ARTPIQ Drawing Pencils Set of 12 Mixed Grade Graphite Pencils- 2H H F HB B 2B 3B 4B 5B 6B 7B 8B - Ideal for a Wide Variety of Drawing Techniques - Premium Quality Wood and Graphite Lead

I joined an art class last year and have been using the studio materials but wanted some pencils of my own. I needed a set of graded pencils for the many different drawing techniques we do, so chose these as I saw that you get twelve different grades (instead of eight or ten) and the price for this many was extremely reasonable. The first thing I noticed on taking the pencils out of the pack is how nice they feel. They are light and have a smooth matt finish which makes them very pleasant to use. They are all pre-sharpened too and the grades are clearly inscribed on each pencil. So far these have suited every drawing technique I have been doing and the results are much better than what I have been achieving with the other pencils I have been using up until now. They flow really nicely and the leads are solid. I would recommend these pencils as an affordable way to buy a wide range of pencil grades in one pack without skimping on quality.

Ideal for high school art classes.

Lovely selection of pencils

Gift but looks ideal

Well packaged and ready to go

I can’t really explain it but there is almost a white cast to these pencils which I don’t like. They are not particularly accurate in their grading either. F is darker than the 8B which is a bit strange. I think that they could deter beginner artist/drawers by thinking their results were poor. It really does pay to get a reputable well tested brand wether you are a beginner or professional artist but especially a beginner. They are very soft, almost crumbly. They blend but leave this odd cast. For the price you’d possibly be better off shelling out a little more and get great results rather than disappointing.

Perfect for art beginners

What you see in their photos is what you get. I am glad there are only 3 x H's as I really don't like scratchy hard H pencils! The rest are great. Very light, feel nice, matt finish with a posh looking gold end, which is handy as the gold portion stands out when on my black desktop - I usually avoid using black writing utensils for this reason - they 'disappear'! I rarely use a pen, so get through a few pencils, it is so nice to have different grades, I will enjoy using these, and a great price too, just under £6 for the 12. Of course I won't know how good they are regarding 'breakage' when sharpening until I've been through a few, so if I have any problems, I will update this review, but, so far, so good. Not sure what the relevance of 'beautiful packaging' is as you are buying pencils, the packaging is irrelevant, and it is pretty meh if anything (speaking as a professional graphic designer/product designer).