Firstly, a few weeks ago I had to get art supplies for my class, and I had to get them the very next day meaning I had to go to the store to get these. You know how things are in the store... EXPENSIVE! I had to buy a lot of these things separately and it cost me like 20 dollars more... This set has everything for any type of artist, especially beginning. The pencils are the exact ones you need for sketching and shading. Charcoal is another thing on it's own, but you get a lot of charcoal here too. Charcoal is good for shading or if you really want to make some nice, eye popping art. But beware, especially those who have never used charcoal or are buying this for a child, CHARCOAL IS REALLY MESSY! And it gets on everything. Other than that, everything is great. I like that it comes with two different erasers. After using the kneaded eraser, I'd never go back to a regular eraser. The white eraser works really well though. But a kneaded eraser... NO MESS! And it acts like playdoh! I feel like instead of the white eraser, they should have included some blending stumps/tortillons. You can use your finger for blending, but for better blending without the mess, those stumps/tortillons are fantastic. The sharpeners seem to be really cheap... I do not plan to use them. The all black pencil, I have no idea what that is. I assumed it was charcoal, but it seems to be too smooth to be charcoal. I'm assuming it's a 6B graphite stick with no wood (it says 6B on it). Mine actually came broken in half... though I'm not sure if its suppose to come like it. It doesn't look so in the picture. Oh well, I can just sharpen it and use it as well. The set says there is one sketch pencil so, I'm guessing this is it. It's basically the same thing as the 6B pencil in this set. The black coating seems to be paint. I just tested it and some paint came off, and some graphite came off too. I was checking to see if the outer part was wood, and it's not. Also if you are one of those that like to get close to the tip of the pencil, you are going to get dirty with this sketch pencil. The whole sharpened area is graphite, so you will be messy before you even shade... which isn't exactly a good thing. It was a good idea, but for sketching, 6B is too extreme I feel. It's soft, but even the slightest amount of pressure, it gets REALLY dark, thus why it's better for shading. A 2B, or even 3B is better for sketching IMO. I personally use 4B as as well. But yeah, this set is definitely fantastic for your drawing needs. It doesn't have extra pencils you don't need like those other sets that have a bunch of H pencils you'll never use. The higher in H you get, the harder the lead gets. You always want B for drawing/shading/sketching. The higher the B, the softer, darker it gets. This set has F (I actually don't know anything about F leads, but this acts like the pencil you use for school, which is a 2HB), HB, H, 2H, 2B, 4B, 6B, 8B. The charcoal pencils are 2B, 4B, and 6B as well. The sticks are medium, compressed charcoal. Once you play with charcoal... you won't stop for another hour LOL! The plastic covering it comes with also acts like a plastic kit. So you can carry it around with that handle and keep everything in place (except the kneaded eraser if you use it... that will most likely turn into a ball). edit : Wow so I wasn't the only one that had their sketch pencil arrive in half. Some other person had all their pencils arrive in halves as well! I find that interesting, because it doesn't seem broke... it seems like they were cut perfectly in half. Maybe something wrong with the machines, who knows. Also yeah, the sharpeners suck. And the wood seems to be cheap wood. So both of those combined is BAD. As far as the graphite and charcoal, they are good, but if not sharpened properly, that's when this things get bad ratings. Get a better sharpener, then these are good to go.
