Mungyo Soft Pastel 64 Color Set Square Chalk

I'm a professional artist and during the lockdown(s) I've decided to get back into pastels in a serious way. I've spent a fortune on high end artist's quality soft pastels, many of which are excellent, but for sheer value for money and versatility these take a lot of beating! They're just the right size to fit your hand - I tend to break bigger sticks anyway - they're firm enough to do detailed work and yet soft enough to go on in layers. There's a good selection of colours in the box, although nothing really subtle. I find these have become a kind of workhorse foe me - even in the middle of doing a painting using artist's quality soft pastels, surprisingly I find myself turning to these again and again. Now that I've used these for a while, I wouldn't be without them.

This is a great and easily affordable little set of half sticks.The pastels are a little crumbly, but the colour selection is good - very similar to the Faber Castell colour selection - with a lot of very useful colours.The selection is not overly vivid - in fact it's quite muted overall - and makes a great partner for a set of Mungyo Gallery soft pastes which offers a much more vivid selection.Overall, it's hard to complain. The price is excellent and the pastels are good (if not brilliant) to use. If you're looking to begin a new adventure in pastels, or if you're a bit more experienced and looking for a 'practice' set, then give these a try.

I use the pastels to add backgrounds to my adult colouring books. There is a lovely range of colours, you can start off light and then build up gradually, adding other colours and blending, if you want. I think they take my pictures to the next level, giving a 'finished' look to the page. It is quick too. I would recommend them.

I am pretty much new to chalks, discounting using them in educational settings years ago. I chose these because Mungyo is the brand that so many people seemed to recommend. I watched a few YouTube tutorials and then I got to work.Although I have a few different tools, I found the easiest way to blend them was using a cotton bud.I did the backgrounds of these two images with the chalks and I am pleased with how they have turned out. I love the range of colours these chalks come in; they prepare you for so many styles and effects. If you are considering purchasing and using chalks for the first time I recommend having a piece of Kitchen towel covering the area around where you are working so you don't put chalky fingers on a clean bit.I would also recommend the purchase of some Frisk Pastel Fixative to seal your work once you have finished, so it doesn't smudge.

My pastels arrived unbroken, and they were actually packaged very well. They had a cover sheet with a foam cushion in the box (see picture). These pastel chalks are very small, but the pigment is amazing. I don't draw with these; I'm actually using them to decorate a board each week to track my pregnancy (see picture). They will be awesome for that because regular chalk only comes in a few boring colors. I also have the Pro Art Chalk Pastels which I have been using for several weeks and also love. Those are actually the pastels I used to draw the picture that's attached, but I'm doing the same thing with these. I just haven't made an entire picture yet with them. Since they are so small I will have to reorder soon, but for the variety of colors, it's worth it to me. Just so you could see the pigment, I drew hello with a smiley face. You don't get those kind of colors from regular chalk! Also, you will use them quickly if working on a chalk board because you have to press hard and go over a spot more than once for good coverage. Again, that doesn't bother me either, but you will end up with a pile of chalk (see picture).

The panels were peppered with bits of charcoal that had come off of the charcoal stick provided in the set, also some of the pastels were very “gritty” and did not blend well. On the plus side there were plenty of colour choices. Probably wouldn’t buy again.

Great colours lots of shades for great price

For the price, I wasn't expecting much, but I am pleasantly surprised: the colours are bright and blend very well.However, I am not giving it a full 5 stars because some valuable colours are missing: some greens, blues and purples. The ones on offer aren't quite natural looking enough to draw landscape for example, and some colours I probably will never use either, but for a beginner's set, this is still very good.