Opting for artists' quality coloured pencils is essential to take your work to the next level. Just like the difference between professional watercolour paints and children's watercolours, there's a vast contrast between artist-grade and student-grade coloured pencils. Artist's grade pencils come in wax or oil base and are highly pigmented with least fillers as possible.
You can create highly detailed, photorealistic work, fantasy art and mixed media works with coloured pencils. They are a unique fine art media offering many advantages with a minimum number of tools. The finished coloured pencil artworks are considered paintings in the world of art. You can use coloured pencils in mixed media, either under an oil or acrylic paint medium over or under a watercolour or pastel painting.
Botanical drawings or scientific illustrations with both coloured pencils and water-soluble pencils, especially in combination, are regarded as the perfect media for doing the very detailed, precise drawings that this marvellous art form was purposely intended.
The point of the pencil is critical in colouring pencil drawings or paintings. Imagine the tooth of the paper under a magnifier many times over; you would see many hills and valleys. The number of hills and valleys the pencils will cover depends on the sharpness of the point on your pencil. The sharper the pencil's lead, the more hills and valleys the pencil can fit into. The more valleys the pencil can fit into, the smoother the coverage, and the smoother and more even the work will appear. The larger, duller the point will leave dandruff or white of the paper behind. It would be great on a peach but not on an apple drawing.
Try the pencils on several paper types before deciding which best suits your work. If you are serious about coloured pencil art, you should also invest in an electric pencil sharpener. You can also mix your favourite wax-based pencils with different brand colours and oil-based coloured pencils.
WET, DRY AND COMBINED
Traditionally, regular or 'dry' and not-soluble-in-water coloured pencils are used. Typically, they are laid down in many light-pressured translucent layers to build up a richness of colour. You can blend traditional coloured pencils with colourless blenders or white coloured pencils or use heat or solvent to help the pencil dissolve. They come in wax-based and vegetable oil-based types. Heat can only be used to blend wax-based coloured pencils. In general, the softest coloured pencils are wax-based and blend best.
In addition to regular coloured pencils, many other newly made pencils, such as coloured graphite and soft coloured drawing pencils, fit in somewhere between pastel pencils and coloured pencils.
Water soluble pencils or watercolour pencils are quite similar to regular coloured pencils. They often come in the same colours of the same brand; they can be just like dry coloured pencils. Still, they dissolve into gorgeous, vivid colours when water is added. Some tend to look like watercolours, and some like vibrant inks. Water-soluble pencils are often called watercolour pencils. However, since the cores are not truly watercolours and are more water-soluble pencils that look more like ink than watercolours, water-soluble is a better term for them.
Used in combination, traditional and water-soluble pencils can create even more fabulous effects than when used alone. For example, you can use dark outlines and fine lettering for detailed signs in traditional coloured pencils but use water-soluble pencils around them. The dark areas will not bleed into wet areas, creating a crisper look.
Since coloured pencils work is a slow process, you can speed up the process by using the sticks, a broader water-soluble solution on the background and coloured pencils on the main subject. You can also create a beautiful background with watercolour and then use coloured pencils on top of it. A heated plate also speeds up the laydown and blending of colours for the wax-based pencils and creates a luminous reflection.
The drawing plate technique was founded on the principle that when a wax-based medium is exposed to heat, it softens or even melts the tip of the pencil. When the colours return to room temperature, they quickly solidify and create beautiful effects. You do not need to add pressure; the heat helps move and blend the colours as you gently lay down the colours.
SUPPLY LIST:
Paper: the paper must have enough teeth to hold the coloured wax or oil pencils. The paper cannot be slick, for the colour won't stick to it. Choosing the right toned papers is essential. Make a colour chart on each piece of paper to see which colour pops on a particular coloured paper. Otherwise, it can be disastrous. Some colours may lose their intensity when applied to a specific toned paper.
Tip: use the paper that has the same hue as the subject. It will also cause colour harmony in the painting.
- The white paper is suitable for a bright-coloured painting.
- White brightens any colour that is used on top.
- Use heavier paper; 90 lb to 140 lb is best.
- Stonehenge is one of the top recommended papers for coloured pencils. They come in white, off-white and cream.
- Hot press watercolour paper is excellent if combined with wet media.
Pencils: Prismacolor (wax-based), Derwent Artist coloured pencils (oil-based), Derwent Coloursoft (wax-based) and Derwent Lightfast pencils (oil-based), Caran d' Ache Luminance (wax-based), Caran d' Ache Pablos (oil-based), Faber Castel Polychromos (oil-base) pencils are all quality pencils and inter-mixable.
Pencil Sharpeners: a quality fine-point sharpener is recommended. A pencil sharpener that gives the coloured pencils a very long, sharp point.
A few brands recommended are X-ACTO POWERHOUSE electric, Caran d' Ache battery pencil sharpener, Dahle or Derwent super fine point sharpener.
Hand-held pencil sharpeners usually do not give you the sharp, long point, but sometimes, it is best if the tip is soft and breaks easily. I like the Mobius + Ruppert (M+R) Brass Artists Pencil Sharpeners, for I can replace the blades, and they get dull and save on the environment.
Note: wax does build up and clog the blade with wax pencils. Use a graphite hard pencil to clean up the wax accretion.
Erasers: plastic, vinyl, rubber, and sand erasers, battery erasers, kneaded erasers, blue tack, and tape are great tools to use for corrections and removal.
Drafting Brush: You should keep the work area clean at all times to prevent damage to your work.
Pencil Extender: This enables the artists to use the pencils to the fullest and save money.
PRISMACOLOR COLOURED PENCIL LINE
Prismacolor coloured pencils are one of the most popular brands of coloured pencils next to Caran d' Ache. Their wide variety of colours is for anything you want to do. These coloured pencils have a thick lead that is not easily broken. They also have a very soft tip that makes the coloured pencils very easy to work with. These coloured pencils are also great for overlapping and blending. They are also waterproof, although one must watch for blooms. If that happens, use a makeup cotton pad and lightly rub it in small circles, like waxing a car, on top of the coloured work to alleviate the bloom. This trick is great if the paper cannot take any more colour and you want to add more colours. Another tip is Spectra Fix INSTAGRIT, which adds invisible traction precisely where you need it and much more.
ABOUT THE COMPANY
Prismacolor pencils are now part of the Newell Rubbermaid Company. Newell Rubbermaid acquired Sanford Brands in 1992. Their wide availability and extensive selection of colours make them the first artist quality colour pencils most artists try. They are also very affordable and are made in the USA and Mexico.
QUALITY
Prismacolor set the standard for making soft, creamy, thick-cored coloured pencils long ago. It blends well and lays down the colour nicely. It is challenging to find lightfast ratings on their regular pencils; even on their website, the pencils have no lightfast rating.
Some Prismacolor coloured pencil names were changed several years ago.
- Flesh = Peach
- Light Flesh = Light Peach
- Sand = Jasmine
- Raw Umber = Dark Umber
- Blush = Blush Pink
Prismacolor Lightfast pencils quickly came and went. These were great pencils, but the bottom line is that they were costly compared to the regular Premier line. Even though we all scrammed when we found out how un-lightfast many coloured pencils were, especially the red colours, we needed to be quicker to embrace the extra expense to fix the problem. Prismacolor was not alone in this; Derwent also had introduced a line of lightfast colours that came and went fairly quickly. They were also more expensive.
Prismacolor Art Sticks have been discontinued in 2023.
Prismacolor Premium Pencils are artist quality, water-resistant with 150 colours, wax base, and soft with a thick core.
Prismacolor Verithin artist quality water-resistant coloured pencils and the colours match the Premier line, but they are wax base, thin and hard. The pencils are terrific for fine detail since they are thin and hard and can get into small places or create clean edges. Available in sets of up to 36 with 38 colours in open stock.
Prismacolor Watercolour Artist quality water-soluble pencils in 36 colours are richly pigmented and blend well.
DERWENT COLOURED PENCIL LINES
ABOUT THE COMPANY
Derwent is a British company that has been making pencils since 1832. In the past few years, they have become innovative product manufacturers to make our heads spin. They have also been trying to improve on the core of the coloured pencil lines in the last several years.
QUALITY
Derwent Coloured Pencils are of good quality. Some of the Derwent coloured pencil lead was partially up to the quality of Faber Castel or Caran d' Ache professional lines until the Derwent Lightfast (oil-based) pencil contained a high pigment load and was formulated to be one hundred percent lightfast. The innovative core resists colour change, ensuring artwork will not fade under museum conditions for up to 100 years.
Derwent Artist Coloured Pencils were first introduced in 1930 as artist-quality water-resistant pencils in 120 colours. They have a thick core and are waxed base. The cores are medium-hard, round pencils that bleed when wet.
Derwent Coloursoft pencils are very soft coloured pencils, even softer than Prismacolor pencils. The Coloursoft pencil is an artist quality, water-resistant, thick core, wax base. The very soft pencil that comes in 72 colours, which bleeds when wet.
Derwent Lightfast pencils are formulated to be one hundred percent lightfast. The innovative core resists colour change, ensuring artwork will not fade under museum conditions for up to 100 years. These vibrant artist-grade oil-infused pencils have smooth, velvety cores that put down solid, opaque colours and dry-mix well to create new colours, offering an array of vibrant colours in 100 colours and sets. The thick core of Derwent Lightfast allows for dense and even colour application.
Derwent Watercolour pencils are artist-quality water-soluble pencils that come in 72 colours.
Derwent Inktense pencils are an artist quality that is unique on the market. The pencil is a round 8mm barrel, and the wide 4mm core is pure, vibrant, water-soluble ink that offers intense colour combined with a translucent effect for bold, expressive drawings, combining the intensity of pen and ink with the versatility of lines and washes. To create strong, vivid tones, apply a light water wash to achieve a translucent, ink-like effect. Once dry, the colour will be permanent and can be worked over without disturbing the inktense layer. It's like endless possibilities and stunning results.
They are trendy and come in 'blocks' and 'pans,' which look like the Prismacolor art sticks without the wax. Available in 72 colours, including an outliner.
Faber Castel Coloured Pencil
Faber Castell is a German company that was established in 1761. They have been exporting pencils to the US/Canada since 1843.
Quality
Faber Castell pencils have a reputation for exceptional quality and are considered by most coloured pencil artists as one of the best brands. They have coated cores in their pencils that help prevent breakage. Their colour matching system is excellent since their traditional coloured pencils (Polychromos) match the colours in their water-soluble coloured pencils (Albrecht Durer). Their colours also match the pastel pencils and pastel sticks.
The fact that both of their prominent artists' coloured pencil lines match in colours means that you have a powerful tool to use in combination. For example, you can use dry pencils for fine, dark details to avoid taking a chance that the colours will run when water is added—120 pencils and sets are available.
Faber Castell traditional coloured pencils lay down colour well and blend beautifully. The Faber Castell water-soluble pencils dissolve entirely in water for actual watercolour effects. The Polychromos (dry) coloured pencil line has round exteriors, while the Albrecht Durer (wet) coloured pencils are hexagonal. It makes it easy to distinguish between the two pencils when used together in a painting; you can tell by touch if you have picked up the wet or the dry pencil from your table.
CARAN D'ACHE COLOURED PENCIL LINE
Regarding colouring tools, only some brands can match the quality and vibrancy of Caran d'Ache coloured pencils. Artists and hobbyists, for over a century, have been relying on these Swiss-made pencils.
Caran d'Ache Coloured Pencils may be considered expensive until their benefits are discovered. Caran d'Ache did not succumb and persevered when quality was not a priority. In time, professional artists realized the importance of quality pencils, pigment load and manufacturing process; the pencils are packed with pigments, and the wax processing is mixed within the pigment, thus keeping the quality controlled. Prismacolor dips the lead in wax; therefore, the tip tends to break and create blooms.
About Caran d'Ache Coloured Pencils
Caran d'Ache was founded in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1915 by Arnold Schweitzer. The company was famous for its high-quality graphite pencils, but it wasn't until the 1920s. It began producing coloured pencils after 1920.
Quality
One of the main reasons why Caran d'Ache coloured pencils are highly regarded is their exceptional quality. The company uses only the finest pigments and materials to create their pencils, producing vibrant and long-lasting colours. The highly pigmented pencils little goes a long way, making them a cost-effective choice for artists.
Caran d'Ache offers a wide range of colours in their coloured pencil collections, from classic shades to more unique and vibrant hues. Their extensive collection of pencils and crayons offers artists a rich and enjoyable colouring experience. Luminance coloured pencils are wax-based, Pablo pencils are oil-based, and the Supracolor pencils are water-soluble. With such a vast selection, artists have endless possibilities for creating stunning and vibrant artwork.
- The luminance range is 76 colours, including metallic and fluorescent shades.
- Pablo range, which has 120 colours,
- Supracolor range, which has 120 water-soluble colours.
- Neocolor I water-resistant wax oil pastels60-colour
- Neocolor II water-soluble wax oil pastels84 colours
Neocolor I water-resistant wax oil pastels are a must-have medium much loved by professional artists, illustrators, students, and hobbyists. These 60-colour, water-resistant crayons are soft, and it is quite easy to work with them. Although these crayons are water-resistant, they are soluble in turpentine and encaustic on hot metal. They feature exceptional covering power and excellent lightfastness and are outstanding for underpainting. Their hardness makes them sharpen more easily for detail and edge work. They are useful for various materials such as paper, canvas, cardboard, glass, wood, leather, fabric, stone and others.
Neocolor II water-soluble wax oil pastels highlight the innovative capabilities of the Maison Caran d'Ache, which was created in 1972 to offer boundless creative possibilities for artists and beginners alike. Assisting your creative ingenuity, from dry or wet materials, drawings, monotypes, impregnation, wet drawing, glazing or rainbow gradation. The 84 colours offer unlimited possibilities, allowing professional artists yet again to see the world through children's eyes, freeing and invigorating artistic vitalities by educing the spontaneity of colours.
The exceptional features of Caran d'Ache coloured pencils are their versatility and blendability. The pencils are soft and creamy, making them easy to blend and layer, allowing artists to create smooth transitions and gradients in their artwork. They also work well on various surfaces, including paper, cardboard, and wood, making them versatile and committed to sustainability and environmental initiatives.
