Best colored pencils for your craftwork
Review: Five highly rated sets of the best colored pencils for artists and crafters
If you want the best colored pencils for your art and craft work you have buy the best well known colored pencil brands right? Well yes there is some truth behind this theory as the better brands tend to produce the best quality pencils. If they didn’t they would soon be dropping out of the sales rankings.
I have found with arts and crafts you generally get what you pay for. Whether you are into card making, scrap booking or one of the many crafts that use added colored pencils you don’t want to spoil your masterpiece with poor quality products.
There are great variations of color and quality with different brands and it can be difficult to assess the best. Here are five sets of what I consider to be the front runners and are (by no coincidence) also highly rated by customer reviews.
Prismacolor Scholar Colored Pencils, (60 pencils)
These are a great set of pencils with a rich range of tones. These would really suit the beginner as they are very reliable with breakage resistant nibs and excellent blending qualities. Nib breakage is a particularly significant factor as it can ruin a great piece of artwork with one simple snap of a poor quality nib.
The intense pigment content gives the Prismacolor Scholar pencil a great vibrancy of color which is delivered smoothly when applied to the working surface.
On the down side there is a slight waxiness to the finish. however the positives far outweigh the negatives and this slight negative does not detract from the overall quality.
Get the latest price for the Prismacolor Scholar colored pencils here…
Prismacolor Premiere Soft Core Colored Pencils, (72 pencils)
This is a step up to the Prismacolor Scholar and is an ideal tool for the serious crafter who is looking for smooth, superb blending with great quality of color tone.
The pencils are robust enough even with the ‘soft core’ label . The lead pigments offer very good fade resistance and provide a waterproof finish. Fade resistance is critical to maintain the vibrancy of colors particularly for craftwork that you intend to display and keep.
The pencil lead responds really well to user pressure providing seamless quality line and shading.
This is the best in class of the prismacolor color pencil range and has quality across all features. I have yet to find any significant negatives with this pencil.
Get the current price of the Prismacolor Premiere Colored Pencils, 72 Count here…
Faber Castell Polychromos Colored Pencils 60 set
Faber-Castell colored pencils have a an incredible vibrancy of color thanks to the high level of pigmentation in the leads.
The pencils are smudge proof and water resistant. The oil-pastel lead gives a luxurious soft color stroke and the Nib breakage resistance is excellent.
There are a great range of colors in this large 120 pencil set which includes flesh tones. Yes they are one of the more expensive sets but if you want the best results a little extra is well worth the investment.
Also available in sets of 12, 24, 36, 72 and 120
Get the latest price for the Faber-Castell Colored Pencils 60 set here…
Derwent Studio Colored Pencils, 3.4mm Core, Metal Tin, 72 pencil set
The Derwent Pencil Company has a history that started way back in 1832 at Cumberland, England. This was the year that Louisa May Alcott was born (author of ‘Little Women’) and US president Andrew Jackson was re-elected.
Quality is the shining light in this companies longevity and Derwent Studio Colored Pencils epitomise this long tradition of over 180 years of drawing product excellence.
The pencils have superb texture and ‘blendability’ with a crisp precision. This enables artists to get down to the nitty-gritty that is sometimes required in highly detailed craft work and illustration such as graphic designs and intricate patterning.
The barrels are hexagonal rather than the more common round grip with is easier in the hand.
The barrels are color coded on the reverse end with a black lacquer and are easy to identify when selecting color. They are available in tins of 12,24 and 72 and also come in a wooden boxes with sets of 48 and 72.
See the latest price for the Derwent Studio Colored Pencils here…
Liberty Bravo Premium Quality Colored Pencils Set of 12 Assorted Colors
This last set of pencils in the review is a much smaller set that I had not heard of until recently.
After reading the existing customer reviews which were all 4 and 5 star on Amazon.com I decided to give them a test run after seeing some great customer reviews (all at 4-5 star)
Although this is not a brand that is as familiar as others in this review I think it is still well worthy a mention. When testing the pencils I found them to have very good splinter resistance, vibrant colors and laid down colorextremely well. They respond well to pressure variations and a good level of detail can be achieved.
The other plus side is that the price is very reasonable for a set of 12 pencils.
On the down side the variety of colors is limited with a small set. however – for a relative unknown brand these performed admirably and the previous level of customer reviews speaks for itself.
Get the latest price for theLiberty Bravo Premium Quality Colored Pencils Set of 12 here…
Which are the best colored pencils: Faber – Castell vs Prismacolor vs Derwent vs Liberty Bravo?
Four highly rated brands with lots to offer. The Prismacolor Premiere Soft Core pencils have a lot to offer with superb colors and blending qualities. with no negative points.
Derwents Studio Colored Pencils also feature highly with great blend ability and added precision.
However Faber Castell offer the best colored pencils as they have a superior finish with terrific vibrancy. A real all round class act the I would highly recommend.
If you would like to see more options I have found an invaluable article on the wonderstreet web site that looks at quite a list of pencils. You can see the article here…
