SoHo Urban Artist Willow Charcoal - Drawing Charcoal for Artists, Students, Blending, Live Figure Drawing, & More! - [Black - Set of 15]

The charcoal is in a nice container that will protect when not in use.

One of my favorite drawing mediums is vine charcoal, but willow charcoal is new to me. Via a little research, I learned willow is generally a little sturdier than vine charcoal, a little less soft, and a bit more difficult to blend—those latter two aspects made me somewhat wary while I waited for the order to arrive. I need not have worried, though, because this Soho Urban willow charcoal is wonderful! Three different widths of charcoal come in a nicely partitioned canister, making it easy to reach for the one that will provide the desired line weight. Using this willow charcoal, it is easy to make precise black marks, but it is also simple to smudge, lighten, and blend them with my finger tips. (Relief!) Now that I've tried Soho Urban willow charcoal, I will be using it often in the future!

The charcoal sticks are very brittle and easy to snap. (I am a pressure writer/but I don't believe I was using any excessive force for linework style sketching with smudging for shadow and highlight) Work exactly as expected, go on quite dark but after blending give a subtle shading, not a permanent medium. Blend and erase easily. 4 different sizes included. Case is nice for travel. I was sketching on a standard sketch pad that has some texture...I think a better-quality paper would also produce even better results.

Nice 15 piece set of willow charcoal in three sizes. Very soft, blendable and erasable. Works for large areas of coverage as well as small details. I was able to layer and erase repeatedly without damaging the paper. Perfect for value studies before starting a painting or finished works of art.

One of the first things that caught my eye about this product was how it’s natural and contained no binding agents. Many art supplies unfortunately add binding agents to their products which contain animal products therefore making that product no longer vegan and cruelty-free.While the charcoal came in packaging that has charcoal on it, it is to be expected given the item of nature. I appreciate how I am able to use these art supplies because of it being natural, vegan and cruelty free. I’ve had to stop using so many art supplies due to them not caring for animals well-being and then being against my morals. It’s nice to come across a brand that puts them first just like I do in my daily life.Thank you for doing that and I look forward to using these art supplies for as long as they last.

I’ve been wanting some new charcoal vine sticks, and jumped when I saw these.The last set of another brand I bought was only available in a small tube of 5. There are plenty of sticks for the price here, and a variety of size.I haven’t used charcoal in a long time and been wanting to get back into it, these are perfect. They are smooth on the paper and I can make all kinds of marks with them.For the price these are a great value.

Willow charcoal is soft, creating more delicate marks that can be smudged and easily erased. Great for life drawing, sketches, and under-paintings. This container has small (6), medium (6), and large (3) widths.

I have never had any experience with using this type of charcoal before, so this was new for me, and I cannot compare it to other brands. It seems to do really well with sketching. You do not need to press hard at all to use it. It is very soft. The pieces are fairly long. It is obvious they are made from willow branches as they are not all the exact same size or width. I think I will enjoy using this. I would need to compare prices in the future and make sure it was not a huge cost compared to others, but I do like the quality of this one.