150 color paper box-set Holbein colored pencil (japan import)

Product Information

The delivery was really pleasantly fast, I would like to have known that the price does not include Japan VAT, and I have also paid custom charges in UK. I highly recommend Holbein for portrait artists. With the large range of browns, pinks, pale blue-violets, and celadon greens, they give you everything you need for realistic skin and skin underpainting for any ethnicity.

In terms of Lightfastness, 11 out of 36 are Lightfast I, 7 are Lightfast II, and the remaining 22 are rated below museum grade at Lightfast III through V. Overall the Holbein Artists’ Coloured Pencils are wonderful to use – the price point, although in the higher range, is fair. The colour range is excellent and they meet the high demands of exceptional performance and handling. They are among the top three of my favourite coloured pencils, and ones I reach for frequently in my personal practice. Holbein opaques are so dense that they often look a muted in comparison to their translucent colors. I’ve never noticed dullness in the finished product.The Verithins are affordable and would make a good complement to a set of Prismacolor Premiers. But, if a harder core was your goal, I would recommend trying a harder oil-based pencil such as the Faber-Castell Polychromos. Because of their relatively low-impact colors due to the core hardness, I wouldn’t recommend these as your only set of colored pencils.

A super-sharp tip will break under pressure, but overall I found that these pencils kept a good point and would provide a lot of coverage before needing to be sharpened. There were no issues with lead breakage during sharpening. In comparing to the similar Caran D’Ache Luminance, (which developed lots of crumbs under heavy pressure,)the Lightfast had a cleaner lay down. But it still was not as smooth as a soft wax-based pencil such as the Derwent Coloursoft or Prismacolor Premier. The Holbein Artist Colored pencils are a very interesting colored pencil set in that they combine multiple ingredients including wax, fats, and oils to their pigments for their cores. The result is a unique experience that has to be tried to be appreciated. These pencils were delivered in a very timely manner. They are wonderful pencils. Buttery vibrant colors was so excited to draw my next drawing with them. Just a joy to work with These are some of the smoothest colored pencils we have come across. The application is extremely buttery and soft and they are a lot of fun to experiment with. That being said, they do struggle a little bit in keeping a sharp point due to being so soft which can make them a bit challenging to use in areas that require close detail. Normally pencil companies try to impress you with a ton of blues. Holbein keeps their blue family smaller than usual (they gave that space to the greens!) but I don’t see any missing blues. The blues they offer are all unique tones and values. A nice selection of periwinkles too!

Anyway, it sounds like Holbein was forced to reformulate one or more pencil cores before they could export to the United States… Staedtler Ergosoft are wax-based pencils with a distinctive plastic coating on the core made by Staedtler in Germany. The triangular pencils come in sets of 12, 24 or 36 with a distinctive plastic carrying case that can transform into a stand-up easel. Holbein offers about 18 browns and beiges which run from warm red browns to cool chocolate umbers. A nice selection. In general, pencils with a higher oil to wax ratio are hard pencils. Pencils with more wax tend to be softer pencils. Wax, oil, hard, soft— it’s all about what you like. There are no villains here.

Holbein can be sharpened to a long fine point but be prepared for a little bit at the tip to fall off with the first strokes.

In use, I did experiencing one lead breaking a few times, but this is to be expected with softer leads. And with heavy application, the dreaded wax bloom can develop. I also noticed that some pencils felt a bit harder than others, so there is some variation within this line. FOR VANILLA STUDENTS: Holbein makes their own version of many of our favorite Prismacolors including: Indigo, Dark Purple, White, Cream, Limepeel, Olive, Prussian Green, Carmine, Muted Turquoise, Slate Grey, Greyed Lavender, Yellowed Orange, and Goldenrod. Holbein Lay-down: Also, as mentioned above, they don’t do a very good job of blending, and more than a couple of layers on top of each other result in a bit of a mess. While this is an obvious tradeoff that you have to have when it comes to softer leads, there are better options out there for those who enjoy blending. I’ve spent the bulk of my professional career illustrating for research and medical supply companies. I’m used to weeding my way through dense scientific jargon.