Derwent Inktense Blocks 72 Tin, Set of 72 Water-Colours, 8mm Block, Water-Soluble, Ideal for Drawing, Colouring, Crafts & Painting on Paper & Fabric, Professional Quality (2301980)

Fabulously intense colours. Very easy to use either as drawing aid or diluted for watercolour painting.

I was very lucky compared to some of the customers who purchased as my tin arrived in perfect condition with none of the sticks damaged. Each section on the inside of the tin was securely wrapped in cellophane so none of the sticks could move to contaminate other sticks as some of the previous purchasers mentioned. I'm not sure if this is a new thing. The Inktense sticks themselves are a joy to use. They go down so smoothly on the paper although there are some variances in softness along the colour range. They blend beautifully with water and the colours are gorgeous and vivid, although you can make them more subtle with mixing. I really love using them. The only thing I felt was missing was some kind of colour chart for identification of how the colours are when wet, as it is really difficult to know what colour you will end up with looking at the dry sticks. I made my own and have stuck it in the tin for reference. Overall thrilled with my purchase. Great value for such a lot of colours.

The colours are intense and beautiful with strong pigment. It's my first time using them so still learning how to get the most out of them. A bit on the pricey side, but from what I've heard good pigment is expensive. A couple of the sticks arrived broken, unfortunately. I was lucky and managed to get two packs at £21.99 each while they were on offer. I reckon these will last me a while, or at least until the next time they're on offer again.

These Derwent Inktense blocks are absolutely brilliant! The colours are incredibly strong and glide on without any effort. When water is applied, the pigments are blended effortlessly and stay strong and vibrant. I've bought the "grate and shake" recommended with this product, which allows you to grate the blocks and then dilute the pigments with water to create a colour wash. I've tried this, but thought it was a bit of a waste as you need to add too much water to be able to "shake" the concoction and I ended up wasting most of it. Instead, I grate a small amount of pigments onto my pallet and mix it with gesso. It works really well! The colours are a little less vibrant this way, but more opaque. I even tried mixing in some mica powder to create a metallic effect with brilliant results. This is a very versatile product and worth every penny in my opinion. Now I've got my eyes on the Inktense pencils. And one day, I might just be able to buy the 72 set blocks as well.

I attend an Art Group in the Hathersage area and as we all paint in different media and styles, it seemed a very good opportunity to take the Inktense Blocks with me. They caused great interest, so much so that a friend had a go with them too and as the blocks snapped in half easily, it didn't cause any problems sharing the Inktense Blocks. My friend painted a lovely cockerel and I had a great time painting a landscape. We were highly enthusiastic with them, and as I had also taken my set of Inktense Pencils with me I was able to mix the two together on my picture. My friend thoroughly enjoyed her day, especially as initially, she had been a bit stuck for ideas. She said she was definitely going to send off for a set too. We both liked the way they were so flexible in use, in that they could be used wet or dry, made very interesting marks, and seemed to work well on different surfaces.. Also, having the 36 Pack gave us a very good range of colour choice and would be much easier and less messier than taking watercolours on holiday. All in all a very good product and we can thoroughly recommend it.

I love these, great colours and apply enough water in the right way and you can get some proper splashy effects and portable enough to take on location. My method is to create two drawings (see above). One black and white, and one in colour. I make a depth matte from the back and white one that I apply to the colour one in software, this adds shadows to the final image so these are digitally remastered drawings. I use the Inktense for the colour pass and they are great up to a point, you can mix them on the page if your paper is muscular enough and they can flick with a toothbrush, but they were not strong enough for the black and white version, this basic tin of 12 is a good start, but you will need other colours (and buy twice as much white as you think you need), I supplement my Inktense kit with white gouache and ink. But having said that it is a good medium and rewards experimentation.

Fab items

These sticks are an alternative to watercolour pencils or paints and provide brighter, stronger colours than I have found in the mid-priced versions of those items. You can draw with them and then spread water over, or apply a wet brush to them I am told you can scrape shavings off and mix them with water. I like the fact that the tints are not "pretty" in the same way as my Winsor and Newton box and I can use them for more forceful effects, even leaving some lines showing through. however I have found I cannot do thin lines without sharpening them. Plenty to experiment with! Four stars because I am not sure about how the effects compare with actual watercolours.