In my quest for the ultimate colored pencils, I wanted to see what a big set of colored pencils would contain. While browsing on Amazon, I found the Soucolor set of 160 pencils for a budget friendly price. It looked so pretty, I couldn't resist and I bought it. For those who want to try these supplies for themselves I have included my Amazon affiliate links down below.
Two years ago, this 160 set of Soucolor colored pencils retailed on Amazon for around $22. At first my expectations of these pencils were not high, but I was very pleasantly surprised!
"Hey Cutie Boots! Whatcha doing up there? Wanna come help me look at these pencils?" "Naw", he said, "I'm gonna sleep."
When you slide the cardboard sleeve off there is a clear plastic container with a carrying handle and snaps for the closure. There are five thin clear plastic trays inside. The plastic trays are not very strong and I would recommend getting a pencil case for these. Soucolor has a 168 slot case that would work well for around $18 on Amazon.
The first tier has pinks, oranges, yellows, and greenish blues.
The 2nd tier has reds, oranges, pinks, and greens.
The third tier has darker greens, yellow ochre shades, and browns.
The fourth tier has darker blues, purples, and greys.
The fifth and last tier contains dark brown earth tones, dark blues, dark greens, black, and white.
Doodlin' Time!
I swatched all 160 colors. (Apparently, I had my notebook tilted at an angle.) The pencils don't have any color names on them. There are numbers stamped on the pencils, but they don't seem to have much correlation with similar color groups. The Soucolor colored pencils have a soft wax based core. These colors are bright and vivid. In my opinion, these colored pencils are similar to Castle Art and Black Widow colored pencils. I think they are possibly softer than the Black Widow pencils.
'New Mexico Yucca'
by Ellie Taylor
I tested out these pencils on one of my coloring pages from my upcoming coloring book about New Mexico. The color goes on smoothly and has good coverage. I was able to get about five layers of colored pencil before it gets too waxy. I created light washes of color to build up the layers. Because there are so many in-between shades of colors, this set is very good for color gradients. This makes color blending easier with this set. I couldn't find information on the lightfastness of these pencils, so it might be best to use these for journaling, sketchbooking, coloring books, and card making. Of course you can always make prints from your original artwork too.
In conclusion, I was very surprised by these pencils. Because of their low price point, I wasn't sure about their quality. However, I was very pleasantly surprised at the vibrancy of colors, softness of the cores, and the blending capabilities. Also, the range of colors was fantastic. Sometimes the larger pencil sets will have fluorescents or metallic colors which is fine, but I like to get those in separate sets. However, in this set there was none of that. The colors were all in-between shades which made blending very easy. I would definitely recommend getting this set if you want to learn how to blend colored pencils and are a beginning colorist. Actually, I think this set is a nice addition for artists of all skill levels. Unfortunately at this time I only see the 72 of Soucolor colored pencils for sale. That is still a good amount of colors, but I hope they bring back the 160 set again. I think you can still get the 160 set on ebay.
Edit January 2021: They now have an 180 piece set available!