– Set of 72 Watercolour Pencils | Intense Pigments for Blending, Drawing and Painting | For Adults, Amateurs and Professionals | Protected in a Presentation Box

A really great selection of watercolour pencils. The trays lift out easily and it is simple to remove a pencil from the tray without disturbing the others. The pencils are numbered which is very helpful especially for beginners like myself who are stumbling through this new world of colour and learning as I go. The pencils feel very good quality, are comfortable and strong to hold, and deliver a beautiful colour, and then continue to impress when you use a small brush and water with them. I am so impressed and have found the quality of these pencils have given me such good results that it has given me the confidence to do so much more than I ever thought I was able to. I cannot recommend these pencils highly enough. I really am very impressed.

My favourite art equipment. I use these a lot

Can't argue that these pencils are great value for money and I'm already thinking up lots of pencil drawings to try these out on, and I'm happy with my purchase. The colours are beautiful, vibrant and varied enough that you won't need to go looking for any extra colours while you're creating your masterpiece! However, there's one small niggle for me which was a little disappointing. It's stated that the pencil lines "disappear when water is added". Unfortunately, many of them don't. I've tried out every technique I can think of to get a smooth blend with these, and they always leave distinct marks behind. I've tried minimal pressure pencil marks on dry then brushed with wet/ pencil on wet paper/pencil dipped in water then blended on paper/ I've even tried wet pencil on wet paper, but many of the colours leave scratchy pencil lines which are especially apparent once the paint has dried. This would be fine if you were creating a detailed illustration where you kind of want those little pigmented lines to remain with a nice watery blend around them, but for any medium to large areas, you're not going to get a consistent watercolour effect without seeing where you scribbled. Maybe tweaking the product description to state that it's more of a blended line would manage expectations more. I'd still buy the set if it said that. I've added a numbered image where I used blending on dry paper, and then the wet method, along with various shapes and lines I drew which you can see show through once the water has blended the pigment out. The swatch shows a similar thing. 6-10 are shapes I drew then blended out. Apart from the yellow/orange blend, many of them leave some pretty obvious lines. 4 & 5 were wet paper with a wet pencil, and I got a slightly better blend from that. I can see these being awesome for line work with effects, or intricate spots of colour, but I'd be reluctant to use these on an actual watercolour piece. If you just want these for a more flowy colouring pencil piece, then they're a must-have.

I ordered the water colour pencils as I had already ordered the 120 normal colouring pencil set from Castle Art which I might add are amazing. The water colour pencils turned up very quickly and although I haven't had the chance to use them on any projects yet I did have a little test to see how they were. They are quite amazing. the colour flows with water without leaving any scratchy lines. The pencils themselves are lovely and soft so no scratching on the paper. I tested them on water colour card but haven't had the chance to test on mixed media paper or card yet. Therefore overall I would say a fantastic set of pencils for an unbelievable price.

excellent quality - I am satisfied with the high quality of the pencils

I have had a bunch of mismatched coloured pencils for many years some of them are stubs so I thought it was time to purchase some new ones. These are brilliant. Lots of subtle differences in the colour choice and a large array of different hues. I have not used them as watercolours very much but as dry pencils fantastic. You can see the quality that has been put into them by the tin case alone. If you want pencils at a reasonable cost with a good choice you would not do better than these1

Lovely set of pencils, plenty of colours and the coverage from each pencil is soft and vibrant. The tin is nice to keep them in and the colour chart underneath is very useful, although could do with a separate card to keep handy. The plastic trays are a bit flimsy and so makes it quite awkward getting them out, and then the pencils fall out everywhere. But its not a bad selling point, would still recommend the pencils. Fabulous for the price.

I am learning water colour painting at a class in Enderby. There I can get my paints out and use but at home and on holiday I worry about spilling paint so I like to uses watercolour pencils. I’ve not used the castle ones yet but one problem with them is you spill a whole tray of pencils by getting it out to get to those below. Also the place to put the pencils is barely room to put back a pencil. They don’t have room enough to manoeuvre. I have already broken the point off one pencil as there is barley room to put the back The thickness of the lead is much greater than my other pencils so that’s a plus. Also the many different shades of for example green is wonderful as it means there is little need to mix colours. But the most frustrating thing is that they spill easily so I’ve had to put the main colours I use in an old pencil box I could not use the pencils from this set up as each time I have to get out a try for colours beneath the tray is not strong enough to support the pencils and a certain way of lifting a tray out bends the weak plastic tray and then most of the pencils start to fall all over the place and as well as being a nuisance time is list picking up and replacing them on the tray is lost. It’s hugely frustrating and embarrassing when in a class and at home. Plus when the pencils fall if onto the floor the water colour lead is likely to break along the length of the pencil So a plus. The lovely array of shades of colour Negative. Please strengthen the plastic trays so they can support that tray of pencils without bending under they weight and something needs to be done to keep the pencils in place So if on lifting out at a slight angle the pencils don’t start slipping of the tray all over the place. Time and time this happened to me. It’s not just the fact they slip of it’s the time wasted putting them all back to fit on the tray when out of the box I’m getting the hang of it now but you only have to lift the trays at the slightest of angles which has to be done because there is no space to use two hands and the pencils slide all over the place. Perhaps a sign could be out on the tray edges to say lift this way for if the tray is lifted out with the ends of the pencils fall against the end of the tray that is better. If the points of the pencils are lower than the slant of the tray most of them slide off. This is hugely exasperating Imaging where they would go if painting out doors or in a class. All that is needed is a stronger plastic trays. I know we are all trying to save the planet but more plastic is needed on these trays please. Then the pencils will not slide. Put this end up where the place is to lift the trays out if there was a tighter grip on the pencils that would prevent falling out. More space to choosr a pencil also by being able to get the pencils out and put back would be appreciated. I have to store mine in another box to the one they came in because of these problems when I’d much prefer to use the original box as it’s more convenient and smaller to carry with me