Prismacolor Premier Graphite Drawing Pencils with Erasers & Sharpeners, 18-Piece Set

Great range of drawing pencils - a better range than most from 8B to 6H. And a variety of drawing tools. All came in the tin which is great, too.

I have used Prismacolor color pencils for over ten years now and their markers for 3 years. I am an avid believer in the brand, which is what led me to try their graphite pencils. Until I bought this set, I was using Derwent pencils. I am pleased to say, that Prismacolor has once again impressed me as one of the best brands out there. They are a bit more expensive than some others, but the quality is well worth it. I would have bought them sooner, but waited until my skills improved with the Derwent pencils, enough to make the jump to a better quality product more worth it. Buying This set was the best thing I could have done! It gives you everything you need to get started, if you are looking for a great quality set to start out with. You will have plenty to experiment with. It is also great for pro artists that want to delve into graphite on a more serious level and need all the goodies (erasers, sanding board, etc.). I am freelance, but have been an artist for over 14 years. Amazons price is more than fair for this product. Unless there is a dramatic change in the quality of Prismacolors products, I will be an advocate for them until the day I die. The woodless graphite pencils (2B, 4B, 6B, 8B) are very soft and lay down wonderful jet black strokes. These are the best for getting high contrast work done fast and easy! Extremely dark areas dont take forever to build up (with lighter/harder grades), if you have these! Out of the 7 turquoise pencils (8B,6B,2B,B,2H,4H,6H), I have used 2B, B, 2H and 4H. They have worked beautifully. Im guessing I would say the same for the other grades. I havent yet tried any of the 3 water-soluble gray graphite pencils(HB,4B,8B), but am just about to. I will update this review when I do. They way things are going, I dont expect Ill be disappointed. I found the Magic Rub Eraser (vinyl eraser, latex free) is perfect for graphite, but especially for erasing the lighter (harder) pencil grades. For the darker stuff, I switched to the good old kneaded rubber eraser. Im always forming it into odd shapes to fit my highlighting needs and it sucks up dark graphite very well. Ive also used this kind of eraser for pastel chalks and charcoal, so I knew what to expect. Prismacolors version isnt any different than any other brand of kneaded eraser Ive tried, but it is not anything less than expected. The sanding board was a big plus in buying this set, for me. It is great for sanding your pencils to any shape you desire, giving you more leeway to produce the kind of line you want (I use it for the woodless pencils). I especially like to shape them flat, so I can get a very fine line holding it horizontally, or a nice thick line holding it vertically (or anything in between)! I would also recommend only using the provided pencil sharpener, unless you know what youve got. If you have something of lesser quality and try it on these nice, soft pencils, you might be disappointed. I havent tried any other sharpener, so dont take my word to the bank on that, but I would stick with what they give you unless you are a more experienced graphite user. This sharpener works perfectly well anyway. I would recommend this to both professional artists and artists that want to get into graphite for the first time!

Have not had a chance to use these pencils but the 2H was not in the kit. Instead, there were 2 4H pencils. The container and description clearly say there is a 2H. This is my first artist pencil kit and I would like to have the variety of pencils that that were advertised.

While Prismacolor isn’t known for its graphite pencils, this is a serviceable set in a nice tin that has almost everything you need, minus perhaps a tortillon or two. Not the greatest quality and the leads tend to be off center with the wood pencils, but the hardnesses seem accurate and the addition of the aquarelle pencils was a nice surprise. Overall a good set for on the go drawing and sketching.