Comments about Tombow Mono Professional Drawing Pencils:

I have tried quite a few brands of sketching pencils and I love this brand. I have found other brands either have a waxy quality or uneven lead texture with small hard pieces.
These pencils perform up to my expectations and I will order more in the near future.

Comments about Tombow Mono Professional Drawing Pencils:

Tombow graphite pencils are about as soft as Prismacolor Turquoise graphite pencils, but not as soft as Cretacolor. Most other brands are too hard for me. So far, I haven't received any badly made Tombow pencils, which occasionally happens with other brands. The pencils are consistently good quality and do not break easily when sharpening them, as some pencils do. The pencil sharpener doesn't "chew" them up as fast as some brands. It is easy to control the value as I use these Tombow pencils.

Comments about Tombow Mono Professional Drawing Pencils:

These are the best. I used Derwent and every now and then I get a piece of grit. Plus Derwent has bad quality control. These are perfect, look good, no grit, and the leads are centered perfectly. Price is good as well. I also found the lead to be slightly harder then other brands, which is a good thing.

Comments about Tombow Mono Professional Drawing Pencils:

I've tried Sanford Design pencils, Staedtler Lumographs, and Faber-Castell 9000s. With Staedtlers and Sanfords, the lead occasionally breaks in the casing while sharpening. In all 3, including the Faber-Castells, I have experienced tiny hard bits in the lead, which prevents a smooth, free-flowing line. I've been using the Tombow Mono for years now and have never experienced ANY problems with them. While the 2Bs and 4Bs might equal the darkness/softness of a 4B and 6B in another brand, that's the only thing you'll need to be concerned about before purchasing these pencils. I don't know how the Hs handle, but the Bs are smooth, strong, dark, handsome, and problem-free.

Comments about Tombow Mono Professional Drawing Pencils:

I've been primarily a computer artist for the last 20 years. I draw on a Wacom tablet, use Corel Painter (since the 90's starting with version 1.0 Fractal Painter) on Mac Pro's. I've been doing commercial art for over 20 years and often start my drawings with pencil sketches that are scanned/digitized. I have not needed the best of pencils for quite some time.

I'm in a position now to do more "fine art" and decided to resupply with new pencils, accessories and papers. I chose Tombo pencils based on other reviews and have to say I am not disappointed with my purchase.

Very nice quality pencils that do not break and produce wonderful drawings. I recommend them.

Comments about Tombow Mono Professional Drawing Pencils:

I bought these pencils as a step up from my "Student Quality" sketching pencils, and since these pencils were acclaimed by professional animators and all the past reviews, I bought them, (At a great price)

They shipped faster than I expected, which was nice, and the fit and finish was amazing, no skimping on the look, and an evident pride in product and brand that is a Definite plus to me, and is deserved by such an acclaimed pencil. The Actual design and color scheme on these pencils, (Black with gold lettering and a creme Ferrule band) is also the most attractive of any non-color pencil I have seen.

As to their performance, I Definitely note these pencils as much smoother than my previous German standbys, and much darker... for me, these points were a welcome plus, but I would be wary if you sre used to western pencils, and your want your ordered pencils to match closely in value to your previous ones, as the darkness of the (x)H to HB grades are about one or two shades Darker than any of the western pencils I have used, so you may want to buy a shade lighter than what your expecting, to compensate for this. This Difference is not as evident to me in the darker shades, from B onwards.

Also, with this increased Darkness, unlike what I personally expected, there seems to be almost no trade-off in the point-holding capabilities of these pencils which is a slightly odd, but welcome perk, (especially to an impoverished amateur artist such as myself.)

Overall, I would say that these pencils are Definitely the best i have ever used, and that everyone should try these, and compare them to any other, you won't be disappointed, I assure you! (Just remember, you may want to buy a shade lighter if your used to western pencils, or just give a few hours to acclimate yourself to the darker tones of the H grades)

Hope it Helps!

Comments about Tombow Mono Professional Drawing Pencils:

I have really enjoyed using these pencils for sketches and drawings. They are very responsive to both the pressure I put on them and also to the paper. They go on smooth.

Comments about Tombow Mono Professional Drawing Pencils:

The smoothest drawing pencil I ever used.

Comments about Tombow Mono Professional Drawing Pencils:

Simply the best pencil for drawing I have ever used.

Comments about Tombow Mono Professional Drawing Pencils:

I use graphite pencils to draw artistic pictures and portraits; I do not use them as a drafter/architect. The quality of the graphite in these pencils and their overall construction, in my opinion, is even better than Derwent. These pencils are perfect in every way: the graphite is perfect in consistency, color and hardness, not grainy at all, and centered exact in the wood.

If you try these once, you'll probably never use anything else.