PH Coate 1002 Artist Willow Charcoal, Medium, 25 Sticks per Box

Alright, I've seen a number of frustrated customers review this product. To be fair this is an assortment of varying thickness charcoal. Some of them are pretty thin and may not meet your needs. Also they are half stick length. I purchased these to sample so this turned out ok for me.How do they perform? Quite pleasant actually. Humorously thin sticks aside(which still serve a purpose) they are delightfully soft and responsive, and dare I say buttery for charcoal. No hard or scratchy spots. These are honestly the best willow charcoal I've worked with. Even the thin ones do nicelywhen used for detail work. I'll be certain to buy more although I'll be looking for certain size assortments.

First of all I'll say that I am happy with this piece of charcoal. For reference I bought the single, jumbo side. My primary interest in charcoal drawing is in portraiture and figure drawing. I often use it alongside my vine charcoal in the preliminary stages of my drawings and for blocking in larger, darker regions of the image.Physically it handles like most willow charcoal you'll have handled. I would describe the texture as "medium" by charcoal terms meaning it makes marks relatively easily and leaves quite a lot of pigment on the page. I attempted to sharpen it a little on some sand paper but it didn't take anything approaching a point but could give some reasonable edges to use. Also note that my piece contained quite a few knots but they are obvious and easy to work around should you desire.In use the line was not as a little more gray than some (softer) willow charcoal I've used but was dark enough for my purposes. I typically work in lighter tones then use compressed charcoal (black and white) toward the end to increase the contrast so all I need is enough dynamic range for early stages, which it provides. The ease of application combined with the comparatively large size also encourages a loose style which is well suited to the early stages of a drawing. As with most willow charcoal it is darker and leaves slightly less powder down than vine; conversely it doesn't erase quite as well as vine charcoal but both can (almost) be brought back to pure paper tone with an eraser.Overall I am happy with this charcoal. It gives the working characteristics typical of willow in a large form factor. The only thing holding it back from five stars is the slightly lighter tone than some willow charcoal I've used and the ease with which the edges can crack and crumble.

Bought these for my first art class and used them the whole semester and still have plenty charcoal sticks left. The first piece I created using this medium was chosen to be in our schools art show. Today I was just experimenting and decided to do a portrait of the late great Tupac. The sticks are so easy to work with and the variety of sizes in the box allows u to work w different parts of the picture nicely. Be gentle bcuz they're very soft and can snap if you aren't aware of your pressure. Otherwise, I love these and will order again from this company. Most of my classmates had generals brand but I had this one n my professor looked at the box it came in and she said wow that's a lot of charcoal.

I bought these for a drawing class I was taking. I found I really don't like drawing with charcoal vine--it breaks really easily and leave crumbs on the paper that will smear if you try to brush them off. I trashed the box because it would not fit in the plastic box I was keeping my drawing supplies in and I really regretted not having something to protect the vine sticks. They are wrapped in black tissue paper but it does not keep the black dust that forms from seeping into the storage box. For those who like drawing with charcoal vine this is probably a great product. It isn't my cup of tea.

Not sure how much damage to expect/accept here. Mine came with lots of breakage though obviously some still salvageable. Charcoal itself seems like a good product though.

It feels natural and well made, but I noticed it gets much darker than other vine charcoal. It is great for making super dark pieces, but very difficult to use in a reduction, considering it basically stains the paper and dirties your eraser much more quickly than others. Because of this, it is not too different from just using compressed charcoal, except it is still easy to change it with your finger/tortillion.

I use these to roughly sketch out my paintings on canvas, not for detailed sketches. What is nice is a light sketch on the canvas “erases” mostly away with a paper towel and doesn’t negatively impact even light colored paint. Perfect for what I needed!

Great set of willow charcoal sticks. Has a huge variety of sizes. The sticks are bundled up and wrapped inside the box and they all arrived intact. Have made a lot of charcoal drawings in a year and still have a lot charcoal left.

Perfect.I have recently rediscovered the joys (and mess) of charcoal and these sticks are perfect.I am quite an experienced artist, this charcoal is useful for pretty much any ability and cheap enough for any budding artist to experiment with.Definitely recommend.Thanks for reading, I hope you find this review helpful.

Just received this item, haven't used it yet, but it came perfectly packaged with a wide range of different sizes!

Bought four boxes, each box contained 28 3mm sticks and two 12mm sticks, not the assortment of sizes illustrated on the box and suggested by the 3-12mm description. I will be returning them.

Everything about this is rubbish .The thin sticks just dissolve in your hands useless avoid at all costs.

Nice dark tones with no colour lagEasy to wash off fingers after sketchingNicely packaged without plastic