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It doesnt shine at all like any regular graphite pencils! This is great for when you need to photograph your work. Love the variety of shades and hardness of graphite as well. The set is a great starter set, and youre given everything you need, like a blending stump, sharpener, and eraser with the pencils. Would recommend for any artist.

I stumbled upon these Faber-Castell Pitt matte graphite pencils ("FCP") by accident and took a chance buying them. I'm glad I did. I typically use only Tombow MONO graphite pencils (which, I think are the best). As others have mentioned in other reviews, these FCPs do impart a wonderful, deep, dark black-ness (if you need it). And since they're matte, they add an interesting effect to a graphite drawing. I wouldn't draw using only FCPs (tho, not saying you couldn't or that they wouldn't be appropriate for that) but would def combine with with regular graphite pencil. The leads seem strong (they don't seem susceptible to easy breakage); they sharpen nicely; they do leave obvious ghosting when erased (so apply carefully); but they apply smoothly/nicely (no "crumbs" or specks) and they smudge/shade fairly well (but not as well as regular graphite but that could be a benefit as the FCPs aren't as messy as soft/dark regular graphite). I would recommend these as a supplemental addition to anyone's graphite palette, especially when in need of adding bold dark/black elements to a drawing. NEW UPDATE: To add to my earlier review, I've had a chance to use these pencils steadily for a couple of months. I still like them. But be warned that these particular pencils flake quite a bit after being applied. All graphite pencils have a tendency to flake off of a drawing a little bit over a long period of time (if not sprayed with a fixative). But these seem highly susceptible to flaking over a short period of time. Just be prepared to either: (i) use a workable fixative as you progress on your drawing; or (ii) if waiting to use a fixative until the drawing is finished, be prepared to go back over/re-do areas of your drawing if you're wanting to have the strong black tone that these pencils can provide. Cheers!

Love this brand for professional finished artwork. Bought a set as a gift and one for myself.

Wanted to test these out to see what the difference was between these and the 9000 series. So I ordered the 11 piece set. Let me tell you now, I seriously didn’t think it was gonna be any different, but I was wrong. The B-scale grades in these Matte pencils were even better than the 9000 series. The blacks went on like charcoal. Hardly any metallic shine when light hits it. So smooth and inviting. These pencils will make you want to pull them out and draw. As for the wood casing, it seems to be the same as the 9000 series, except these have a nice black paint finish instead of the usual green we are use to seeing in most Faber Castell pencils. Yes, I know that green has almost became a trademark For Faber, but this Black is definitely a nice change on the paint finish. But once you use these, you won’t care what color of paint they used on this set. You can also rest assure that the grading scale is dead on with them. I figured that since they used a different type of matte graphite, that it might throw off the grading scale somewhat. But the only difference is that you will be getting a much better black out of these. I would highly suggest any artist out there that hasn’t tried these, to pick up a set immediately and test them out. You won’t regret it. Even if you are new to the art game and want a set of pencils that aren’t your basic drawing pencils, this is a set you should pick up. I recommend them to everybody now. Don’t get me wrong, I still like my 9000 series, but these are a step above them. I’m just kinda hoping to see more scale grades in the future in this Matte version. I know, most of us hardly even use all the different scales anyway, but it’s always cool to have them in your collection. I’m going to be buying a couple more sets of these. One set is going to be kept back in my massive pencil collection that I have been putting together for a few years. Listen, (Mitsubishi Hi-uni) and (Koh-I-Noor Toison D’or) May be the greatest wood case pencils ever made, but I gotta say this Faber Matte set is definitely ranking up right along side with them. I’m sure you will agree once you use them also.

These worked as I expected and as people described. They enable me to produce deep black shading -- not quite as well as charcoal, but I got good results. Not as smooth as normal graphite, but darker in the occlusion shadow areas where you need it.

I started drawing this dog and realized my 6B just wasn't going to do the job. I ended up ordering this whole set of Pitt graphite B series and used the 14 B for the darkest part. Very pleased with the results but there is more shine than I would like. I would recommend.

The darks are way darker than the 6b I was using all the time. The trick is to keep them sharp, and press hard, and blend. They are grainy, almost like a charcoal, but blend well with the right paper. It still is worth it for the value changes. They seem to be disappearing VERY quickly, so get a bunch, and don't overuse one value when another could be used. Definitely work better on good paper. Very smudgy. Minimal shine! These are absolute must haves. You lose some darkness with blending, but they seem to build up nicely.

Great Product, exactly as described.