Small tin, big trouble. Ten Neocolor II pastels is all it takes to get hooked, and we say that from experience. Draw with them dry for bold, creamy colour, then swipe a wet brush across and watch your marks melt into watercolour. It is the easiest way to find out why artists have carried these little sticks around since 1972, and it fits in a pencil case.

What You Get in the Tin of 10

Ten colours sounds modest until you realise every one of them can be a pastel, a watercolour, or both in the same drawing. Layer them, blend them with a fingertip, or wash them together on the page and you will get far more than ten colours out of this tin.

It is the same Neocolor II artists use in their studios, not a cut-down student version. High pigment, excellent lightfastness, soft velvety wax and zero dust. That is why we recommend the Tin of 10 as the gateway set: if you love it, every bigger tin is waiting.

Colours in the Tin of 10

All 10 colours by number and name, as published for this set. Every colour is also sold on its own, so note the numbers of your favourites for top ups.

Caran d'Ache occasionally updates set assortments, so the colours in your box may vary slightly from this list.

The Caran d'Ache Difference: Swiss Made Since 1915

Here is the thing about Caran d'Ache. They have been making drawing tools in Geneva for more than a century, and they still do it the slow way, in their own Swiss workshops at Thônex just outside the city. Not outsourced, not rebadged, not made wherever is cheapest this year. When the tin says Swiss Made, it means the pigment, the wax and the stick were all made by people who have been perfecting this exact thing for generations.

It is still a family company too. The Hübscher family has been at the helm since the 1930s, and today Carole Hübscher leads as the fourth generation. That is why the quality does not wobble from one batch to the next. A Neocolor II stick you buy today behaves exactly like the one your art teacher handed you years ago.

Caran d'Ache also has form for inventing the things the rest of the art world copies. They launched Prismalo in 1931, the world's first watercolour pencil, and turned their Neocolor wax pastel water soluble in 1972. Neocolor II is the original, which is why so many imitations get compared to it and so few come close. We have stocked Caran d'Ache at Art Shed Brisbane for years, and it is one of those brands our team actually buys for themselves.

Why Artists Keep Coming Back to Neocolor II

• Two mediums in one stick. A bold, creamy pastel when dry and a luminous watercolour the moment water touches it. Fewer tools to carry, more ways to work.
• No dust, no mess. Wax based, so nothing to breathe in, nothing to fix, nothing smudging across your desk.
• Works on almost anything. Paper, cardboard, wood, glass, fabric, leather and stone. Journals, rocks, windows, mixed media.
• Pigment that pulls its weight. High pigment content means real covering power, so light colours sit over dark and washes stay bright.
• The original water soluble wax pastel. Neocolor II has been on art school kit lists since 1972. Everything else is the copy.
• Made to last. Excellent lightfastness and a stick tough enough to survive a school pencil case, so your work and your tin both go the distance.

Getting Started with Neocolor II

Draw a simple shape, colour it in dry, then brush clean water over half of it. Compare the two halves and you have just learnt the whole magic trick of Neocolor II.

Use the side of the stick for broad colour and the rounded tip for lines. Work light colours over dark for highlights, the covering power makes it easy.

Wet work loves a watercolour paper of 300gsm or more. Dry work is happy on almost anything.

Browse the rest of our pastel sets, everything in pastels, or the full Caran d'Ache range.

Questions About the Caran d'Ache Neocolor II Tin of 10