Here's how CarbOthello's stack up against the competition. Pastel pencils are mainly good for detailing. While most pastel pencils can be smudged that doesn't mean that they are made for underpaintings. (I use PanPastels, Unisons, or Rembrandts for the underpainting usually.) CarbOthellos are easily sharpened to a point, colorfast, and are very reasonably priced. Koh-i-noors are softer, and the Caran d'Aches are softer still. As a matter of fact, the Caran d'Aches are too soft for detailing. (They can be used for underpaintings.) Faber Castell's are among the hardest pastel pencils, along with the Derwent's and the Carbothello's. CarbOthello's is the softest of the three, much less scratchy. The Derwent's, especially, can be scratchy. The Faber Castell's and the Derwent's are much more difficult to sharpen, too. They need to be hand sharpened using a razor... Conte's and Koh-i-noor's are also on the softer end of the spectrum, but not as soft as Caran d'Ache. The CarbOthello's are not too hard or too soft, and are easily sharpened using a hand crank sharpener.

I think generally you'd want to go with the harder pencils if you do realism and like sharp lines and the softer ones if you do impressionism or expressionism and like thicker lines. Sharp lines are easily created with harder pastel pencils. Buying several different sets adds variety to the texture and to the color range. However, if I could only afford one set of pastel pencils, I'd buy the CarbOthello's, because of their price, their texture, and their color range.

This is my favorite set of colored pencils. I truly enjoy working with Charcoal because it blends so well. I have several sets of colored pencils and while each set have their own pluses and minuses, I just enjoy these the most. (Every Artist has their own favorite medium. To be fair I am a newer artist.) This is also my favorite because some of the other sets I have do not have the selection of colors that this one has. For example some of the other sets I have duplicate the same color over and over with just the change of the color name. The colors although named differently are just too similar. THAT IS NOT THE CASE WITH THE 60 SET OF CARB-OTHELLO. YOU REALLY GET A GREAT SELECTION OF COLORS AND THE CHACO IS SO DARN WORKABLE. The one warning I would give about this product is that since charcoal is so soft you must be careful when using a pencil sharpener. If you are not keeping an eye on the sharpener, your pencil will be ground to dust in a heartbeat.

The drawing attached The original was found in a movie I watched about Beautiful Black Women's hair. The other is the drawing I did from the original. I do not know who the original author is but I did not do them justice. My drawing is, of course, the one with the tan background.

The blend incredibly well. I absolutely love them.. Word to the wise.. Buy extra white.

This is an inexpensive set of pastel pencils that's as good as more expensive artist's brands. The texture chalky similar to Rembrandt pastels, not more creamy such as Scmincke, Terry Ludwig, Great American, Unison, etc. These pencils are great for adding details on your pastel stick painting or for drawings on their own. For users new to pastels, pastel drawings need to be well protected or set with fixatives because of their powdery residues. The bendability and color payoff are great if you're used to more waxy coloring pencils, but these probably aren't best suited for casual adult coloring book hobbyists, and they'll wear down fast besides the need for protection.

I own several of the high-end brands of colored pencils (Faber Castell, Derwent and Conte a'Paris) and this one...wow makes me feel silly spending a fortune on the aformentioned. Seriously, these pencils are amazing...the holy grail and I'm not exaggerating! These pencils are wonderfully chalky but not too chalky that they would leave too much of a powdery residue upon each stroke. They are rich and highly pigmented that even with a rub of your finger, the colors stay true. And it is so easy to layer if you want more vibrancy. This set of 60 is really perfect, you won't regret it. I've gotten sets large in number where I end up with pencils that are near dupes and i can say for the first time that this is not the case. Every color Is unique to me and I see myself using each and every one of them whether it be for landscape, still life, portrait, etc. absolutely saitistied with them...so glad these exist! The pencils don't have a labeled color name to them which isn't a problem for me but it judt means that the swatches I'm posting won't have any collr names to them. I hooe it'll show just how amazing they are. The right side I smudged slightly for reference.