I absolutely love using colored pencils, and recently I was asked, “What are the best colored pencils for artists?”.
There are so many different colored pencils for artists on the market, and so it can be pretty daunting to know which are the right ones to choose.
In this article, I am going to go through the six best-colored pencils for artists to help make your life easier 🙂
Colored Pencils
Colored pencils are an excellent and dynamic art medium well-loved by professional artists and hobbyists alike! They are easy to use and blend and can help produce masterpieces that will last a lifetime.
However, choosing the best-colored pencil for you may not be easy when faced with such a wide range of colored pencil options! I have compiled a list of the 6 best-colored pencils for beginners and professional artists to make this process easier.
The best-colored pencils for artists
Here is my recommended list of the best colored pencils for artists.
**This page may contain affiliate links to products I have used or recommend. If you purchase something from this page, I may receive a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.**
The Castle Art Supplies 72 Colored Pencil Set is a rising star in the online art community. Despite its low price, it has excellent color application and is available in a 72-pack set.
The 72 Colored Pencils Set from Castle Art Supplies is a great value set of color pencils.
Featuring a wide range of colors, these pencils are a good choice for beginners and professionals. The set comes in a convenient storage case and is easy to carry around.
The color-coding on the packaging makes it easy to find the right pencil for any task. The 72-colored pencil set is an excellent choice for beginner and professional artists.
Its Soft Series’ designation implies that these are soft pencils and easily workable. They are an excellent choice for beginners and artists alike.
One of the best features of the 72 Colored Pencils set is the high pigment content. The colored pencils in this set can easily compete with the leading brands in the market.
This set is an affordable way to experiment with color pencils. The tins are presented beautifully. The color-coded pencils are well-placed to ensure that they don’t break. This set is a great way to get started.
Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils are professional-grade colored pencils that contain high-quality pigments that produce vivid color. These pencils have thick leads and soft cores, which provide superior blending and shading.
The thick cores also resist breakage, and the softness is perfect for artists who want to achieve the ultimate smoothness in color laydown.
These pencils have a creamy texture and are ideal for blending and shading. Sharpened, these pencils offer superior control and long-lasting performance on the page.
They also sharpen easily for a smoother line, silkier shadowing, and more precise control of the color.
Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced artist, these soft colored pencils will ensure that you have vibrant, high-quality art. Their extensive range of pigments and thick cores make them the best choice for blending and shading. They also last for a long time.
If you are a professional artist or an amateur, you should check out the Luminance line of Caran d’Ache pencils. This premium line of art supplies provides smooth, durable leads and has excellent lightfastness.
The colors are UV resistant and have a minimal wax bloom. Luminance pencils also feature a velvet finish.
Luminance color pencils are ideal for blending. Their deep, rich pigments are easy to blend. They are well-constructed and sharpen easily. This brand also provides quality, high-end pencils for all levels of artists. It’s important to remember that these pencils are designed to be professional-grade, which means they have to stand up to a high-quality standard. These artist supplies can be expensive, but they are well worth the investment.
Luminance pencils are great for blending and are made of pure pigments with a long-lasting lead. They’re also UV resistant to fading. You’ll love these pencils because they’re attractive, easy to sharpen, and a dream to work with.
Caran d’Ache Luminance Colored Pencils and Sets are a great option for artists of all levels.
Luminance pencils are ideal for blending and making use of pure pigments with a long-lasting lead. The lead is smooth and durable, and the colors are lightfast and UV resistant.
The pencils feature a velvet finish and are easy to blend.
If you want a quality pencil that can hold its color over a large area, try Polychromic Pencils For artists. They have a smooth texture, slightly mottled surface, and are easy to sharpen.
The high pigments in the Polychromic Pencils allow for intense color, but they are not as opaque as other pencils.
They don’t smudge or chip easily, making them the perfect tool for artists looking to create beautiful works of art.
The oil-based core in these pencils makes them smudge-proof and water-resistant. They also feature a smudge-proof, waterproof casing and extraordinary covering power. The pigments in these pencils can be mixed with paint thinner to achieve a seamless blend. In addition to these benefits, Faber-Castell Polychromic Pencils For artists are also lightfast and acid-free.
The most notable feature of the Faber-Castell Polychromic Pencils For artists is their high pigment. These pencils are acid-free, lightfast, and water-resistant. They are also smudge-proof and are highly durable. They also feature a wood-based exterior that is both soft and durable.
The Polychromos Colored Pencils are a quality, smooth pencil that can hold its color over a large area.
The most notable feature of the Faber-Castell Polychromos Colored Pencils is their high pigment. The pigments in the pencils are intense and can be mixed with paint thinner to achieve a seamless blend.
Blick Studio Artists’ Colored Pencils are ideal for drawing, illustrating, and coloring because they include brilliantly balanced hues for better mixing.
These richly colored pencils, which are highly pigmented and fade-resistant, provide smooth color laydown.
These oil-blend pendants feature round, lacquered California cedar casings that protect their 3.8 mm thick leads for a long time.
Blick’s Studio Artists’ Colored Pencils are professional-quality and affordable.
These oil-blend pencils have round, lacquered California cedar casings that protect their 3.8 mm thick leads for a long time. They are perfect for drawing, illustrating, and coloring, as they have brilliantly balanced hues for better mixing.
Goldfaber Colour Pencils are excellent for artists who want beautiful coverage and vibrant colors. Made from waxy pigments, these pencils have good lightfast ratings and give a smooth, soft-smooth finish.
These are artist-grade pencils and are recommended throughout the world.
The Goldfaber range of colored pencils for artists looking have a quality medium-sized, flexible, and smooth lead. These tools have a rounded barrel with a Payne’s Grey or Gun Metal Grey lacquer finish.
These highly pigmented, soft-leaded pencils have a smaller diameter than most. They have a great finish and can be used for various drawing techniques. They are also smudge-proof and water-resistant and are ideal for mixed media works.
Professional artists recommend these artists’ pencils throughout the world.
The Goldfaber range of colored pencils is a good option for artists looking for a quality medium-sized, flexible, and smooth lead.
Highly pigmented, soft-leaded pencils have a smaller diameter than most (easier to achieve detail).
They have a great finish and can be used for various drawing techniques.
Smudge-proof and water-resistant and are ideal for mixed media works.
These professional-grade color pencils are designed to create a paint-like effect on most rough surfaces.
What should be considered when choosing the best-colored pencils?
Various other things are essential to think of before buying a colored pencil. Let’s see some essential things you should consider when choosing a color pencil.
How do I choose the right colored pencil?
How you choose your best-colored pencil can depend on what you are using it for. For example, the best coloring pencils may not be the right ones to produce detailed drawings. When choosing a color pencil, you should always think about what is most important to you when working with them. Do you want them to be easy to blend, or will they make your artwork thicker? You should also consider how long the pencil’s lead will last before breaking and if it has good intensity levels too!
What are professional colored pencils?
If you are a professional artist looking for the best colored pencils, then it would be wise to invest in a set of professional colored pencils. Professional colored pencil sets often have more colors in their range than beginner sets which can provide you with various shades that help produce breathtaking masterpieces! Professional colored pencils are usually made from high-quality materials and a smooth finish.
What should I look for in a good-quality color pencil?
When choosing your ideal color pencil, you will want to consider many things, such as how it feels in your hand, what type of lead it has, if it’s fade-proof and much more!
Different colored pencils have other qualities which can help produce beautiful artwork. For example, some colored pencils have hexagonal barrels, making them easy to hold and come with high-quality leads inside!
The best-colored pencil brands often consistently create high-quality sets, which makes them a great choice when looking to purchase your next set of colored pencils.
Other features you need to consider when choosing a colored pencil set:
Permanence
Different colored pencil brands come with varying pigment levels, which determines how long they will last on a surface. If you want a color pencil that doesn’t fade, then investing in a professional colored pencil set would be your best option as they have high-intensity pigments that will produce stunning results for years to come!
Quality
You want to choose a color pencil made from high-quality materials, such as oil or wax, which are pressed into the lead. This helps produce bright and vibrant colors for hours of coloring fun!
When choosing a new color pencil, it’s important to think about how long the lead will last before breaking. Some pencils come with stronger leads than others, so you should always be sure to check this before buying your set!
Color Range
Color is an important factor when choosing your new color pencil set. It’s a good idea to buy colored pencils in a wide range of colors so that you can produce many different artworks using various shades and hues.
Start with a color pencil set of at least 24 colors if you are a beginner. This will give you a wide range of options as you start practicing and developing your skills.
As you progress in your drawing skill, you can choose to purchase a larger set of artist-grade colored pencils.
Types of colored pencils
There are several different types of artist-grade colored pencils available to artists. These include soft, firm, and oil-based versions. Oil-based ones are harder and require less sharpening.
Wax-based pencils are the most common and widely available and are the most common. These come in two grades, the artist-grade and the student-grade. In this article, we will discuss artist-grade pencils.
All the various pencils I discuss in this article are great choices for artists. These include the most widely used brands like Prismacolor and Faber Castell. Listed below are the benefits of each type of pencil.
Are Wax Pencils Good?
Wax pencils come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. They all contain wax as the major binding substance in the core, making them more widely accessible than oil-based pencils.
The degree of pigmentation can be comparable to that of oil-based pencils, although it may differ from brand to brand.
Wax pencils are also somewhat softer than oil-based pencils in general, allowing colors to combine more rapidly and burnishing methods to be used more quickly.
They won’t last as long and require more frequent sharpening and replacement. They can also have a pastel appearance when covered in a thick layer of paper.
On average, wax-based pencils are considerably less expensive.
Wax pencils are messier than oil-based pencils and more prone to breakage, so they require a bit greater pressure when drawn with wax pencils for them not to shatter.
While wax-based colored pencils are less expensive, many artists still favor them. Their texture is softer and smoother than wax-based pencils, but they are still erasable. The best type for you depends on your needs. For beginners, wax-based pencils are easier to use. They can be applied in many ways, including blending and highlighting.
Are Oil Pencils good?
Oil-based colored pencils: These are more expensive but require more practice. However, they are superior to wax-based pencils in terms of blending. They provide more vibrant colors and blend well.
They are also easier to store and apply to a surface. But be aware that wax-based colored pencils are not as opaque as oil-based pencils. It is important to understand the difference between these types of pencils before choosing a type of colored pencil.
There are several different types of oil pencils, but all of them contain oil as the main binder. They tend to be hard pencils but are very high-quality pencils.
These pencils are more expensive because of their high grade, intended for artists who need a superior option. However, if you are a beginner, they are also awesome to use!
Oil pencils have greater color control and are more durable than wax pencils, making burnishing techniques simpler to execute.
The leads also last longer, allowing for greater detail accuracy.
They’re also wonderful for layering and can be utilized with various media.
Although wax bloom may still occur with these pencils, it is less likely to do so than with wax pencils, but you can wipe away the bloom with a damp cloth if it happens!
Although a wax pencil may seem to be an easier option, oil pencils last longer and may be used with solvents and fixatives to simulate the look of oil paint.
Oil pencils are lightfast and transparent, meaning they won’t fade as quickly, and the colors will remain vivid and clear to look at for decades.
Paper for colored pencils
You must choose a paper with some tooth or surface texture for colored pencils. The texture allows the colors to adhere to the paper’s surface, and layer upon layer can be built.
Colored pencils may slide off a smooth paper, like Bristol or hot-pressed watercolor paper, because there is not enough texture.
If you are working on a paper that is too smooth, you won’t be able to render very strong values and will have difficulty learning colors.
However, a paper with too much texture can also be challenging to work with.
Drawing on paper with a lot of texture will cause the paper to shine through your artwork, and your pencil lead will be used up very quickly.
Paper Size for Colored Pencil Drawing
Working on a larger scale is easier than doing small drawings with colored pencils.
I primarily work in my sketchbook, which is A4 in size. This is a good size to start with and very manageable when working with colored pencils.
As you continue making art with colored pencils, you can increase the size of the artwork and see what effect it may have on your art.
This heavy 65 lb (96 gsm) weight acid-free paper is ideal for colored pencil, pencil, charcoal, pen, and light wash.
The paper used in this notebook is Crobart, which comes from France and has incredibly high-quality standards. A double wire binds all 100-sheet pads along the long edge.
Derwent Lightfast Paper Pads are available in a Natural White hot press finish, making them perfect for use with oil-based colored pencils.
These sheets are made from 100 percent cotton on a conventional cylinder mould machine and have been surface-sized for strength and resistance to moisture, feathering, and bleed-through.
Acid-free, archival quality, and free of optical brighteners for excellent color retention.
This article discussed the 6 best colored pencils for artists of all levels. From beginner to professional, these are some of the best options you can choose from!
Hopefully, with a bit of help from my list and your creativity, you’ll be able to find a set that’s right for your needs:)
