Derwent Graphic Drawing Pencils, Medium, Metal Tin, 12 Count (34214)

I would still give these a favorable review since the pencils are overall higher quality than what Ive come to expect at this price range. Not shabby at all. Im in the middle of a drawing right now and I seem to be getting some bad luck (compared to other reviewers) as far as hitting some inconsistency spots in the pencils, but a quick little turn of the pencil to find a better spot has never bothered me much. Based on what other people have written in their reviews I thought these were going to be some kind of magic pencils that have uniform smoothness everywhere all the time, but that just has never been the case with any pencil Ive ever used. Maybe a little exaggeration going on, maybe Im unlucky, I dont know. Also my set had an extra HB pencil (3) and no B pencil. Not a huge deal, since the minute intensity differences you can achieve with the pencils is almost overkill anyways. For anyone else who was curious about how many of which pencils are in the set and couldnt find it on this page like me, its supposed to be (from soft to hard): 9b 8b 7b 6b 5b 4b x2 3b 2b x2 hb x2 b f h 2h x2 3h 4h 5h 6h 7h 8h 9h But again I ended up with Hb x3 and no B.

Good quality but has hard spots in graphite.

I have used these pencils before and I like them. My only gripe is that retail store sell them for more than Amazon does by almost $10-$20 more depending on the pencil count. This is the first tin I have gotten that has a damaged pencil in see photo it doesn’t look like it ruined the core of the pencil thankfully. For some of the reviews that mention only getting them in a tin without a lid and just the bottom shrink wrapped(the only difference is the lid not being there it’s still only the bottom shrink wrapped even if you get a lid not sure why they do that.) I would blame Derwent for that more than Amazon as even retail stores like hobby lobby get tins like that.

These are great and cover the whole range of grays. I had heard these are the best. They seem great so far.

As an artist, I have only used Derwent pencils. They are the best and this set gives you everything you need. If you are ever in England you should go to the factory, very interesting. You cant miss with this set.

I bought a 12 pack of them that only comes with one tin of 12… they sent me 6 tins full of 12 pencils, to say the least, this made my day and I definitely plan to buy them again once I run out.

The pencils are fine. My review is mainly about the packaging. I assumed that with a pencil set in a tin box, that it would have a lid, but my set came with the bottom only and it was shrink wrapped so the pencils stayed in place in the thin cheap plastic tray in the bottom. But there was no lid with my set so I was mildly disappointed. If the shrink wrap would have torn in the shipment, then the pencils would have been tossed about in the box and in the past I have had some items fall out of the box through the minimally taped ends. Many delivery people will handle the boxes by either puncturing the sides for a finger hold or grabbing the ends of the lids to move the boxes so the lid ends are bent and elevated. Sometimes the paper tape holding the lid closed will fail and the lids are partially open. so I have lost items that way. Not sure how this pencil set was packaged that way, at Derwent factory or at Amazon, but it bugs me to get items shipped with unexpected surprises like that. So thats my 2 cents. Pencils are fine. People have mentioned grittiness, and yes I have felt that sometimes the pencil will have a gritty drag and wont produce a clean line until the grit particle wears away after a couple of strokes. But they are otherwise good enough pencils. I cant say they blow away some lower priced pencils I have. The Castle pencils seem to have a really nice feel and were a very good value in comparison. Staedler pencils are equally priced and I do not notice any gritty feel.

I am almost certain I received the new pencils as it states on the back that it is a new formula and they say Britain instead of England on the pencil. Overall the pencils are wonderful. In some other reviews, there were issues with impurities and scratchiness in the pencils. I have found scratchiness with two of the 24, but sharpening them seemed to eliminate the problem. However, I did take a star off for that issue. I love Derwent products overall, but want to write a fair review. I am new to drawing, but the price on this set of 24 was so low that I knew I would never see it that low again and went ahead and made the purchase. I have a set of Tombows, which has more impurities than these and the leads also break way too easily. However, I have a set of the Fine Touch Hobby Lobby pencils that I purchased for just a few bucks, set of 12. I havent had time to fully compare them, but the Fine Touch are super smooth and lay down really easy. I will update after Ive had more time with this set; but so far, Loving it!

I use to only draw with a number 2 pencil so I’m adjusting o these pencils. Less work and less smudging.

This is my first set of professional drawing pencils, so I am definitely getting better results drawing with my 12 count medium range set than anything Ive been using previously. However, it is in fact true that Derwent can be a bit scratchy. As for the leads, most of them are fine and sharpen perfectly well, however at least two of the pencils, the 2B and 3B , have a problem with leads that break off in the sharpener and some sort of unevenness about the wood casing that makes them virtually impossible to sharpen and by consequence virtually impossible to use, and Im using a pretty good sharpener. That makes for a pretty big drawback as far as value for moneys concerned, seeing as youre not really getting your moneys worth when 2 out of twelve pencils cant even be used. Still, they arent so pricey to begin with, so Id say theyre not the worst pencils in the world and theres no harm in trying them.