PHN4-50 Oil Pastels - Pack of 50

It's good to be pleasantly surprised. I already owned a set of 25 Pentel oil pastels which were okay and since I only use the student grade for studies had decided that the 50 set was good value for so many colours. (It's a no-brainer when you compare costs with a premium artists brand unless you intend to make finished pieces. ) I found the 50 set, which is made in Thailand, to be better quality than the 25 set, that was made in Taiwan. They are smoother,easier to blend, crumb less and are more highly pigmented than my other set is. There is a good range of greens, yellows, earths and greys which suit landscape painters like me. They are small though -roughly half the size of other student ones - and the dark shades are hard to identify since the name is printed in black onto the colour on the label, which makes making your own colour chart essential. If you haven't used them before do assume that they will indelibly stain fabrics and light surfaces and go everywhere. Of course these don't compare to the premium brands in size or light fastness. But they work really well on black paper where scraping back is fun, as well as on more conventional colours, make an interesting addition to mixed media and are fun to mess around with.(See photo - with apologies to C.R.Mackintosh.) The low cost and relatively high quality of these oil pastels makes them eminently suitable for kids, beginners and anyone who wants to try them as an extra medium without spending a lot.

Great product

Recently purchased these oil pastels, and they are a pretty standard, student-quality option. While there is a noticeable petrol-like smell to them and they are on the harder side, they are a fantastic, budget-friendly alternative to my expensive Senneliers. These pastels are especially useful for filling out backgrounds or creating underlayers in my pastel paintings. The large selection of colors is also great and makes it convenient to have a variety of shades at my disposal. The price point is fantastic for what you get. If you're looking for something cheap and easy to use, or if you want to be free to experiment without worrying about the cost, these oil pastels are a solid choice. They might not replace high-end brands for detailed work, but they are perfect for practice and more relaxed projects. Highly recommend for anyone needing an affordable and versatile option for their pastel work!

Good range of colours and they are so soft, easy to use.

Beautiful . Not an artist But really vibrant .

I heard some really bad reviews of these pack of oil pastels, so I thought I would give them a try and see it for myself. The price is great for a set of 50. I wanted to have oil pastels that are harder than my previous set for easier control and detail work, this set gives great control for beginners due to its hardness. It is hard to blend or smudge which could be a disadvantage for some, however, it becomes workable with a brush and the addition of a drop of baby oil, and the colours blended and layered well. They did not create an excess of crumbs, blobs that would have muddied up the work. The only downside is that it smells like machine oil or like a garage, however the addition of the baby oil cancelled the odour out while working with the pastels. Overall, it is a great addition to my tool box.

Here I uploaded a photo of Pentel on the left side it is Pentel that smells too strong and does not mix well it is very difficult without using some medium on the right side it is mungyo which are more expensive but they are worth l Shame they are like butter. But Pentel has a strong smell that gives me a headache I don't think they are toxic but if they smell bad I think using some linseed oil might improve Later I will upload another review using oil Ok My review update. On a suitable paper such as the Pentel watercolor 300 gram mixed arts canson it is much better there. Before I had done it on a smoother paper and it was not Such a good result but now it is much better. And the smell disappeared. I think you have to leave the box open for two or three days for the strong smell to disappear. For the price and the colors I like it and It is a good product and I recommend it to practice as much as possible. There my drawing with penten not yet finished of the blue woman. I made the butterfly with penten but I used a few drops of linseed oil And wonderfully! I highly recommend it!

These were a bargain price, and Pentel say that the colours won’t fade, which is a large part of why I bought them. There is a good selection of colours and they are pleasing to use, they feel firm yet soft enough. They smell of engine oil which is a little off putting. They do not layer well, (for example if you try using a light colour on top of a dark colour, it won’t show). The expensive brands would layer, so if you are a professional artist or illustrator you probably want to get Sennelier or Caran d’ache brand. They are fine for sketch book work or for people just starting out. They don’t make a lot of crumbs when used, which is good. I find the crumbs that come off cheap oil pastels can be annoying as they can end up stuck everywhere making annoying smudges. The colours blend easily, you can just use a finger. I won’t make any actual art works with these, but they are okay for preliminary sketches when I don’t want to use up my expensive materials.