Colored Pencils; Which are best?

 Colored Pencils; Which are best?

In this blog post I will be doing a similar review as I did with inking pens writing out the different brands that I've used and saying what I think of them and how they work.

Please keep in mind that I am also thinking in terms of how I color and also from my skill level; And also please remember that everybody has a preference I will not say you need to get anything, I will let you decide, I'll just say what I know and see from my perspective on things.

Okay, lets begin!

Crayola:

Crayola is probably the most famous because nearly every child (at least in the US) has had at least on pack of crayolas (second closest brand I believe would be RoseArt), these are actually very good considering they are for children. I probably have between all brands that I have, I have Crayola's most, some of them are about 10 years old (Orange is my most common color for some reason) and they are still great. I personally love them because they are harder than a better brand like Prismacolor (if you use the premier pencils). You can get a very wide range of colors; here's a list of colors for the Crayola 64 pack.

Desaturated colors:

1. 

   Image Not My Own

   
   

   Black
2. Slate
   
   
   
   
3. Silver
4. Grey
5. White
6. Toolbox
7. Platinum
   
8. Cool Grey
9. Auro Metal Sarus

Reds:

1. Red
2. Red-Orange
3. Maroon
4. Mahogany
5. Rose Red

Yellows:

1. Yellow
2. Yellow Orange
3. Yellow-Green

4. 

   Image Not My Own

   
   

   Bronze Yellow
5. Lemon Yellow
6. Harvest Gold
7. Gold

Oranges:

1. Orange
2. Mango
3. Light Orange
4. Peach

Browns:

1. Brown
2. Dark Brown
3. Light Brown
4. Meat Brown
5. Sandstorm
6. Taupe
7. Sand
8. Tan

Pinks:

1. Pink
2. Bubble Gum
3. Salmon
4. Pale Rose
5. Magenta
   
6. Rasberry
   

Image Not My Own

Purples:

1. Violet
2. Mauve
3. Orchid
4. Amethyst

Greens:

1. Green
2. Guppie Green
3. Electric Green
4. Dollar Bill
5. UFO Green
6. Green-Blue
7. Pine Green
8. Jade Green
9. Aqua Green
10. Lime Green
11. Turquoise
12. Teal

Image Not My Own.

Blues:

1. Blue
2. Navy Blue
3. Sky Blue
4. Cerulean
5. Ball Blue
6. Light Blue
7. Baby Blue
8. Spiro Disco Ball

There are also other colors in special packs, their biggest pack of colors pencils is a 200 pack but the catch is there's only 12 colors per pack or 240, this is mainly for if you are running an art class with kids or a daycare or something like that. It's called the Classic pack and it can be found here.

There are also colored pencils that you can erase, as well as mechanical colored pencils I do not own these, they also sell “special” packs with “special colors”, prices range but you can get a 64 pack of Crayolas for up to $12.00.

Crayolas blend reasonably not perfect but reasonably and are good to layer with different colors and make a visual nice texture.

For a beginner and more specifically a young beginner with not much money these are good to pick up.

As a young non monetarily advanced artist I say these are very nice to start with and to keep using through the years. I haven't bought pencils from Crayola in years because I keep having duplicates and such so I know they last a long time.

Creatology:

Picture from my personal box.

Creatology is a company that sells pencils exclusively at Micheals Craft stores, I have their 72 ct. Set of colored pencils that were given to me as a gift. The colors aren't named individuality so they're pretty much up to your own interpretation. There are 36 colors and each pencil has a duplicate, good if you have a favorite color because lasts longer or if you want to share you have a duplicate and can work easy without having to give the same pencil away. I do not know how much they cost, I cannot find them online so I believe they are only available in stores.

Pros:

• You have doubles of each color making the colors last longer.
• They are very light to work with.
• Most likely cheap.

Cons:

• They can be a bit sketchy. (Can be good if you like that effect)
• These colored pencils tend to get dull rather quick and when sharpening them you loose a lot of pencil.
• More on the box than anything – The box is horrible for storage you'll need another container. (I wouldn't let this bother you too much but it's still worth noting)
• These pencils don't blend very good.

All in all, I don't not recommend them but I don't highly recommend them, I like them but I don't prefer them. It's up to you.

Prismacolor:

Image Not My Own (From Amazon)

Prismacolors are on the much higher end of quality, the type I use are their Premier Pencils, but they also sell Verithin pencils which I do not own but from what I've heard about them they are much harder than the Premier pencils. Prismacolor Premier pencils have 150 shades, they have many different sets, I personally own the Sanford Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencil Set, 48/Tin it includes 48 different colors, depending on the pack also 2 “free” art stix (normally both the same color) and a hand held pencil sharpener. These are much softer than Crayola or other “Children's Brands”, and they blend much better, but they also cost a lot more, depending where you go a pack of 48 can range from $30.00-$72.00, I've had my 48 pack for about 3 years, I went through a time of not using them much because I was scared I'd waste them but still it's 3 years! I've used them the most in the past year and a half, my poor little pencils some are down to almost nubs!

Here's a color Chart for all 150 colors:

Originally from: http://transientart.deviantart.com/art/Prismacolor-150-Premier-Colored-Pencil-Chart-273397018

Image Not My Own

These pencils are best used with a “Prismacolor Colorless Blender Pencil”, in short it's a pencil that you use super fast to warm the wax causing it to become softer than it already is and blending the wax together; The colorless blender pencil also works good with Crayola and Crayons but not as good at Prismacolor pencils because it's made specifically for that type of wax.

My main “Con” for this would be that these pencils tend to have their color points fall out, mine are older so that might account for some of the problem, but I've read places that they are not supposed to fall out but they do!

Prismacolors come in different containers and can come un-sharpened and pre-sharpened, I recommend personally get them un-sharpened, I've read that Sanford does not sharpen their pencils evenly before selling and they put the point on the end where the code number and color name is on some of the pencils, which is important if you want to buy a specific pencil as they can be sold individually in stores and online.

The Black Prismacolor has gained it's own spotlight in a sense as Illustrator, Author and Youtube Drawing Tutorial Sensation – Mark Crilley's Famous Black Pencil he uses in his video is from Prismacolor Premier.

Mark Crilley Using A Black Prismacolor Premier from his "How To Draw a "Realistic" Manga Face: Anger" video.

The white Prismacolor is good for adding lighting to drawings colored with:

• Pencil then marker over the top,
• Marker alone,
• And mixed media with Watercolor over the top.

I do not recommend to use it for eye shines, though, it's not thick enough, but that doesn't mean you can't try and prove me utterly wrong!

EK Memory Pencils:

These are very mild pencils both in price and useability, they cost $ 1.50-13 Dollars depending where you go for sets of 12. They have sets by color type groups like Primary, Earth, etc.., . These pencils are in between Crayola and Prismacolor in softness, they're blending is reasonable but not wonderful, they were designed for memory books and crafting projects but they are fine for coloring too, advertised as waterproof and fade proof.

I have pencils from 3 different sets which are:

• Primary Colors – The Basic colors, vivid not very vast for 12 colors but it's still alright to have.
• Earth colors – Much warmer tones, very “earthy” as they are so called.
• Pastel - Much softer shades than the two mentioned above, good for young looking images. They are not as saturated but still pretty.

Images Not My Own - I put them all in one image

If you are interested in these I suggest doing your research a bit to get the best price I've seen them sold very cheap then really expensive, it's all about smart shopping!

Off Brands:

I've bought many off brand colored pencils and they are alright, dollar stores and other stores that seem random brands are a gold mine for super cheap pencils, they aren't the best quality but sometimes you get those few good pencils that have super nice colors. For $1-4 I'd say it's worth a stab in the dark, if they don't work for you, you can always save them for a child later on to use.

Notable mentions that I do not own:

Faber–Castle: These are higher class pencils, I only own a 12 pack of their watercolor-pencils and I like them, I do not know about their other products.- Some Crayola Products are produced in their factories.

RoseArt: A Child's company much like Crayola, I do not own a set of these only a few randoms that I was given, from what I can tell they are alright but I can't really have an opinion on them as I do not own a set. - I do own, however, their markers and I like them.

Prismacolor Verithin: I do not own these as stated above but from what I've heard they are harder, I also do not own any watercolor pencils from Prismacolor.

Quick Note For Pencil Care:

My key to long pencil life is learn to work with them from super point all the way down to flat, then sharpen them again (In other words I'm stingy.), and don't press so hard when you are trying to color big areas, shadows and things like that pressing harder is good but still don't press too awfully hard!! - You can break the point or make the pencils dull quicker.

Also use a good sharpener, a bad sharpener can break your points and you loose a lot of pencil, either get a good hand-held sharpener, or get a good electric sharpener, I have my sharpener for almost or about 5 or 6 years and she's still kick'n at sharpening thems pencils!

Another tip, if you dislike the container that your pencils come in, sort them by color order with rubber bands (blues with blues, yellows, reds, etc..) and put them in something else, like a tote-bag or a better resealable container. - Even if you like the container I still recommenced color ordering your pencils, no matter how many you have; It's so much easier to color when they are in color order to start so you're not searching for the color you want in a confusing mix up. - It's Worth The Time!

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I hope this has helped some of you artists out there!
Happy coloring!


May God Bless You, Your Family, Friends; Along With The Health Of Yourself, Family, And All That Know You. ~ Amen


~ Firefly

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