AmazonBasics Sketch and Drawing Art Pencil Kit – 17-Piece Set

★★★★★ No idea what you're doing? Not sure if you're going to stick with the hobby? Got one of those "Learn-How-To-Art-in-30-Days" books? This is the beginner's kit you want.It's cheap, but that doesn't mean the quality is low. This isn't a set of professional artists tools (though I'm sure a pro would say, "yeah, it could suffice" in a dismissive tone) - but neither is it one of those cheapo plasticky art sets your weird aunt got you for your birthday when you were 5. Everything is perfectly adequate and does what it's supposed to do; you've got all your basic supplies: pencils, charcoals, erasers, even a sharpener! This will probably cover 80% of the stuff you'll need to take that course at your the local library or community college.Are there better tools out there? Can you find a higher quality kit? Probably. But you don't need those until you've gotten some practice in, and besides, this costs $7. That other kit comes with a wooden pencil box to hold everything? You're not shopping for a box, you're shopping for art supplies! Besides, this comes with a functional plastic tray to hold everything; you can save the display lid and put some tape on it to hold everything together.You can go through three sets of these for the same price as some other beginner's kits out there. And if you're thinking of buying this kit, you're probably still at the beginning of your new art habit, so get 3 of these, make some bad art, make some decent art, and then go back and get that fancier-looking, more expensive kit and use that to make some good art.

★★★★★ Great product at a great price! Just what i needed to ease back into my long lost hobby.

★★☆☆☆ I ordered this as a gift for my nephew, a beginner artist. The packing arrived undamaged and intact, EXCEPT one sepia and one charcoal stick—broken. The tortillon was completely smashed in on one end. I was going return it for a refund and reorder a replacement; however, they were out of stock with no restock date. I ended up keeping this; it is exactly what I wanted for him and I couldn’t find anything comparable. Disappointing....