Review on Premium Black Widow Colored Pencils for Adults - 24 Vibrant Coloring Pencils - Professional Quality Pigments - Ideal for Adult Coloring Books and Artistic Drawings by Kristen Simpson

EDIT: Having used these crayons extensively, I can reiterate that they are a pleasure to use! I have two Artist Quality brands (vintage Prismacolor Berols and Blick Studio) and these Black Widow colored pencils. While not of "artistic quality" they are very smooth and easy to do. Depending on the paper used I can get 4 to 6 coats with light pressure and a nice smooth blend when buffing with a pencil or colorless blender. They sharpen well (I use an Alvin ball sharpener) and don't break. If you've only ever used cheap colored pencils before, you'll probably enjoy using them. If you love Prismacolors pens and/or have other art quality pens, you might not like them. They are less pigmented than my art grade pencils and as mentioned 6 coats on good paper is the limit, 4 on poor paper. However, colorists who have limited themselves to inexpensive pens should find that they can do so much more. The price is actually comparable to some art quality sets (in the US), but the advantage is that you can buy them individually without repeating the colors. Three cans of Black Widow Crayons (Black Widow, Scorpion, Cobra) contain a complete set of 72 colors. Although each set contains a range of colors that can be used individually, there is no repetition between cans, so they combine to form a larger set. Only the Black Widow has white and black - the black color is a dark charcoal gray rather than a true black. The Cobra set is a flat black color that is slightly different from the color in the Black Widow (Spider) set. Some colors are similar to the standard colors found in most kits, others are a bit more unusual. Some of the names are delightfully different (although unlike standard names like "red-purple" you can't tell a color from the name). Some of the names in this set (Cobra): Sunset, Fire, Aquarius, Venom, Rattlesnake. As for their colour, they lay down smoothly, evenly and very lightly. I use a light hand and layer to the pigment level I want and working with these pencils this way doesn't create dust. Attempting to apply a thick dark layer at once will result in dust formation. I find it easiest to get good transitions when working with light layers rather than a feather pen or paper stump. Everyone's painting style is different - be aware that these pens will dust when painting with a heavy hand. You can easily get quite dark pigments - not as dark as more expensive art-grade pencils, but well beyond what's possible with cheap or mid-range pencils. The tips are sharpened for quite a long time, and none of them have broken during use. If necessary, use a good quality sharpener with a good blade. While the cost of these pens may be more than some people are willing to pay, they are worth it, especially if you've only used cheaper crayons. What's great about them is that you can buy one tin at a time to create a set of 72 rather than buying all at once. There are enough colors in a jar and all three make the game much more fun. The only downside I have is that the whole set appears very yellow and I would rather see less yellow and more blue and purple. There is a good range of colors though.