5.0 out of 5 stars A great starter kit at a great price

L.D. · 7 October 2025

This is a comprehensive set of pencils and charcoal for sketching. Ideal for a young starter. Years ago I would have loved to receive this as a gift.Pencils come in various qualities, and I am sure these are by no means top quality at this low price, but for a young person to explore their abilities this pack has everything that they would need for sketching. As well as the range of 13 pencils from hard to soft, there are black and white charcoal sticks, blenders and a hard and soft eraser. There is also a strange-looking paddle with pieces of sandpaper attached. This can be used for refining the pencil point, creating fine charcoal dust or producing a grainy effect on the paper.This is a great gift for a young artist – looks much more expensive than it actually is!

5.0 out of 5 stars Great set overall, excellent value

B. · 7 October 2025

For the price this is a really cracking set of sketching tools, with a really comprehensive selection. They're not the best quality ever, but there is really nothing especially wrong with them either. I found the hardest pencils to be all a little too similar with not a lot of variation, but once you got to the softer pencils they reacted exactly as they should. Likewise, the charcoal was fairly similar with the softer being much better and the white charcoal was a little bit too hard for me, but the chalk was great. All the other little bits and pieces are nice additions and all are well up to scratch. Overall for a fairly complete set to get you going, I thought they were great and really I'm being ultra-critical here, I would enjoy sketching with this set for sure.

4.0 out of 5 stars Good starter set for new artists... at a bargain price.

B. · 6 October 2025

For the price of a little over £8, this is a reasonable set but mine arrived with a few breakages...The main casualties were the "white" charcoal sticks which were in several pieces... Not that I use much dark paper that requires the highlights but something to bear in mind.The set does go up to 12B which is a good deal softer and darker than I've had before where my sets topped out at 8B.Pencils seem reasonably consistent with other brands.Charcoal pencils are a nice addition, as are the charcoal shading blocks.Overall a decent starter set to see if it's something you want to continue to do.

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent set

L. · 7 October 2025

These pencils are fab! They came yesterday and already my son has done the most amazing drawing. It has loads of different tools for smudging and blending and the pencils themselves are high quality. There are 3 charcoal pencils, 10 graphite pencils plus charcoal sticks, blending stumps - basically everything you need for sketching. A must for any artist. The price of £8.47 is brilliant for how much you get and the quality of the items. Great!

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect for kids and young budding artists.

N.M. · 12 October 2025

I have more comprehensive chalk and charcoal sets. However, this is perfect for young artists just starting to become more experienced. It includes different gradients of pencils that are needed for outlining and shading with two types of rubbers and a metal sharpener, as well as rolled paper pencils for blending. You can also use the sharpener every time you need to refresh the rolled paper tip. The artisanal studio range has included the essentials for the budding artist. This set is good value for money, coming in under £9, and this price includes Bolo Prime next-day delivery.

3.0 out of 5 stars Artisanal apparently!!! Who knew

A.C. · 6 October 2025

Excellent set of sketching pencils, 27 items including sharpener and eraser and loads more, my only problem and I wish china would sort this out on 90% of the products I buy, the name, most of the time it seems to be a random selection of letters but this product name actually sounds like something, ARTISANAL, I mean….is it????? I literally couldn’t get past this, it’s written on the bloody pencils too, ok maybe I’m being a bit petty but try letting your kids use a pencil with art is anal on it then keeping a straight face when they ask you what it means!!! Other than this it’s a good set.

5.0 out of 5 stars good value

J.C. · 9 October 2025

For the current price of £8.47 this looks like fair value in terms of what you are getting for your money. I've just started a drawing course with the OCA and this should equip me sufficiently to get started.It doesn't reflect on the product which is exactly as per the product description, but it is worth noting that the box opens at the top with the black tray being quite flimsy for regular use, so I am going to need something else to store the bits in.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great comprehensive sketching set

S.S. · 8 October 2025

This is a great comprehensive sketching set of 27 items which comes well packaged in its tray and box.The range of graphite pencils is from 12B to 4H which is a wider range than I have had in the past. The charcoal pencils and sticks are a good mix of soft medium and hard and I have not used either a white charcoal pencil or the white sticks before so these are an interesting addition. The blending stumps, sandpaper, erasers, sharpener and woodless graphite pencil complete the set.This set gives everything you need for a beginner as well as someone who is more proficient. It is a compact well presented set suitable for children and adults, and would make a lovely gift.