21 Aug 2022, 16:40

@Oana I work primarily with colored pencils. Prior to jumping into the illustration world I had been doing photorealistic colored pencil portraits. I haven’t used them nearly as much as I’d like to in the last 2.5 years as I had an accident that has left my dominant hand permanently disabled.

I’ve used almost all of the “big” brands. I would suggest buying a few open stock and trying out each pencil before committing to a set. You don’t necessarily need to buy expensive pencils if you are really happy using the set you’re using. Going into a higher quality pencil gives you a greater intensity in pigments, better mixability, the opportunity for more layers (as they aren’t 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. They’re a very hard oil based pencil. They’re fabulous for holding a fine point, staying sharp, but they don’t lay down as smoothly as something on the creamier side.

If you’re 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 wouldn’t 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. There’s also derwent procolor, which are supposed to be similar to prismas, but I haven’t had a chance to try them. If you’d like to venture into a higher end pencil, but not as concerned about lightfast, Caran Dache Pablo’s 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 don’t 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 you’d be missing. I bought the 120 set of polys and there’s a ton that I’ve never even touched. I constantly have to replenish a certain color palette, but the rest never touch.

I’d be happy to answer any questions you have about colored pencils.