ALEX Art Studio Expressions Drawing & Sketch Case Set

Doesnt have color brown.
Great kit for a child. My daughter loves it. Buy a seperate sketch book, the one that comes with it is small and few pages.

Good materials, cheap manufacture
I used to attend an actual art school (and bought my Prismacolors and Strathmore pads from Amazon), so when I was offered this to review via Amazon Vines I was curious as to what could be done at this price point. The drawing supplies in this set are actually pretty good, though there has clearly been some cost cutting.COLORED PENCILS – the colored pencils are a bit harder than real artist pencils like Prismacolors, but about the same hardness as Crayola pencils. Trying them on some 20 lb copier paper (my sketch pad of choice) I found pretty good coverage and consistency. The pencils do layer well. I wish a blending pencil had been included, inasmuch as the blending stumps are really intended for the graphite pencils and charcoal, and won’t be hard enough to do the right thing. My biggest beef with the colored pencils is that some of the leads aren’t centered in the wood. This is cheap manufacture, and makes the pencil very hard to use or sharpen without breaking the lead.GRAPHITE PENCILS – these range from 4B to 2H and feel a bit softer than the marked hardness. They are reasonably smooth (no grit like you might feel in a cheap lead), but again some leads are off center.CHARCOAL – Soft/Medium/Hard. They feel a bit chalky, and again are relatively soft. If you are planning to give this set to a little kid be aware that charcoal makes a mess even when adults use it. I much prefer peel-off charcoal pencils for exactly this reason. “Real” charcoal pencil sets also often include a white charcoal pencil or white pastel for highlights.SHARPENER – Small and large holes, to expose the lead and then make a less fragile point. There is no case to catch shavings, just the bare-bones sharpener.POSE-ABLE FIGURE – The base is packed separately from the figure, and my base didn’t have a hole drilled in it for the support wire. I am underwhelmed.ERASER, RULER, SANDING BLOCK, BLENDING STUMPS, and DRAWING PAD – Unremarkable but not terrible. The pad would be a lot more usable with a stiff backing (or even, oh joy, a clipboard).BOX – The last kids’ set I saw had terrible vinyl sheeting stapled over particleboard, so I was happy to see this box was actually painted wood. The box is pretty nice. The plastic inserts are flimsy, however, and while they make a nice presentation they are clearly not going to last. Unfortunately the wood under the inserts is unfinished and unpainted, so once the inserts go you’re going to have a much less nice box. I would be MUCH more impressed if the box was finished inside and had some wood dividers (really folks, it’s worth an extra couple of bucks to have that longevity). The inside of the box is about 6-1/2 inches by 12 inches, which would fit a small sketch pad. Like some other reviewers have mentioned, my box had a piece of packing cardboard accidentally glued to it, which left bits behind when removed.Overall, this set is pretty good for the price. It could be made a lot better with a few minor changes.

GREAT value for kid’s art supplies: teaches blending, human body drawing, etc… everything you need in one set!
I don’t know why so many people are reviewing this as if THEY were going to use it; it’s a child’s art set and labeled as such (and the price is very much in line with that!) That being said, I was very impressed with the set, especially because of it’s great value for what you get. You get colored pencils, sketching pencils and charcoal, so blending and shading along with the tortillons they included is easy. Just THAT is enough to cover the cost of the item, but you also have a high quality sharpener (critical for making super sharp pencils,) sanding block, ruler, a sketch pad with 10 sheets of paper to get you started, a mannequin and a guide.The mannequin you can pose easily enough, moving his body into different positions, all so you can learn how to draw the human body. It’s not fancy, but it DOES work, especially when you follow the directions in the guide. Overall I am thrilled and honestly? I feel like I got it for a steal! I’ve bought some of these items separately for my pre teens and spent a lot more than I did on this entire set. I definitely am going to be buying more of them going forward as the kids need these materials in art class!

Good For Younger Artists . . . Maybe . . .
I wanted to love this set and there are things I like very much. I think blending stumps are a necessity and having a larger one and two smaller ones is helpful. The colored pencils are okay. I love that there are several different types of pencils (from 4B to 2H) which is great for learning how to create shade and texture. There are also some charcoal pencils.The ruler is unexceptional and the artist mannequin, about which I was the most excited, is cheap, with blobs of glue at some of the joints. The case is nice but i was disappointed when I opened it up and several of the elements had fallen loose, including the mannequin and most of the pencils. I was able to place everything back in place, opening and closing it with nothing falling out. Overall, this is an okay set but probably for younger artists than older ones.