Earthy, Subtle, Creamy: Derwent Drawing Colored Pencils

pic from Amazon.com listing

I bought the 12 pencil set to replenish my dwindling supply of Derwent Drawing pencils, so this was Koh-I-Noor makes a good one for this). Yeah it's a chore, but it's worth the time and effort because out here in the "stix" I have to order all of my higher quality supplies online.

not my first experience with the product. I have used them for several years- since Derwent first released them. I love them so much that I use them down to the tiniest nubs! Sometimes I even take the core out of the wood case and use it in a lead holder.

The earthy browns (chocolate, sanguine, sepia red, ruby earth) are quite rich, while the black and white are the most opaque of all of the colored pencils I have ever used. This was the first time I have tried the blues and greens in this line. The Derwent 12- piece set has the following colors:

• Ink Blue:  a warmer, muted dark blue
• Soloway blue: pale grayish blue, perfect for clouds and eye sclera
• Olive Earth: the name describes the color perfectly
• Green Shadow: a pale grayish green, which has more applications for nature drawing than I expected!
• Brown Ochre: a light golden brown- this color is more like typical yellow ochre in my opinion
• Yellow Ochre: a buttery mellow yellow- brighter and less "ochrey" that most yellow ochre shades, 
• Sanguine: red-orange clay, indistinguishable from the terracotta shade from older pencils in this line 
• Sepia (red):darker than Sanguine but in the same color family
• Ruby Earth: the closest approximation I can think of is madder brown- this is a cooler reddish brown Chocolate: another self explanatory color
• Ivory black: dense, velvety black
• Chinese white:even softer and creamier than Prismacolor white but not opaque

Many of the shades are muted, but not weak or dull. Earthy tones are very rich, and they layer and blend quite well with other colored pencils. I use them along with oil and wax types including Derwent Artist and Studio colored pencils, Derwent watercolor and Inktense pencils; Koh-i-Noor Nero and Progresso lines, Primacolor Premier, and Faber Castel Polychromos.

I only wish I had bought a larger set because now I want to try all of the colors!