LYRA Color Giants Chunky Wooden Coloured Pencils, Hexagonal, 6.3mm Lead, 12 Assorted Colours, Ideal for Children and Schools

These enormous pencils have the fattest core (6.25mm) of any coloured pencil I own, exceeding the even the Albrecht Durer Magnus at 5.3 mm. The big leads of this collection of skin tones lay down smoothly and cover every shade from a dark blackish brown through to a pale flesh tone that should, with the addition of a white to blend them, provide enough options for most skin colours. They are presumably oil and/or wax based as they are waterproof and feel similar to my Lyra Polycolours but have a creamier texture. Don't expect to create very fine detail with this thick a core but they do hold a point better than I expected. The fat unlacquered hexagonal barrel sits very comfortably in the hand and the vast core lays down colour easily and quickly. The only downsides are that there are no shade names on the pencils and no information on light fastness. I can forgive this as they are aimed at kids and it was easy enough to number them 1 - 12 with a Sharpie and will keep them for sketching. (I have written to Lyra asking for light fastness details and will update this if I get any information. ) I am prepared to forgive them a lot since I find them delightful. The ability to quickly apply large areas of dense colour almost as easily as with pastel pencils but with less mess or need for fixing is intoxicating and I am rapidly convincing myself that I need the rest of the colours. (UPDATE : I did buy the tin of 18 and have posted a photo of a piece along with a 5 star review of them. ) These are tremendous value for money and far better quality than I expected. They also have the advantage of being more robust than pastel pencils to transport which is a distinct plus for a klutz like me. These are definitely not just for little kids and I recommend them.

Personally, I don't write product reviews very often, but I had to say something about these pencils. I bought them when I realised the earth/skin tones from my Marco Raffine set weren't quite cutting it, and I needed a substitute. For me, colour pencil is a quick medium that I use for sketchbook pieces, I am an illustrator, and my main medium is watercolour. My colour pencil work is for when I don't want to get the paints out, and just need a quick idea of how I want a piece to look. I just finished swatching them, and I'm so impressed. For my needs, these are fabulous. They lay down nicely, and there is a superb range of skin tones. These probably wouldn't be ideal for realism and portraiture, but for cartoons and illustrations I think they're perfect. I'm probably going to order another pack or two, just so that I've got spares!

Bought as a mummy alternative to the already plentiful stash of easter eggs! These are brilliant, the leads are so soft and therefore easy to regulate the concentration of colour -and to shade and blend with. They are very long but my children (4 and 6) have found them easy to work with. I love them too! I looked at lots of similar sets as I was a bit put off by the price but having used Lyra a lot in the past I bit the bullet and went for these and am pleased I did.

Wonderful colours - look very much like realistic skin tones and have a nice slightly powdery finish. After colouring in a picture book character with the new skin tones pencils, my three year old immediately wanted to use the picture as a paper doll and when cut out, played for hours with it. Very pleased parent and lovely pencils!

Good quality pencils but why was the lightest colour an American tan? I'm going to enjoy colouring with these, but the one thing I really needed was a pale skintone for my Goths and vampires. I shall certainly be trying some ethnic vampires but I really was hoping for at least one pale colour.

Great selection of skin tones to bring more diversity into my children’s drawings. They’re more expensive than a rainbow set of 12 colours which makes me think we shouldn’t have to pay more for diverse skin tone colours. Quality is good.

We use this for highlighting, we just have to make sure we don’t push the blue too hard to be able to see underneath as it’s a stronger colour and not neon but the others are perfect.

The crayons are nice and chunky and seem to blend ok. My only complaint would be the range of colours. There is only one what I would call pale flesh tone. Could do with at least one other light one and a pink/rose tone would have been useful too. Most of them are brown/dark brown. I specifically bought this set as it contained 12 pencils thinking the range of tones would be good but I was rather disappointed.

Son lápices de colores gruesos, perfectos para las manos de los peques. Pinturas de buena calidad.

J'ai pris ces crayons pour remplacer le stylo surligneur, dans un soucis de limiter ma consommation de plastique et de produits dérivés du pétrole. Je suis pleinement satisfaite, les couleurs sont agréable, la tenue du crayon facile y compris pour les enfants. Je pense que des la prochaine rentrée ce seront les "surligneurs" de mes enfants !

nice

Very bright colors, I will definitely order another set, very happy with my purchase 😀 😊 😄

Tolle Farben, wirklich neon