Colored pencils review - Derwent, Polychromos, Prisma, faber-castell 

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Thanks for all the great info. As a newbie to pencils it raises a lot of thoughts and questions. Very possibly your other videos cover them. For me i would have like a bit more light. I know that is hard so we all do what we can. It could be me though.

One of the deciding factors are if the brand is available as open stock.

I agree Jason. Cost our materials is a big consideration for all of us. I'm glad that your reviews take this into consideration as it makes it more realistic for all of us.

This is a great comparison; you do lovely work!

Thanks this was a great demonstration! I just started coloring (you know the adult kind of books) and because I used really cheap pencils, I almost gave up. Now I'm out to buy something more decent and the Faber Castell eco pens look good.

Enjoyed you talking about the different colored pencils. I am a new person to adult coloring and I would have loved to paint like you do, but I do not think I have the skills you need. I was wondering if you ever have painted a bald eagle?

Excellent video, thank you Jason!!

Great comparison video, thanks for sharing.

Thanks for creating and sharing. Very informative.

Hi Jason. Great review as always and very helpful. I was wondering what your thoughts are for paper with mixed media pieces? specially pastel and coloured pencil? i know coloured pencil isn't your full area of expertise but I've been trying to find a decent paper (in the uk) that doesn't cost the earth just to practice on. Ive been using the daler rowney murano pastel paper and Faber-Castell sketch paper with my derwent, polychrome and faber pastel pencils, just using the pastels for a bokeh background. Ive seen coloured pencil artists using a hot pressed smooth paper and it looks good but not so good for pastels. It's just for practising but my goal is to eventually create some nice pieces to hang in my home. I hope you can help! it's been doing my head in for ages lol and I haven't the budget to keep buying different types of paper.

Luv the video. Nice, simple & practical review. Only request is to include Caren d'Ache colored pencils. Thanx

very helpful and not all surprising the polychromos performed well, I am surprised that for the money, their eco pencil was very close. Great video.

I have used Polychromos (my normal), and Derwent Coloursoft, and Derwent Drawing Pencils. I really like them all, but generally use the Polychromos because they are oil based, and thus don't suffer from wax bloom (worth mentioning), and also the pencils stay sharp for longer. I would happily use Caran d'ache because of their quality reputation, but they are expensive. I have not been tempted to use prismacolors (which are less available in the UK anyway) because I have seen too many reports of quality issues. Apart from the number of poor lightfast colours you mention, I have heard of too many with broken leads inside the casing, and the lead also being off-centre, which causes issues when you try sharpening them if you use a sharpener rather than a knife. Also worth mentioning that you can mix them. For example, I often do mammals and birds with the Derwent Drawing pencils, but if there is a part that is a brighter colour (Drawing pencils are only rather dull earthy colours), then I can add in that part with Polychromos. Jackson's and Great Art, amongst others, do all the Derwents and the Polychromos, both in sets and open stock.

Hi Jason, I always thought that there were only 72 Coloursofts in the range, not 120 so I'm a bit confused. I do like them, however.👍

A scientific approach to Art...impressive, thanks.

Really excellent review Jason fantastic comparisons and I can remember when you showed the drawings on Facebook I really couldn't tell the difference and I use both the Derwent Coloursoft and the Polychromos. Excellent video

Hi Jason Have you reviewed watercolour pencil I have started using them but I am not sure what to buy, would value your opinion

Really liked your comparisons. Do you still stand behind your choice from years ago?? Just curious. Best regards.

Searching online I can't seem to find thin colored pencils, that are archival, to replace Verithin which is not. Any ideas, anyone, please?

What about Lyra's Rembrandt colour pencils?

Hi Jason, Faber Castell's catalog says they can be mixed with paraffin oil, did you happen to try this? I copy the text that appears in the catalog for more information: To create even areas of colour, paint over the strokes made with Polychromos artists’ colour pencils using a bristle brush and paraffin oil (baby oil or salad oil). Oil paints also dissolve the artists’ colour pencils, which is why they are often used to draw preparatory sketches for oil paintings. The lines subsequently dissolve when they are painted over.

Great review, Jason. I have Derwent Coloursoft and have not worked with them much, as I am into pastels currently. However, I am very confused, as Lisa and a few others swear by the Polychromos. Is it ok to combine the wax based with oil based?

This is an excellent review and I'm glad to see you using colour pencil. However, I was surprised that you not include the Caran d’Ache Luminance 6901 artist’s pencils, Swiss made in its Geneva Manufacture . A friend of mine using these and swears by them. I have tried her pencils and found them very nice to use. Myself I have used the Prisma and Derwent as these are the ones I can afford.

Hey Jason, great video as usual! But I have a problem, can't find that Derwent Coloursoft has a 120 range, but only 72. Do you have a older set, or perhaps a newer one? The Derwent Artists have a 120 set. I have them both and should love to find a lager Coloursoft set as I prefer those.

I'd love to know what you think of Marco Raffine colored pencils! Great video.

I just bought the 120 set of Polys and love them. Years ago I got rid of my Prismas (they kept breaking and sometimes the lead fell out of the barrel). A couple of months ago I found an old set of Faber-Castell Spectracolor that I had in high school! For being over 30 years old, they still perform beautifully. This is part of the reason why I bought the Polys. For those folks who live in the US, you can buy open stock Polys at either Dick Blick stores or online at dickblick.com!

Hi Jason, can you tell me what the difference is between derwent pencils and derwent colour soft. Thank you

derwent coloursoft only has 72, isn't it?

definitely the best set for parents to get their kids is the faber castell eco set

nice content 😊

Coloursoft had 120 colours? wow... Now they only have 72. What happened there, I wonder? Never knew they were 120 originally.

Hi Jason.. there's Luminance also

Actually, prismacolor has 150 colors, also it would've been nice if you'd just mentioned the luminance they're the best so far, nice review though :)

I love polychromos

I use the Derwent prismacolor are $100 for 36 where I live and you can’t even get polychromos

polychromos,luminance and prisma are the big 3

Prismacolor have 150 color pencils

You could have zoomed a bit more. Thanks anyway.

Prismascolor come in 150 colors not 132

Strategy for allotting budget at art store : Watercolour Paper quality > watercolour paint quality Pastel Paper quality > pastel quality Colour pencil quality > Paper quality

The eco colored pencils aren't color pencils, they are just colored pencils with colored led.

You should see the cheap rubbish pencils they sell for kids in Hobbycraft, my friend bought me some Christmas.. Not to be ungrateful, but she needn't have bothered, as they are absolute rubbish. Probably only cost a few quid. They had barely any pigment in them at all. It's shocking that Hobbycraft even sells them... I'd buy kids a set of Crayola pencils, before I bought some of those. Or even the Eco pencils you sell here.