Prismacolor, SAN14420, Ebony Sketching Pencil, 12 / Dozen

Love these pencils. It helps me with the projects I am working on.

I thought I'd share a review for anyone who hasn't tried these yet and is wondering how they compare to the old Sanford brand. First, these are smoother to draw with. Even on smooth paper, the Sanfords are just slightly scratchy. It never bothered me, but when I compared with these, I could really feel the difference. I suspect these have a higher proportion of clay in the leads than the Sanfords did. Second, although these do get very dark, they have a noticeably higher reflective sheen than the Sanfords. The Sanfords look more matte when applied heavily, and these go down shinier, more like regular pencils do. That's kind of unfortunate, but it may be the tradeoff for getting a smoother lead, which I'm really liking. I think these will be great for sketching/sketchbook work. However, I don't think they'd be as good for finished work (compared to the Sanfords) because of the sheen.

Working like they did 30 years ago. I see no change in quality. Excellent pencil for sketching.

love the pencil's

Nothing wrong with design ebony pencils and I've used them for years, but I was supposed to get a box of a dozen but only one pencil was delivered. I returned the first order with just one pencil, and the second order came with the box of a dozen. These pencils, Design Ebony, marked Prismacolor instead of the older ones I have marked Sanford, and they seem to be pretty much the same. They write dark -- better that the Dewent Onyx. They also have a graphite sheen when laid down heavily, like other graphite pencils, but no worse (and which can be knocked down by wetting the paper after writing or drawing with them). And they work fairly smoothly and sharpen easily. and also erase pretty well. These are often standard pencils to use for drawing, especially in drawing classes, and are an old standby workhorse pencil, for a good price, and very good for sketching. One can get better pencils for 2 or 3 dollars each, but these work fine for most cases.

These pencils sharpen easily, are softer and smoother than other sketching pencils but not so soft they don't hold together with moderate pressure, and shading is smooth and easy with them. They are not a dark black at first stroke, but do darken when layered.

Exactly what I needed, quickly delivered at a good price. Thanks!

Great for life drawing. Class very excellent for shading I've been using for years, lead is soft keep sharpener at hand