Dixon Ticonderoga Erasable Checking Pencils, Eraser Tipped, Pre-Sharpened, Pack of 12, Blue (14209)

For underdrawing, I love to use the Light Blue PrismaColor Col-Erase (20068). However, it's not easy to purchase this color individually, and the non-photo blue color that is more available is a bit too light for me, even when working on textured paper.This Ticonderoga works for my purpose, but it's not as erasable. I find myself having to do light strokes with a flat chisel tip to keep them decently erasable. If you can afford quality sketching pencils (e.g. PrismaColor, Steadler, Caran d'Ache), I would stick to those, but these are a viable alternative at a much cheaper price.

I couldn’t get through grading one class’s work without sharpening it several times.

They worked pretty well

They say these things are for checking things off on a paper document, but I got these to see how they compare the similar Prismicolor Col-Erase colored pencils, and they work really well! I was hoping it would be similar to the light blue color for those pencils. It's a little darker than that pencil, but there are two reasons why that's nice. 1: It hold back a little more than the light blue prismicolor. Meaning it shows up better with some distance away from the paper. So you don't have to squint or bring your head closer to the paper as much as with the light blue prismicolor. 2: It has the same effect when scanning it. Anyone who does cartoon and comic inking knows that the ink lines need to scan in cleanly on either a strait black and white or line art setting on a scanner, and this pencil does it just as nicely as the prismicolor equivalent. No more erasing pencils on your drawings!Now there is a minor quibble I have with these pencils but it's actually goes for most other erasable colored pencils, and that's sharpening. With an electric sharpener you won't have much of a problem, but for on the go manual sharpener, they tend to not have as easy of a time as regular graphite and many sharpeners will just break the tips off the lead. They also wear down sharpeners so it might be a good idea to stock up on the one you find that does the job, Also keeping an exacto knife and/or sand paper to sharpen it with would also be a good choice.So yea, really good pencil and I recommend it.

For the price these are great. They don't erase THAT well unless you're using a very light line, but when using blue for sketching you're probably gonna scan the drawing anyway so erasing isn't really necessary on rough under-drawings. They don't sharpen that well but not a huge concern.