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

These are good but just like premiers, each color is a hit or miss! These work great for details and coloring tiny areas in an adult coloring book as it keeps a fine point. Certain colors are even great for shading and coloring in. I will attach a page from one of my books which I used both premiers and verithins (Butterflies). So far I've had no issues as others have stated. Box did come with a warning label since its lead. Update: lead was loose while I was coloring and a long piece fell out! It broke my heart because I started falling in love with verithins. I ordered scholars to compare next. I will attach pics of the lead and a page I colored using only verithins (the frogs). I tried to save the lead by sharpening the wood collar down little by little, just enough to keep putting the lead back in to use as much as I could. Def didn't want it to go to waste, it worked but once I was done I had to toss it and resharpen. My ratings still stand but only time will tell really. I also used this to outline a drawing before I went in with the prisma watercolors and it works great for that! Update: use the dahle155 sharpener! Your prismas will not break. The sharpeners used for prisma are faulty, probably so you keep repurchasing...more money in their pocket right? Well this sharpener changed my life and love of all pencils! Works great on premiers, verithins, scholars, polychromos, and Caran D'a luminance. I will attach a pic I drew using a verithin for outline and the rest of the tiger I used Sakura microns and prisma watercolor pencils.

Buying the larger set to expand the range that I'm using them for. If you are using a light board, outlining with these will allow you to skip the graphite marks on your work. They clean up the edges of wider pencils. For florals. use these for stamens and fine vine work. Priceless for working around eyes on portraits, human and animals. Explore outlining colors with their complements. To set up the easel, remove the pencils from the box and with an razor knife, cut across the front of the box- then cut the diagonal marks on the sides. Don't cut the back of the box. Bend the box open and put the pencils in the front section. To close up the box, take the pencils out, bend the box back straight and slide the pencil rack back in. Put more tape on the small tab on the bottom- you won't need it again. Unlike the smaller set of twelve, these pencils are not sharpened. On inspection, all the leads are well centered in the wood cores. A purchase you won't regret.

If you have read the book 101 Textures in Colored Pencil by Denise Howard, you know that a ‘very sharp’ pencil is needed to do many realistic looking colored pencil techniques. I use many different brands and types of colored pencils in my mixed media work. Prismacolor Premier is one brand I like very much, but of course with any brand I have used, achieving and maintaining a very sharp pencil lead has been an ongoing battle. To be clear, and as Denise suggests as well, I do use a small electric sharpener to point my pencils. All of my sharpeners have a ‘positive stop’, meaning they cannot just continue to grind away on the pencil once it has reached its point. Many softer leads cannot get to the pin point sharpness of these pencils. They are excellent for fine details! So if you are a serious colored pencil enthusiast or someone that just works books with very tiny spaces to fill, these pencils do the job very nicely! I was worried the lead would be too hard and brittle, but that is not the case at all. It can not only provide fine details, but also is easily blended. I use not just the pencil leads, but also alcohol and alcohol pens to blend out areas. I have used these over watercolor and washed watercolor pencils to add fine detail like feathers and they have worked quite nicely. I have also used them on top of a stamped image line to add color emphasis. The fine point holds well and does not need to be re-pointed constantly like my other pencils. The pencils come in the box unsharpened, so no worries about broken leads upon arrival. When I used my electric sharpener initially to put points on them, there was no discernible loss of length compared to the unsharpened pencils still in the box. The price for these on Amazon is better than any retail store even with a 50% off coupon. I would not hesitate to purchase these again, and now that I am using them I’m wondering how I could get by without them!!

I purchased the Prismacolor 36 set of Verithins because it is 1/3 the price ($15-$18) of a comparable set of Derwent Studio pencils (another hard lead pencil line, which it turns out that I'm not thrilled with - much wider core and dusts like crazy). I like to do a lot of edging, outlining and texture and these are perfect for that. I also find these are great for doing detail work and coloring small spaces, like in Daria Song's The Time Chamber storybook (gorgeous and charming -- available on Amazon, buy it! or the similar The Time Garden). QUALITY: I have a light hand and like to build and layer color, so I have not had any problems with coverage or crumbling lead. I use these colored pencils for adult coloring books. They are worlds above Crayolas, for those trying to decide on making the switch. The color is much more vibrant and lasting (I find Crayolas begin to fade before I'm even completed the page, resulting in me reworking the same areas repeatedly). The Verithins hold their sharp point longer as well. I this far haven't found anything comparable to the Verithins I also like that Verithin colors complement my Prismacolor Soft Cores, in both use and color names. FACTS: There is some misinformation in some reviews that I'd like to clear up: 1) These are NOT made on lead! Like most colored pencils these are made of wax 2) The warning on the back of the box about washing your hands after use ONLY applies to the metallic Gold pencil, because it contains copper. This info comes direct from Prismacolor. COLORS: As others have noted, the Vertithin line has a limited number of colors. However, they layer nicely to create custom colors so the color line is more flexible than it appears. And as others have noted, they are indeed blendable if using a light hand and layering, though they made for that. (I've even had success blending Crayolas and other cheap pencils when doing the same, though with much more effort and to lesser effect.) If, like me, you'd like to see more colors I encourage you to write Prismacolor and let them know. The more comments they get the more likely they are to expand the line. SHARPENING: I sharpened all 36 Verithinswith a simple Mobius & Ruppert Brass Round 2-Hole Sharpener or Grenade/Bullet Sharpener (available on Amazon, cheaper at Blick). It didn't take long at all, put a movie on and have at it. I didn't experience any shredding or breakage, no problems of any kind. After reading many reviews I suspect others' experience with breakage is due to either receiving broken leads damaged in transport due to the insufficient packaging, or sharpening technique (see below). I think that having to fully sharpen the Verithins from scratch -- and wondering if they're going to break in the process -- is the barrier to purchasing, so... SOME TIPS I'VE LEARNED: 1. Many sources state that when sharpening colored pencils by hand you should hold the sharpener in your dominant hand and turn the sharpener, not the pencil. Turning the pencil instead (as most of us are used to doing) can stress the wood and torque the lead. 2. A dull blade will start shredding the wood. Try changing blades. 3. Run a simple graphite pencil through the sharpener periodically, like every 6-8 pencils. This cleans the sharpener and maintains the blades. If that doesn't work for you: I actually do this odd hybrid method of sharpening, where I turn both the sharpener and the pencil simultaneously. (I don't know why I started doing this; it just happened.) 1. Place the sharpener so the blade side is facing the floor or away from you, with your palm facing upward. 2. Then rotate the sharpener towards you with one hand while simultaneously turning the pencil away from you with the other, in one smooth movement. It's kind of similar to the movement you make when wringing out a wash cloth. 3. Repeat as needed. *If it feels more natural to turn the sharpener away from you, then switch hands and do the reverse movement. I get nice full, sharp points with this method. Though it goes against conventional wisdom, I hold the sharpener in my left (non-dominant) hand because I find that turning towards me is a more natural movement. Again, don't know why. And if that still doesn't work for you: I suggest trying a helical sharpener. Some reviewers have had success with that style. A final tip: To extend the longevity of the points and the pencils, get an artist's sanding block. This is essentially a stack of sanding paper attached to a plank. A cheap one ($1-$2) will do the job, you don't need something expensive. When the tip starts to blunt, slide it along the sanding paper to resharpen or bevel. This re-points the tip without losing any wood. I find this lasts 1-2 rounds between full sharpenings. Hope that helps.

Well I read the reviews pretty thoroughly however there were great reviews and very low reviews so I put my faith in Prismacolor and just bought them! They arrived in great condition. All of the leads are centered and I have no cracks or splits or even chip marks on any of the pencils. Now the fun part - the pencils come un-sharpened and that was a pain in the ying yang! But I did get them all sharpened using my Prismacolor sharpener and I did not have any lead breakage, no problems with the wood casing and they all sharpened to a fine point. I really can't help but wonder if a bad production line was produced or what but I just see no problems at all with this set of pencils. I have used them for a couple of weeks now and yes, they are great for detailed work since they do keep a very fine point, however they are great for coloring as well! I started a new coloring page and started with the Verithins and wow! They lay down very nice deeply pigmented color and you can certainly add layer upon layer. They are very easy to blend just by using light pressure as you transition to another color. When I purchased these, I thought I was purchasing these as an addition to my Prismacolor Premiers (which they are) but I had no idea I would have a new medium that I would be able to color with. Another bonus is that these pencils are hexagonal so they feel nice in your hand and they do NOT roll off your table! I truly feel bad for people that have had problems sharpening but my experience from sharpening to coloring a multi-colored mandala has been fantastic, I love these pencils, use them often and only wish they made a larger set. These pens rock!!!

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!

I love my Prismacolor Premier pencils, so when I wanted a pencil with a harder, thinner lead, it made sense to try out the Prismacolor Verythin set of 12. I see a lot of people who reviewed them here really liked them, but alas, I am not among them. Keep in mind that this review only reflects my own opinion and experiences. Your mileage may vary. I found these moved very smoothly across the paper, which is the one thing I liked about them. The core is hard, which I expected, but either it's very hard or it's not very pigmented, but I can't quite tell which I've never worked so hard to get so little color on a page - not even with my Sargent Art watercolor pencils. I've used other harder pencils, but these Verythins actually hurt my right hand to use, and I've never had pain from using any colored pencils before. I found I had to really layer on the color to get good saturation, and then I also got bloom. That doesn't bother me particularly, but it's worth noting. This next one could be me or my sharpener, but these are the only pencils where the points broke off while sharpening and getting the point to the shape I wanted was quite the event - even my new Derwent Chromaflows, with their super thin and light bodies, weren't a problem to sharpen at all, so I suspect the problem isn't me. in any event, the cores weren't always centered. And speaking of sharpening, these don't come sharpened - not a huge deal, but a pain in the butt. My Prisma Premiers came sharpened, but since the Verythins come in a flimsy cardboard box, perhaps sharpening them would have simply caused a lot of breakage during shipping. Everyone is different, so if you love hard pencils that require some work to get the most color from, you will probably like these better than I do. I've gotten budget pencils, student pencils and art grade pencils, not to mention cheap pencils from little-known Amazon brands, but I disliked these pencils the most of all of them, and they're the only ones that have ever made my hand sore. No big deal, as they're also less than $9, and I do love to try new art supplies, so it wasn't a total loss.