ColourTint pencils are artist's quality, graphite based pencils with just a hint of colour. You can achieve a wonderful muted look of graphite ‘blackness’ to your artwork with just a hint of colour which is perfect when you want an understated, distressed look to your projects. When you add water to Spectrum Noir Colourtint graphite pencils, it explodes into colour for a more vibrant (but still muted) colour palette.