Paletteful Packs is a carefully-themed selection of art supplies for artists of every skill level and all ages. Every box will include a variety of media. Products include paint, pens, pencils, brushes, markers, and more! There are 3 different pack options including:
- Petite Pack: 4+ artist quality supplies per box for $24.95/month
- Premier Pack: 5+ artist quality supplies per box for $35.95/month
- Young Artist: for ages 8 and up, 4+ items per box for $30.95/month
This review is for the $35.95/month Premier Pack.
This box was sent to us at no cost for review. (Check out the review processes post to learn more about how we review boxes)
About Paletteful Packs
The Subscription Box: Paletteful Packs
The Cost: $35.95 per month + free shipping (save with longer commitments)
ACTIVE DEAL: Save 10% off your first box!
CODE: FIRSTMONTH10
The Products: Carefully-selected art supplies provided to create a unique project
Ships to: The US for free, Canada for $10, and International for $15
Paletteful Packs November 2020 Review
The November Paletteful Packs Premier box included all of the supplies to create 3 different 8" X 10" boards of art.
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Each month we receive a postcard listing all of the month's contents, along with tips, tricks, and techniques. The opposing side also includes the prompts for the month. This month's prompts are morning routine, geometric, umbrella, and penguin. I love following their social media platforms to see what subscribers come up with!
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Lyra Sketching Set - Retail Value $21.77
How cool is this tin of Lyra sketching pencils? Included in this set is an assortment of quality pencils with extra-durable leads. We received a mixture of oil-based and oil-free pencils, which are ideal for sketching and drawing. I found them to have extremely high coloring power that glides across the paper effortlessly. We received a Sanguine Oil Pencil, Sepia Light Dry Pencil, 2B Carbon Extra Dark Pencil, 2B Carbon Pencil, White Pastel Dry Pencil, and an HB Charcoal Pencil. It was really fun to test the different leads out on paper and not only see but feel the difference of these pencils. I have to say, these are some of the fanciest pencils I now own...they are thicker than a typical pencil, are contemporary and sophisticated, providing quality results.
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Lyra Graphite Crayon (9B) - Retail Value $1.39
Honestly, I have not done a lot of sketching in my life with anything other than a #2 pencil, so this graphite crayon was new to me, but I LOVE it! This hexagonal-shaped graphite crayon is easy to hang onto, control, and works awesome for background shading and sketching. Because we are presently Distance Learning, my kids each created an art project using this month's box, and this was hands down their favorite item in the box.
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Lyra Hexagonal Crayon Holder - Retail Value $17.90
This hexagonal crayon holder fits a variety of sizes of crayons and helps minimize the mess. The graphite crayon instantly turns your hand black without this little handy tool, so it was a welcome addition. The set together ends up having a pretty decent weight to it, but is easy to hold, and looks really professional, so the kids and I felt like true artists using it!
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Staedtler Mars Lumograph 10B Pencil - Listed Value $2.25
This handsome blue pencil is really neat. The extra soft lead glides right across the paper and is so relaxing to sketch with! The lead is bonded to California cedar over the entire length of the pencil which prevents the lead core from breaking. I found this particular pencil to sharpen really nicely and I find myself reaching for these particular tools the most in my art.
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Staedtler Mars Lumograph 11B Pencil - Listed Value $2.25
This pencil is quite similar to the previous one, but with an even softer lead! This seriously melted on my board like butter! The grip of this pencil was pretty typical, but it was just so lovely to sketch with that I didn't want to put it down!
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Crescent Coldpress Illustration Board (3 Pack) - Retail Value $6.99
We also received 3 cold-pressed textured 8" X 10" surfaces. These boards are really thick and high quality. They are constructed with a cream core and a surface that allows the medium to be applied without fast absorption. I found that all of our included supplies worked really well with this board and my kids loved that it was so stiff and felt like something only a professional would use.
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Lyra Monochrome Sharpener - Listed Value $3.50
When I first saw this little pencil sharpener, I thought it seemed a little cheap, but when I put each of my new pencils in here to sharpen, I could really see the difference that this stainless steel blade made compared to my other small sharpeners. I didn't have any issues sharpening any of my pencils, and they all looked brand new after going through this little device. It is easy to use and stores nicely as well. One can never have too many pencil sharpeners, because I always seem to misplace them.
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Paletteful Packs / Blackwing Pencil - No Listed Price
Lastly, we received a limited edition Paletteful Packs/ Blackwing pencil. This pencil has quite the history and promises "half the pressure, twice the speed." Normally you can only buy this pencil in a pack of 12, so it was exciting to receive one of our very own. I found it really neat that Looney Tunes creator Chuck Jones, and Disney animator Shamus Culhane created with this particular brand of pencil, and according to animation historian Charles Soloman, Shamus Culhane asked to be buried with his Blackwing pencil! I personally found this pencil to be easy to hold, soft and fluid, and really comfortable to use. I also appreciated the uniquely shaped eraser at the top. My kindergartener asked if he could bring this to school for his pencil box, but I told him we better keep this gem at home!
Here you can see how unique each pencil is. My boys were surprisingly excited to check out my new box of pencils and were even more excited to test each one and see how different they were from each other both in color and texture.
Flower Project
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Like I admitted above, I have not done a ton of sketching in my life using pencils other than the plain old #2, so I am definitely an amateur when it comes to this type of work, but I can say I thoroughly enjoyed it! Starting with my new Blackwing, I sketched out the basis of a dahlia and started adding darker lines using the rest of my collection. I used every single component of this month's box and had a really fun time testing out the oil pencils versus the dry pencils, using the graphite crayon, and even adding the white pastel in there. The board was good and firm which was easy to work on and obviously didn't curl up on the edges for the finished project. I am happy with all of the products, and loved trying out these new tools!
Kids Corner
I split one of the boards in half so each of my boys could have one. Hank used a variety of the new collection of tools as well but really enjoyed using the sepia-colored pencil the most. He was very proud of filling his entire board with color, and I have found it to be the perfect addition to our mantle in the living room!
Poor Charlie...I gave him his half of the board and as he was working he decided his sun was just too big and he scribbled out his entire picture. This led to a bit of a discussion of building off of what we think are mistakes and the ability to turn a mistake into something else, but he wasn't having it. Because I told him I was not going to give him another board, his only option was to sketch on the back of the board which sadly is donned with branding. Here he created a large whitetail deer with a tree trunk.
The Verdict: Paletteful Packs, is honestly one of my favorite subscriptions. Even though I am not a professional artist, every time I see this subscription at my door I rush inside and rip it open. The fact that I can use the tools they send to create anything of my choosing and share that with my kids means everything to me. This curation was excellent, and I can't wait to practice my sketching on these long winter days with the company of my boys! I can't wait to see what next month will bring.
This subscription costs $35.95 a month. The listed value on the website's content card came to $41.45, and that didn't include the limited edition pencil we received. I was able to find most of these supplies (or close versions) online for $56.05, which is more than $20 more than the subscription cost, and that doesn't even include the Blackwing pencil!! I feel this is an awesome price because without this subscription I wouldn't have discovered these new brands, tried new techniques, and had so much fun in quarantine!
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? No, you'll receive the December box. The 26th of every month is the cutoff date to order the box for the coming month. If your order is placed after the 26th, you'll receive the following month's box.
ACTIVE DEAL: Save 10% off your first box!
CODE: FIRSTMONTH10
Value Breakdown: At $35.95 for the box including 13 unique items, you’re paying approximately $2.76 per item.
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What did you think of the Paletteful Packs November box? What would you create?
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