"This box of 50 Sargent Art Colored Pencils (# 22-7251) is a well-above-average colored pencil product at a good price. As moods of colors go, the ones here are much more representative of the spectrum, its in-betweens and the neutrals, than the vivid kid-oriented brands like Cra-Z-Art, RoseArt or Crayola. All four of the above lines are physically of good quality, but the makeup of the leads ("color cores") in the Sargent Art colored pencils is a skosh closer to a real artist colored pencil (or "stick") than mass brands aimed at ages three and up. Here are some reasons why this pencil is so good, and why it may not be ideal for younger kids (ages 3 - 8, say): PROS: -- Round barrels; -- Accurate colors; -- Solid wood barrels makes for good sharpening (but always use a handheld sharpener); -- Pencils come pre-sharpened well, with hard conical points; -- To get much "artier," more professional colored pencils cost a lot more than this set; -- Adequate number of neutral and earth tones. Yet there is a price to pay for pencils that have some of the temperament of adult or semi-pro colored pencils. CONS: -- Some pencils will have different degrees of "drag" because in order to keep chromatic harmony among colors, the amount of clay and pigmentation must vary; -- Therefore while the Sargents do not break easily, they will require varying degrees of pressure to lay down the same depth of color among colors; -- They take a bit longer and require more caution to sharpen than brands like Cra-Z-Art, Crayola, RoseArt or Mercur, which makes it all the more important they be sharpened by hand; -- Like most colored pencils, they don't have their own erasers. I have found mine erase best from art paper with an ovoid PaperMate Black Pearl eraser, gentle pressure, and some patience -- there are probably other erasers out there that perform well too. SUMMARY: Don't give these to young children unless this specific brand is specified and the pencils are to be used under close supervision. While these Sargents require a bit more finesse and patience to use, they are a joy for representing the colors one would want four-dozen-plus pencils to represent (and are free of non-naturally-existing tones like "neon" or cute-sounding but vague names like "Mauvelous"). For tweens and older, including adults, these are a great pencil to pick up and just have fun with. These are nonetheless colored pencils and cannot be expected to blend well with each other. To get started on a higher standard, learn color-blending techniques (which usually require a separate blending pencil), and go for a deliberate trainer set like Prismacolor's "Scholars." If you want to jump higher, straight into semi-pro and pro territory, there are plenty of lines -- Prismacolor Prime, Derwint, and Faber-Castell, among others -- but novices will probably find these "art sticks" in pencil form crumbly and frustrating to use. They also get used up much more quickly and cost a great deal more. Sargent is an old American art-equipment house headquartered in Hazelton, Pennsylvania. The colored pencils themselves were manufactured in Thailand."
Sargent Art 22-7251 50-Count Assorted Colored Pencils (Compare Deals from $12.27)
"I have been using the Crayola pencils, which I have found to be very nice. I got these on one of those "sale" things, and thought it would be great to get another set as the Crayolas are getting a little short due to usage. These are much harder lead, one has to use a LOT of force to get most of the colors to work. The colors are very waxy and often "skip" so you have a bit of blank space that no color will attach to because the wax took over. Also, the paler colors (light yellow, yellow, tan, peach) had weird dark marks in them, which I finally realized was actually IN the lead, as my yellow had a blob of blue in it. After I realized it, I was able to sharpen the pencil and get the blue out of it, but not before my drawing was pretty much ruined. (It was as if when they mixed the batter, they didn't dissolve all the parts, like if you get a chunk of flour in your brownie...) Also, there are many, many shades of green, and very few shades of red. Also, there are 2 white and 2 black pencils, so you don't even get 50 colors, just 48. And who really needs a white pencil? Especially if the others are so waxy, you can't draw over a previous color in order to shade.... At least they were on sale."
"50 colored pencils, very high quality. There are two black pencils (good!) and two white (meh), but most other colors do not repeat. One color I wished they had was dark grey! There is a silvery color, several green shades, many blue shades, and a lot of browns and yellows. The shades are somber, more earth or nature tones. I use them for coloring maps and such for table top RPG games and for fun and simple drawings. These aren't the top quality, but they are slightly better than Crayola (which are surprisingly good quality - though very bright colored) and MUCH better than Rose Art. They aren't PRISMACOLOR by any stretch, but they suffice for fun, non-professional art. Very little issues with broken lead falling out of the cylinder (looking at you Rose Art!)."
"I ordered these for my Dover Coloring Books. I've tried crayons but you need a small tip for a lot of the coloring pages in those books so I needed decent colored pencils. After looking at the good reviews for these I decided to buy them. They were a reasonable price and I wanted something that would blend well with other colors. These are great. There are so many colors to choose from and I'm really happy I picked these. I originally wanted prismacolor but they were way out of my price range. These will definitely work for now. I wasn't supposed to get these until tomorrow so I was really surprised when they showed up on my doorstep today. I am very impressed."
"The pencils are nice quality. The '50 colors' is very misleading though. There are 50 names and 50 different 'colored barrels', but the pencil leads aren't even close to the barrels in many instances and often indistinguishable from each other. For example, there are ten shades of green, but most are impossible to tell apart so there's really only about four. Same with the blue. (Almost half the box right there). And, there is only one purple. One. They could have easily eliminated a few of the duplicated greens and blues and added another purple or two. Always try them on scrap paper before you trust the names. My 'cherry red' is much more orange than my 'red-orange' (which doesn't have a hint of orange). I think they're switched. Maybe I got a bad set?? There isn't anything like a fuchsia or magenta either which seems like a big omission in a set this large. Overall still a good value though."
"I wanted to find a good set of colored pencils for my 3 and 2 year old. We originally tried a set of Crayola pencils and were so disappointed. The color was great, but the quality was horrible. They constantly broke and once we sharpened them, the colored lead would slip out of the pencil completely. I originally looked to replace them with Prismacolor pencils, but I just couldn't justify the price for preschoolers and toddlers. I still wanted quality and a wide selection of colors, just at a lower price point. My kids love that there are so many colors and so far not a single tip has broken, which is huge since my kids can be pretty rough with their art supplies! I had read on some Prismacolor reviews that its best to stay away from plastic sharpeners and opt for a heavy duty metal sharpener. I think we might get one in an effort to keep these pencils in the best shape possible. They are definitely a great alternative to the high end pencils, especially for younger children. UPDATE (November 2011) These pencils have been used nearly everyday by my 4 and 2 year old. They've held up nicely, but they do wear down fairly quickly. I started off sharpening them with a cheap sharpener with mixed results. Some of the colors sharpen easily and quickly, while others (especially the silver and gold) break quite a bit and it's difficult to get a nice sharp point. Until you've used them awhile its hard to tell which colors are going to act up when sharpening, so it becomes trial and error as you sharpen. With that said, I still think the quality and color selection is superior to Crayola."
"Bought these for my granddaughter to go with her adult coloring book and she was so happy. Seem to be a good quality colored pencil."
Sargent Art 22-7251 50-Count Assorted Colored Pencils (Compare Deals from $12.27)
