Prismacolor Premier Verithin Colored Pencils, Adult Coloring, 36 Pack

The price for these Prismacolor Verithin pencils was just right. I'd been keeping an eye on them for awhile, and this set showed up for less than $15(Fall 2012 price) so I ordered this set of 24 pencils. I love the Prismacolor Premiere soft core pencils so much I asked for the big - really big - set for my birthday. :) The only problem with the soft core, and the reason I got the Verithins is that they can hold a sharp point temporarily, if you're careful, but it's wasteful and annoying to repeatedly put a sharp tip on the same pencil repeatedly when the pencils run more than $1-2 each retail. These Verithin pencils are the answer to the problem of a sharp point which you can't get with the soft core Prismacolor pencils.These are HARD leaded pencils, as advertised. Be careful with your paper, as these will hold a point sharp enough to tear it. I recommend having a hard surface beneath your paper, etc. when coloring with these, a soft layer underneath will cause 'drag' and allow more punctures or tiny rips in your paper. I have already used these with the teeny tiny border around the pics in a coloring book from Dover, which had some very small, intricate design elements. Results were excellent!You may wish, once you try these, for more matching colors than are available, but many of these are chosen to cover a specific color 'group', such as orange-reds, crimson reds, blue-violets, bright greens, etc. Included with the colors are white, a light gray and black. THESE ARE NOT PRESHARPENED. If you prefer not to have this chore to do when your pencils arrive, you'll have to pay more for pre-sharpened Verithins.This package turns into a nice, very well-designed 'easel' for ease of choosing pencils. Be sure to open the cardboard package carefully the first time as the easel feature will be ruined if you rip the bottom tab or mangle the perforation which runs across the front and at an angle up the sides of the package. If you haven't opened this sort of case/easel before, it's easiest to slide the interior holder with pencils out of the bottom of the package entirely, then open the outer package along perforation, make sure easel feature is sturdy enough to hold upright...then carefully slide the interior case with pencils back inside. Some find this a silly or inconvenient annoyance, but having my pencils displayed point up without having to unpack or repackage them each time I use them is a plus.The barrel of the Verithin is hexagonal, which is billed as a no-roll feature, and has the location of manufacture (Mexico), color # & color name stamped into the barrel in English and French. There are several color numbers featuring a 1/2 after the digits. I'm not sure why, but those colors tend to be matches for several colors, rather than an exact match for just one color. All in all, an excellent buy.UPDATE 3/20/2013: Since I bought this package of Verithins I've been very happy with them. I really do wish I had a larger color selection, however. If the price per pencil is comparable, I recommend going straight to the 36 set, or whatever the total number of colors made for the Verithin line happens to be. These pencils are VERY useful and hold their points seemingly forever (as compared to regular 'soft core" Prismacolors. There is one small issue I wanted to mention, though it isn't a deal breaker, for sure! I tend to use more pressure than needed with my colored pencils - or any pencils, for that matter! When I apply too much pressure with the Verithin pencil, it doesn't snap the point (very good!) but it can wear through the paper (depending on quality and type, of course) in only one or two layers, which limits blending, erasing, etc., which I feel are important functions any colored pencil, hard or soft. I've learned to use them more delicately, and read an online excerpt from an art instruction book (whose name I've forgotten, so sorry!) which recommended less pressure, more layers. Seemed good in principle. It works - no more ripped pages if I am careful and patient - but it does increase the amount of time spent in adding color to some relatively small areas.Sharpening: The Verithin Prismacolor pencil is smaller in circumference than their soft core colored pencil, and can be sharpened in a regular #2 type pencil sharpener. I recommend a manual sharpener, even for the first, tedious sharpening of the pencil. A battery/electric sharpener would obviously be of great use the first time you sharpen the Verithin pencil, but if it drags or warps or causes the lead to 'bend' inside the pencil ("no - break" coatings aside), you will find yourself with 1/4 to 1/2 inch bits of colored pencil lead falling out repeatedly with future sharpenings. A regular hand-held sharpener, anything from the most basic metal blade in a metal or plastic housing to brand specific sharpeners will work for the Verithin pencils. My preferred sharpener for my Prismacolor pencils is the Prismacolor Premier Pencil Sharpener which has two blades specifically designed for Prismacolor pencils - one for the thicker soft-core premiers, the other for the Verithin or graphite pencils they make. A great second choice is the Trio sharpener by Faber-Castell, made in Germany. Not only does it work extremely well on Faber pencils, but on every other kind of pencil I've tried in it! The Faber Castell Trio Sharpener is a nifty little piece of superb engineering & design, and being made in Germany, is precise, VERY sharp & consistent. (I've reviewed it here on amazon, for more info)All in all, I am happy with my purchase of Verithin and stick to my 5 star rating. I do wish Prismacolor had a woodless pencil design such as Derwent's Aquatone (that's a watercolor woodless pencil) or Koh-i-noor's fantastic Progresso line, which are oil-based woodless pencils, regular or water-soluble. The "Art Stix" Prismacolor offers simply don't appeal to me for a variety of reasons, foremost that I can't sharpen it like a pencil. Until then, Verithin is your best bet for fine detail work in colors matching Prismacolor's other quality pencil types.An Enthusiastic Colorist in TX

Love that pencils are thin, handle well.And THE COLOR!! Definitely Prismacolor, these are well-pigmented, layer so we'll, colors have depth & vibrancy, soft, perfect

I mulled over buying these pencils for quite some time. I'm glad I took the leap. I already own a 120 Prismacolor colored pencil set that I bought over 10 years ago (that till work great btw), but noticed that when doing detailed work, it was difficult because regular Prismas are soft and while they blend great, small details are much more difficult. I've found that even though these pencils are "hard" they are still somewhat soft and if you want truly sharp details you should continually sharpen your pencil when it begins to get blunt. I don't think that is a bad thing though. When the lead does get a little blunt, its easy to do some softer details and shading as opposed to switching back and forth between Premiers and Verithins. I can just use a verithin and when I need sharp details again, I resharpen. The tip stays sharp much longer than a Premier pencil. And the so-called hard lead is still heaps softer than a crayola.The issues I had were minor. I haven't yet sharpened all of these yet but so far, I have NOT had an issue with lead breakage. I use a KUM manual sharpener Kum 107.02.01 Wood 2-Hole Steel Blade Pencil Sharpener, Colors Vary and it gets these pretty sharp. My 2 teenage daughter have the Manga Set that has premiers AND Verithins, and they haven't had any issues with breakage either. There are minor quality control issues like not all the pencils are exactly the same length, most of them are very close, but I had one in particular that I felt was rather short, though it was only by a few millimeters. There's also a creepy warning about the gold pencil containing copper so to not touch your face or mouth area when using it...so since my toddler loves getting into my art supplies, my OCD mom brain told me to wrap it in saran wrap. Somewhere in the description, it states that these are pre-sharpened but they are NOT. I am glad they aren't because I feel like it makes the box look dirty and it wastes little bits of lead which to any artist, serious or hobby, is precious.Update: terra cotta is one of the colors with the highest lightfastness rating (meaning the best rating) so I use that color for most my monochrome drawings. Some of my drawings using verithin pencils are on my instagram @artebeest. Many other colors look great for drawings, they just aren't as lightfast. But if you haven't tried sketching witwith these, they are easy to use, are very smooth and layerable, and dont smudge like graphite!