Inktense Pencils 48 Wooden Box, Set of 48, Premium 4mm Round Core, Firm, Watersoluble, Ideal for Watercolor, Drawing, Coloring and Painting on Paper and Fabric, Professional Quality (2300151)

I'm gonna add a "tl;dr" to this for right now. If you're interested, keep reading!!I cannot think of one thing I do not like about inktense pencils, except that I wish there were more colors... But I jump the gun, because that isn't a valid compliant anymore....(keep reading!).... I initially bought the 36 set, but regretted not getting all the colors, so I came back for the 72 set a few months ago (which is actually 71 colors, plus a non water soluble pencil). You can use in the exact same way you would any water color pencil, with a variety of different techniques. YouTube is choc full of tutorials and examples, for those in need of a little direction.The moment you drag the pencil across the paper, it is surely to bring about that blissed out feeling us artists get when using our favorite supplies, but rest assured, the fun has only just begun.... When you hit it with water, it activates and this is when the colors really come alive!!!!Great news for those who seek to sell their work: these are mostly light-fast. Derwent has all the information you need on their site...Of course, this is going to change/vary based on how much pigment you lay down, and how much water you add to spread that pigment around... You'll probably want to conduct your own tests though, based on your own art style. A non-issue if you are using in a sketchbook or journal (just be sure to let it fully dry before closing the pages...talking to you, genie ADHDers! )...I also own the full kohinoor mondeluz line, and all the Albrecht Dürer pencils, and I can say they are equally beautiful, yet very different in some of their properties and at times, in finished looks as well. These pencils are pigment based, and are designed to look like ink.... They behave Like ink on a stick... in the sense that they are permanent, and with even just one layer, the colors are deep and dimensional. If you're covering large areas, you may end up seeing a slight mark from your drying edges, while moving from section to section... But since you can reliably place layer upon layer, upon layer of these without activating the one below, any seams could be covered by saturating the area, melting harsh edges away completely. This means, you can change your mind and change a color, by layering a different one....you can do an entire underpainting of shadows, and then use Albrecht Dürer, or other watercolor pencils, layered over top.... You can do so many things and come up with new ways and places to use them.... They are so versatile, it would drive me crazy to think of all the uses.... Like Bubba Gump, and his many ways to eat shrimp..I could go on and on... But I will very briefly state my negatives.. They are in no way a reflection of the product itself, they are more a refection of the company's QC, and also of Amazon.1. The tin has a dent in the corner and it makes it so the lid doesn't stay on. It was most likely dropped along the lines...2. My set of 72 came with 2 red violets. It took me a min, but I discovered that I'm missing Dusky Violet. There isn't a way for me to contact Derwent through Amazon, nor is there a way to reach out to the seller. I'll rectify those myself, when I have a large enough order, by buying it from blick instead for $1.30 per pencil. When your get to the bottom of my review, I'll order it then!!)Do not buy these open stock on Amazon, they are 10x the price they should be! My suggestion is, if your are in the fence about spending the cash on the full set, it is worth it! It's wonderful these are available open stock, but it's a lot of money. Your best and most valuable offer, is to get the 72 outright, and then you only need to replace a pencil here, a pencil there... That will save you a lot long term, and will also satisfy the part of you that's drawn to colorful art supplies... If you're at all like me lolYou can use these are lots of different types of paper, but for maximum layering and best results, use on watercolor paper! The pics I attached are on sketchbook paper.To anyone else out there who LOVES inktense, they just dropped a whole bunch of colors and extended the, I heard, to around 100 colors.. Finally!!!! They are not available yet in the US, nor is there any mention of it on their US website, but they are on the UK site and there are already ppl showing them on YouTube. I hope Derwent at least packages them in a new add-on set.... So, they are coming!!!!!Happy Painting Everyone :)***It's been a long time since I've purchased my first two sets (at different times, obviously for more colors), and I now have come back to purchase the newest released pencils. Unfortunately, the 2023, 28 new colors are only included in the set of 100 for an additional, whopping $120 more than the 72 set. I think I will either wait to purchase them when the price comes down, or order then open stock directly from blick. I just can bring myself to spend that kind of money. Maybe someone should tell Derwent that these prices are a bit of a slap in the face....I had heard they aren't going to sell the new colors in a set of their own and I think they are missing out on sales here, by not doing that. Unless their intention is to collect all this extra money from their existing customer base, who may only have access to the sets for purchase, or not know that the new colors are around $2.15 a pencil... And that's on the high end. The prices of the single pencils has risen in the wake of the new color release in the spring.If you've had the pleasure of working with the new colors or have the full range of 100 colors already, I envy you (in the best way!!!)...

So, let me preface this review by saying I am NOT an artist (by any stretch of the imagination) and I have never written an Amazon review. My creative credentials are comprised of a lifelong habit of picking up a 1,000 different hobbies, all of which I am OK at, but none of which I have ever mastered. Artistic ADD, in a manner of speaking (no insult intended to those suffering from real ADD). I am, however, afflicted with perfectionism and a very analytical mind, which is likely why I have never become truly proficient at any art form. If the result of my efforts doesn’t look good enough to me, I’ll keep trying for a while, maybe take a lesson or two, get sorta good, get bored with my lack of fast progress, move on to something new, and stick the supplies/equipment/fabric/whatever in a closet to collect dust for the next decade. I think I'm gonna need a bigger house. (But, give me a massive spreadsheet and I’ll make magic happen!!)I just picked up my first adult coloring book as a stress reducer/time waster that would have some sort of product to account for my (wasted) time. I can DO coloring, I just can’t draw anything that even remotely resembles the target object. I have now colored a sum total of TWO pages. The first was colored with Crayola colored pencils, which were cheap...and fine, but not very vivid, not all that blendable, and with not enough color variations to be really fun (the primary goal of this new hobby). I started the second page with some decades old colored pens missing half the pens (of course, the best colors were all dried up) and some of the Crayola pencils. At that point, I started a quest for better colored pencils. Almost all of the pencil reviews had the highest praise (vivid colors, good coverage) as well as the lowest praise (leads constantly breaking, leads off-centered, impossible to sharpen, etc.). After several days of near analysis paralysis, I finally settled on the Derwent Inktense collection of 72 pencils.I was so excited I could barely stand the long wait for the package to arrive (a whole, like, five hours with Amazon Prime). I broke those puppies out long after my bed time and completed two or three flowers on my otherwise pretty dull 2nd coloring page. First impression? Well, not titillated, to be sure. Thought it might be the light, my old tired eyes, or maybe the wine....(no, not the wine...ok, maybe the wine). So, let's wait until morning. It was five minutes into my new day fresh perspective before I started drafting my first negative Amazon review in my head. The color was super waxy with spotty coverage, even with a heavy hand. Honestly, they felt like kindergarten crayons in a pencil barrel. For $70+ bucks??? Really??? The lead stood up to the pressure, which was a plus, but you could still see the white of the page under the ink. The pencil would not stay sharp for the fine lines and small spaces. Most colored pencils, except perhaps really soft ones, sort of self-sharpen just by shifting the angle of the lead. Not these. The colors seemed really vivid and blending them was “ok,” but I was so disappointed that the color didn't spread evenly and smoothly on the page. It was very blotchy. I sat back and thought about all of the five star reviews and wondered what in the hell all these people were thinking. Were they ALL paid reviews? Then, out of nowhere, DING, DING, DING…I remembered reading that these are WATER color pencils.Not having any artist brushes whatsoever, I cleaned up a make-up brush (lol, yes, you heard right) to see what would happen to the ink from my crayon pencils when I added a bit of H20. It was a total freaking revelation. I am blown away. The color just jumped off the page. Blending was a dream, layering on different colors was a blast, and removing color was a miracle. Removing one color to lighten an area in order to add an (afterthought) brighter color was like too much to ask for. I AM SOLD. I have not colored in a coloring book since I was a child and I have never done a water color in my entire life. But, I may just spend the REST of my life using these pencils to make “art” that I will proudly hang on my refrigerator.In terms of the pencil quality and packaging, there are 72 distinct colors, all with perfectly centered lead. They sharpen easily in a manual or electric sharpener. They do not erase easily (I imagine you can’t really erase a real watercolor). The pencils are very professional looking and have both color names and numbers so that you could really wear the pencil down to a tiny nub and still know which color it is to replace it. They are in two trays in a tin box. The lid doesn’t really fasten down on the tray, so you would have to carry and store it carefully or put a rubber band around it. I’ve added a few photos of the pencils, the lead, and my second colored page. The light pink and purple flowers are a mix of my previous pens/pencils. The tiny bell flowers are from a new set of colored pens that arrived the same day. The rest is the Derwent Inktense after adding water. Please remember, I am not an artist, I am a total noob to adult coloring books (and, btw, can we not think of a different name for this hobby so it doesn't sound x-rated??), and I was using one old make-up brush that kept splitting into a TRIDENT shape (now eagerly awaiting the arrival of real water color brushes). Regardless of my skill level, or lack thereof, I think the colors are brilliant and my own imagination is the only thing that will limit what I can do with all these colors and combinations of colors. Hallelujah! Maybe, I’ll stick with one hobby for a while (no guarantees!). Thank you to one of my last remaining brain cells for the reminder that these were actually water color pencils and to Derwent for creating this amazing product!