Review: Derwent Pastel Pencils 12 pack ...but I wish I got the 72 pack!

As an illustrator who refuses to settle on just one medium, I absolutely love experimenting with different ways of creating perfectly imperfect pictures. Pastels and I have a very complicated relationship though. I adore their softness, their simplicity, and the way they can conjure up such beautiful contrasts between the light and the darkness. On the other hand, as a bit of a clean-freak, I must admit that I really dislike all the dust, the smudges, the chalky mess, and the way they turn my hands into something resembling the aftermath of a poorly investigated crime scene.

Then just as I thought I was done with trying different types of hard pastels, I found a sneaky little 12 pack of the Derwent Pastel Pencils on Amazon and I just had to get them.

My first impressions were that maybe I’d ordered the wrong thing. When I opened the beautifully illustrated and very practical tin, I saw regular pencils, all lined up like skinny little soldiers. I had imagined I would be receiving pencil shaped pastels so when I saw the actual pencils, I was a bit surprised. They looked gorgeous though, so I couldn’t wait try them out.

I decided to draw a candle to test the pastel pencils because I really liked the mood of the candle I’d done for day 6 of SCWBI’s Artober that I had previously done in watercolour, but I wanted to see if I could get a more evenly blended lighting effect using some hard pastels.  

Pastel Pencil Performance

So with just 12 colours to choose from in this set, I was pretty much forced to choose a limited pallet. I started by drawing a single candle flame emerging from deep shadow. I loved the way the limited palette, subtle gradients, and lots of dark negative space worked together on this piece. I would have liked the black to be well, blacker, but overall, I loved the vibrancy of the colours.

The pigment goes down smoothly and softly, with excellent control. Unlike my Monte Marte hard pastels, which I often feel I have to wrestle into submission, these let me build tone gradually. The darks layered beautifully without feeling scratchy, and the lighter pastels sat gently on top without overwhelming the drawing.

Blending was intuitive and surprisingly forgiving. I could soften edges with my fingertip or blending stump without everything collapsing into a muddy mess. And perhaps my favourite feature of all was how easily these pastels can be sharpened so my hands stayed clean. No clouds of dust. No accidental smears across the page. Just calm, deliberate mark-making.

For quiet, moody work, like candlelight, night scenes, or maybe some gentle contrasts, I think these might be an excellent choice of medium in future.

The Pros and the Cons

OK, so the things I loved the most (and the least) were:

Pros

• They are very clean to use and leave minimal dust and mess

• They are excellent to control compared to regular block hard pastels

• These pencils have very smooth laydown with good pigment strength

• It was quite easy to layer and blend the colours which is good for subtle tonal work

• The ability to shapen to a point makes these pastels ideal for small, detailed illustrations

Cons

• There was a very limited colour range in the 12-pack. (I wish I had purchased a much larger tin.

• I don’t think these hard pastels were quite as bold or expressive as full soft pastels

• Large areas of coverage are time-consuming and somewhat difficult to get full pigment coverage.

My Final Thoughts

So, my final thoughts are that the Derwent Pastel Pencils are kind of like hard pastels with very good manners. They keep all the softness that I love about working with pastels, but without the chaos and mess that usually follows me around the studio when I am working with them. I did need to use a fixative to ensure this piece didn't smudge back on itself, but other than that, these are some pretty low maintenence pastels.

For more intimate little illustrations, controlled lighting studies, or moments where mood matters more than drama, these pastel pencils are such a beautiful alternative to traditional hard pastels. These won’t replace my soft pastels though, especially when I want big, expressive patches of bold colours, but for thoughtful, quiet drawings like my little candle in the dark, they’re exactly what I want in my hand.

The Derwent pastel pencils are subtle, mess-free, and quietly lovely, which, honestly, is how I aspire to be. My one big regret with this set though, was not splurging a little bit extra to get the bigger set. Even the set of 24 would have given me a much broader range of colours to work with, especially considering they blend so well but I was probably a bit too cautious in wanting to try them before I committed to a larger set. Here are the Amazon affiliate links to my set of 12, and the larger sets of 24, 36, and 72 pencils which I think are definately worth considering if you are looking to experient with these yourself.

Derwent Pastel Pencils Set of 12 - https://amzn.to/4qdreD3

Derwent Pastel Pencils Set of 24 - https://amzn.to/4bsYJNh

Derwent Pastel Pencils Set of 36 - https://amzn.to/3NbK6nC

Derwent Pastel Pencils Set of 72 - https://amzn.to/4pwZzvW

Please note: These are affiliate links that provides a modest percentage of sales to support this blog