Castle Art Supplies Gold Standard 120 Coloring Pencils Set with Extras, Oil-based Colored Cores Stay Sharper, Tougher Against Breakage, For Adult Artists, Colorists, In Zipper Case

I have had this set for almost a year. I also own the 120 soft (regular wax) colored pencils, watercolor pencils, and the 50 metallic and pastel tint-- all Castle Arts and opted for the zipper case each time. I try to limit my spending on art supplies, as I am not a professional, and mainly use pencils for coloring, which I only do occasionally. So, the fact that I bought every pencil set available in a zipper case speaks to the quality, and amazing presentation of this brand of pencil! They have always come with an instruction booklet, which is individualized for the type of pencil, and is packed with helpful, useful, and informative content (some of it looks to be digitally generated, but I understand that's probably for efficiency purposes and I can overlook that minor issue for the wealth of great tips found in each book). They also have a sample drawing project...with steps to follow...but I haven't tried any of the projects because you'd likely need to be an intermediate artist or better to do those, as steps seem a little vague. Some of the sets came with pads of paper, too. As for these Gold Range pencils, I personally much much prefer the standard, cheaper soft pencil line. That said, I can see why these would be considered the "better" pencil because they're very richly pigmented. You can get some layering and blending effects, but these are like most other pencils labeled as "oil" pencils, they put down a lot of thick color. I feel like I can achieve the subtle, beautiful layering and blending effects with ease using the standard pencils, but really struggle with these. Maybe that's a me problem lol. I am probably doing something wrong, or not willing to venture into chemical solvents or whatever. I do own other "oil" pencils by Marco (Raffine), Shiperr Farben, and Brutfuner/Kalour (f.y.i. Brutfuner a k.a. Kalour et. al. makes the exact same oil pencils and produces them under about a dozen different brand names, so do some research before investing in any of the cheaper, generic pencils if you already own a set, because chances are that you'll just be re-purchading the same pencils). The Castle Arts Gold pencils are comparable if not better than any of these other oil pencils. To clarify, yes oil pencils still have a waxy binder, they just have a different formulation than typical colored pencils. I know what to expect when I open a new package of pencils that are labeled as oil pencils compared to regular pencils. I also wonder why it is that so many of the popular, highly rated generic/ cheap brand pencils are oil pencils lol, but that this set costs more than the other Castle Arts pencils that most people have better results with? As noted, these pencils have very vibrant colors, and lay down well on paper. They have a palette of colors that I like, with more purples and pinks than typical--but I noticed none of the Castle Arts line has really satisfied my needs as far as reds and oranges go. Like there's no good red. Oh well. One last thing I have to say is that I've attempted several coloring book pages with the Gold pencils, even in miniature coloring books, and taken these with me on vacation to try and force myself to use them. I have never finished a page started with these pencils. I've almost always finished the many pages started with the standard Castle Arts pencils!! Just like I almost never use any of the cheaper oil pencils I own. So, if you're on a budget, I recommend getting the other Castle Arts pencils first...or if you already have those, but are unfamiliar with oil pencils, get some of the generic oil pencils like Brutfuner just to be sure that you like this style of pencil before investing in this set. These are good for what they are...just not good for the way I personally know how to color--but, people who don't like muted colored pencils might actually love oil pencils because they lay down richer color!! It's all personal preferences.

Fantastic colored pencils! These are better by far than the $250 set I bought years ago and the case they come in is perfect. I loved the instructional booklets and the pads of drawing paper that were included as well. I can't wait to buy more of their art supplies. The colors are so rich, and the pencils sharpen well without breaking easily. It's got a very creamy glide on regular paper and great for blending and shading.

These are better than most of the cheaper sets if you're looking for a set to save you from burning through some Poly Chromes or Caran's and save you from spending the high price for either one of them.. they lay down pretty decent but I found for an oil based core I ended up with a lot of the bloom and the build up you get when using a heavier waxed based pencil so watch for that. The other issue I found was with going with the 72 piece set rather than spending the extra money for the 120 set. This one came with a bunch of greens and pinks that were so close to others in the set that it was a waste to create them. I'd say in total there were about 12 pencils they could of did without and instead included some ivory or skin tones colors. Even a few oranges and reds because they're are only maybe 5 total between the two colors that are you could actually call orange or red. The other was purple. Why do they put purples when 2 would of been sufficient with the shades Included. I take that back. Spend the extra money and go with the 120 set. I can in good faith recommend this set as is. The pencils themselves are decent. It's the color options that need to be changed.

The oil-based Gold Standard Colored Pencils set colors much more evenly & completely without being patchy or blotchy than the original wax-based edition of this set. The manufacturer is right that the lead is more firm & it also lasts a bit longer. This set gives me more even control over the color & it goes where I put it. If the color is too dark or goes where it shouldn't, it quickly picks up with a polymer eraser & without smearing. The wax set did not perform nearly as well on any of these points. So even if you're a beginner like me, or just coloring in books, don't hold back on getting yourself the Gold Standard. It's worth it. You won't have to be a high flying artist to make excellent use of this set. According to the manufacturer, they're even non-toxic, which is good for me, because I have a pet & I worry about trace amounts getting transferred to them over time or them accidentally getting hold of a pencil. I also love that Castle Arts is knowledgeable & happy to answer questions about their product. The book style case is a huge plus & I am beginning to wish that all colored pencils came in cases like this instead of flimsy trays. Some complain about breakage during shipping, but I have had pencils break trays in shipping too. The one suggestion I have is to include graphite drawing pencils with the bundle instead of sketch paper. Recommended not just for fine artists but for all teenagers & adults who are drawn to using this media. I'm just a novice, & I can't put them down. This is a kit that everyone can enjoy.

Review Update: After posting this review customer service contacted me again and apparently my last email to them had been lost. They quickly replaced my pencils and this time sent the tin. I am happy to report that all pencils arrived perfect. So as suggested below order the tin and not the case. Amazon shipped these in a poly mailer and because they were in a soft case they arrived with at least 7 broken tips. Amazon wouldn't allow a return so I had to contact Castle Art. At first they basically said they are pencils and I should sharpen them. I then received another message asking if they were broke because of shipping or because of the quality. I told them I thought it was from shipping. They told me if I used them and found that they break more they will replace the broken ones. I have been lucky and used them a few times with nomore breakage. But while I do appreciate the several emails they sent to make sure they didn't have a quality control issue it was very disheartening to have to sharpen so many brand new pencils. I recommend buying them in the tin and buying a case for them separately.

Nice colors and smoothly

I don't want this come off as me being negative or being a pencil snob or uninformed. I bought these in the beginning of March and wanted to give these a fair chance so im not writing this until the end of April. I cannot figure these out. Let me preface this by saying I have the original Castle Arts set of 120 and a backup set of 72 because I really do love those. And their 120 set of watercolor pencils for my budget set of water soluble pencils. While I use my better pencils in my own art, I have found Castle Art pencils to be wonderful to use in adult coloring books or my own sketchbooks. I really love those. I also bought the Pasteltint set which expanded on that range and that's been my favorite set I've purchased in a while. I almost exclusively draw and also color portraits and human figures, so pastel shades are necessary for that. I've also found that while I do love the Castle Arts for an affordable but high quality wax based pencil, I do VASTLY prefer oil based pencils. I need a hard lead to do details and hair. And there are some excellent budget oil based pencils out there so when I heard Castle Arts had their own line coming out I was first in line. Firstly, I can say that there are some awesome positives with this set. As the expanded set with extras, I just wanted to comment about what CA included with their sets. As a long time re-purchaser (?) of CA sets, the paper included has VASTLY improved. The swatch color charts are on a nice cardstock now. The 4 pads of paper are all excellent, the black paper, the cartridge paper, the toned tan, and the Bristol board are all high quality and it's rare to get such good quality and 4 different types included with a set of pencils. Another point is the information brochure. That thing is EXCELLENT for beginner pencil artists or artists of any medium honestly. It explains color concepts in a very easy to understand way. I was very impressed with that. I would have LOVED to have had a reference packet like that when I got my first pencil set. The information packet comes with all CA pencils, but the expanded extras, paper pads, brochures etc that come with the zippered case sets of CA pencils make them WONDERFUL gifts for either a young adult first starting their art journey, a beginning colorist, or a hobbyist. I think that information is excellent and I can't think of any other brand that includes so much with their sets. Also I always store my pencils in zippered pencil cases instead of the tins so the set that comes in the case is already saving me $20 from buying a new one. It's not the best one in the world but it is definitely more than sufficient. The color range is excellent. Wonderfully spread out. The color order in the case doesn't matter. You can find printable color chart PDFs for this set in color family order all over the internet. I always make my own charts according to my own preferences with colors I would use the most like skintones, hair and eye colors coming first. That's my own preference. Color charts in color family order are easy and fun to make and good practice with color and hue recognition, and a good way to get to know your pencils. So, the pencils themselves.... I can't figure them out. I made the color chart and noticed they were... waxy. Not oily. And very crumbly and dusty. Which isn't a huge deal but it is very noticeable. Much more so than any of my other sets. Because they are oil dominant I tried to use them for coloring hair... hair needs a very hard lead pencil that stays sharp. Rather than burnishing and blending, you need to layer a ton of different lines and colors to show the strands. It didn't work. They were way too waxy. They didn't show the sharp definition in the hair like oil based pencils usually do. I tried to let go of the "oil based" label. I used them for a botanical piece (admittedly not my strong suit) and found that they blend beautifully in a way very much akin to wax pencils.... but different. I cannot figure these out. They don't perform like pio based pencils I'm used to. When I am going to use Castle Arts pencils and I want a wax based one I just would use their Soft Touch, not these. Becausw theyr better at being a wax based creamy pencil than these are. So I guess I'm just confused as to where they're supposed to fit into my arsenal, and which need they're trying to fulfill. Also, just like the Soft Touch pencils, a good amount of the pencils' wood casings were splintered vertically under the outer wrapping. I will say that I am happy with their universal color system. And I will give Castle Arts ALLLLLL the credit in the world for listening to their customers and actually implementing a ton of changes we asked for. I honestly don't like giving less than 5 star reviews for a product or comoany that isn't obviously just not caring or even trying. It's obvious how hard CA is working to differentiate themselves from other budget art supply brands. I appreciate that they tried to go with an oil based. My suggestion is that they had went with a much harder lead, that lends itself to layering, not blending. For budget OIL based brands, Schpirrer Farben, Brutfuner squares, Deli and the old Stay Joy (not the Golds) they're all excellent. They're all hard leads that are pigmented, that layer amazingly. If CA had gone more with pencils like that then they'd be much better. While I love CA as a brand, this line of pencils missed the mark for me and I'm actually sad. I won't return them because I can't stand to think of the waste it creates woth all these items that can't be resold. I'm going to keep working with them until I find a use for them or I will gift them to a beginninger artist. I don't want this review to take away from Castle Arts pencils. Their Soft Touch and PastleTint lines are an incredible alternative to more expensive wax based pencils. Their watercolor pencils are my favorite budget brand. And I hold put HIGH hopes that CA will reformulate these and they'll have a much harder, pigmented oil based pencil. This was a valiant effort but it missed the mark for me., As I am typing this comment I am getting some ideas for examples, so will update this review later with some examples

These oil based color pencils are superior quality. The colors are vibrant and leave very little wax bloom when burnishing. The cores are large and soft, but won't break under moderate pressure. The functionality of the pencil is on par with Derwent and Faber-Castel. Easy laydown, uniform color, rich pigment (you won't have to layer as many times.) Layering multiple colors is flawless. I had no issues with three and even four color layers. Impressive. The case is very well made. Strong zipper and firm fabric molding. This set of pencils truly are among the best you can buy. You won't be disappointed.

Mycket bra olje pennor. Aldrig använt förut.

Je suis ravie de mon achat et je souligne l’efficacité du service après vente qui a été super. Je recommande vivement ces magnifiques crayons certes un peu chers mais de très bonne qualité et une déclinaison de teintes magnifiques 😍

Soy una aficionada que acabo de empezar con los lápices de colores, por lo que mis valoraciones no pueden ser muy técnicas. Teniendo esto en cuenta, he de decir que el producto me ha encantado. Tanto el estuche como los lápices llegaron en perfectas condiciones, con un buen embalaje y el envío fue muy rápido. Los colores me parecen geniales. Me gusta la textura y como esta permite hacer mezclas y degradados. Se afilan perfectamente. Por poner un pero al producto, es que, si no me equivoco, no se pueden comprar lápices sueltos para poder ir reponiendo según se van gastando. Estaría genial tener esta opción, ya que siempre se utilizan más unos colores que otros.

I am still learning to draw and these pencils seemed to offer good quality without spending a fortune if my skills do not develop the way I hope. I did prepare a swatch sheet and only had one break out of the 120 and this one sharpened well and seems to be fine now. The range of colours seemed to have a lot of greys but all seem to match the colour on the end quite closely. My lack of experience means I cannot comment fully on the softness of these pencils but they do feel a little like drawing with a softer graphite pencil, a 2B or 3B feel. I have not tried blending and layering yet so cannot really comment on that other than to say that online video reviews suggest they work quite well in these respects. Overall I would say that these pencils are a very good option for anyone on a budget or a beginner like me who does not want to be let down by their equipment without spending a lot on something my skills fail to match.

Jag gav den som födelsedags present. So jag vet inte vad hen täcker om den.