Best Watercolor Pencils - 26 Brands Tested! Who Do You Think Won?

What are the best watercolor pencils? And what are the worst? Watch as Steve and I run the "Battle of the Watercolor Pencils" where we test 26 different brands to see who comes out on top!

Our goal in doing this watercolor pencil testing was to find the best watercolor pencils for Colorists (NOT necessarily for Watercolorists.) This is an important distinction because what is important to a Watercolorist may not be important to a Colorist and visa-versa.

For example, we not only wanted to know how each of these watercolor products performed when wet, but also how they performed dry–similar to how one might use them in a coloring book.

HOW IT WORKS
• First, we purchased several popular brands of watercolor pencils including Faber-Castell, Caran d'Ache, Arteza, Prismacolor and more!

• Then we swatched all of the pencils in one of our watercolor swatch books (over 800 swatches total!)

• Next we created a watercolor pencil testing worksheet upon which we tested and scored all 26 brands.

• Finally, we tallied all of the scores to come up with the best and worst watercolor pencils.

RESULTS
To see a complete list of all the results please visit our blog here:

TOP 3 Watercolor Pencils:
1) Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolor Pencils
2) Derwent Inktense Pencils
3) General's Kimberly Watercolor Pencils

BOTTOM 3 Watercolor Pencils:
23) Spectrum Noir Aquablend Watercolour Pencils
24) Derwent Watercolour Pencils
25) Southsun / Guang Hui / Hero Watercolor Pencils

LINKS
Here is a list of all of the links mentioned in the video...

• Watercolor Pencil Testing Worksheet:

• Bliss Partner - How to Use Watercolor Pencils Training:

• Watercolor Swatch Books & Tri-Tone Color Scheme Workbooks:

• Coloring Bliss Watercolor Paper:

• Swatching Watercolor Pencils Videos:

• Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolor Pencils:

• Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Magnus Watercolor Pencils:

• Derwent Inktense Pencils:

• General's Kimberly Watercolor Pencils:

• Mimik Synthetic Squirrel Hair Watercolour Brushes:

• Bienfang Lightweight Watercolor

•Bee Paper Watercolor

TIME STAMPS
Links to important points in the video...
• Introduction: 00:00:00
• Brands Tested: 00:01:48
• How to Use the Testing Worksheet: 00:09:44
• Testing All Brands: 00:45:38
• Bottom 3 Brands: 01:11:01
• Top 3 Brands: 01:16:17
• Results of All Brands Tested: 01:25:54
• Closing: 01:31:54

[ColoringBliss]

Who do you think will win tonight's battle? Comment below. Here's a list of the products we tested:
Arteza - Woodless Watercolor Pencils
Arteza - Watercolor Pencils Expert
Bruynzeel - Expression Aquarel
Bruynzeel - Design Aquarel
Caran D’ache - Supracolor Soft
Caran D’ache - Museum Aquarelle
Castle Arts - Watercolor Pencils
Crayola - Watercolor Pencils
Derwent - Inktense
Derwent - Graphitint
Derwent - Metallic
Derwent - Watercolour Pencils
Faber-Castell - Albrecht Durer
Faber-Castell - Albrecht Durer Magnus
Faber-Castell - Goldfaber Aqua Watercolour
General’s - Kimberly Watercolor Pencils
Koh-I-Noor - Hardtmuth Mondeluz
Loew Cornell - Water Color Pencils
Pentel - Watercolor Pencils
Prismacolor - Watercolor Pencils
Southsun - Guang Hui (Hero)
Spectrum Noir - AquaBlend
Staedtler - Karat Aquarell
Staedtler - Ergo Soft Aquarell
Winsor & Newton - Studio Collection Watercolour
Zenacolor - Watercolor Pencils

[barbarathompson]

I just want you to know that I appreciate the time that it took to put this video together. Very informative. 🌺

[DebbieCadbss]

I have 36 Albretcht Dürer and yeah, they really worth it. And they are usually twice, three times cheaper than Caran D’ache ones. Really love them and absolutely recommend, even if you don’t know how to use water techniques on coloring properly, because they color perfectly without it too. Just way too stunning.

[GirlPaintsArt]

Your little pooch looks so happy and content sleeping on your desk right near you.🥰

[normawingo]

Holy cow you two, I really appreciate the amount of it took on both your parts to make this informative video, thanks so much!

[Nana]

I love the Albrecht Dürer pencils. I invested in a full set (or the most complete set I could find) some years ago, and I DO NOT regret it. I also have the Polychromos, but I do like the Albrecht Durer better... I also bought the Inktense pencils some years ago, and I do not regret it either.

[jannahlyon]

Thank you so much for this amazing swatch-off! I was so excited to see such a thorough comparison of the "top" watercolor pencils as I have a couple of different brands in my Jacksons's shopping cart (who else always has an art cart (or several) at a store online filled with goodies!?) and was hoping to click the buy button once I found out which was the winner! Thank you again for all your efforts, I really appreciate all the testing, research, and info :)

[oldcrowslanding]

Thank you, Jennifer and Steve! This is great information. Based on your thorough reviews, I just went to Amazon and ordered the Faber-Castell set of 24 Magnus Watercolor Pencils.
I'm excited to start using them!

[mikefierro]

I have always been and will always be a devoted admirer of you and Steve’s work and the commitment to the art of coloring you both do for the colorist people of the world TU so very much Mike

[guiltygreen]

What an amazing, impressive video. I love the attention to detail and amount of research you and Steve put into it! I really appreciate the time you put in, to collect all the materials (including the paper!), measure different standards, and give such an in-depth analysis on each set. It's rare to find such a well-done video, measuring them the same way I would. So thank you for sharing all of this, I loved your video! Your passion for coloring and consideration for others' styles really shows! Also... I own the Derwent Inktense 24 set, so I was really proud to see them up there in the top, lol!

[lisathaviu]

I normally use Inktense as my drawing layer of my watercolor paintings. I use Sepia Ink but I find that if I fully activate the drawing part and let it dry, it’s permanent and don’t lift. Based on your preference for the Magnus, you might want to check out the Inktense blocks, which come in small and large. The white Inktense block is way more opaque than the pencil version. It’s worth having for corrections and highlights. If it’s properly activated, you can paint right over the top. One thing notable about the Caran D’Ache is that all of the pigment dissolves when properly activated. The other notable thing is that you will need a second mortgage on your house to buy them.

[SwedePotato]

This makes me SO happy. I'm only upset that it took me so long to find your channel. I am so grateful for how thorough this video, research and testing is. It also confirmed that my Albrecht Durer and Inktense are absolutely worth it. Hopefully I can use your research to prove to my husband that I am not getting swindled and that I'm getting top quality for my top dollar. While I LOVE Luminance and Prismacolor for my regular pencil work, I am a watercolor painter at the end of the day, line work being a close second. And I have never regretted buying Inktense or Albrecht Durer. Along with my watercolor paints and inks (that have taken me like 17 years to collect) I finally have my ideal collection. Hearing you say these 2 are the best just confirms my own use and makes me feel so much better.

[tinekebak]

Thanks for the comprehensive comparison! I have a tip to get some mojo back out of those Derwent Watercolour pencils. If you gesso your page first, the gesso tooth takes more pigment from the pencil tip and allows for CONSIDERABLY more vibrancy and the blending is much better also. Even when I sand down the tooth, it's still way better than on the paper directly. I was about to bin these pencils in frustration but may even keep them now as the colour range is not bad. I've been using Liquitex transparent gesso.

[peggytil]

I have the 24 pencil set of the Intense and I love them. Thanks for your comparison. I also love how you and Steve relate to each other, keep it up.

[jessicazentz]

I can’t believe the Caran D’Ache pencils didn’t do better!! Both the Supracolors and museums are really GOOD!!!

[lovest]

SO HELPFUL!!! THANK YOU!!! More details later, first but definitely not last visit to your channel! SO well done, I am extremely impressed!!! Again, thank you so much!

[CupCakeZmbie]

Thank you for taking the time to create this video! It's so helpful being able to see all of these swatched out.

[marthakrause]

What a huge project! You are a wealth of information—I can always count on you!❤

[jillbartos]

Wow what a thorough testing process you did! This was very helpful. I'm wondering why you chose to use the soft Mimik brush. When I use my watercolor pencils, I use a firmer synthetic brush or a Pentel Aquash waterbrush and find that color dissolves more easily with that type of brush. I'm going to look for those Albrecht Durer Magnus pencils. Thanks for sharing!

[maureenmcgann]

I am SO tickled to find out that the two brands in which I invested in detail (and which I use ALL of the time), ended up ranking #1 and #2 in your extremely thorough and accurate testing/ranking of the Battle of the Watercolor Pencils! I started in watercolor as my medium back in 2011, when I took up art as a hobby, and after I was introduced to watercolor pencils, I spent most of my time with them instead of my little watercolor tubes. Thank you so much for taking the time to complete this valuable and insightful ranking!