whats the best quality coloured pencils?

1. Faber Castell Polychromos Colored Pencils - oil base, soft lead

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 - wax base

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 - oil base, soft lead

5. Derwent Artists - wax base, medium hard lead

6. Derwent Coloursoft Pencils - wax base, soft lead

7. Derwent Studio Colored Pencils - wax base, hard lead

8. Lyra Rembrandt Polycolor Colored Pencils - oil base, soft lead

9. Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils - wax base, soft lead

10. Prismacolor Verithin Colored Pencils - wax base, hard lead

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

Wax based colored pencils will leave behind a wax bloom, so simply use a spray art fixative to prevent it. There are "workable" fixatives and "permanent" fixatives. Some fixatives will give you a "matte" finish or "gloss" finish.

The best colored pencils to buy are pencils that are labeled "artist grade" or "professional grade" because they are highly pigmented, permanent, archival, and lightfast. You can also look for pencils that are labeled with these words: 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/package 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.

The best drawing/painting surface to buy are surfaces that are labeled "archival" or "artist grade" or "professional grade" because they will last a very long time. You can also look for surfaces that are labeled with these words: acid-free, ph-neutral, lignin free, 100% cotton rag, 100% cotton, artist quality, fine quality, high quality, premium quality, professional quality. If you use "student grade" or "scholastic" surfaces your surface will deteriorate alot quicker and possibly turn yellow because these surfaces are made from lower quality materials.

Stonehenge Paper (sheet) or Stonehenge Pads is excellent for colored pencil drawings. Prismacolor Colorless Blender looks like a pencil. It blends colored pencils for a smooth blended look and it can soften hard edges. Buy art supplies at Blick Art Materials website.

Best Colouring Pencils For Artists

High Quality Colored Pencils

Prismacolor is my personal favorite. I have yet to find an equivalent quality pencil. It's amazing for blending and giving really bold and solid colors. It's only downside is that it's very soft so it's easy to break and needs to be handled with care. But I'd never switch back to anything else. Worth every penny!

Hey,

A very good site that teaches how to draw realistic pencil portraits is http://pencilportraits.toptips.org/

I have searched so many sites on the internet for so many years (wasting my time really) to try and better my drawing/sketching style but have never succeeded getting pasted the flat 2D outcome; that is until I tried using some special methods I found on http://pencilportraits.toptips.org./ This is exactly what I have been searching for and with time on my hands I have the outcome I have always wanted. I bought this online course. I strongly recommend it.

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this is gonna sound weird, but i use crayola. for me it produces a waxy texture that when pressed down hard appears like its acrylic paint.

no lie, i'm 23, and a professional illustrator, and its my main shading medium... i would suggest, since they're not all that expensive, but a 50 pack and see what you can do with it. best of luck.

Prismicolor work really well for smooth lines and blending.

http://www.amazon.com/LYRA-Rembrandt-Aquarell-Asso...