Duomo 50 Artist Pencil Set Review: A Budget-Friendly Way to Start Making Art

Introduction

The Duomo 50 Artist Pencil Set, made in the Philippines, packs 50 pencils into one large box for around $19 US. It includes colored pencils, charcoal pencils, watercolor pencils, a full range of graphite pencils in different hardness grades, and a handful of metallic pencils. The sheer size of the set, roughly 18 by 8 inches in packaging, makes it feel like a genuine gift item rather than a cheap grab-bag of supplies.

This is not a professional-grade kit, and it does not pretend to be. But for someone just starting out, a curious child, or an adult who wants to experiment with different pencil types without committing to expensive individual sets, it covers a surprising amount of ground. After working through each group of pencils, swatching, sharpening, and sketching with them, the verdict is that the versatility and variety at this price make it easy to recommend as a starter set.

What Is in the Box

The set groups its 50 pencils into five categories: colored pencils, charcoal pencils, watercolor pencils, graphite pencils in a range of hardness and softness, and metallic pencils. The colored pencils are noticeably soft and go down smoothly, though the colors are quite muted. You have to work fairly hard to build deep color, and they sit at student grade or below rather than exceptional artist quality. For sketchbook work and beginner practice, that is perfectly acceptable.

Sharpening was mostly trouble-free across the set. The colored and watercolor pencils held up well with no lead breakage, which is genuinely good for an inexpensive line of pencils. There was a little breakage in the charcoal, but charcoal is brittle by nature and that is almost to be expected. One small complaint: the watercolor pencils are identified by a gold band rather than stamped color names, which would be a friendlier touch for people with color vision differences.

The Watercolor Pencils Are the Highlight

The watercolor pencils turned out to be the most impressive part of the set. In dry form, they lay down color like the colored pencils but with noticeably more vibrancy. The real standout is how they behave once water touches them: the pigment dissolves uniformly, turning cleanly into watercolor paint with very few visible pencil marks left behind. That kind of clean dissolution is unusual in a budget watercolor pencil.

The colors are still more muted than what you would get from a premium option like a Faber-Castell or Caran d’Ache watercolor pencil, and there is no real comparison to those. But those premium sets cost considerably more. You only get 10 watercolor colors here, which is a limitation of splitting 50 pencils across five categories, but for experimenting with water-soluble media this is an easy recommendation.

The Graphite Pencils

The graphite portion of the set spans a solid value range: 2H, H, 2H, 3H, 4H, and 5H on the hard side, plus B, 2B, 3B, 4B, and 5B on the soft side. Hard pencils like the 2H work well for light, precise marks, while the softer B pencils deliver darker values with less pressure. Used together, they make it easy to build tonal transitions in a drawing, whether that is a value scale, a shaded sphere, or the light and shadow on a simple still life.

The casings on the graphite pencils appear to be cedar, which feels like an upgrade over the other pencils in the box. For the money, this graphite range alone would be a decent small starter kit.

The Charcoal and Metallic Pencils

The charcoal section consists of 10 identical pencils with no variation in hardness or softness. Compared against vine charcoal or General’s charcoal pencils, they hold up okay as a student-grade option. Beginners who want to try charcoal for the first time will get a fair sense of the medium, though professional artists should not expect spectacular results.

The metallic pencils are the weakest part of the set. They do not put down colors that read as particularly metallic, even when tested on slick polypropylene paper or used wet to try to coax out a sheen. The effect simply does not come through the way you might hope. Treat these as a bonus rather than a reason to buy.

Things to Consider Before Buying

The packaging feels a bit overkill for what is inside, though not egregiously so. More notable is the lack of a visible ASTM safety rating on the pencils, which may matter to some buyers, particularly those purchasing for children. It would be reassuring to see certification printed on the set.

Set expectations correctly: these are student-grade or below across the board. The colored pencils are muted, the charcoal is basic, and the metallic pencils underdeliver. If you already own artist-grade materials, this set will feel like a step sideways rather than an upgrade.

Buying Advice

At roughly $19, the math works out well. The watercolor pencils dissolve beautifully, the graphite range is genuinely usable, and the colored and charcoal pencils are fine for learning. It is a strong gift for anyone young or old who is just getting into art, and a low-risk way to sample five different pencil types in one purchase.

If your goal is professional-grade color, look at dedicated premium sets instead. But as an affordable entry point, this set makes a lot of sense.

Conclusion

The Duomo 50 Artist Pencil Set succeeds at exactly what it sets out to do: give beginners an affordable, varied toolkit for exploring pencils of every kind. The watercolor pencils are the clear standout, the graphite range is solid, and the whole package is priced like an impulse buy. Just go in expecting student-grade performance, and you will not be disappointed.