@Oana I work primarily with colored pencils. Prior to jumping into the illustration world I had been doing photorealistic colored pencil portraits. I havenât used them nearly as much as Iâd like to in the last 2.5 years as I had an accident that has left my dominant hand permanently disabled.
Iâve used almost all of the âbigâ brands. I would suggest buying a few open stock and trying out each pencil before committing to a set. You donât necessarily need to buy expensive pencils if you are really happy using the set youâre using. Going into a higher quality pencil gives you a greater intensity in pigments, better mixability, the opportunity for more layers (as they arenât as waxy) and many have a high lightfast rating,
Polychromos, while super lovely (I do a good chunk of my work in polys) can be difficult to get used to. Theyâre a very hard oil based pencil. Theyâre fabulous for holding a fine point, staying sharp, but they donât lay down as smoothly as something on the creamier side.
If youâre only using the colored pencils for illustrations that you later plan to scan rather than sell as mounted on the wall pieces of artwork, I honestly wouldnât worry too much about going too high end.
You could venture into something like colorsoft by derwent. Intense Colors, super creamy, layerable, but not nearly as expensive as the pencils with lightfast ratings. Thereâs also derwent procolor, which are supposed to be similar to prismas, but I havenât had a chance to try them. If youâd like to venture into a higher end pencil, but not as concerned about lightfast, Caran Dache Pabloâs are absolutely beautiful to work with. Very creamy, very smooth, absolutely lovely.
The key to colored pencil, is working in light layers, and layering to get the tones you want. That being said you donât have to go into the biggest set of pencils the brand sells. You could get away with buying a smaller set, and adding a few open stock pencils for what youâd be missing. I bought the 120 set of polys and thereâs a ton that Iâve never even touched. I constantly have to replenish a certain color palette, but the rest never touch.
Iâd be happy to answer any questions you have about colored pencils.