GENERAL'S Charcoal Pencil Set (557BP), 3 Black Charcoal (2B, 4B, 6B),1 White Pencil, Kneaded Eraser, Pre Sharpened, Incense Cedar Wood, 0.15 lb, Made in USA

An absolute classic, robust, reliable. Just dont use the accompanying sharpener, use a utility knife and sandpaper to sharpen any charcoal pencil.

By far my favorite brand of charcoal pencils. I use quite a few of charcoal brands for my portraits but i find myself always reaching for my Generals soft charcoal pencils. These pencils are super pigmented and you can easily shade with them with the use of a stump or even just your finger. Also, the white charcoal pencil is indispensable for me when working on portraits! I'm not a huge fan of kneaded erasers but this is actually a good quality eraser (and it's super fun to play with!) The only brand of charcoal pencil i buy repeatedly.For those of you wondering the best way of sharpening these pencils(or any other charcoal pencil) i always recommend using a razor blade, it allows you to control how much you want to shave off and allows you to choose the shape and sharpness of the point, just BE CAREFUL. Always use blades with caution or ask an adult to help you out.

This review is for the 4 pack of charcoal pencils (3 black 1 white) with kneadable eraser. I think it was 2 different soft ones and 1 medium for the black. Anyways, I tracked my order the day after ordering and the listing photo changed to 2 white charcoal pencils and a sharpener. I was very frustrated thinking they shipped the wrong thing, but I received the correct item. The pencils are great. Love this brand. Haven’t tried the eraser yet. Just pay attention and know what you are ordering. I have no idea why this listing appears to have changed.

As an artist we tend to want the best. I like to sharpen my charcoal pencils with a blade so this already tends to my needs. You may get a few pencils that were dropped during packaging or shipping. However they are great but handling needs to be very delicate for charcoal and you shouldn’t expect the best while buying any type of charcoal materials. Some may constantly break while sharpening and can get extremely annoying but what do you expect when it’s so brittle compared to oil pencils. It’s definitely for beginners and I could work with these amazingly well. For reference I added a picture so you can see what you can do with these pencils. That was when I was 70% complete with it. Just patience and practice. You don’t need the best of tools to create art. They definitely helped and made it easier to complete this and I believe these pencils are beneficial for anyone.

This is the brand of charcoal that I like and the pencil form saves you from messy fingers. I subtracted one star because although I thought it was nice they threw in a kneaded eraser, I didn’t really like it.. I’ve used kneaded erasers that were okay before, but this one was particularly squishy and tiny. It wouldn’t hold a shape very well. I threw it away.

I absolutely love these pencils. I have never really worked with charcoal before, just graphite was my preferred medium. I was really impressed with them. I was originally looking for a white pencil and found a pack of 3 from the same brand, but then came across these. I decided to go with these to try out the charcoal pencils instead since they came with the white pencil too. I found them extremely fun and easy to blend including the white one.It blends just like the charcoal pencils. I found that the best way of sharpening these was to use sand paper. I had a hard time with a regular sharpener that just kept eating the lead and it wouldn't stay in so I just use 220 grit and paper just fine. I also get a nice point that way and also feel like I'm not wasting as much of the pencil by that method of sharpening.Also to my surprise that I didn't realize, it came with a kneading eraser cause to be honest I was looking at the pencils, the price and was super happy with just that. I knew I would end up spending more at the craft store anyway. Would recommend trying these out as a first time charcoal user. I'd even recommend trying as a pro.Edit:It was the pencil sharpener that was causing an issue with sharpening them. I tried a different sharpener and they sharpen beautifully.I also saw these in Michaels when I had made it to the store so it was quite comforting to know it was even sold on a store floor.I've been using the heck out of them now and truly do love these!

This was exactly what I was looking for…the pencils are great and I love the art eraser. It was great to find it at a cheaper price. I highly recommend this vendor.

A while back I thought I should improve my tools in hopes of improving my drawings. I (at least attempt) photo realism portraits mostly. So I tried out different brands, different kinds of charcoal, pencils, compressed blocks, vine, ect and to my surprise, I ended up liking these classics the best still.Better paper helped a ton, smaller erasers and different shapes helped, even getting out the old shade measuring tool (I forget what its called) all helped, some a ton. But these pencils were still the best after all my testing.I actually buy a ton of these at a time. Its good to have a lot sharpened at the same time. That away when you get the urge to draw you can just get to it and not waste any time sharpening, or have to stop mid drawing to sharpen more. Though its good to have some dull ones around too.One small thing Generals could do better with them, was color them differently. After a bit of use their hardness numbers wear off and you kinda have to guess. I put different tape on each one, or I cut the butts of them differently so I can tell at a glance which is which.