Best Colored Pencils | Supply List

What are the best colored pencils for realistic drawings? What is the best paper and pencil sharpener? Should you get professional supplies if you're a beginner?

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Purples mentioned: nightshade, violet, magenta, blue violet

Videos Mentioned:



A channel for artists from a professional artist. Get motivation, art lessons art tips in painting in acrylics or oil paints, drawing, colored pencil, graphite, & Inktense, Art Marketing tips (learn to sell your own work) from Lisa of Lachri Fine Art.

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[lesliearblaster]

I'm 70 years old and have been tinkering with drawing and painting since I was about 8years old. I'm such a rank amateur...never got to take lessons...but it's something I love doing. All of this great advice is so amazing and helpful . Thank you so much!❤❤

[TheresaJenningsFineArt]

One of my FAVORITE channels!! I have to listen at .75 speed and it’s perfect. I always learn so much, and I’ve been a professional artist for more than 50 years.

[christopherm]

The best low down on colored pencils on YouTube. Your reviews were concise and accurate. You didn't meander like so many others do. Thank you.

[martinelanglois]

I'm out of breath and you're the one talking! Highest word count per minute but also clearest information on pencils. Hilarious and extremely informative. Thank you!! New subscriber 🙋‍♀️

[ColorfullyOptimistic]

Great video Lisa! I'm so glad you said oil and wax based. I get comments from people saying it doesn't matter and I feel like I've said until I'm blue in the face that there is a noticeable difference in performance and how they react. Love all the explanations as well for why you think each set is great.

[northwestsparrow]

Great video! I'm just getting back to my artistic self (finally retired, yay!), so am reorienting to the products now vs. 40-50 years ago. I loved my Prismacolors back in the day, so was very disappointed with the new version. I'm watching videos like this to help me decide on which brand will fit my requirements. I'm so glad to hear that the Derwent Lightfast and Polychromos play nice together, so will go for a small set of each. You're adorable, really enjoy watching, subscribed!

[WatercolorGouacheGuru]

Best Colored Pencil Review on Youtube! I have a Collection of all of these! Polychromos are amazing! Derwent Lightfast are In my top 2. Caran D' Ache Luminance Are My Favorite! My Friends say I have the Biggest Collection of Pencils that they have heard of. I have a Set of Prismacolors but you said my opinion on them already. The Strathmore Drawing Paper is great! Thanks Lisa!

[thefrugalcrafter]

Solid advice! Lately I am obsessed with using clear gesso on archivalmat board scraps. It makes a subtly sanded feeling surface. I use the liquitex clear gesso and has a nice grit to it. Have you tried it? Great video!

[msdeeandfamily]

I love an honest review! Lots of ‘reviews’ are fake these days.

[kityac]

"How many hoops should I have to jump through to get my art supplies to do what they're supposed to do?"

That part... That part right there! What I saved on the front end by going cheap was ate up on the back end with "troubleshooting". So, I converted a few pencils at a time until all of them were fully replaced with higher quality product.

It took a while, but the upgrade (in my case to polychromos) was definitely worth it.

[rexgrl]

I love how diplomatic you are Lisa, "Here's my advice, take it or leave now go and make art! "

[samsmith]

You are for sure NOT alone with the hate for chalky feelings 😵‍💫 goosebumps at just the thought of touching it

[JanetMacCallum]

I'm a polychromos fan and have recently purchased the 100 Derwent Lightfast pencils which are lovely!

[VickiCook-zdnh]

Thank you Lisa, this has been a fantastic video. I have watched a few of your videos on pan pastels and wondered which pencils would be the best to purchase first. This video has answered that question and so many more I did not know that I had.

[SilentTrip]

Yes pleeeease Derwent expand the color range for the Drawing pencils!!!

These were my first set of colored pencils and I immediately fell in love!

I still have mine to this day and I'm scared of using them since they don't seem to be in the market anymore?

[rebeccapage]

Love the vibe of this piece😍A little known watercolor technique that mimics colored pencil is allowing a wash to dry on the palette and then use a small (0 to 2 round), damp brush to lift the dried wash. Ridiculous levels of detail are possible with this method.

[brentboyer]

I don't do a lot of colored pencil drawings, but I really love the Derwent Lightfast pencils. I'm colorblind so I only use 16 (I think) colors and they blend fantastically.

[brigitteitg]

I completely agree, either of the three big brands (with my beloved Derwent Drawing pencils as a bonus) is enough to create great art, and they combine so well. I did buy a few budget sets (including Prismacolor) as I was curious about the quality and to use only in my colouring books - I think that’s what they are best for and I save my quality pencils for my artwork.

[Renilou]

As a watercolor artist professional, Lightfastness matters to me too. Now that I'm pretty much retired with arthritic hands, I'm trying to loosen up and do art for fun. But I still have that built in alarm inside about fugitive pigments. I've studied pigment properties for 15 years and have become a bit of a nerd over them. I even went through all my Polychromos and only use the 3 star pencils. I like doing my own lightfast testing with watercolor pigments so I know the ASTM ratings on all pigments are not always correct. I plan to do a year light exposure to all my paint & pencils that could be questionable. For instance if its a Prussian pigment, I always test because it fades much of the time even though it has a high lightfast rating with ASTM. If in doubt, I just check for myself. Thanks for sharing!

[joeblankenship]

I haven't encountered a ton of bad Prismacolor pencils so I don't have a bad taste in my mouth from them. But the leads go dull so fast that I prefer Polychromos so much more. I basically use Prismacolors for really smooth blending with the Polychromos. That's what they do best. I have a set of Luminance too but I try to only use those for commissions. I'm glad Caran Dache finally made a portrait set of pencils. Gotta be cheaper than buying open stock.