Faber-Castell Polychromos Artists Color Pencils - Tin of 120 Colors - Premium Quality Artist Pencils

I’m not convinced with all the rave about this brand of pencils! They are thicker than average pencils, and the cores are super hard and different from other pencils that I have used. The set is beautiful, lots to choose from, supposedly artist quality and giftable. These are expensive and I don’t think the pencils are worth the price being charged. The colors layer really well, I would not say they are “buttery” or super “easy” to use, there is a learning curve to using these pencils. They sharpen to a fine point, and do chip off on occasion, although one would expect that from any colored pencils. I’m just not sure I am convinced that the cost of these makes them exceptional to use. I have a set of Magicfly oil pencils and they are easier to work with than these polychromos. Not really impressed…save your money for something else!

This is probably an outlier, but I went through nearly half of a pencil before I got the sharpness to where it was close to what I wanted. The lead inside fell out in large chunks while sharpening. I was using a brand new sharpener and sharpening very slowly with great care. The pencil core was broken inside on quite a few of the colours that I wanted to use. This is certainly just an issue with the handling, but I am very dissatisfied with the quality of the pencils in this particular tin. I am certain this was a worker at the packing warehouse that just tossed the tin around. I had to force the top closed a couple times when I first opened it because it was slightly bent. However, the colours that werent busted inside were wonderful! These are easily one of the top contenders for best pencils that I have used. I will be purchasing more for sure.

My Rambling (but Hopefully Informative!) Review: Having been accustomed to primarily wax-based pencils (namely the Derwent Coloursofts and Soft-core Prismacolors gifted to me by family/friends over a decade ago), my early endeavors with Faber-Castell’s Polychromos were not exactly love at first sight. However, as I was looking to delve a bit more seriously into colored pencil art and buy my own supplies, I was bothered by the flimsy feel of the new Prismacolors (apparently from cheapening/outsourcing their manufacturing process) even after carefully selecting open-stock pencils with the leads adequately centered and limiting vigorous applications/sharpening to avoid breaking inches of lead off them. Unfortunately, the only widely available pencil I could find emulating the cherished qualities of my old Berol Prismacolors (Caran D’ache Luminance) were priced beyond my budget for any large set, so the Polychromos (which were broadly lauded on the Internets as a reliable, high quality professional artists’ pencil) ended up making the majority of my (then 25) colored-pencil collection. A lot of people compare these to the Prismacolor Premiers as competing alternatives, but working with the Polychromos almost felt like learning a different medium in the beginning. For one, laying and burnishing the paper with color is a much more gradual, time-consuming process (taking considerably more layers and strokes to get the same coverage as the softer pencils). At the same time, however, each stroke yields a great concentration of rich pigment, so carefully modulated pressure is important for getting the desired consistency and saturation (though the tooth of the paper will accept plenty more layers on top if initial touches were too light). The biggest difficulty I had with Polys was realizing that you can’t really blend them in the same way you do with the wax-based pencils (i.e. using the pencil to push the waxy clumps of pigment from different colors into eachother). Instead, blending colors with Polys by themselves mostly entails iteratively/alternately layering the colors (from initially very soft to progressively harder applications) to combine them. Pressing too hard in attempt to force two dissimilar colors together can occasionally cause noticeable streaking of dark/deep pigments across transparent/light colors (this usually results from pieces of dark binder/pigment getting stuck to the lighter lead, and can easily be wiped or sharpened off). However, as my techniques improved (with the help of Youtube and a few other video tutorials!), I started really appreciating the detail, depth and subtle effects that these pencils added to my work. Furthermore, I found I could cover most of the Polys’ weaknesses by combining them with my residual collection of Coloursofts and Prismas (entirely intermixable, given their binders are all comprised of oil and wax - albeit with differing ratios). The Polys also lend themselves to relatively smooth blending with a myriad of solvents (turpenoid, odorless mineral spirits, rubbing alcohol, etc.), although I personally prefer to go with the non-toxic, non-fumey stuff (baby oil on a brush), and have heard rave reviews about a recently invented non-toxic powder blender by “Brush & Pencil” which specifically leverages the oil in colored pencils (for those who want the ultimate painterly look in their work). One thing that has remained constant throughout my experience with FC Polychromos has been their reliability and readily apparent construction quality. The thick barrels are comfortable to grip with a confidence-inspiring sturdiness, and anything I lay into the paper is consistently rich with pigment and vibrantly colorful. The pencils that arrived in my tin of 120 (when I finally took the plunge) were also in great shape and true to form. Literally the most nit-picky thing I could think of (besides very mild abrasion on the tin) was that a few of the pencils were a bit dulled from their sharpest point from contact with the tin (but were still, amusingly, probably still sharper as-is than most Prismacolors could stay!). My set also had no duplicates (which I feel I should take for granted, but apparently is a common issue with other said brand), and the colors of the barrels are actually representative of the color you can get out of them. As a little bonus, the case still has that nice California cedar smell two weeks after opening! The most common complaint I hear about the Polychromos is that they’re “very expensive”, but I’d argue that (when you account for the sheer amount of pigment/color you get from your lead, and the overall longevity of the pencil), they’re actually a great value - arguably more color than you’d get from the equivalent amount of Prismacolors. Of course, they’re a non-trivial up-front investment, but (assuming you’re also investing in large quantities of decently toothed paper), $2~3 per pencil a la carte isn’t crazy (and you can do plenty with 20 colors). Should you wind up buying one of the larger sets on Amazon, they’re currently averaging around $1.20~1.50 a pencil. The only area I found where you don’t get so much bang-for-your buck is with the lighter colors (yellow, white, cream, etc.) which are a bit underwhelming on their own. At best, they can subtly tint darker undercolors (while the opaque shininess of wax-based pencil makes for far superior highlighting material). In sum, the Polychromos is a reliable workhorse of a pencil whose sturdy points also lends itself to more detailed, refined artwork (and thus, unsurprisingly, the choice of many professional artists doing portraits, natural scenes and hyperrealistic drawings). However, they also take a fair amount of patience and finally controlled applications to bring out their best qualities. These characteristics incidentally also makes them ideal for getting immersed in coloring books/projects (where I sometimes enjoy just practicing my shading, and taking my time to build up color depth). They’re a great value staple for people who know they want some oil-based pencils in their collection and desire vibrant (but lightfast) pigments. If you’re just starting out with the colored pencil medium, however, it is probably best to start with a few individual pencils from open-stock or a small pack (along with some softer wax-based pencil such as Derwent Coloursoft). PROS *Top-Notch Reliability and Construction Quality *Great for advanced artists who desire working in fine details/realism, or colorists who like to take time developing depth in their colors *Stands toe-to-toe with some of the more expensive oil-based pencils on the market (e.g. Caran D’ache Pablos and Holbeins) *Comfortable grip and easy application *Great Longevity and Durability *Deep, Vibrant Pigments (especially in the darker colors) that match the barrel color *Excellent, Responsive Blending with almost all conventional solvents (baby oil, alcohol, mineral spirits, etc.) as well as some products designed expressly for colored pencil (especially Brush & Pencil’s Powder Blender) *Decent erasability (by colored pencil standards) *Widely available in packs or individually CONS *Mid-High Sticker Price, requiring greater up-front investment than lower-tier brands *The light colors don’t stand out nearly as much, even on darker toned paper *Not great as a standalone product for beginning artists looking to get quick decent-looking results in their early short projects *Don’t blend easily on their own (requires lots of layering in overlapping circular strokes)

Okay, I do a lot of adult coloring books coloring and Prismas was my go to pencil for a very long time. I got tired of how easy the Prismas kept breaking, and no matter how I sharpened them a new pencil would be down half its size by the time I finished a few pictures. I bought these pencils do to so many others using them and they work much better for me. Being a harder pencil seems to work for me and they are a bit expensive, but I ordered a 2nd set during the Holiday season when they lower the price. Since I purchased these I hardly use any of my other pencils.

These color pencils are great. The pigments are nice & vibrant. Theyre easy to sharpen without lots of splintering or breaking. Coloring with them whether using soft or hard pressure theres not a lot of crumbing. I received them as described, great condition. I received them quickly which was great & Theyre a great value. Recommend for sure, thank you!!

Todo bien!

I started creating a swatch chart with my new set of 120 Polychromos pencils and wrote an email to Faber Castell informing them that I had received two Pine Green pencils and no Chrome Oxide Green. I was provided the opportunity to send the pencils to Faber-Castell for replacement and told that Faber-Castell USA does not sell or distribute through Amazon, nor are we affiliated with them. The pencil set was sourced through Topaz Worldwide, which returns a Page Not Found error when I click the link in the Orders record.

The polychromo pencils lay down very smooth and have not had any problems with broken leads. They sharpen easily as well.

I have used a few different brands of colored pencils over the years, and Polychromos are definitely my general favorite go-to pencils. They are easily to use, easy to sharpen, they hold a point well (although they can still snap with pressure), and they wear down very, very slowly. They really shine on toothy papers. Unlike Prismacolors, which tend to skim the top of the paper unless applied with pressure, Polychromos seem to sink into the paper and spread evenly even with minimal pressure. This is better for even coloring, although it is harder to use for some specific techniques like scratching (which is very effective with Prismacolors due to the wax buildup). Luckily, Polychromos combine extremely well with Prismacolors (I use both on every drawing!), so theres no need to give up any technique of choice! I uploaded a drawing of mine that is about 50% Prismacolor and 50% Polychromos. As you can see, its really impossible to tell which is which! I made swatches on extremely smooth (Bristol smooth) and extremely rough (cold press watercolor) paper and you can see how paper tooth really brings out the colors.

I bought the 12 pack to try them out and enjoyed them so much I ended up wanting to get the 120 set so I saved up my money and got them! I love them so much! Some people say that blending is difficult with these but they worked pretty well as long as you work with layering your colors. Also if you are having some trouble with that I like to add some white on top to make them blend better and look nice and smooth. Practice always makes perfect! When I was useing Prisma Colored pencils they always smeared around and were kinda flaky when I used them witch I didn’t like but these colored pencils don’t do that at all! I haven’t had any of them break ether. Also they kinda smell like a freshly painted room and I really like it for some reason lol.