General's Pastel Pencil 24-Color Set

Brilliant color, easy to blend!

I love these kind of pencils. I had used them in classes but did not own any. Fantastic pigmentation and sharpen to a very fine point for small detail work. The sharpeners included in this set are very good quality as well.

I have never used pastel pencils before so I can only speak as a new comer. I do not know how they compare to other brands but to me they are a very nice set to start out. The barrels are beautiful and made of cedar wood. Very comfortable to hold. The pencils are handcrafted and made here in the US. They have an eraser at the end that can serve as an eraser (works quite well actually, even on dark colors) or to blend the colors and smudge them around. The trays are holding the pencils in so they won't move, fall or break during shipping. The pencils are, however, hard to remove and as the plastic trays are on the flimsy side it'd be best to store these pencils somewhere else. The sharpener is a little gem. Pastel pencils have a reputation for being hard to sharpen with a pencil sharpener. This set of 24 comes with 2 red plastic sharpeners and they sharpen everything-even high end colored pencils that I had to buy a special sharpener for. It sharpens fast and to a point. No fuss and no breakage. No need for blades either so ideal for a younger crowd too. Colors included in the set I received: white, black, sanguine, light flesh, light gray, van d*ke brown, beige, canary yellow, violet, dark gray, orange, indigo blue, grass green, scarlet red, pink, burnt sienna, light blue, autumn gold, bright blue, sap green, sea green, peach, ultramarine, rose madder The colors lay down easily and I'm having a lot of fun with them. Customer service is wonderful. I had two pencils that had problems and they replaced them. They are very responsive and the note I got through the mail was handwritten. Such care in customer service is rare and so appreciated. Thank you! One caveat: Not a lot of information on these pencils. Even the company itself doesn't give an official list of colors for each set. The palette of colors seems to have changed yet no one knows what they are supposed to be. I was told to call to get a list yet what I want is a color chart. I'm not even sure if the set I received was the "new" set or if mine had colors it wasn't supposed to have. Customer service took care of that and sent me extras (thanks again!) but no explanations. You can call their phone customer service to know more. For now I'm happy with what I've got. I doubt that these are for artists, but for having fun and discovering pastel pencils they are great. Hope this helps as very few detailed reviews exist for this product. The color swatch was made hastily when I received the pencils and I added a few smudges to help you see the effect. There is a video of a man who shows how to draw a cat with these pastel pencils (seems I can't include the link). Does great justice to this product.

I absolutely love them. Next to the Derwent drawing pencils, although I love all my colored and watercolor pencils, they are some of the most cherished of my supplies. I use them wet and other times dry. I use as a wash base and then use the pencils dry over. Sometimes I use them with other pencils. They work well with watercolor pencils, colored pencils, and can be used as a base that has been blended with water and work pastel over! I have used them on wood boxes and they work good. But if used dry only remember you must spray with a fixative to seal it. As I have the full line of rich colors and they are so bendable I have never done a project in which I felt they lacked a color to get the effect. Of course, they work well with Derwent drawing pencils too. As I live next to the coast I always have in my pencil roll while out, the greens, a few greys, indigo, and the aubergine. They are so buttery and such a joy drawing with.