Soho Urban ArtistVine Charcoal - Drawing Charcoal for Artists, Students, Blending, Live Figure Drawing, & More! - [Black - Medium - 12 Pack]

I've known the band for a while and I trust them. they are own by a large chain of art stores. soho urban artist is basically a store brand. and like most store brands you don't lose any quality. they know they have to come out with a good product in order to sell along side the bigger brands.they also have maybe a better to what artist want and need. the charcoal is great. works just like any other vine charcoal. the case protects the charcoal very well which is important with vine charcoal. but also its great for storage. I now use it to keep all my charcoal. unlike a box which when you hands are dirty and full of charcoal. you kinda want to rip the little box. I don't like when stuff in plastic and you need to empty it out and have this huge mess. when you don't have any place to store something after it's open.the case is what sold me. charcoal is kinda hard to mess up. sticks come with little variations which are expected and one just adjust pressure. the 12 pack has way better value. these tend to break easily or I drop them and I'm too lazy to pick them up. get the 12 pack double the sticks and you get a case for just a few dollars more.

As a beginner who is not entirely familiar with charcoal drawing, I found these vine charcoal sticks more scratchy, harder than expected, and more difficult to blend. I suspect that's because these are labeled "medium", but the range is "extra soft", "soft", and "medium".I liked the way the vines were packed in a tin, and the way each stick is wrapped about three-quarters up in foil for neatness.I would definitely order these again, but in the "extra soft" point. (Although those who are more familiar with vines may prefer the harder point.)

I really like these charcoal sticks. They apply really soft to the paper and leave a light color. These are perfect for when you need to apply some light shading to your art work. They blend really easy and smooth with your finger. The tips are great as they are covered in foil so you can avoid getting charcoal on your fingers if you want. Do not expect these to look dark like most charcoal. Still very good and recommend this is charcoal art or sketching is something you like to do.

These charcoal sticks from SOHO are very good and feel smooth on the paper. Its been a long time since I have done figure drawing using charcoal where I would do quick sketches on newsprint paper, and then sometimes more detailed and finished drawings in grayscale. These sticks are a good length to hold or if you need to break them off, they work well for that too. The blacks are nice and deep, while the grays range well as the charcoal adhered well to the paper without crumbling in your hands. The price I think is a little high for 6 sticks as for the right person, that can go in a day. Otherwise they are very good quality.

This medium can be messy, especially when the charcoal is softer and more porous like these are. However, these are wrapped individually with a foil that helps keep them intact and from making a extra mess on the artist's hands (not that artist's care about that). That's a great idea, as is the tin that keeps these intact when stored. My daughter loves the effect these have and is using these not only for undrawing the scale of a new painting, but also for some quick sketches of a profile series she is doing. She likes the soft effect and the fact that she can smudge and remove this lighter version of her normal charcoal. She likes and will buy more.

Soho vine charcoal sticks come in a sturdy tin box that closes securely. The sticks of charcoal were in perfect order when I opened the box, and I was surprised and happy to see each of the sticks were wrapped in foil so that they could be used immediately without getting charcoal dust on my fingers. I'd never seen that before. I'd describe the charcoal as firm, not crumbly, allowing for lighter layers of application. The quality was quite good, and I'd highly recommend the product based on the tin box, the foil-wrapped sticks and the overall quality.

Vine charcoal is one of my favorite mediums for drawing. I love its softness and delicate feel in the hand. Plus it's so easy to smudge and mute for effect. The Soho 4-pack I ordered is pretty nice, although I was surprised by the chiseled straightness of the charcoal pieces because my vine charcoal has always looked like charred vines—round and irregular. No mind, this charcoal works well, although it's a little less soft than I expected. Also, word to the wise: if you can afford to buy the pack that comes in a tin, do it because Vine charcoal is quite delicate and doesn't fare well when traveling unprotected. All my pieces arrived broken but usable.

artist quality charcoal that is travel ready in a lovely tin and individually half wrapped in foil. Very blend-able that's a very dark gray not a pitch black like compressed charcoal. It's very smooth and tonal values are more subtle then compressed charcoal. Perfect for detailed work and value studies. Also a bonus... these sticks are pretty tough not too easy to break with pressure.