KINGART™ Select Series Art & Graphic Collection

Appreciate your little surprise bonus as well! So generous!

Nice box

The colored pencils are nice but the chalk pencils are impossible to sharpen as they constantly break before you get a good tip. Other than that it is a really nice set. Im glad there are only 5 chalk pencils.

We all know the relative who on one hand wants to encourage the artist in the family and on the other is cheap. or you have a price limit for a gift exchange. Outside of a professional artist or someone who's very particular they should find this set useful. If you've wanted to try different mediums this set will make an encouraging introduction. Include some quality mixed media paper or a sketchbook with this if you want. I used a Stilman and Birn Nova grey tint in the picture.

Having had my hands on +/- 40 types of dry and watercolor pencils I'll put these in the student to basic artist category. You'll know if you're ready to go up to the higher quality stuff, and this will be a nice box to keep them in, but if you're learning and burning through supplies this is a good brand.

For more experienced artists here's the nitty gritty- the watercolor pencils are transparent, have decent pigment, and good melt. They behave like a more expensive artist brand set I have. Unless you want something like thick pigmented Derwents or really care about lightfastness King will do. I did not have the high binder wonky melt of other "cheap" water color pencils. The included brush is to the smaller size, you'll probably want for one you're more comfortable with and/or a water pen.

For the dry pencils I would like the darks to be richer, the browns are very red toned. There are a lot of similar shades for a set this size. Definitely swatch these because the colors are off from the barrels. Still they are workable and you can get some nice light layer blends. They are to the harder side like Verithins and Derwent Studio and I didn't need to sharpen during my work.

In the picture, done in a Stilman and Birn Nova grey book, watercolor pencil is on the left and dry pencil on the right. This happens to be the best mixed media paper I have on hand at the moment. Definitely use a mixed media or watercolor paper with watercolor pencils.

*To update the watercolor pencils are great, I like them better than some of the "artist" brands I have. They have great melt and blending. I will consider them for my next large transparent set.

It's got all the different colors of pencils and charcoals you'd ever need, in a neat little box that folds out so you can choose them and then folds back up when you're done. It has all the little sharpeners and erasers and stuff you'd need as well.

It's not expensive so it's a great starter set or maybe a good gift for an artistic child. If they break it you're only out $30 or whatever so no big deal.