TombowIrojiten CI-RTA-30C Colour Pencils (Box of 30)

I am not an artist but do enjoy adult colouring books, and have a variety of coloured pencils, including cheaper ones like the excellent starter Crayola pencils, and more expensive ones like the soft and vivid Derwent coloursoft pencils, and my lovely Faber Castell ( FC) Polychromos Pencils. However much though I love the FC, there have been some colours I've struggled to get from them. I bought these because they looked so beautiful in their boxes, and the colour range looked gorgeous. The pencils themselves certainly feel 'silky' in the hand and are lovely to hold. The writing on the barrel is silver, and this sometimes makes It hard to read the name of the pencil colour on the barrel if the light isn't very good. In the end I bought all 3 sets of these - 90 pencils in all. It's taken time to process my thoughts about them. The first thing was that though the boxes looked lovely, they were impractical kept like that, so added the pencils into my Derwent Hold-All pencil case alongside the Faber Castel Polychromos ( the FC have solid coloured barrels, unlike the Tombow Irojiten which have the pencil colour at the end of the barrel). The Irojiten expanded the range well, and complimented it. I was especially keen on the cherry red, as whilst FC do a ton of reds, personally they invariably seem either more orange, or purple tinged, whilst the Irojiten cherry red is a very definite 'red'. The pencils themselves are slightly longer in length than the FC, but also have a slightly thinner core. Some lay down beautifully smoothly, like the mustard and the olive yellow, whilst others feel quite 'scratchy', like the tangerine orange. Most seem to lie in the middle though. It was the feel of them laying down that gave some hesitation about them at first. First attempt was a page from Joanne Basford's book 'Secret Garden', using a mix of Irojiten and FC pencils, and after a hesitant start really started to settle to using them. It's taken a bit of perseverance but I really love them now because they give that desired extra colour range. The quality isn't quite up there with FC, but it's absolutely fine overall. They layer very well, and also with the FC. They sharpen to a great point ( I use a KUM metal sharpener) and though there have been a couple of breakages, these have been minimal. The pigment seems good too, though am aware there are questions over how lightfast they are. Overall in fact I tend to reach for them first. However if was buying again, I wouldn't bother with the last box set, in a internal box colours of fawn, grey and mustard, containing volumes 7 ( fluorescent colours - just no point, personally don't use them), volume 8, very pale tones ( too pale, just paler versions of those in the other sets like in volume 1) and volume 9, the dull tones - with the one exception of oil yellow which I've used a lot ( think it can be bought on line as a single pencil from open stock) , haven't really used the rest as much. If only able to afford one set would go for the first set (vol 1 - pale tone, cream outer wrapper; vol 2 - vivid tone, green outer wrapper; vol 3 deep tone 1 - pale blue outer wrapper). Incidentally there are no blacks or whites in any set.Having bought several sets now will post this review for each but add different photos. The final comment is that they are a lot of fun, and I'm really enjoying them. Will certainly buy them again and have bought sets now for friends.PS have added a brief colour swatch showing some of these Tombow Irojiten colours (TB)alongsidewith Faber Castell (FC) colours, plus a selection in my pencil case, also with the FC, (in a Derwent Hold-All case) , and a page done where both were used together.

I am not an artist but do enjoy adult colouring books, and have a variety of coloured pencils, including cheaper ones like The excellent starter Crayola pencils, the soft and vivid Derwent coloursoft pencils, and my lovely Faber Castell ( FC) Polychromos Pencils. However much though I love the FC, there have been some colours I've struggled to get from them. I bought these because they looked so beautiful in their boxes, and the colour range looked gorgeous. The pencils themselves certainly feel 'silky' in the hand and are lovely to hold. The writing on the barrel is silver, and this sometimes makes It hard to read the name of the pencil colour on the barrel if the light isn't very good. In the end I bought all 3 sets of these - 90 pencils in all. It's taken time to process my thoughts about them. The first thing was that though the boxes looked lovely, they were impractical kept like that, so added the pencils into my Derwent Hold-All pencil case alongside the Faber Castel Polychromos ( the FC have solid coloured barrels, unlike the Tombow Irojiten which have the pencil colour at the end of the barrel). The Irojiten expanded the range well, and complimented it. I was especially keen on the cherry red, as whilst FC do a ton of reds, personally they invariably seem either more orange, or purple tinged, whilst the Irojiten cherry red is a very definite 'red'. The pencils themselves are slightly longer in length than the FC, but also have a slightly thinner core. Some lay down beautifully smoothly, like the mustard and the olive yellow, whilst others feel quite 'scratchy', like the tangerine orange. Most seem to lie in the middle though. It was the feel of them laying down that gave some hesitation about them at first. First attempt was a page from Joanne Basford's book 'Secret Garden', using a mix of Irojiten and FC pencils, and after a hesitant start really started to settle to using them. It's taken a bit of perseverance but I really love them now because they give that desired extra colour range. The quality isn't quite up there with FC, but it's absolutely fine overall. They Ayer very well, and also with the FC. They sharpen to a great point ( I use a KUM metal sharpener) and though there have been a couple of breakages, these have been minimal. The pigment seems good too, though am aware there are questions over how lightfast they are. Overall in fact I tend to reach for them first. However if was buying again, I wouldn't bother with the last box set, in a internal box colours of fawn, grey and mustard, containing volumes 7 ( fluorescent colours - just no point, personally don't use them), volume 8, very pale tones ( too pale, just paler versions of those in the other sets like in volume 1) and volume 9, the dull tones - with the one exception of oil yellow which I've used a lot ( think it can be bought on line as a single pencil from open stock) , haven't really used the rest as much. If only able to afford one set would go for the first set (vol 1 - pale tone, cream outer wrapper; vol 2 - vivid tone, green outer wrapper; vol 3 deep tone 1 - pale blue outer wrapper). Incidentally there are no blacks or whites in any set.Having bought several sets now will post this review for each but add different photos. The final comment is that they are a lot of fun, and I'm really enjoying them. Will certainly buy them again and have bought sets now for friends.PS have added a brief colour swatch showing some of these Tombow Irojiten colours (TB)alongsidewith Faber Castell (FC) colours, plus a selection in my pencil case, also with the FC, (in a Derwent Hold-All case) , and a page done where both were used together.

It's clear to see these pencils are packaged well, however each individual pencil is, well frankly, excellent!Each core is completely unique, I cannot find a direct match in any other set I own (all the too full sets from each brand).The pigment goes down smoothly and evenly, and can be layered up easily to get the exact colour you see on the core. Each hue is shifted a few degrees from what you see in western brands, and even better you get nicely desaturated lights, and special dull tones, something you never see in other brands.Exceptional quality, not one broken core, zero dust, zero fragmenting, no wax bloom or build up, even pigment distribution.The effect on paper from these pencils is as even as the result you get from a printer.They blend, feel like oil and clay, quite hard, not creamy, feels like zero wax. Can take a fine point, do not wear quickly at all.Honestly cannot compare, I'd rate them as the best I've ever used or owned.

A beautiful selection of shades, many of which are quite unusual and not so easy to find in the UK. Beautiful presentation. The pencils themselves are middling in the hardness scale - not as hard as Berol or Prismacolor Verithins, but definitely not as soft as Lyra Polycolor or Derwent Coloursoft. It's easy to get a good, deep colour with pressure, and the pencils blend with each other nicely. Sharpen well to a good point in a Helix desktop sharpener. A good all-rounder.