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Whether you enjoy shading in adult coloring books or creating your own masterpieces from scratch, a good set of colored pencils can help you express yourself in a very fulfilling, and not super messy, way. There are a lot of sets available, but many are low-quality ones. These might be fine for kids, but even a beginner hobbyist shouldn't settle for something that is frustrating to work with.
That's why we researched the best colored pencils out there for adult coloring book aficionados, crafters, and professional artists with some help from artist Lauren Weirich. Our favorites are Faber-Castell's Polychromos pencils for their durability, vibrancy, and blendability. See what else made the cut, and get some tips on how to choose your own match in our buying guide!
An artist, writer, and craft designer, Lindsay loves sharing her talents and passion for art. She pens craft articles, posts free online videos, and teaches classes. She illustrates books, designs stamps, and can also juggle. She works in many media, including paint, glitter, and of course colored pencil. You can take advantage of all the resources she posts on her website, The Frugal Crafter Blog. She's also got over a thousand videos on her Youtube channel, so you can check that out whenever your artistic bone starts to itch.
mybest US' editing team consists of experienced members who have backgrounds in writing, editing, translation, and more. We are dedicated to researching what makes a product or service the best to users in the US in order to create top-quality articles. From skincare, to kitchen appliances, and to DIY supplies, our mission is to find the best ones for you.
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Table of Contents
Choosing the wrong pencils for you can lead to frustration and difficulty getting the effects you want in your drawings. Consider the types of binders, size of sets, and what paper you want to use. Let's look at these in detail!
Wax-based pencils are the most common by far, and if you've used colored pencils before, they were likely wax-based. Prismacolor and Derwent are two of the more well-known artists' brands, but a lot of cheap sets are wax.
They’re soft, creamy, and easy to blend, and a few layers can give you a smooth work of art where colors meld into each other. One swipe will also lay down a lot of color. This is helpful if, for example, you’re looking for an opaque pencil to add detailing on top of a painting.
There are a couple of weaknesses to wax-based pencils, however. The first is something called "wax bloom," where the wax binding forms a foggy layer on top of your artwork. But it’s easy enough to correct with a fixative, so it’s more of a minor annoyance than anything.
The second weakness is the weakness of the cores. Because wax pencils are soft, the cores can be fragile. If you press down too hard on a wax-based pencil, you could break it, and if it rolls off the desk and onto the floor, the core could shatter. Also, you may find you need to sharpen your pencils more.
My preference is wax-based. It's mainly because I prefer to work on a toned or colored paper—or to work on top of a watercolor with my colored pencils. And wax-based are slightly more opaque, so if you’re working on brown paper, the pencil’s going to show up better than an oil-based pencil.
But if your pencil’s really waxy and if you were to overlayer your work, you would get this thing called “bloom.” That’s when the wax separates from the pigment and rises to the top of the paper. When that happens, you can spray it with a fixative.
That will dissolve the bloom so it looks normal, or you can wipe it off with a tissue, but when you do that, it almost buffs the paper and you get a shiny spot. So that’s very frustrating for artists who like to work slow and in lots of layers.
Oil-based pencils are more transparent than wax ones. They’re just as easy to layer, but it’s harder to get the smooth, buttery, melted-together look wax-based pencils will give you.
But, in return, you get more control. If you like a look where shadows are detailed in fine, closely-pressed together lines, or if you’re looking to draw the individual streaks on a feathery bird, that may be easier to achieve with an oil-based pencil. Finally, because they lay down less color, you can add more distinct layers to your work of art.
An oil-based pencil is more transparent. It’s going to show up better on white paper—like on a pure watercolor paper or a gessoed paper—because the light will pass through the veil of color a little bit more easily. And a lot of people have been partial to oil-based pencils because they’re light-fast, meaning they’re not going to fade as easily.
Artists that spend weeks on colored pencils paintings would prefer a firmer core because the softer your pencil is, the fewer layers you can put down. So if you’re someone who likes to work in seven or eight or nine layers, you’re going to saturate your paper too quickly with a Prismacolor or other soft pencils. You’d want to use a Derwent Studio or a Polychromos, which are a little bit harder and build your layers up.
I have a friend who’s a very talented colored pencil artist. Her name is Lisa Clough from Lachri Fine Arts, and she does these gorgeous photo-realistic paintings. She works over the course of two weeks on a painting and builds up layer upon layer, so she needs to use pencils that are not as waxy and not as firm. Because of that, we have absolutely opposite favorite pencils. There’s no right or wrong; it’s just subjective.
Watercolor pencils are the easiest to blend. Layer one color on top of another and add water, and the two shades will dissolve into each other. Staedtler's Aquarell is a go-to for many, but you can find watercolor pencils offered by the other big manufacturers, too.
Oil- or wax-based pencils are a dry medium, so you couldn’t mix yellow and blue to make green as easily as you could with a watercolor. With watercolor, you can just color a layer of yellow, color a layer of blue, use a wet brush, and you’ve got a perfect green. If you were doing that with the oil-based pencils, you’d have to keep layering and layering to get a decent color.
Watercolor pencils are also excellent if you’re sketching out before you do an acrylic painting or a watercolor painting because they will dissolve with both acrylic and watercolors, and you won’t see your lines. That’s something you wouldn’t want to do with an oil- or wax-based pencil because they would act as a barrier between your paint and the paper or the canvas.
Also, if I were traveling, and I couldn’t bring many pencils, I would bring a small set of watercolor pencils because they’re more versatile than oil-based or wax-based pencils.
Let’s start off with an exception to the rule: you can squeak by with a smaller set of watercolor pencils. That’s because they’re easy to blend when wet, so you can make a lot of your own colors. Lindsay says that a set of 24 should do the trick.
However, it is more difficult to blend dry media, so for oil- and wax-based, the bigger the set, the better. Let’s say you were to buy a set of 24 to play around with. You really liked the colored pencils, so you decided to buy a set of 72.
Chances are that the 24 colors that were included with your first set are duplicated in your second set, so unless you use those 24 colors at an alarming rate, they’re going to go to waste. Getting the colors you need right off the bat can prevent this.
Crafter's Companion has a line of pencils called Spectrum Noir and Spectrum Aqua, and I like them because of the way they sell their sets. They don’t have open stock, which is unfortunate, but they sell their sets in packs of 12 or 24, and they don’t duplicate colors anywhere.
So you could start off with the set of 24 florals, because that’s what you like to paint most, or you may start off with the set of 24 primaries. If you love the pencils, you can buy the set of 24 landscapes, and that’s not going to duplicate anything you have, and so on.
If you used up a color, you could swatch that color out and take it to an art supply store and match it with another line that’s close enough. Also, if you like to work on colored paper, make sure you choose a wax- or oil-based set that has a lot of pastels in it because those will stand out.
There are some inexpensive brands out now that have surfaced, and their colored pencils are excellent, but they have no pastels. So even if you get that set of 72, you’re going to have a difficult time getting them to stand out if you plan on working on colored paper; if you’re working on white paper, they’re going to be beautiful.
Keep in mind, though, that certain colors or brands won’t be available, so you may need to be flexible and look for the shade nearest to what you had in mind. It’s also a good idea to check and see if a particular line offers open stock before making any purchases - most high-end brands do.
Open-stock pencils serve one more purpose. Ideally, you get to try before you buy, but many stores don’t let you test out colored pencils (and sampling is impossible when shopping online). So, if you’re interested in a particular set, see if you can purchase a few pencils from that set. And if you like those pencils, then go for the whole set.
And then there are brands where I bought a few pencils and I realized I didn’t like them, and it saved me a costly mistake. But I would recommend getting a handful—a few colors that you know you’re going to use a lot so they don’t go to waste. That way, you get a little bit of variety so you can see how their dark colors look on paper, how their whites look on paper, how opaque they are, and you can go from there.
Products | Image | Click to purchase | Price | Key features | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Faber-Castell Faber-Castell Polychromos (60 Count)|110060 | $101.37 High Mid | Best Oil-Based Pencils: Vibrant and Blendable, but Stay Sharp | ||
2 | Prismacolor Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils (72 Count) | $47.99 Mid | Best Wax-Based Pencils: Soft, Creamy Cores Create Rich, Opaque Colors | ||
3 | Staedtler Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolor Pencils (60 Count)|125M24 | $36.75 Mid | Best Watercolor Pencils: Blend Smoothly, and Bright Wet or Dry | ||
4 | Arteza | $27.99 Mid | Best Budget-Friendly Set for Beginners or Hobbyists | ||
5 | Caran d’Ache Caran d’Ache Luminance (76 Count) | $249.92 High | Best for Building Layer Upon Layer | ||
6 | Derwent Derwent Colored Pencils, Inktense Ink Pencils (72 Count)|2301843 | $100.99 High Mid | Best to Get Thick, Breathtaking Colors When Wet | ||
7 | Koh-I-Noor Derwent Studio Colored Pencils (72 Count)|FA8758.24 | $16.95 Low Mid | Best for Making Wide Strokes and Shading | ||
8 | Zenacolor 120 COLORED PENCILS | $29.99 Mid | Best Set for Adult Coloring Books | ||
9 | Lyra Faber-Castell Grip Colored EcoPencils (24 Count)|X2001360 | $28.49 Mid | Best for Smooth Blending and Crisp Edges | ||
10 | Faber-Castell Colore Watercolor Pencils (72 Count) | $7.00 Low | Best for Drawing on Dark Paper |
Cons:
Polychromos pencils have got a few things going for them: they’re oil-based, so they’re easy to sharpen to a fine point. They stay sharp longer, too! They’re available in open stock or a variety of sets. They’re also lightfast, meaning the colors don't fade easily when exposed to light.
Cons:
Our expert Lindsay Weirich herself said it in our buying guide below–you can’t beat Prismacolor for the quality and the price. That's why when Lindsay works on colored paper or wants to put a white highlight on a glass jar in a watercolor painting, she reaches straight for her Prismacolors because she knows they’re going to stand out.
Pros:
Cons:
Staedtler is a name synonymous with pencils, and they produce a few lines of watercolor pencils. These Karat Aquarell are suitable for artists and hobbyists alike. The colors are vibrant even when they're dry, so you'll be able to mix textures to great effect if you want.
This set of 24 offers a good range of colors; there won't be too many overlapping shades. If you like landscape drawing, you may want to go for a bigger set with a few more greens, though. Reviewers love their saturated colors and seamless, streak-free blending.
Pros:
Cons:
If you want a good range of colors, but you're not looking to commit to a hefty sum, Arteza is a reliable choice. These colors are layerable and bright, and the company promises to help buyers who aren't satisfied.
Some reviewers find the colors a bit weak or too waxy, but many others are impressed, and they even compare them to Prismacolor-level quality.
Cons:
The cores are creamy and the colors are vibrant, but these pencils don’t saturate your paper as quickly as, say, a Prismacolor. That means you can blend and build seven to nine layers before the paper starts rejecting the pigment. They are lightfast and perfect for work going on display.
Some reviewers found a few of the colors to be scratchy, but the overwhelming majority of buyers are beyond satisfied. Many hobbyists hesitated before buying them, but once they did, they say they're glad they made the commitment!
Cons:
When dry, the colors are bright, but they don’t go on smoothly. However, once you add water, the colors come alive. They are intensely pigmented and more vibrant than watercolors. They layer easily, too; just apply the colors dry and blend with a wet brush.
Reviewers say they don't go on like other colored pencils, so expect to spend some time practicing to make them work for you. The large majority of buyers love their saturated color, and many find it fun to be able to use them on fabrics like quilts and T-shirts.
Pros:
Cons:
If you want to make quick work of filling in large sections of your drawing, these woodless pencils are for you! You can sharpen them and draw lines, or hold them sideways to make wide strokes. Either way, your hands will stay clean, as they're coated in lacquer.
However, they are fragile, and negative reviews mainly mention broken sets. Even positive reviewers say to treat them with care, but that they're worth it for the versatility, creamy laydown of color, and vibrant pigmentation.
Cons:
With specific advertising towards adult coloring books, it's not hard to tell who this colored pencil set is aimed at! Each pencil is numbered, and the box displays a color chart, so it's easy to keep all 120 pencils organized in their original order.
Not many were unsatisfied, though some did wish that the tips didn't break so easily. Most love how much color they lay down without being smudgy. Another plus is the color chart; you fill in the swatches yourself, so you can really see how each shade looks.
Pros:
Cons:
Fine artists will appreciate the ease of blending. Graphic artists should find the intense color satisfying. Designers and architects will love the way they can get details and clean edges from their easy-to-sharpen leads. And, the oil base simply feels great to draw with!
Some reviewers felt they didn't live up to their reputation, but most say Lyra Polycolors exceeded their expectations. A couple of buyers wanted more purples in the set, and if you agree, note that these pencils are also available to buy individually.
Pros:
Cons:
Want to try something different? Metallic colored pencils are fun to use on dark paper, like black, to get a shimmery finish. The densely-pigmented colors can also be used to add highlights and effects to your drawings on white paper and can be combined with other pencils.
These are marketed for kids, with break-resistant leads, and it's unlikely they're totally lightfast or archival quality. But reviewers say on the right paper, they're a blast to work with. They point out that they're a more natural shimmer, and work great for things like metal gears, butterfly wings, and so on.
The “tooth” of a paper refers to how rough the surface of it is. The more tooth your paper has, the more it can bite down on and hold onto pigment. And the more pigment a paper can take, the more layers you can add on to your work.
Therefore, if you have a very waxy pencil, or if you’re planning on adding layers and layers of color, make sure your paper is suitably rough. However, if you're after intricate, tiny details, toothier paper will fight against your goal, so you may need to find a happy medium.
But the rougher the paper, the longer it’s going to take you to complete your work because it’s going to take longer to fill in all those little dips and grooves in the paper. If you want to do a quick sketch, smooth paper is fine. If you want to spend more time on your painting, you need a rougher paper that’s going to hold the pencil.
Canson Mi-Teints is nice because it has a rough side and a smoother side. I like the smoother side for colored pencil, but it’s rougher than a sketchbook. And if you did want to do a lot of layers, there’s a rougher side that you could build up more on. And since it’s all on one sheet, you could buy just one pad and have a lot of different options because each side of the paper’s a little different.
Have some burning questions about colored pencils? See if you can satisfy your curiosity here.
They're made in about the same way as graphite pencils, and it's really fascinating to watch! Check out this video from the popular show How It's Made.
First, the core is mixed up. Pigment, binder, and any other ingredients like extenders or adhesives are blended into a doughy substance. This is sent through an extruder to make the core, and those are then cut and dried.
The wood is cut into slats, and a groove carved into them. The pencil core then gets sandwiched between two slats and glued together. Finally, these proto-pencils are trimmed into the right shape, usually round or hexagonal, and the outside is painted or numbers are applied.
Wax-based writing implements have been in use since at least the age of the ancient Greeks, and colored pencils for writing were commonly used during the 1800s. Many companies, like Lyra, Derwent, Staedtler and Faber trace their roots back to these beginnings.
The first artist-quality colored pencils with the modern core form were produced by Faber-Castell in the early twentieth century. Watercolor pencils came about in the 1930s.
Erasing should be thought of as removing a mark from the surface of your paper, and by this definition, all colored pencils are erasable to a point. If you have rough, thick paper, an eraser can abrade the surface enough to remove most marks.
However, wax and oil won't just dissolve. The more pigment a pencil lays down, the harder it will be to erase. Wax bloom is also difficult to remove. You can mop up watercolor pencils by wetting marks and lifting color off with a paper towel. And cheaper pencils are often more erasable, since they lay down less pigment to begin with.
Make sure you use the right eraser, too. Start with a soft kneaded eraser, which will not damage your paper. Only if that doesn't work should you proceed with more abrasive types.
You didn't think we'd stop at just colored pencils, did you? Here are some more tools you can use to express yourself.
Want to look at some popular colored pencils or regular graphite pencils to stock your studio? Check out buyers' favorites on Amazon.
No. 1: Faber-Castell|Faber-Castell Polychromos (60 Count)|110060
No. 2: Prismacolor|Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils (72 Count)
No. 3: Staedtler|Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolor Pencils (60 Count)|125M24
No. 4: Arteza|
No. 5: Caran d’Ache|Caran d’Ache Luminance (76 Count)
View Full RankingThe descriptions of each product are referenced from content available on manufacturer, brand, and e-commerce sites.
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