SAKURA ESP50 50-Piece Cray-Pas Specialist (Colors May Vary) Oil Pastel Set

Hard to use, colors not too bright, it does not glide like most oil pastels

These are the standard bearers of oil pastels. Of oil pastels that I've personally used, the only pastels I've used that are better are Sennilier pastels. But Sennilier are much more expensive.These pastels are so creamy and smooth in application, it's hard to believe how inexpensive they are.I've changed my brand to these from Sennilier after purchasing on a whim.Highly recommended.

I am an oil painter who is tired of cleaning brushes and decided to try oil pastels for the first time. Because it’s a new medium for me I wasn’t sure if I would like it and didn’t want to spend a ton of money on the Senneiler set yet. I bought this Cray Pas Specialist set of 36 and the Munguo Gallery set of 48. The two sets complement each other well as the Munguo’s are quite opaque, softer and easier to blend, but this specialist set has more transparent pigments and handles details better because of its firmness. That said, I don’t feel that this set stands on its own the because of the more transparent pigments. The Munguo’s do stand on their own but are made much better by the addition of the transparent pigments in this Specialist set. I’m glad I bought both as they have different uses and while there will be a little learning curve I think I will very much enjoy this new endeavor.

Here's what you get for spending a lot less money than what other brands of artist quality oil pastels cost:-- Lightfastness ratings on every stick (they tend to be pretty good, actually)-- Very high pigment density (probably the defining characteristic of 'artist quality' colors, along with lightfastness)-- Handling characteristics somewhere between Holbein and Sennelier (buttery and low-crumbling, yet not like lipstick)-- A good color range (I think there are 88 colors in the entire range)-- Large sticks in popular square shape-- Available as open stock, with good prices (I think Blick has them for about $1.79 per stick, with mix-and-match price breaks)Most of the colors behave exactly as expected, but Specialist is far less expensive than all other professional brands. Other colors are downright jaw-dropping in how well they look and feel, most notably the metallics, blues, and blue-greens (the blues and blue greens have the appearance of translucent oil paint or a very high-end oil pastel or oil bar). The cadmium reds are actually red, with no detectable off-primary coloration. The yellows are eye-popping, even on very bright paper.The sticks have a slightly hard feel, but are creamy and buttery, especially once the tooth of the support has been filled. Specialist colors have an odd kind of velvety texture, too, almost similar to working with soft pastels. I find the overall feel of Specialist oil pastels to be somewhat similar to Holbein, but have their own unique handling quality that I find very pleasant. There is enough pigment stuffed into each stick and they are soft enough to easily make very appealing impasto strokes.Sakura does not use a siccative in their formula for the Specialist line, unlike several other artist-grade oil pastels (so, they will never really dry, oxidize, or bloom). Sakura seems to really understand how to price-point their products. Their Expressionist oil pastels, though very pleasant to work with and probably the best for the money in their respective class, cannot compare with the look and feel of Sakura's Specialist line. I've used Mungyo Gallery Artist Extra Soft oil pastels and they are very nice to work with, but Mungyo has almost nothing to say concerning the lightfastness of the pigments they use. Lightfastness data for Mungyo Gallery Artist Extra Soft just isn't available. Mungyo claims that their product is "fade-resistant," which does not inspire confidence. That's too bad, because the Gallery Artist Extra Soft oil pastels have a nice look and feel for the price.Anyone interested in trying a professional quality product would do well with Specialist oil pastels. They cost less than half what other brands cost, yet give you that same experience of working with soft, densely-pigmented sticks. I will definitely be adding sticks of open stock to my collection. Highly recommended.

El paquete me llegó abierto y usado en la tapa de arriba, además los pasteles no son suaves, son mas duros que los semi-profesionales, dificultando la liga, le sugiero que compren el de la caja verde, esta a mejor precio y la calidad es mejor .

The media could not be loaded. Mixable and preferable for lower layers because they are harder than Neopastel and Holbein.They come with a very useful mixing bar to soften the mixture.My opinion is based on my technique and style. I work on paper previously waxed with beeswax, which facilitates the application of various brands of oil pastels.It is preferable to work with them on textured or softly serrated papers for better grip of these oil pastels.

These pastels are actually very good. I like the Sakura brand and bought amazing travel watercolor boxes and water reservoir brushes from them in the past, also on Amazon.I own these and the Landscape Set from Sennelier. Comparing the two, I can say they are both very good, very different and complement each other nicely. As other reviewers noted, these are harder pastels, maybe medium hardness. The Sennelier are very soft in comparison. I found the Sakura/Cray-Pas to have great, vivid colors. The colors from Sennelier were great as well and are more suited for blending because they are so soft. The Sakura/Cray-Pas was definitely harder to blend, even using one of those tools with a little blending sponge at the end. They are better for underlying detail. The Sennelier were especially good for heavily laid accent colors on top of some Sakura/Cray-Pas. The two sets also complement each other in terms of shape, this one has square sections and the Sennelier are round. The shape of the Sakura/Cray-Pas was actually one of the qualities I was looking for. I wanted the possibility to drag one of the rectangular pastel corners over the paper, which up to now I could hardly do with the rounded Sennelier.I also wanted to mention the addition of, interestingly, silver and gold to the pastels of the set. I have not tried them yet though.