Compared with other, wet, messy art supplies, these things are AMAZING! I drew a picture and "painted" it this morning in about 5 minutes. Of course, the background had been created over time, as a by-product of some other mixed media experiments with my gelli plate and sprayed inks. I love the idea of keep a stack of backgrounds around and then whipping up a pretty face using my pastels right over the top, which allows the layers underneath to show through. So awesome!