Testing The Top 3 BEST Colored Pencils - Polychromos - Holbein -Caran D' Ache

It's time to pit the highest quality colored pencils ( in my humble opinion) against each other for the sake of performance and comparison!

Pencils that are tested here are only a reflection of personal preference:

1) Polychromos by Faber-Castell

2) Holbein Artist's Colored Pencils

3) Caran D' Ache Pablo Colored Pencils

I test out each single brand in similar primary colors to show their coloring and blending capabilities with the Prismacolor Colorless Blender. Then, I pair them up with each other in combinations to show you which brands work and blend the best together.

For more information on each brand of these pencils, check out my video on "The Top 3 Best Colored Pencils"* :

*This is a subjective opinion, as is most products. However, these pencils have a reputation for high quality and my decision to label them as the best are coming from personal experience.

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[_JoyceArt]

I own the 120-pc set from FC-Polychromos and just love all colors. The pastels you featured a while back from Holbein are something else though.

[brushjunkie]

Thanks for the awesome comparison video! I have all three brands now. Just picked up the full sets of Holbein and Pablos but have not had much chance to play around with them due to family matters taking me away from home. I had two Pablos (Bluish Pale and Jade Green) that I bought open stock previously which convinced me to purchase the full set. Bluish Pale has become one of my favourite pencils ever. i had started doing the colour chart for my Holbeins and I love them too. I think both brands will go well with my Polychromos pencils (they are my favourite in terms of tactile feel).

[natlisan]

Thanks! this gives me something to think about. I'm a watercolour artist but I have been recently contemplating getting into coloured pencils and maybe mixing the two to give my watercolour pieces a bit more depth.

By what you were saying it sounds like my best bet is the Polychromos.

Thanks again!

[mjpete]

Odorless does not mean nontoxic! I find the most accomplished artist can make any pencil work! I like that you put several on the bottom and several on the top then deside what works best for you, since all pencils have oil and wax I would imagine any pencils would work well together. And pencils with similar recipes would work best together. I have also seen some amazing artwork done with Holbein pencils by Amie Howard Art you can check out her channel on YouTube as well. Thanks for giving us your expertise and very enjoyable video. Please take care, be safe and have a lovely day!

[ClaudiaSketches]

It's interesting that you say that the FC polys have a good range of aquatic colours- I find that my 60 set is very yellow and red-heavy (although the 120 set appears better balanced) . The 60 set seems to have a lot of 'artists' colours in that the colours in the set are intensely pigmented and that there are very few pale colours or colours that have a white undertone. I imagine that this is why a lot of newer artists prefer Prismacolors over Polychromos because it's easy to get the right colour fresh from the pencil- Polys require a bit more layering and pressure control to use, but result in a massive colour selection.

I am so interested in those Holbein pencils... They look so good! Maybe one day! Another great video and review, excellent work Jane! :)

[blyviv]

Thanks for this video 🙂 You should try the Caran d'ache Luminance. They are better than the Pablo 😉

[danieltinnirello]

Thank you for the demonstration. It has helped me to understand what color pencils to look for, compared to Prismacolor. I see that the Polychromos look better compared to Prismacolor.

[Dee.yankeeintexas]

I just got my Hobeins and I am amazed how smooth they are and how well I can blend.. I am so happy with them and I have a feeling I won't be using the prismacolors again for awhile.

[traveldreamer]

Thank you for the informative demo. I must admit that I enjoy the smooth, creamy feel of the Holbein pencils. The color palette is quite varied and beautiful.

[pennypop]

I've always mixed my pencil brands and never had an issue...Caren dach'e, Polychromos, Prisma's and Derwents, they all work beautifully together. Wax or oil based who cares..

[dannystarrr]

I am Romanian and i love that u draw the Romanian flag ♥️

[jennsklenerczt]

Loved your video. I have polychromos. But now you have me thinking slightly differently. I was saving for a 120 Pablo. Now, I’m thinking of looking at the other two sets and trying to find colors that I don’t have and adding. Much more cost effective than another full set of Pablo’s. I will also check out the Japenese pencil. Thank you.

[Mr.StarktheShark]

I'm kind of surprised that the wax-based Prismacolor blender works so well with all the oil-based pencils.

[noxmoonyisadork]

I have yet to try the Holbein pencils, but I love their watercolours haha. Irrelevant, but I have faith in their quality 😉

That said, I the Polychromos. They just..ugh they feel so niiice to use!! Can't get over it every time I use them. HOWEVER, what I don't like about them is the colour selection in their smaller sets. As someone who doesn't like buying gigantic sets simply because I don't need a lot of colours..it feels really annoying that their 24 and 36 colour sets don't have a single flesh tone nor a pale pink nor a baby blue tone. Frustrating for the kind of work I tend to do. Even their 60 colour set has only a handful of SEMI pale tones. I'm having to consider getting their 120 set simply because of all the lovely colours that are only available in their set. Both Pablo and Holbein have beautifully balanced sets, which is a real blessing I have to say. I used the Pablos years ago as a 6 year old [got em as a gift] and loved them. Looking forward to buying them again, I have fond memories of using them. And ofcourse I have to try me some Holbein coloured pencils too, they do look wonderful. They also have a separate pastel set, which I think is awesome! Tombow Irojiten has some wonderful sets and you can choose smaller blister packs to buy as well, wish more companies sold their pencils in themed sets like that..

Thanks so much for such a nice comparison video! It was quite interesting seeing how these 3 stacked up against each other.

[hoxstudios]

In turms of simple blending prisma sometimes gets on top of Faber-Castell

[ColoringKaria]

you put in the pablos but no luminance? thats an interesting choice.

[Art_by_Nicole]

Could you explain why you use an oil-based pencil like it’s a wax-based? I’m not judging, don’t get me wrong 😊 But I noticed that you didn’t build up layers in this video. The colors of polychromos look a bit streaky after you put on the color of polychromos.
I’ve learned so far that, although they are wonderful, the polychromos needs sooo many (light) layers if you want to get a really smooth surface (skin in my case).

[gracieallen]

Caran d'Ache makes a oil+wax blender, Amazon sells them.

[ooXChrissieXoo]

Caran d'Ache make colorless blender too. I'm getting those soon.

[ladyinblack]

I like all three of them. Plus the Luminance. But the first three with Polychromos leading the way because they are easier to replenish.