Unboxing the Artownlar 72-Piece Art Supply Set

 

I was poking around at the new closeout store, where I had promised myself not to buy anything that I did not currently need or would not use on a regular basis. Rather than pawing through the bins like other people, I just kind of held back, strolling around slowly, waiting for something to catch my eye.

Well, the word “art” caught my eye. Sticking out of a jumble was a thick box labeled “Drawing Art Set – 72 pieces- Premium- Professional Art Supplies”. The brand name, “Artownlar” sounded like one of those nonsense names Chinese companies come up with based on a realllly loose knowledge of English, but hey, the first three letters had done exactly what they were supposed to do – get me to pick the box up and look it over. No-name brands are notorious for being crap, and cheap art supplies are also notorious for being crap, but it said 72 pieces, and it had some heft to it, so for the low, low price of $10, I was willing to take a gamble. After all, not all Chinese stuff is crap - the HIMI gouache paints have been superb!

The package was sealed, so I looked at the box for some hint of what was in it. I expected a photo or at least some details on the box, but all there was on the packaging besides the cover illustration was a blurb that described the contents as a " charcoal drawing set”. well, I highly doubted there were 72 pieces of charcoal in the box. Since there was a color illustration on the lid, I figured it was probably a set of pastels. 72 pastels for 10 bucks? Yes, please! I bought it.

When I got it back to the studio and opened it up, I got my first pleasant surprise: It came in a zippered set, along with a decently-sized pad of drawing paper. I haven't opened up the paper yet to check the quality (reviews to come!), but it does say 80 lb. That's extremely heartening, since sketchbook paper is typically about 65 lb. Heck, my favorite drawing paper, Strathmore 400 series, is 80 lb, so: cool. The pad has a standard amount of pages – 60 – mostly white, but some tan and some black.

I opened the zippered case, and it's a trifold, just chock full of stuff. Not pastels, but several different kinds of pencils. And when I took photos for this article, I realized that if I had looked more closely at the bar code, I would have had a heads-up about that:

In the left-hand section, a set of charcoal pencils, some black and some white, plus three tortillons (blending stumps), a sandpaper block, a pencil sharpener, a white plastic eraser, and a kneaded eraser. That section right there is worth at least 10 bucks, as is the drawing pad (okay, maybe $8 for the pad, without knowing the quality). 

But wait, there's more! There's a set of regular colored pencils and a set of metallics, a set of watercolor pencils, and a water brush (plastic fillable brush - you squeeze a bit to let water flow through the brush part), and your basic range of drawing pencils. what a haul! Each of these three sections is worth what I paid for the whole thing, not even counting the drawing pad.

There is even some info regarding social media - and apparently some tutorial videos on YouTube - ah, cross-branding!--included. I haven't watched any videos, yet, but please feel free: 

Okay, maybe I shouldn't be so yippee about it, because I haven't tested anything, yet. Maybe the water brush leaks and the watercolor pencils are terrible; maybe the colored pencils are chalky and the paper has no tooth; maybe the charcoal pencils are actually colored pencils (that actually happened to Super Rae Dizzle when she ordered “charcoal” pencils from TEMU). Maybe the sharpener isn't sharp and the kneaded eraser isn't kneadable. But I'll bet most of the stuff is just fine. The carrying case is pretty good quality, and I can put my own stuff in there, if worse comes to absolute worst. At any rate, the set is being sold for $25 on Amazon and up to $39.99 on other sites, so I got a great deal, pricewise. I'll do a little testing and get back to you to let you know if this is a box of awesome or not.

More fun with art supplies: 

https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2023/03/unboxing-himi-jelly-gouache-24-color-set.html

https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2014/12/little-angels-craft-project-cheap.html

https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2015/09/step-by-step-painting-fantastic-mr-foxs.html

https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2015/09/step-by-step-painting-fantastic-mr-foxs_5.html

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