Faber-Castell 120148 Environmentally-Friendly Colouring

They are better than the staedler pencils that are often bought for school but are nothing compared to the likes of prisma colours. So they are a kind of happy middle

Given the cheap price of these pencils I have to say I am so impressed with them!! I wasn’t too sure what to expect as they are marketed as ‘suitable for children’ and are at the lower (red box) end of Faber Castell’s range. However I need not have worried! Firstly, the selection of colours in the 48 pack is excellent – a good range of tones throughout the colour spectrum including very brights through to earth tones and some more unusual ones as well including metallic silver and gold! They come packaged in the red cardboard box as seen on the image on Amazon, however unlike the similar 48 water soluble set (also sold in a red box) these do not come with the little cardboard separator/tray so you will need to remove these from the box to view all the colours and likely find an alternative suitable storage tin or wrap to keep them nicely. That said, they all arrived in excellent condition, no breakages etc!

APPEARANCE & CONTENT: Initially I was confused as to whether these “Eco pencils” were in fact the same as Faber’s other Classic colour pencils (sold in tins of 12, 24 or 36 – usually with the “jousting” picture on the front) and I can confirm that these are indeed different – these pencils come with “Eco” written on the barrel and have a colour name (not a number) unlike the classic pencils which have “Classic colour” and a colour number written on them. The Eco pencils come only in the cardboard box which has a picture of a castle on it, and the range of colours is also different to the classic colours as well. Although I believe the classics can also be bought in a cardboard packet of 48, however they tend to be more expensive than these “Eco” ones (again if you are in doubt as to which is which, I think the different pictures on the boxes should help).

However just as a point of note, the corresponding “Eco” watercolour versions of these pencils ARE the same colours as the classic pencils. Both versions of the watercolour pencils (with either the picture of the fish on the box or the macaw birds) appear to be the same as far as I am aware – they both have “watercolour” stamped on the barrels and not “Eco” (even when they are being sold as such). So if you are looking for a set of each, the different colour range seems to only appear between these Eco (non soluble) pencils and the original Classic pencils.

USAGE: Having been pleasantly surprised at the range of colours available in this set, I decided to test them out and see how well they perform and blend. They hold a nice point and you can achieve crisp detail as well as giving dense colour lay down for shading. Like all Faber’s pencils they are SV bonded to prevent breakage and I have not had one break on me yet. This fact alone would set them apart from many other brands of similarly priced pencils!! As someone who has used everything from Derwent academy to Faber Polychromos pencils I was not expecting them to blend that well but again, I was pleasantly surprised! Ok, so they are not on the same level as the fabulous Polychromos!! but for a budget end of the range pencil they are pretty good! I have been able to lay down 3-4 different colours and blend with no problems and then still apply some finer detail over the top without excessive wax bloom appearing or destroying my paper in the process! They work fine with other tools such as the Derwent blender and burnisher pencils too!

The final point I would like to note is that compared to the previously mentioned Faber Classic colour pencils, I actually find the colours of the Eco set brighter and more intense (the classics seems to be a bit harder and waxier, whereas the Eco’s seem slightly softer and creamier). Not a drastic difference, but still noticeable. They are also not as soft as a Derwent Drawing or Coloursoft pencil, but a rather nice balance between density of colour lay down yet hard enough to still retain a point for adding texture and detail (in my opinion again better than the Derwent studio range of ‘harder’ art pencils). I guess this is just another example of Faber Castell’s unfailing commitment to quality shining through!! I find the lower end Derwent ranges such as Academy colour (which are aimed at the student market) are hard and waxy with poorer colour lay down and are more prone to breakage when sharpening than these. So even as bottom of the range ‘children’s’ pencils these Faber ones are far superior!

At the end of the day I was looking for a bright and cheerful set of decent budget pencils to use as an “out and about” sketching set in an array of vibrant and tempting shades and I am very happy that I bought these!! For the price and range of colours I really cannot fault them!

These are nice pencils to work with in a very good range of colours and great value. Usefully the names are printed on the pencils; the names and shades used are traditional ‘arty’ colours, which (a) makes you feel like a ‘proper’ artist and (b) is helpful if you often work under artificial light when judging shade by eye alone can be quite tricky. I don’t think these are available individually though, only as sets. To be able to replace individual pencils you have to go to the more expensive range (Polychromos – which are fantastic, but pricey) and in my case using this set inspired me to take the plunge and start collecting those. I still use my Environmentally Friendly set all the time though; the colours are smooth, soft, blendable and pigmented. They don’t break all the time, either, and sharpen up well. Excellent for the price.

These are perfect. I’m left handed and tend to press pretty hard when I colour, I have sharpened each pencil before use until they’re sharp, and not once did the tip snap. Excuse my bad colouring.

Love these pencils and good selection of colours.
Really enjoying my colouring – very relaxing way of spending time.
Would recommend Millie Marrota’s adult colouring books which are amazing an a work of art in themselves.

They’re really good pencils if you want quality but aren’t looking to spend much and they don’t constantly break or crumble. The only problem is they’re hard to sharpen so I had to buy the Faber Castell sharpener for them