using too many different pencil shadings (h to b). I’m not saying this will replace those but having graphite softness along with the ease of this pencil for shadows is an absolute game changer for me. I will try to post pictures later when I get a project completed.

I love these Faber Castell pencils

Great for working on wood!

I bought this because I wanted a deeper black to my drawings and after using it, I realized it’s not really much darker than some of the other charcoal/graphite pencils I have. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great but don’t expect it to be much different than your darkest blacks you currently have.

Colors very smooth and dark!!

I was hoping this pencil would create bright white coverage and highlights in my graphite & pen sketches on brown kraft paper but is barely visible. It does give a nice medium value when used to fill an area on the bare paper, but does not leave even a faint mark over graphite or other medium.

As an artist, contrast and value is extremely important and getting a dark black usually takes many layers to achieve. This pencil lays down a deep, rich black with less effort than any pencil I've ever used. This is my favorite black pencil and I haven't broken a led yet. I promise that this pencil is definitely worth every cent.....

Good product, was delivered ahead of time

I bought this black pencil to use with Caran D'ache Luminance pencils, as their pencils are too soft for sharp detail. This pencil fills the hole in that other line by providing hard, fine detail.

Great colored pencils.

Product was a little costly but otherwise satisfied

Les polychromos de Faber Castell sont d'une très grande qualité.