How I Use My Colored Pencils and How Each Brand is Different

A supplies post

Hi all!

Today I want to talk about supplies! Specifically colored pencils!

There are so many brands to choose from, so I have been trying a couple pencils from different brands, and you know what, I like the variety that using these brands together gives. So here’s some of the brands and what I noticed about the pencils and where they really shine.

No. 1 Caran D’Ache Luminance Pencils

I know, everyone talks about these, BUT they are pretty cool. So the reason I got some of these is because I heard they worked with oil pastels because they are so soft, you don’t need much pressure to get down color and they are oil based. And I have found that they do work really well on oil-based paper (paper coated with linseed oil, quite magical!) and oil pastels that I use with linseed oil, maybe more on that later. They are also so soft that in a (soft paper) sketchbook they have almost no grain, which I like, you can put down blocks of solid color.

No. 2 Faber-Castell Oil Based PITT Pencils

I think we can call these colored pencils. They come in only two colors, black and sanguine. I’m sure they’re made for under sketching for oil painting but on their own they are, perhaps, the softest pencil I have ever used. These are great for sketching and using in the place of graphite, and they also work with oil pastels to create linework!

No. 3 Derwent Drawing Pencils

The weight of these pencils feels really good. They come in natural earthy, muted colors that are really beautiful. Very creamy and soft! These also work with oil pastels.

No. 4 Holbein Artists Colored Pencils

I feel like these are super pigmented and super soft. They also have a very large selection of colors.

Which is another reason to use different brands of pencils, to find unique colors and different shades of the same color family.

No. 5 Derwent Graphitint Pencils

These pencils are basically colored graphite which is super cool. Like Graphite these are water soluble.

No. 6 Caren D’Ache Pablo Pencils

These have a firmer ‘lead’ and a wide array of colors, again, it’s fun to pull colors from one brand and use them with other brands.

No. 7 Prismacolor Premier Pencils

You really can’t go wrong with these. They’re price friendly, have good strong colors, and they’re pretty soft. Now, I don’t think you would be able to get blocks of solid color without a lot of elbow grease (except for maybe on oil coated paper), but sometimes that’s not what you’re going for.

No. 8 Derwent Lightfast Pencils

I only have one pencil of this brand, the color Heather LFI, which is a beautiful color! This might be the hardest lead of all these pencils, which could be quite handy, I would think that you would be able to sharpen these pencils really pointy without breaking the tip, and you could add delicate details or use them for linework, which sounds really fun!

So these are the colored pencils I use. I would love to hear what brands you use and how you use them!

See you next time!

Ashley