As I was quite impressed by the ArtGraf Color Set that I reviewed recently, I went ahead to get the Earth Tone set as well.

The ArtGraf Earth Tone 6-Color Set is priced around US $35.

So each piece is around US $6. It's actually quite worth it as it's a big piece that's about 6 times the size of a watercolour half pan.

The six pieces of pigment blocks are housed inside the individual wells that are made of cork. Not sure what binder was used but these blocks dissolve very reason when used with a wet brush. When holding the pieces for drawing, fingers will be stained so be prepared to get a bit messy.

To bring the set around, it's best you keep the plastic packaging. When the holder is upside down, the pieces may be dislocated from their wells so it's good to have a rubber band to press down the plastic packaging.

The colours included in this set are:

• Sanguine
• Ochre
• Sepia
• Brown
• Dark Brown
• Carbon Black

The colours are lovely and they behave just like watercolour.

The blocks are heavily pigmented. You just need to pick up some paint to produce a saturated wash.

Since this set is limited to earth colours, you won't be able to use any greens. In the sketch above, I painted the trees with Sanguine instead.

The six colours look quite good together. There's colour harmony so it's easy to use them together.

This set is best used for tonal studies. You can focus on getting the light and darks right, play around with light and shadows and not worry about replicating the exact colours you see.

Since these are earth colours, it's quite versatile for mixing various skin tones too.

These are some mixes I've created using these earth colours and the three primary colours from the 3-colour set. The mixtures possible are all muted slightly. Don't expect highly saturated or vibrant colours like Phthalos and Quinacridones.

Watercolour would definitely be more versatile compared to these ArtGraf pigment blocks because these are only available in limited colours.

However, these are great for value studies.

Overall, the quality is good so they are worth the money.

Availability

Find more reviews at Blick Art Materials (US) | Jackson's Art (UK)

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