Castle Art Supplies 40 Piece Premium Drawing and Sketching Set with Tutorial | for Artists, Professionals or Beginners | Pencils, Charcoal, Graphite and More | in Neat Carry-Anywhere Zipper Case

Great present. Good quality. The zip up travel case was awesome along with the option to prop up pencils for easy access.

It's a very complete set, I liked all the instruments and pencil. It have guides that give the explanation of all the things that come with (something important for the people who is starting and doesn't know the function), it have very good quality and its versatile. :)

Quality kit!

This was a complete set for beginners or professional alike . A fair price for such an inclusive set . As a retired Engineer wanting to do artist drawing rather then mechanical and engineering rendering this was an excellent choice.

Great set nice quality

Pros: the graphite pencils are pretty much buttery smooth and a joy to work with, really one of the best pencil sets so far. The willow sticks last a long time. The pencil extender is a lifesaver. The sharpeners are sharp and do not dull quickly. Cons: the kneaded eraser is useless, breaks apart like an old starburst. The charcoal pencils don't smudge/blend well, which would be great if the compressed charcoal was smaller/pinpoint but they are not. The chalk pastel pencils aren't the best quality. I created a charcoal art piece with this set and have attached a photo for reference. Overall, turned out well and I am happy.

First, if you are using Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain: The Definitive, 4th Edition to learn to draw, this has a lot of what you will need in a convenient case. Going through the book, I rarely have to reach to anything that didn't come in this kit shy of my sketch book. That was what turned me on to it, and that's why I love it. Incidentally, if you are learned to draw, I'd highly recommend that book, this kit, and Strathmore STR-340-111 50 Sheet Draw Tape Bound, 11 by 14" or a similar size sketchbook (or any sketchbook if you're not fussy) to get started. The three together will see you a good way into your journey. Throw in a drawing board if you're feeling fancy. Indeed, for most instruction programs, this and some paper is all you'll need. it is a very well provided kit. Going through all of it, piece by piece. The case itself is quite sturdy (my cat has taken a try at destroying it, and I've taken a try at over-stuffing it, and it's survived both of us.) It holds everything securely and presents them well with the built in stand. Pencils include 8B, 6B, 5B, 4B, 3B, 2B, B, HB (HB is your standard #2 pencil by the way), 2H, 3H, 4H, and 5H. For those familiar with drawing pencils, you already know that's quite a huge range. For those unfamiliar, H measures hardness and B measure boldness. 5H is so hard it barely makes a line and 8B is so dark it's practically charcoal. Speaking of charcoal, this kit contains a box of 4 sticks of willow charcoal (made it though a lot of rough treatment because the case does a good job of protecting it until I finally broke them intentionally), three sticks of charcoal (soft, medium, and hard) and three charcoal pencils (soft, medium, and hard). The charcoal sticks are the darker matte ones. The shiny one are graphite. On the graphite side there are three sticks (soft, medium, and hard) and a 6B soft graphite pencil. On the pastel side, there are four pencils: Black, Grey, Red Brown, and Sepia. It comes with two pencil sharpeners, and here I took one out to make room for something else (I've been tweaking the kit a bit -- more on that in a bit) and replaced one as it wasn't a terribly sharp sharpener. That was the only bit I was disappointed in, and it happens sometimes. It also comes with sandpaper and an Xacto knife for additional sharpening options. I've used the knife to cut cardboard with no issues. On the eraser front it has a kneeding and a vinyl eraser. That's all you need. It has three blending stumps (very generous -- most kits have just one) and a double sized pencil extender. Now, since I'm weird, I extended the kit a bit. To wit, I've added: an eraser shield (that it would have been nice if it came with it, but it would have been hard to present it well -- I just stuck it behind the pencils), Pilot FriXion Colors Erasable Marker, 6 Color Set (SFC-60M-6C3) (the only thing that isn't secured in the kit) An eraser for said markers (that's what replaced the extra sharpener) Three Conte crayon pencils One white pencil Pentel Arts Pocket Brush Pen, Includes 2 Black Ink Refills (GFKP3BPA) The point of that simply is, with moving stuff around the kit is quite versatile and suited for individual customization. There is room to make this kit uniquely yours. Castle Art is extremely responsive to customer concerns (I emailed them with a question about the kit and they got back to me promptly and with very helpful information). They do not, at the time of this writing, offer refills, but I have found each of the components either here at Amazon or at various online and brick and mortar art supply stores, so it won't be hard to refill the case at need.

Excellent kit, good quality!