What are the best colored pencils I can buy?

1. Faber Castell Polychromos Colored Pencils

100 of 120 Polychromos pencils - the colors will remain unchanged for more than 100 years. Tested by the Blue Wool Scale method. Check out "Faber Castell USA" website.

2. Caran D'Ache Luminance 6901 Colored Pencils

The colors will remain unchanged for more than 50 to 100 years . Tested by ASTM International and conforms to ASTM D-6901. Check out "Caran D'Ache" website.

3. Blick Studio Artists Colored Pencils

4. Caran D'Ache Pablo Colored Pencils

5. Derwent Coloursoft Pencils

6. Derwent Studio Colored Pencils

7. Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils

8. Prismacolor Verithin Colored Pencils

9. Prismacolor Col-Erase Pencils (student grade, erasable colored pencils, good for colored layouts)

The best pencils to use is "artist grade" colored pencils because they are highly pigmented, permanent, archival, and lightfast. If you can't afford artist grade pencils, look for pencils that are labeled: lightfast, light resistant, fade resistant, artist quality, fine quality, high quality, premium quality, professional quality. If you use "student grade" or "scholastic" pencils your artwork may fade over time because these pencils generally use a lower quality pigment.

The following two systems are used to rate the lightfastness of colored pencils: ASTM International gives ratings I, II, III, IV, V. Blue Wool Scale gives ratings 1 to 8. Ratings I, II and Ratings 8, 7, 6 are for permanent works of art! Some pencil manufacturers will reveal this information on the colored pencils or the manufacturer's website.

Pencils that are labeled lightfast are suppose to resist fading when exposed to light. Even if you use lightfast pencils, you should never place your drawing in direct sunlight or near artificial light because these extreme and harsh conditions can still deteriorate your drawing over a period of time! If you are going to hang your drawing near light, buy a frame that has ultraviolet (UV) protection, such as the Nielsen Bainbridge Frames.

When choosing your drawing/painting surface look for these important key words: archival, artist grade, professional grade or look for these words: acid-free, ph-neutral, lignin free, 100% cotton rag, 100% cotton, artist quality, fine quality, high quality, premium quality, professional quality, so your surface will last a long time and not deteriorate and not turn yellow! Do not use surfaces labeled "student grade" or "scholastic"!

Buy art supplies at Michael's, Hobby Lobby, any local art supply store, or buy them online at Dick Blick, Jerry's Artarama, Cheap Joe's Art Stuff, Utrecht Art Supplies, Art Supply Warehouse/ASW Express.

From my experience, Derwent is a good brand but it's pretty expensive, yes. I usually use Faber Castell which is kinda pathetic. I haven't explored with a wide range of brands (particularly because art isn't really appreciated where I live here and the only artshops I know are either too 'highly classed' that everything is way too expensive or they're small ones for students which don't have much. The best that I've tried is as I mentioned, Derwent. I hope to be able to own one set someday :)

For me, Karisma are the best, but they are very, very expensive. You can buy good quality pencils for art work in any art shop. I would recommend the ones called Derwent, but don't know if you can get them where you are. Pencils used for art are actually meant to be smudgy, so don't know how to advise you on that.

1

try pastels, they are a leap up in quality in my opinion