Faber-Castell Polychromos Artists Color Pencils - Tin of 120 Colors - Premium Quality Artist Pencils

Okay, I do a lot of adult coloring books coloring and Prismas was my go to pencil for a very long time. I got tired of how easy the Prismas kept breaking, and no matter how I sharpened them a new pencil would be down half its size by the time I finished a few pictures. I bought these pencils do to so many others using them and they work much better for me. Being a harder pencil seems to work for me and they are a bit expensive, but I ordered a 2nd set during the Holiday season when they lower the price. Since I purchased these I hardly use any of my other pencils.

This product is sold through Amazon by different sellers. I bought it from The Brand Spot and THEY SHIP INTERNATIONALLY. If the seller shown by default doesn’t ship to your country, go to “[number] new from $[price]” and try with a different vendor. I tried these pencils before ordering the set so when I did I already knew that they were fantastic. If you can buy a few open stock it would be perfect so you can be sure you want to invest almost $200.00 in colored pencils. I think they are totally worth it! The colors are vibrant and easy to apply and they blend perfectly. You can check other reviews here which include works painted using Polychromos and see their performance. I know that some people have advised here to buy them cheaper on eBay but I would strongly discourage international buyers from doing so. This product is Fulfilled by Amazon which means that if the package is lost or damaged Amazon will take responsibility for the lost. So in my case it’s worth paying a little bit more just to be sure you will receive your pencils.

Nice pencils for adult coloring books. The set covers a pretty wide range of colors. Lays down smoothly. Attractive packaging. I would recommend these pencils.

the box is metalic, the pencils are good material, the bases for the pencils are ropes for helping extract the complete line.

What can I say these pencils are as good as everyone claims. Smooth, can lay down layer after layer of color. Rich colors heavily pigmented. Well worth the price for me.

I really love these pencils. They are my very favorite brand of wax based colored pencils and work very well together with the harder oil based Pablo pencils, and the Museum Aquarelles, also made by Caran dAche. The name luminance aptly describes these pencils, as anything colored with them seem to look illuminated from within, rather than leaving a flattened out look that harder tipped pencils can sometimes leave. I like to use my Luminance for most of my color blocking, and then the Pablos to finish filling in the tooth of the paper in selective areas, then a final burnish with their blender pencil. They also allow you to create a really beautiful, natural look by using the Aquarelles for your first few layers (which provide a very lovely soft matte finish), then laying down the final layers of color with the Luminance, which is a particularly beautiful combination. The box is so beautifully designed to protect each pencil, it is such a pleasure to hold them in your hands and color with them. Each color has its own recipe for the binder to insure that every pencil has the same hardness, the company never uses cheap fillers, the pigments are sourced exclusively from Germany and Switzerland, and they are particular known for their range of neutral colors (perfect for portraits, landscapes etc.)

This was my first time ever using Faber Castell Polychromos Pencils and was I ever amazed. It was hard to spend this much money on colored pencils, but I am very pleased that I did. I do not have to use a blender with these pencils and I do not have to apply as much product to the paper as I do with other pencils, so you do get your moneys worth. They are super colorful and so smooth, but not waxy smooth. It is a creamy smooth, which makes it very enjoyable to use. I will cherish these and use them as my dominant coloring tool. Love them!!!!!@

My Rambling (but Hopefully Informative!) Review: Having been accustomed to primarily wax-based pencils (namely the Derwent Coloursofts and Soft-core Prismacolors gifted to me by family/friends over a decade ago), my early endeavors with Faber-Castell’s Polychromos were not exactly love at first sight. However, as I was looking to delve a bit more seriously into colored pencil art and buy my own supplies, I was bothered by the flimsy feel of the new Prismacolors (apparently from cheapening/outsourcing their manufacturing process) even after carefully selecting open-stock pencils with the leads adequately centered and limiting vigorous applications/sharpening to avoid breaking inches of lead off them. Unfortunately, the only widely available pencil I could find emulating the cherished qualities of my old Berol Prismacolors (Caran D’ache Luminance) were priced beyond my budget for any large set, so the Polychromos (which were broadly lauded on the Internets as a reliable, high quality professional artists’ pencil) ended up making the majority of my (then 25) colored-pencil collection. A lot of people compare these to the Prismacolor Premiers as competing alternatives, but working with the Polychromos almost felt like learning a different medium in the beginning. For one, laying and burnishing the paper with color is a much more gradual, time-consuming process (taking considerably more layers and strokes to get the same coverage as the softer pencils). At the same time, however, each stroke yields a great concentration of rich pigment, so carefully modulated pressure is important for getting the desired consistency and saturation (though the tooth of the paper will accept plenty more layers on top if initial touches were too light). The biggest difficulty I had with Polys was realizing that you can’t really blend them in the same way you do with the wax-based pencils (i.e. using the pencil to push the waxy clumps of pigment from different colors into eachother). Instead, blending colors with Polys by themselves mostly entails iteratively/alternately layering the colors (from initially very soft to progressively harder applications) to combine them. Pressing too hard in attempt to force two dissimilar colors together can occasionally cause noticeable streaking of dark/deep pigments across transparent/light colors (this usually results from pieces of dark binder/pigment getting stuck to the lighter lead, and can easily be wiped or sharpened off). However, as my techniques improved (with the help of Youtube and a few other video tutorials!), I started really appreciating the detail, depth and subtle effects that these pencils added to my work. Furthermore, I found I could cover most of the Polys’ weaknesses by combining them with my residual collection of Coloursofts and Prismas (entirely intermixable, given their binders are all comprised of oil and wax - albeit with differing ratios). The Polys also lend themselves to relatively smooth blending with a myriad of solvents (turpenoid, odorless mineral spirits, rubbing alcohol, etc.), although I personally prefer to go with the non-toxic, non-fumey stuff (baby oil on a brush), and have heard rave reviews about a recently invented non-toxic powder blender by “Brush & Pencil” which specifically leverages the oil in colored pencils (for those who want the ultimate painterly look in their work). One thing that has remained constant throughout my experience with FC Polychromos has been their reliability and readily apparent construction quality. The thick barrels are comfortable to grip with a confidence-inspiring sturdiness, and anything I lay into the paper is consistently rich with pigment and vibrantly colorful. The pencils that arrived in my tin of 120 (when I finally took the plunge) were also in great shape and true to form. Literally the most nit-picky thing I could think of (besides very mild abrasion on the tin) was that a few of the pencils were a bit dulled from their sharpest point from contact with the tin (but were still, amusingly, probably still sharper as-is than most Prismacolors could stay!). My set also had no duplicates (which I feel I should take for granted, but apparently is a common issue with other said brand), and the colors of the barrels are actually representative of the color you can get out of them. As a little bonus, the case still has that nice California cedar smell two weeks after opening! The most common complaint I hear about the Polychromos is that they’re “very expensive”, but I’d argue that (when you account for the sheer amount of pigment/color you get from your lead, and the overall longevity of the pencil), they’re actually a great value - arguably more color than you’d get from the equivalent amount of Prismacolors. Of course, they’re a non-trivial up-front investment, but (assuming you’re also investing in large quantities of decently toothed paper), $2~3 per pencil a la carte isn’t crazy (and you can do plenty with 20 colors). Should you wind up buying one of the larger sets on Amazon, they’re currently averaging around $1.20~1.50 a pencil. The only area I found where you don’t get so much bang-for-your buck is with the lighter colors (yellow, white, cream, etc.) which are a bit underwhelming on their own. At best, they can subtly tint darker undercolors (while the opaque shininess of wax-based pencil makes for far superior highlighting material). In sum, the Polychromos is a reliable workhorse of a pencil whose sturdy points also lends itself to more detailed, refined artwork (and thus, unsurprisingly, the choice of many professional artists doing portraits, natural scenes and hyperrealistic drawings). However, they also take a fair amount of patience and finally controlled applications to bring out their best qualities. These characteristics incidentally also makes them ideal for getting immersed in coloring books/projects (where I sometimes enjoy just practicing my shading, and taking my time to build up color depth). They’re a great value staple for people who know they want some oil-based pencils in their collection and desire vibrant (but lightfast) pigments. If you’re just starting out with the colored pencil medium, however, it is probably best to start with a few individual pencils from open-stock or a small pack (along with some softer wax-based pencil such as Derwent Coloursoft). PROS *Top-Notch Reliability and Construction Quality *Great for advanced artists who desire working in fine details/realism, or colorists who like to take time developing depth in their colors *Stands toe-to-toe with some of the more expensive oil-based pencils on the market (e.g. Caran D’ache Pablos and Holbeins) *Comfortable grip and easy application *Great Longevity and Durability *Deep, Vibrant Pigments (especially in the darker colors) that match the barrel color *Excellent, Responsive Blending with almost all conventional solvents (baby oil, alcohol, mineral spirits, etc.) as well as some products designed expressly for colored pencil (especially Brush & Pencil’s Powder Blender) *Decent erasability (by colored pencil standards) *Widely available in packs or individually CONS *Mid-High Sticker Price, requiring greater up-front investment than lower-tier brands *The light colors don’t stand out nearly as much, even on darker toned paper *Not great as a standalone product for beginning artists looking to get quick decent-looking results in their early short projects *Don’t blend easily on their own (requires lots of layering in overlapping circular strokes)

I wanted the pencil set for a very long time. Finally decided that I would treat myself to them. I do adult color books for reduction of stress. Positives: They color beautifully. Negatives : the color selection is not what I thought it would be. I would not pay the price for them unless you are a professional artist. The quality and design of the pencils are 100%

I couldnt believe how well these pencils worked. I had a set of Prismacolor Premiers, and though they are good and have nice vibrant colors, they do tend to have a wax bloom after two to three layers. I have no such problem with the Faber Castell Polychromos. The only issue I have with the Polychromos is the metallic colors gold, silver, and copper. They seemed scratchier, and the colors did not seem to be as bright. But, if you want to get around this, buy the Faber Castell Metallic Pitt Artist Pens. These come in a set of three pens: gold, silver, and copper. As these three pencils are the only ones I have an issue with, and I can work around this with the Pitt Artist Pens, I will give these pencils Five stars. Three out of 120 is a very low percentage.