Arteza have very kindly supported the recent children’s art workshops I have led and assisted by supplying materials for the children to work with. 
After using the materials, I found they are all made to a very good standard and I have really enjoyed trying them out.

I found the coloured pencils to be very strong, they sharpen really well and held a point for a long time. The colours are quite vibrant so great for creating bright drawings, however I found it quite challenging with drawings that have more muted tones. To try and create a realistic look I had to layer up a lot more to be able to achieve the colours and tones I needed. It would be interesting to see if the larger set contain more neutral tones, but as a start, the 48 set is a great option.

This pad is A4 and 130gsm. Although the paper isn’t very heavy I was surprised at how many layers of pencil it could take. I wouldn’t be able to use it for portrait work but the paper is very good for sketching!

As I couldn’t use this paper for the level of detail I put into my portrait work, I thought it best to buy a pad of watercolour paper to compare. 
Expert watercolour pad 32 sheets: this paper is 9×12” and 300gsm. I like the texture of this paper, it isn’t as compressed as the Fabriano paper I usually use, but it is really lovely to draw on. I found it could hold plenty of layers of pencil and still had enough tooth to add detail on top of the layers. It did start to ware on a couple of areas where the shading was quite intense, but generally it is very strong. I would happily use this paper for small portraits.

This set comes in a metal tin with both the lid and an additional opening pallet that allow plenty of space for mixing colours. The set also comes with a water brush which works very well for washes and adding soft colour. The colours in the set are a really good mix which allows nearly every shade/tone/colour.