I’ve been researching colored pencils.  That seems like a weird thing to research — especially for someone who isn’t an artist!  But here’s the deal: because I’m not really an artist, it’s important to me to make time to regularly create in small doses, to stretch myself and grow.

And I’m finding that art that makes a big mess isn’t very conducive to that for me — not because I mind getting messy, but because it’s a big production to set it all up and then clean it all up, so it takes a lot of time and effort to get to do just a few minutes of creating.  My conclusion was that I need to focus on media that are largely self-contained, like markers…and colored pencils.

And if I’m going to focus on colored pencils, then I need to know which colored pencils.  See, the really good artist-quality colored pencils are crazy-expensive.  Totally worth it, I’m sure, if you’re selling your art.  Not so much if you can’t draw much more than an emoji.

But low-quality colored pencils just don’t work very well, making them difficult and unpleasant to use.  Unfortunately, I have some experience with that, and it’s definitely not conducive to falling in love with art.

So began the research…

What is a colored pencil?

Intuitively, we know what a “colored pencil” is, right?  It’s a pencil that is colored.  But the specific medium that is called a “colored pencil” is comprised of particular components.  It has a central “lead” composed of pigment and binders and possibly fillers, usually encased in a wooden casing.  (You can get colored pencil sticks or “woodless” colored pencils that are all “lead,” for laying down large areas of color and that sort of thing.) 

This is important because the pigment and binders are the elements that differentiate various lines of pencils from each other.

Three Types of Colored Pencils

There are three types of “true” colored pencils: wax-based, oil-based, and watercolor pencils.

Wax-based pencils and oil-based pencils are, as I understand it, technically on a continuum, but they can behave a little differently from one another, so most artists treat them as distinct.  Wax-based pencils, as you might guess, have wax as a binder.  The majority of colored pencils, including virtually any pencils you’ll find at mass retailers like Wal-Mart and Target, are wax-based.

Oil-based pencils have oil binders.  Some of the really expensive artists’ brands are oil-based, and you can find a few mid-range brands that carry oil-based pencils.

Many pencils may technically contain a mix of wax and oil as binders, but one will dominate.  These pencils can be used in virtually all the same applications, and they’re compatible with each other (you can use them together in the same artwork), but handle a little differently and may behave slightly differently if and when you use them with solvents.

Watercolor pencils are in a category of their own.  They use a water-soluble binder, such as clay, that dissolves when water is applied to it, “freeing” the pigment and allowing it to move around.  Watercolor pencil can be used under wax- or oil-based pencil to create backgrounds, etc. but, as you might guess, it can’t be used over wax- or oil-based pencil unless you’re going for particular effects like a resist.

Colored Pencils That Aren’t Really Colored Pencils

There are some other specialty pencils that may appear to be colored pencils at first glance, but which are really just pencils-that-are-colored.  That is, they have completely different qualities from true colored pencils (and watercolor pencils, which can also be considered technically distinct), so they’re not really considered the same medium.

Derwent’s Inktense pencils work similarly to watercolor pencils — at first.  Like watercolor pencils, they start out dry and can be activated with water.  But unlike watercolor pencils, once they dry again, they’re permanent, like ink.  They can’t be rewet (rewetted?).

Pastel pencils are just what they sound like — pastels in pencil form.  Chalk pastels can be messy to use, and hard to control for fine work.  Encasing narrow pastel sticks in pencil casing makes them cleaner to use (for your hand, not the paper!) and allows them to be sharpened for finer work.  But they aren’t pencils; they’re pastels, and should be used interchangeably with pastels, not with colored pencils.

Choosing Pencils: Wax or Oil?

Surprisingly, oil-based pencils are typically harder than wax-based pencils, so they hold a point better and don’t have as “buttery” a feel.  This hardness also requires the user to use a lighter hand to avoid compressing the texture of the paper so it will continue grabbing the pigment.  They avoid something, though, called “wax bloom.”

When you color heavily with wax-based pencils, over time a layer of the wax binder can work its way to the surface and coat your work with a thin film.  This can be wiped off with a soft cloth, but oil-based pencils don’t form it in the first place (an obvious advantage for artists selling their work!).

Wax-based pencils, being softer, break more easily.  You might think, then, that oil-based pencils would be the slam-dunk obvious choice.  If wax-based pencils break more easily and are prone to wax bloom, why (other than cost) would anyone not choose oil-based?  Preference.  A lot of people are more comfortable with and prefer that softer, more buttery feel.

Choosing Pencils: What Determines Quality?

There can be several factors that go into the quality of a set of pencils, like whether the wood allows the pencils to sharpen smoothly, or whether it’s knotty and sharpening attempts waste your pencils.

But the primary factor determining the quality of a colored pencil set is the pigment — more specifically, how much of it there is.

Cheap pencils use a lot of binder and relatively little pigment.  Good quality pencils use a lot of pigment and relatively little binder.

There’s obviously a balance to be pursued, for us non-artists, between cost and quality.  We don’t need the absolute best.  But if there’s too little pigment, then you expend a lot of effort and never can get a decent amount of pigment to lay down on the paper, which is just frustrating.

Using Colored Pencils

Colored pencils should be used on paper with some tooth — that is, with some roughness of texture.  The little bumps in the paper are what “grab” the pigment as you color, so if the paper is excessively smooth, you won’t be able to color as effectively as you hope. But not too rough.

For the same reason, when you’re getting started, you should be coloring lightly/gently.  Although it might be instinctive to color harder when you want more color, that compresses and smooths the paper and actually limits how much pigment you can put down.  The better approach is to start gently and build up the color by going over it several times.  You can color progressively harder, and will eventually compress the paper, but because you aren’t flattening it from the start, you’re able to build up several layers of pigment rather than just one.

These two videos describe methods of blending, and explain in a bit more detail.  (The first one’s more concise; the second is more in-depth.)

If you’re using watercolor pencils, you need a slightly rougher paper so there are “valleys” for the water to spread into, and the paper needs to be heavy to accommodate the increased moisture.  Watercolor pencils should typically be used on watercolor paper.

(Another tip I learned: when sharpening, turn the sharpener, not the pencil.  It’s easier on your pencils.)

Leaning Toward

I have not used these yet, so don’t consider this a recommendation, per se.  But after reading up on all the what and the why, and reading wayyyy too many reviews, I’m leaning toward these as good-quality-but-won’t-break-the-bank options:

Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils | 72 Pack | WAX-BASEDSCHPIRERR FARBEN 96 Color Pencil Set | OIL-BASEDArteza Professional Watercolor Pencils, Set of 120 | WATERCOLOR

(Prismacolor does have larger sets, but there’s a big jump in the number of pencils and the corresponding price.  They don’t have anything in the right-around-100-pencils range.  You can get 132 or 150. Prismacolor also seems to be available as “open stock” — that is, you can buy individual colors — so you can buy a smaller set and supplement with two or three colors you might have wanted out of a larger set.)

And of course if you’re getting into colored pencils as an actual art medium, you might need or want certain extras — like good paper and/or blending solvents.

Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencil Accessory Kit with Blenders and ErasersDerwent Blender and Burnisher Pencil SetGamblin Gamsol Odorless Mineral Spirits, 4.2ozFaber-Castell Grip Trio Pencil Sharpener (& pencils – least expensive way to get the sharpener)5Pcs Black White Color Pencils – Oil-based Colored PencilsStrathmore 400 Series Colored Pencil Pad, 6×9Ashby 100 Sheets of Practice Watercolor Paper, 90 lb. (9×12)UCreate Watercolor Paper, White, Package, 140 lb., (9×12)

In the UK, you can buy something called Zest It, which is a citrus-based solvent and brush cleaner.  It’s supposed to be really nice for blending colored pencils because it doesn’t stink.  But as far as I can tell, it’s difficult or impossible to get outside of the UK.  It looks like it might just be essentially orange oil, so it’s worth giving that a try if you have it around or have another use for it if it doesn’t work the way you want.  (This link is to one that’s probably not a good enough quality I’d use it for health purposes, but for cleaning or art, slightly lower quality + lower cost is a tradeoff I’m comfortable with.)