Watch next: My NEW favourite budget pencil - BRUTFUNER! - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-pg7nHYAv7AA.html And my Holbein alternatives review - Comparing Pastelowe, Marco and other pastel colors against Holbein - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-B22CIv93sqA.html
Just a note on the strong smell. When goods are put into a shipping container for import from Asia, some countries (USA for certain and apparently AU as well) required that the container be fumigated at some point in an effort to prevent species that might prove to be invasive from being introduced. It might be a good idea to let new deliveries sit out open on the porch or something to off-gas before working with them indoors. All containers go through this, clothing, electronics. An insect or spider can hitch a ride on anything.
Anytime I have a pencil that breaks I dont keep sharpening. I put the pencil in a heating pad, turn it on high & let it sit in for about 15 or 20 mins. Take the pencil out & let it cool completely & sharpen. The pencil will no longer break!!
Thanks. Good to know. In regards to Marco Raffine here in the States they were definitely sold as oil based and they do behave as such. I am not a coloring book person and needed oil based because they work with watercolor pencils. But as far as I am concerned you cannot beat wax based when it comes to color saturation. Hence, my final layer usually consists of wax based. I do have some PC which are my go to when things didn't quite work out as I wanted them to. Hate to say it, nothing can beat PC for oomph.
Yes if we're talking breakage and we're talking Prisma colors that is definitely an issue however while I'm coloring if I have a point break and sharpen and break again I simply put them in the microwave for about 10 seconds if when buying a whole set you notice the first time you sharpen they all keep breaking I take that whole set put them on parchment paper on a baking sheet put them in the oven at about 120 to 140° for about 5 to 7 minutes seems to do the trick just fine Also I found it huge when and while you're coloring and or moving your pencils do not drop them do not plop them on the table take extra care and precaution and place them down on the table do not drop your pencils down. 😎😷 And as I consider myself new to adult coloring and have self-taught myself how to color within the last 3 years on RU-vid all the info I just gave I found all on RU-vid so anything you want to know about prismas you found the right place just as the right question of it
If you can afford them get them. Most of the tutorials online use either them or poly chromos. Alternative budget sets are ok but when everything is compared to the "standard" I usually go for the standard to learn and modify from there. 2 yrs ago I bought Prisma and now I have some lower-end and upper-end pencils. I still use Prisma all the time. They are my calibration set; everything else is compared to them. Also, I have done a ton of tutorials with them so I have learned their color line and now when I get a new set I can also figure it's color schemes fast as well because I can say, "this is like "whatever" in Prisma and I can use it for "fill in the blank"
FINALLY someone who has brought up in a video the issue of Prismacolor pencils constant breaking. I quit buying them because of it and have not had luck with finding another brand till recently. I have started to get very fond of the Black Widow pencils. I just wish they had more colors. So I am so happy to have found this video. Thank you!
One reason why pencils break is because we are used to turning the pencil in the manual sharpener. I learned from one colored pencil company to turn the manual sharpener and hold the pencil still. As weird as this seemed to me, it really made a difference. They also said to keep the pencils in the tin and not knocking around into each other in a pencil cup, which breaks the core inside the wood.
I’m so glad that you discovered how the Castle Arts pencils in the case smell. I bought a set for my grandson for Christmas and opened them to check them. That smell, which reminded me of a strong crayon odor, really put me off. In my experience, I’ve never smelled that on any other pencils. I returned them to Amazon and bought my grandson his very own set of Prismacolors. He loves them.
The smell did fade quite quickly after opening. They don’t smell at all anymore. But I would have chosen the Prismacolors over them anyway! I just bought a set of Prismacolor for a family member for Christmas too.
I really dislike the smell too from the one I got. And since I keep them in the original tin case, the smell stays forever... I also think some of the colors don't perform as well as the other in the set, mainly the yellows. They are just not as soft and blendable. I really wished I have brought the Arteza set instead. They run good sales year round and everything else I have bought from them so far exceeds my expectation.
I just watching this video three years later and I actually thought it was a one off thing. Although I am brand new to art and coloring I have watched several videos reviewing colored pencils. I just returned my castle arts set to Amazon because of the smell. I let the pencils air out and it was still strong. I am not sensitive to scents at all, however this stench felt as though it was in the back of my throat. I already ordered the Prismacolor 48 pack. I had a hard time choosing between the prisma, the the small 30 pack of Caran D’ache, or the 36 Faber Castel polychromo’s. I figured the prisma’s would be better for a beginner.
I agree. I use mostly watercolors now and I love using them, but I *hated* them as a kid because the sets I had barely had any pigments and the paper I used, which was just some basic sketching paper, always got destroyed by the water. And I will never forget those plastic brushes.
So not true. I only had pencil and cheap stuff but love to draw. I draw all the time growing up. Never got mad that my supply suck. I think if they love art they will always love art regardless if they have expensive or cheap supplies. It all about passion.
I have some of Faber Castell's student quality merchandise (watercolor pencils and watercolor crayons) and found them to be quite good. I have some Polychromos which I bought way back before they became too expensive for my pocket book.
I have the Goldfaber and they are a very nice set. The only thing I'm not a fan of is that they don't have color names on the the pencils. But they do come with a color card.
i'm using an eye makeup pencil sharpener, the pencils never break. the seller gave me one as a free gift. makeup pencils are also soft, so it makes sense.
An old art teacher of mine once used to make us put a tally on our folder every time we dropped a pencil (we had to use the pencil we dropped to make the tally). And the conclusion was the ppl like myself always dropping crap dealt w a lot more breakage than ppl. Made me hyper aware of how I handle my art supplies now especially my pencils and I rarely deal w breakage. Whether it’s a coincidence or in my head idk. But also my theory is if they break a lot straight out of the case it’s Bc the factory, shipping, manufacturing ppl whoever where tossing em around not realizing they’re shattering the lead inside the casing. 🤷♀️ I have also noticed my pencils that come in cylinders have less breakage, for some reason tin w plastic trays break the most in my experience, again blaming shipping and stores for that.
i'm using an eye makeup pencil sharpener, the pencils never break. the seller gave me one as a free gift. makeup pencils are also soft, so it makes sense.
This is what I do with the ones that repeatedly break in sharpeners! It's also how I save lead when I need a sharper point but the pencils isn't really down to a nub worth sharpening.
I've been using Crayola and its so frustrating, it feels like I have to go over the same parts 10 times for the color to be opaque enough. Finally switching!! 🥳👍
@@SarahRenaeClark At last finally an artist that mentions Brutfuner! My daughter is 14 and has a definte gift in art. I brought her a Brutfuner set to start off with last year and what attracted me to them was their massive choice of 180 colours and their v cheap price. They are also watercolour pencils, so versitile and I was v pleased with them for the price and quality. After being satisfied that she wants to take her art abilities further and has chosen art for a GCSE subject and already wants to study it for A Level. Then after watching your comparison of the top adult professional coloured sets on the market, last Christmas I brought her Caran D'ache Luminance and Pablo pencils. My daughter saved up £100 towards their price and I paid the rest. Previously we were considering Polychromos and Prismacolor. But thanks to your video, my daughter and I knew she would get far too angry and frustrated with Prismacolor. Again, thank you so much, as Caran D'ache, although so v expensive, we are glad we purchased these as they are such high quality and a pleasure to draw with. Also although v expensive to first buy, replacement pencils are relistically affordable, as you do not need to replace all of them in one go. So again we are so grateful for your professional expertise and advice. Thank you so much.
I am glad you demonstrated how different papers affected the colour of the pencil. I have learnt to match the pencil to the paper. I swatch at the back of every paper I use with all my pencils. The paper is the most important supply to achieving good artwork. Try using Crayola pencils on different paper types and you will amazed at how differently they perform.
I don't know why but in the UK it just seems impossible to get prismacolor premiers and all of my online social media colouring groups rave about them. I'm glad that you did this video because I have been struggling with the spectrum noir pencils for a while and wanting a change. I have just purchased some Arteza to see if I get on with them better. You are still the first artist to inspire me to get my colouring pencils out; I am an alcohol markers gal usually!!
I think I got mine from Amazon. I have some Polychromos too and some Spectrum Noir. I like the softness of the SN tbh as I like the creaminess of Prismacolor. I like the Polychromos but prefer a softer pencil.
Great comparison test. I do love my Prismas and Arteza and I agree with you, Black Widow would be my next choice. I really like their colors and they do blend well. Being the pencil addict I am, I just purchased Castle Art and are awaiting their arrival. I wanted to try then out and Castle Art had them on sale for 35% off, so I though it would be a good time. However, trusting your reviews, they may be yet another pencil to hand down to my grandkids. Time will tell. Thanks for another great video!
I did lots of research and got the oil-based Brutfuner 120 ($35) & Deli 120 ($28) as Polychromos dupes. Schpirerr Farben is also great, but I'm waiting for them to go on sale. As for Prismacolor dupes, I bought Colleen 120 ($59). They're as soft as Prisma, but a bit sturdier lead. Black Widows' full sets of 144 pencils end up costing way more than Prismacolor in the long run. Arteza are a good dupe, but still very pricey for their 120 set. For another $10, you could get Prisma 150 for the same price. Castle Art, Creyart, Shuttle Art, Soucolor, Soundance, Cool Bank, etc. all come from the same factories. Crayola 120 is the cheapest out there and is going to be my next set, mainly bc of its color variety & nostalgia. After that, no more. I'm trying not to turn into an addict lol.
The trick with Arteza is to sign up to their mailing list, and wait for one of their regular promotions (e.g. Black Friday, Christmas, Boxing Day, Easter, Halloween...). Combine that with one of their promo codes (e.g. currently, CART15) as well as redeeming any rewards from joining their mailing list and previous purchases, and their prices come down tremendously: my last set of their 120 colouring pencils cost less than £27.
If you're in the UK, WHSmith's own brand of pencils are really great if you're on a tight budget. They're better than Crayola and other pencils in a similar price range. I paid just over £10 for a set of 48 and I was really surprised by how well they performed. The downside is there's only 48 colours, but they blend very well.
I came to the opposite conclusion when I compared the Arteza and Castle Art. The Castle Art doesn't break, doesn't bloom, blends great, and look better to me than the Arteza. But I also like Polychromos and they feel more like the Polychromos while Arteza feels more like Prismacolor. Maybe the smell just threw you when it came to the Castle Art.
Its great that Prismacolors are cheap for you, but in the states, their prices are through the roof! Thank you for doing this comparison! Its great to know what product to go to!
Thank you Sarah! I went ahead and asked my kids for the Prisma Premier for Mother’s Day, they are adults! And..... I love them! My favorite part is their blending ability for shading! They make me feel like an artist! Thank you for your series.
I purchased a 36 color set of Prismacolors and new Prismacolor Premier sharpener. Much breakage resulted. Changed brands and breakage stopped but one day iit started to happen again. This time I read up on it and learned something was probably wrong with the new sharpener. I bought a helical electric sharpener and all breakage stopped. Even started to use my Prismacolor set again (what was left of it) with no breakage. Six months later and I still have no breakage. Buy a helical electric sharpener.
As someone who bought a basic Crayola set just to get started and am looking forward to when I get frustrated by seeing what other people are doing that is super hard for me... I appreciate this video so much. Got the Arteza set in my wishlist waiting for that day!
I just purchased my prismacolor premier 150 set, have not had any breakages. Its nice to find a set that, is good quality. Ialso have the castle 72 and 120 set, and blick 72 set very good pencils.
I use Arteza professional color pencils and I am pleased you agree that they are a good substitute for Prismacolor and I think the difference is the packaging as the others come in a tin and the shape and barrell
I personally really love my Arteza pencils. They are really good quality, and even over my several years of owning them I still love them. They have blended and layered well on a ton of different paper types over my course of using them. I got a set of their watercolor pencils as well and I was incredibly surprised with the quality. I bought another set for a fellow artist of mine who was frustrated with crayola and wanting to improved. I gave him a set and he was immediately in love.
Fantastic video! I can't remember if I mentioned it to you already but along with CdA Luminance, imo the Uni Posca are the closest pencil to Prismacolor in terms of how buttery and easily blendable they are. They are certainly expensive though and don't have many colours, which are big downsides. You can get them in singles so it might be worth grabbing a few for your next video just to see how well they compare xx
I love the Posca pencils, they work on so many undergrounds, even on wax pastels. And turn up great on black, be it paper, acrylic or marker. I actually like the small colour range, less stressful to choose colours.
I use both Arteza & prisma pencils. I seriously recommend Arteza for me they are the closest to prisma & have some beautiful unique colours I highly recommend them
I just bought some crayola signiture pencils and I was very pleased with them. In my opinion, and granted I'm just a beginner, they blend very well and I enjoy coloring with them.
I love my Polychromos and Prismas (but not as much) but I have to admit I do appreciate a less expensive option. One reason cheap pencils are cheap is lack of color saturation. The pigments are probably the most expensive thing in the pencil (especially the metallics) really cheap pencils have a much higher percentage of wax binder which just leads to wax bloom that much faster. Alwo the wood body of the pencil really needs to be a quality material. My two favorite lower cost pencils are most likely Cretacolor from Austria and Art Grip from Faber Carell. Both are available in regular and water color variety. While do coloring for enjoyment I never work on actual coloring pages. I will either scan the actual page and print on heavier paper. Or I find images on line and work from them. There are tons of actual coloring images on line. But I actually prefer to work from photographs or paintings. I'm not selling my stuff so I'm not worried about copyrights. But I was doing the Fantastic Cities and Structures a couple of years ago and I did by the books. One reason I do hot like to use the actual book pages is if I mess up I can always start over. I also do some work in scale models built with cardstock and chip board (like on the backs of writing pads). Same advantage. As a lot of them are digital I can always start over. As a side note. Probably the first widely available precision mass manufactured item in the world is the humble wooden pencil. People really do not have a concept of just what the level of precision is needed to manufacture pencils. Plus the 'lead' in the common pencil we use today is the result of the first government sponsored materials research project to find a replacement for a naturally occurring material. There is a book called "The Pencil" by Henry Petroski that covers the history of subject.
I started reading your comment and thought it would be cool to chime in about Henry Petroski's "The Pencil", then scrolled down to see that you already recommended the book! Always fun when different interests intersect, in this case engineering and high-end art supplies.
Just starting to work on coloring my drawings and I’m glad I found your video! I’ve never really colored before out of fear of ruining my pieces. I was going to go for prismacolor but after watching I think I’ll go for the Arteza instead! Thank you for the great video and saving me some money
As usual I love your site all the love, time and care you put into your videos , thank you so much, you were one of the first sites I found when I started coloring and I always check what you have to say before I purchase anything. Keep up the good work!
For breakage on Prismacolor, I hold my sharpener in dominant hand and turn with my non-dominant hand, so I put less pressure--or, even better, turn the sharpener instead of the pencil. For this same reason, sometimes electric sharpeners give less breakage because the sharpener spins around the pencil...you just have to make sure you don’t over sharpen and waste the pencil.
i'm using an eye makeup pencil sharpener, the pencils never break. the seller gave me one as a free gift. makeup pencils are also soft, so it makes sense.
I love prismacolor ...especially the colors. I have to confess I use FC polys, CD lum for my commission work. Light fastness matters when you are selling your work. But whenever I can (if doing prints and keeping original artwork) I use Prismacolor. Very interesting...I may try some of the others you test for prints. Thanks!
Your combination is basically the same I use for my work. FC, CD and Prisma are my 3 go-to pencils for most of my art. I’ve got a few other videos comparing those too. I don’t own many Polychromos yet but I’m hoping to get the big set when I reach 100k subscribers!
Great video. It's good to help people see the way different budget pencils compare. The Castle Arts do smell bad, but it soon fades if you leave the case open. For me the Marco Rafine, a very early set, smell much worse and still do a bit. I too like Crayola Signature, but some of them do break easily. Good colours though and blend well.
One of the things I look for in coloured pencil sets is the ability to buy "one off" replacement pencils when you've fully consumed one from the original set. Prismacolor allows you to do that, as do a few of the others. But Castle Arts (I use their water soluable colored pencils) do not... once the pencil is used up... it's gone. So you either kiss that color goodbye for any future work, or you prepare to shell out for another full set. So yes, I have lots of pencil extenders, since I try to use everything right down to the tiniest stub. But still frustrating when you can't just replace one pencil when you need to.
Prismacolor pencils are hard to get in Holland, but Derwent lightfast is now popular in Holland and available everywhere in a box or per unit. I missed these in your alternatives.
I didn’t include them because they are much more expensive in the USA and this video was aimed at cheaper options- but I do have a set of Derwent Lightfast ready to test out for my next video!
+Catherine Jabolin I didn’t end up finding any Brutfuner pencils in time, but I’ve heard good things about them! I will be comparing some other oil pencils in 2 weeks
I think I’m going to purchase the Black Widow Monarch pencils, for the pastels. I like that their ends are dipped, to easily find the color you’re looking for. They have the ones with the scorpion, snake, and black widow spider on the tins. Those are NOT dipped at the ends, and for that reason alone I will not buy them. I don’t want to constantly spend time looking for the color I want.
FYI Wax build-up and Wax bloom are 2 different things. Wax build-up is what develops when the tooth of the paper refuses to take anymore layers, and what you end up with is a smeared & mottled crayon-y residue that just sits on top of the paper. Wax bloom is the white film that develops when the wax oxidizes, it's similar to the way a melted candle begins to thicken as it cools. Usually wax bloom happens in colder climates, and typically it shows up weeks to months after. It can be wiped off with a towel and then sprayed with a fixative so that it doesn't return. But you're not likely to see bloom in high-end wax pencils like Prismacolor. It's more likely to happen with pencils that aren't very pigmented, and have alot of wax filler.
Thanks for clarifying! I’ve always heard them referred to as the same thing, so I’ll look into this again and will correct my blog post and future videos when referring to it- thanks!!
@@SarahRenaeClark - Yes I've seen it too, but I think it's more a matter of everyone following along with the crowd, and further muddying the terminology (no pun intended). It's like how everyone mispronounces Ohuhu markers as Oh-Hu-Hu instead of Oh-Uh-Hu, despite the fact the company explains that they named themselves after the Hawaiian island of Oahu (pronounced Owahoo) on their About Us page via their website. Idk why the chose to spell it phonetically, bc it's easily confusing! Even their brand representative on YT (Halela Art) mispronounces it and they don't have the heart to correct her lol. Anyway, thanks for the response and for the willingness to learn & adjust!!
All depends how You sharpen prismas i have used them for years and mine never Broke , i use electrónic sharpener is useful. besides You are so Nice and elegant. I like You .
I plan to test out some different sharpeners soon. I think it can definitely help to reduce breakage, even on some of these brands that usually break a lot!
What the black paper test shows is to get a white Prismacolor, no matter what you're getting for your main set. Which I kind of already knew-- there was a lot improved when I switched from my old (mostly Crayola) colored pencils to Prismacolors, but actually having a use for the white instead of just being frustrated by it was one of the most important things. All of the white pencils show up on the black paper, but the Prismacolor is brighter and more likely to actually layer usefully over other colored pencils, which I can assure you that at least the cheap Crayola won't. I don't know for sure about the others, but I'd guess the Prismacolor white is worth getting in most cases. The local Michael's sells individual Prismacolors, I bet other locations and probably other art supply stores do too. You can get a white one that way.
Not sure if anyone mentioned this, but if you use a grinder pencil sharpener the prisma pencils don't break as much. I'm very picky about my sharpener that I use with them. I never use the bladed sharpener because they tend to break more. I've had mine for years without much breakage when sharpening them.
Thanks for the heads up on the smell! I’m a hyper-smeller. I’ve thrown out things that smell bad simply because of their smell! Your channel is absolutely the best!
Thank you. I'm very much a beginner in this. A store near me has a Arteza Professional set of 72pk for $32.99. I'm very happy I can get a decent set for under $50.
I have a 72 set of Arteza professional, that is, round barrels (don't like and can't use odd shaped pencils -- arthritis in hands. . . ). I agree they are a lot like Prismacolor, but less feeling they are going to break. Hold a decent point. I love the colors and the vibrancy, too. I wish the 72 set had some good light warm neutrals, like ivory, wheat, champagne, buff, sand, you get the idea. Also, there are a few Prismaco!ors I love that Access needs to add: the black grape, black cherry, black raspberry, and ginger root, which is incredibly useful. I heard they were not water fast. I can't see that, don't know what that means. They are soft, waxy and just a bit harder, so you can get a better point for detail. Beautiful colors.
Honestly mine rarely break either. When I am finding that one is breaking frequently, i wrap it in wet paper towel and microwave it for 15-20 seconds. It melts the core back together and stops breaking
@@ShilasSpellboundCreations lol I dotn have a microwave :'). My aunt literally dropped my yellow prisma and I cant sharpen it with out the elad breaking off.
That T-shirt.. SoOo cute lol Thank you for sharing your thought and recommendation ❤️🙏 if there will be less complaining on the case smell and tin noise I'd enjoy it even more.
I used Crayola pencils for years for artworks, some of which I sold. I have since moved on to painting and haven't really taken up pencils again, so this gives me a good idea of how to graduate to better pencils than the Crayola ones. Thank you!
Thank you! I can finally make a decision! I feel confident in your assessment, along with a couple of others. I wish I could afford Prismacolors even with the breakage even though that's what bothers me the most! LOL I bought an off-brand budget set and they are crumbly and frustrating so I'm going to use them as my backup because of the extra color options it may still offer. Thank you!
Thank you for this video! I started coloring books with markers but switched to pencils for finer details. I've been looking for a color pencil set that gives the same brightness that markers give. However, I'm such a casual/beginner user that I can't justify buying the professional sets. I've gone through the Crayola, Raffine, castle art, and the Prismacolor brands over the years. The Prismacolor does the best. I have an old set of Prismacolor and have been looking to supplement/replace them but the recent reviews mentioning a reduction in quality from a change in production facilities have scared me to looking for alternatives. Searching online what's out there is overwhelming and this video helped a lot to narrow it down. I'm going to try the Arteza set. Thanks you again!
If you liked Prismacolor in the past, stick with Prismacolor. The bad reviews are somewhat exaggerated. The main “lack of quality” is an increase in breakage, and it’s not as common as some people make it sound.
I really appreciate your videos! After Prismacolor started to manufacture their pens in Mexico, I have noticed more breaking. The lead is often not centered in the casing, as they used to be.
I like my prisma colors, and the black widows,all of them, faber castell polychromos, derwent colorsoft and the watercolor, castle art. I will have to try the newer Crayola. I enjoy most pencils but some are more pleasurable to use than others. I want to try arteza. Black widow darker color sets are better. I love your videos. Thank you so much for sharing ❤️
Honestly my Prismas rarely break. When I am finding that one is breaking frequently, I wrap it in wet paper towel and microwave it for 15-20 seconds. It melts the core back together and stops breaking.
Prismacolor recommend avoiding the microwave, but warming them up in one way or another definitely helps with those pencils that have broken cores. I personally use a heat pack or leave the pencil in a sunny spot and find that helps too! The heat pack is a bit more reliable and faster.
I have the crayola signature 50 pack and they have not broken on me yet when sharpening. I don't know If I just got a good set or just been lucky. They have been great and I have been loving them almost better than my prisma color scholar set. Just started watching your videos and been loving the knowledge.
I hear a lot of people like them! They are quite popular, and a pretty good pencil. I think my review came across more negative than I intended in this video.
Prismacolor is now made in Mexico. The "premier" are not good quality. The old Prismacolors made by Berol were excellent and did not break, crack, split, and generally fall apart.
@@SarahRenaeClark I just bought another set of Arteza's Expert pencils because I stole them from my son and thought I should return them- needless to say, I LOVE THEM. I don't know about their other products, but the experts are GREAT. and they don't break like Prisma!!
Arrtx- the newest version in the 126 set- are next level. I own Polychromos, Holbeins, Caran d'Ache Pablo's and Luminance, Derwent Lightfast, Chromoflows, along with Prismacolors in Berol, Sanford and Primiere. My Arrtx and Black Widows are my favorites to use at the moment. Arrtx are extremely impressive.
I absolutely love my Arteza pencils. I was wondering if you sharpened all the pencils before you used them. I know the black widows worked better after sharpening them. I was also wondering if you could compare the Amazon Basics 72 count. I have heard they are comparable to Prismas as well with just a little less pigment. To fix that red Prisma that keeps breaking try a kum sharpener, that thing has saved quite a few of mine.
I used a few straight from the box but didn’t like the way they were sharpened as much as when I resharpened them myself, so I started doing this for the rest, even though it wasted a bit of extra pencil. It just felt a little nicer!
So, I have ALL of the Black Widow sets and there's one thing I've noticed: the softness varies. The Monarch set is the softest one, with the Widow, Cobra, and Scorpion sets somewhere in the middle, and the harder sets being Dragon and the Light and Dark Skin Tone sets.
I used to hate colored pencils, and I figured out eventually it's because of how soft Prismacolors are! When I started getting more into it, my mom got me the skin-tone set, and then I asked for Dragon and Monarch, and I ended up with all of them! Of course now that I use Polychromos, Black Widow can't compare, but they were still my first love into colored pencils. I do also have Castle Arts, but never really used them since I liked the Black Widow, and found them to be kind of scratchy on white paper and not worth trying out anyway.
im definately going to order some arteza now. I have the 150 Prisma Colour set from when I was in school for Interior Design 15 years ago. I am so frustrated using them as half the time I end up with one that is total garbage, broken every half cm so you cant use it at all, and so i dont colour as much as i would like becuase its more frustrating then relaxing. having said that I am not blaming Prisma Colour on the extream breakage, I have moved 8 times since i bought them, they have been knocked about, my kids have dropped them (no they arent allowed to use them but some times ill let them do so when I am colouring with them...) AND they not longer have the individual trays but are just out in about in the tin. I have wanted to get another set of pencils to replenish my colours but wanted to try something different. Thanks for the video!
