Review on Shuttle Art 174 Colors Professional Colored Pencils Set with Bonus Coloring Book and Sketch Pad - Perfect for Artists, Kids, and Adults by Summer Hendricks

First of all I have not received any compensation for this review. All of this is absolutely sincere. I am very grateful to Shuttle for the price of these pens which are very high quality (NOT art grade but very very close) to the point where people who cannot afford the bigger brands can purchase the product . it will give great results. The color community is overflowing with people using only very expensive products. I am not criticizing these pens in any way. They are great to use and I would love to have them all. In fact, most people cannot afford it. In fact, most people can't even afford a set from either of these brands (I'd rather not name the other brands in this review, but I'm sure you all know who they are). And when they come to social media painting groups and see beautiful pictures and the colorist identifies their media as a $150-$300 pencil, these newbies can, and often do, feel like they're never going to make it. can do great work. I'm here to tell you that's not true. The Shuttle Art PROFESSIONAL colored pencils (the ones with black shards) come very close to the artists' pencils. In fact, they appear to be a combination of the two larger titles in terms of softness, color overlay and dot retention - I'll get to the sharpening later. For the price I paid - something else I'll talk about in a moment - I couldn't be happier. These are the pens that I can use regularly. And with 174 colors to choose from at an affordable price, there's no reason anyone who wants to put color on paper can't work with pens that are fun and won't empty your bank. Let's get to the actual assessment. . Pencils come in a tin with regular plastic shells. The trays are actually a bit more flexible than other brands, including Prismacolor, which is nice (I hate thin trays, my crayons fly everywhere). The set I received was an absolute mess color wise; there was no rhyme or reason in the way they were packaged. However, it comes with a sample chart listing the color order, so that's how I sorted them. It took some work, there are a lot of pencils in the set, but at least I didn't fly blind. The album has really good paper with a slight tooth; I haven't used it yet, but it feels really good. The coloring book I started with has good quality paper and the cover has 2 colored test pages. It contains various images from a selection of other coloring books. Looks like it will be fun to color in and I'll update the review with pictures when I'm done. And that was my first disappointment. I haven't sharpened all of them, but so far 3 of them have had very loose tips: wisteria, medium orchid and silver grey. In fact, the average orchid required three sharpenings, leaving me half a pencil. Disappointing but then again these are budget pens (at the moment) and there is a wide range of colors to choose from. So I'll deal with it. In terms of productivity, I started making patterns, but I really wanted to use these pens because a lot of my friends loved them, so I started drawing in the book (owl on the cover). The pens lay down incredibly smooth. I was really impressed with the performance. Not sure if it was the quality of the paper, the pens, or my technique, but the pair (light blue and dark gray) didn't give full coverage no matter how many layers I applied. Again, not so much. I will not post my coloring in the gallery. This is a coloring book and I make it for fun. These pencils blend very well. They don't layer as well as I'd like, but maybe I do, I'm by no means a layering expert. I usually stick with mixing and they definitely exceeded my expectations in that regard. I tried using them with a colorless shading pen and was disappointed with the result (the shading pen was a different brand and not included in this set, so unrelated to Shuttle). It left a whitish residue on the paint so I would advise you to stay away from it. However, I was very surprised at how well these pens are suited for shading with tortillon or feathers. I've never seen crayons that respond so well to these tools and I'll probably use them to blend these pencils from now on. I can't comment on how well they pair with solvents as I haven't tried them. I think they will respond well. Overall I'm very happy with these pencils and the whole set which also includes two pencil extenders and four sharpeners (although I love my T'Gaal so I'll probably use it). eyeliner sharpener). And as I said at the outset, the current price point makes them affordable for people whose pockets aren't as deep as others and who may find joy or even therapeutic value in creating art and color with quality products that aren't astronomical. My only hope is that Shuttle Art doesn't do what several other companies that started out the same way have done. In other words, make high-quality, inexpensive pens, make sure it gets talked about by getting YouTubers and bloggers with small crafts to review and recommend their products, and then raise prices to get the pen to make it more expensive. than art quality pencils but without the ability to purchase open stock. That means you'll have to buy a brand new set at a ridiculous factory price to replace your green pen. In that regard, however, I would like to let you know that I have indeed reached out to Shuttle Art's Facebook page and they have assured me that while there have been some price changes due to all the recent promotions, they intend to keep the The The price of this package is stable and the quality of the product remains the same. In fact, they were super responsive. A very good sign. I went to the store"Shuttle". I just got their gel pens and want their art markers. Your customer service was amazingly responsive. I really want to try the gel pens I just got from them and explore their other products. I realize this is a very long review but I love these pens and the fact that they bring good products to a wider range of users. Persons. Art is available to ALL, not just the financially fortunate. Good job shuttle. Please PLEASE PLEASE just stop increasing the price everyday or I'll have to deduct a star.