Which Colored Pencils Have the Most Pigment? 

Man I love these videos

The harder pencils cannot be treated like the softer pencils. Eg Irojiten, Pablo and Polychromos are supposed be layered again and again starting with light pressure and sharp tips to get into the tooth of the paper - this is one of their strengths, even though one's wax based and the others are oil based or oil-wax blend. Self-labeled "colorists" do not seem to understand this, they're too accustomed to grabbing soft cores and blazing through an area with maybe 3-4 layers maximum and they're done with that area. She took the Irojiten and went straight to HARD pressure in ONE layer and BLUNT tips - and you could see from a distance that the coverage was bad. Irojiten is seamless when properly used, those blocks should be solid vivid blocks with no bloom at all or splotches, I know them very well and only the neons behave like Crayolas (that's because of the nature of neon pigment pencils - they're always like that no matter the brand). I'm surprised she didn't tear the paper with the green. I've torn off little bits of paper when first becoming acquainted with sharp Irojitens. Look how solid and strong the Pablo did on one hard layer. That is high pigment + medium softness. They have less pigment than Coloursoft? That is a joke. The real reason the gamsol did not spread the pigment out that "far" for the Irojiten and Pablo is partly BECAUSE they are so densely pigmented. The gamsol moves pigment around by dissolving the binder. If there is less binder, then the pigment's not going to be able to be moved that far by a liquid solvent. Eraseability is also a factor. Some brands really get in there and saturate with a vengeance, especially with moderate to high pressure - can't be significantly removed without damaging the paper. Irojiten is one of those brands. Look what happened to the squares after the pigment was moved by the solvent. The Prismacolor squares were blotchy and weak AF. The Irojiten squares were still pretty strong after she put the brush to them - most of that pigment simply stayed put. This test has nothing to do with the density of pigment in their cores or the overall layering and blendability of the pencil. It's just about how they react to gamsol. And I am grateful she put a lot of effort into showing us this with so many different brands

I absolutely love how far you deep dive in these tests and with so many brands! You've put in a lot of work! And I know making videos is even more time and energy consuming than most people know. Thank you for this info!

Just as an FYI for everyone, the Blick colored pencils are actually made by Koh-I-Noor. Not sure if it's the same formulation or not but they are made for blick at their studios.

That was a lot of testing and you deserve big kudos for going through all the effort. Your consistency of doing them all at the same time with the same paper/control/materials was beneficial.

I think everyone saw Cra-Z-Art coming in last from miles away.

Col-Erase pencils definitely wouldn't be my first pick for coloring, but in terms of sketching, especially for illustration work and comic layout, they're amazing since they don't smear at all and you can get in a lot of detail. Great video, I appreciate the time you put into it!

Damn girl you have art, math and science in this video

Interesting video and a lot of work went into this. Not sure if this is how you actually test which pencil has the most pigment at all. I also noticed that for some brands you pick the top pencil they have, but for others not. Bruynzeel, Derwent and Caran D'ache have way better pencils available that lay down a lot of pigment on your paper, but I'm sure even they would fail your test, since laying down a lot of pigment and reacting to something like Gamsol are two different things. We now know which pencils react best to this kind of solvent and that's cool.... but that doesn't mean that pencil also has the most pigment. That you can clearly see without using any solvent at all.

Interesting and useful test. What follows is for your education. I am a scientist by trade (mostly chemistry). In general, solubility is a very important factor in chemistry. What this test mostly demonstrates is that different pencil formulations have different solubility in Gamsol. That is, what you are actually testing is solubility in Gamsol vs the ability of the solvent to break the bonds of the [medium+pigment] to the paper and spread out the color on the paper. According to the MSDS, Gamsol is "hydrotreated heavy naptha petroleum". Gamsol is a complex combination of hydrocarbons obtained by treating a petroleum fraction with hydrogen in the presence of a catalyst. It consists of hydrocarbons having carbon numbers predominantly in the range of C6 through C13 and boiling in the range of approximately 65°C to 230°C (149°F to 446°F). ExxonMobil (and others) sell hundreds (perhaps thousands) of tank cars of this a year of this stuff under the tradename Isopar. There are about 10 different Isopar types (or blends) - and mostly for formulation with personal care products. By the boiling point range, Gamsol is Isopar L. Acetone, Isopropanol, Heptane (sold as Bestine), and MEK (Methyl Ethyl Ketone) - are all commercially available solvents (in any paint store, hardware store, and a lot of grocery stores) that perform the same function as Gamsol but work differently with different pencil manufacturers. I know, I've tried them all out - as well as a few others I haven't mentioned because what is available to me through the lab is not available to most artists. Gamsol works fine for some pencils, not so well for others. Acetone works well for other pencil brands - though I don't like working with Acetone in my home studio. Bestine (heptane) works pretty much like Gamsol - which it should - it's almost the same thing in terms of what it will solubilize. MEK is nasty stuff. I tried it just to see if it will work. It works OK - for some pencils. But every day? No thanks. Isopropanol - should be at least 91% - 100% is best is you can get it in a grocery store - works OK - sometimes, for some pencils. Very similar results are obtained with Methanol. Odorless Mineral Spirits are very very similar to Gamsol - except they haven't been refined as well and have a residual odor. Might as well use Gamsol since it has ZERO smell. Anyway, keep up the good work. :)

I can't believe you would go through all that work to make a video, the dedication is real! Like you said, people have many personal reasons they chose a specific brand, and they should. Nobody should just buy for a brand name or something. Some artists look for lightfastness, some look for softness, some rather have a pencil that behaves more of a certain way that works with their style. I do work with Gamsol as main method of blending, and different brands reacts to it differently. Polychromos for example, tend to stick on to the brush, so the color would lighten a lot after applying the solvent. Prismacolor doesn't stain the brush, but pigments do tend to clump together with Gamsol. I blamed the wax for it, but I don't get the same problem with Luminance which is also wax based. You did surprise me with the Blick pencils. I never tried them, but they must have reacted nicely with the Gamsol to be on #1 pencil. I mean for someone who works with Gamsol, Blick pencils could be a good choice.\ Still I must point out that CraZArt pencils are HORRIBLE! AH I had students bringing them in my class, and for the sake of everyone's safety, I said no to CraZArt pencils.

I just love that Koh-i-noor wood less pencils (progresso) made it to your list. 12 years ago (and even before and now) when I went to first grade in elementary school here in Czech Republic where Koh-i-noor is from, they were the must-have for us and now artists use them for art. I'm glad that they're still as great as they were before. Their pigmentation is amazing and you can still use them when they break. Perfect for kids and everyone else.

Me: *Watches this video* Her: we will be testing 30 different colored Pencil Brands Me: There's more than just Crayola??

This is an excellent comparison! and most of the colored pencil brands i own made it into top ten!!

I guess what you really tested was the solubility of the colored pencil leads. The mixes might not dissolve in mineral spirits, they might be better in water. The pigments might still be bound as you try to spread them. Either way, this is an incredible amount of work!

Waayy... too much mineral spirits used and I agree... not a test of anything except solubility...

One thing to consider is that they don't all blend the same. I find that solvents dissolve Polychromos for example a lot easier than Prismacolors with the huge amount of wax.

Wow, Jennifer, thanks so much for taking the time to do this wonderful comparison! 💕🌟💕 It was so much fun watching this, and, like you, I was a bit surprised by the results. 😯 😊💕 Btw, I love my Gamasol and have been using it for years! 😍😁💕 Thanks bunches for all you (and your magnificent support team 😁👏👏) give to us! Hugs from Carol, Columbus, Ohio 🤗😊

A more important consideration for making comparison of pigmentations than any subjective evaluation on how far the colors stretch out when diluted or the amount of solvent is that the pencils do not contain the same pigments. The pigments themselves have different characteristics, therefore diluting different pigments cannot yield information on how pigmented the pencil is. A pencil could have a very high degree of pigmentations of a pigment that does not spread out much when diluted.

I'm glad that you said about human error and impossibility of being completely objective in such a test. One thing that I noticed was the difference in colour density left behind on the original test square after applying the solvent. Some squares were still densely coloured, which suggests that there is still plenty of pigment left there. Perhaps the pencils are made of different materials that react to the solvent differently. For people who just want to colour and draw for their own pleasure, rather than being artists or art students, it would be helpful to know ease of use and how to use on different paper textures. For instance: some people want to layer colours, while others want to get a quick shot of colour in one stroke; some people like intense opaque colours, while others like a paler wash of colour. I like the texture of the paper to be seen, but I know that some people want dense colour through which you can't see the bumps of the paper. You have a lot of different brands of pencils, so a comparative overview of the most popular would be interesting. :)

I applaud you for all the effort, because you did put in a lot of work. So Kudos to you for that! Although I feel like this test was mislabeled and mishandled. It is certainly true that this test really shows how well Gamsol works on THIS specific type of paper. Not actual pigment "concentration". Now before anyone says "why not show a better way to do it if you're so smart?" I'd like to say that there are some ways to do it, and that's in a scientific lab with actual controls in place as well. A good way to do it (for anyone curious) is to try atleast 3 different solvents and then a control experiment with NO solvents because all experiments should have a control. Why 3 Solvents? Just to reduce the error that comes from using one solvent to test these different types of pencils. Instead of using paper, because ultimately paper is such a HUGE factor in the solubility of the pigments, it's best to take the same amount of the core out and dissolve that in the solvents and then try calculating the concentration of colour in the solution. Paper chromatography or titration may prove to be useful here. Paper chromatography can actually show how much of it is the binder and how much of it is the pigment. HOWEVER, a test like this across so many different brands with pencils that will all behave so differently on everything from the type of paper to the technique to even the solvent...there is certainly a lot of room for error. Thus I feel this test itself is rather unnecessary to begin with. I do agree with you on the fact that this is NOT the only criteria to judge a pencil with. So it makes one wonder what the point of this test is in the first place..Anyways I'd like to get into details about the problems I have with this test (this is not meant to spread hate but to offer a more logical explanation on the topic for anyone curious) Every pencil is formulated differently, with a different binder which ofcourse behaves differently with Gamsol. Setting that aside there's the factor of whether or not ACTUAL pigments were used in each of these coloured pencils. I'm pretty sure that about 75% of them are mainly dye based because ofcourse real pigments are expensive and brands that are super cheap, can't afford to sell pencils with real pigments at 50 pencils for $5. Also a factor to consider is the staining property. Certain dyes and pigments will stain more than others. Pthalo blue will always stain a lot more than say Ultramarine blue. Then there is the hardness. Softer pencils will disperse a large amount of colour more easily than a harder pencil. Not only that but an oil based pencil for example being fairly translucent would also disperse pigment differently compared to a more opaque pencil like Luminance or Prismacolor Premier. Some food for thought. IGNORING ALL of this, if we just take a moment to see how you calculated the ratings, there is big flaw there. Basically you're taking two readings from each colour and then you're just adding them up and averaging them. The problem is that the strongest pigment reading is not at all the same across all the brands. So say one of the brands has a larger strongest pigment reading but another brand has a smaller reading (however that smaller area is much higher in colour concentration than the brand with a higher reading) The calculation is not taking this into account at all. It also doesn't take into account the fact that not every colour in a brand is consistently giving the same results. So if ONE colour ends up getting a very high reading with two others getting more average reading, it'll tip the scale higher in favour of that brand. It doesn't really showcase that it's actually a more consistently highly pigmented brand in general. So the takeaway from this is that it's not a true test nor representation of pigmentation. The fact remains that it is always best to try different pencils and see which YOU prefer for your purpose best. Generally all artist grade pencils will have a higher pigmentation than cheaper children's grade pencils. But if a cheaper pencil serves your purpose well, there's no problem in that. To anyone who read till this far, thank you for your time and I hope this was helpful in someway.

As a fellow hand problem person I really appreciate you showing the good hand health measures, both the breaks as you went and taking three days rather than pushing on until you couldn’t move your hand. Thanks for the good example.

Well thought out & presented! Love how much info you give & on what mediums you use. Very useful to know as a beginner!

I admire your tenacity in getting this test done, but the factors aren't even, as you said, and looking at the swatches before and after applying gamsol gives me a different view. Because you discounted a color for the odd way of reacting, I believe that the rest of the pencils could also have differing ways of reacting to the gamsol. The Luminance pencils look more intense than any others, before and after, even if the pigment didn't pull out as far. The pulled out pigment and the pigment left in the square was nicer, brighter, smoother than most/all of the others too. Anyway, it's a fair general idea, so thank you for that.

Not sure if this is necessarily the best way to judge the pencils. A particular pencil might have high pigment but with a filler that doesn't necessarily break down as well with the mineral spirits. Conversely, another pencil with less pigment might have a filler that breaks down more readily and is able to spread further. So, the results might not be representative of the true pigmentation or quality of the pencil. More important is how well the pencil lays down the colour and how well it blends.

There are a few Japanese brand coloured pencils I would like you to check out. Holbein, Mitsubishi Uni Color, Tombow Irojiten and FELISSIMO 500.

Totally loved this!!!! Learned about new pencils which is cool

I did not see another solvent used, wax and oil respond differently to solvents. I use Gamsol and CP's Powder blender. One for oil based and another for wax based. Thanks for the tremendous amount of time You put into this. Gamsol users ( and I am one ) will and do appreciate your time, and especially the sore hands. ( and the results are beneficial ) I could not have done this. Nice video. Thank You so much!

You Did a "monumental" work testing all that pencils. I just was stunned that Caran D`Ache wasn`t at the top list and my favs (Prismacolor Premier) placed at the bottom of the top ten.... Oh well :D You did a very useful video, thank you very much....BRAVA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And thanks a lot for your effort & patience :D

I also use CARAN d'ACHE, your No. 2, the permanent model "Pablo", but it's a bit counterproductive to move a permanent color with a brush. I prefer the "Supracolor" model, the water soluble. As intended, I dipped the pencil's head in water. Picment density becomes 10 times higher, and a brush can move the color 10 times longer into a evenly distributed in decreasing density.

I enjoyed watching your test on pigmentation. I was surprised by the final results. Thank you for this helpful video.

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this. It has really been helpful!

Oooh - I just bought the Blick pencils this weekend at one of their brick & mortar stores (so they're not ONLY available on the website). They're open stock, which is a plus. They have some smaller sets of pencils - but many of the colors are included in that 72-pencil set. I appreciate that you tested all the brands the same or at least as much the same as you could. I wonder, however, if the results were more dependent on how Gamsol-soluble the fillers are in each pencil rather than the amount of filler. I would think also that wax-based & oil-based pencils would function differently with the odorless mineral spirits. When I (completely subjectively) judge colored pencils in regards to how pigmented they are, I look more at how much pressure I need to apply in order to achieve the desired color saturation. I know paper type has a HUGE impact on how well pencils perform -- but as long as I am trying pencils on the same kind of paper, I can cross-judge. If, with a single layer, I have to press hard to get just a bit of color or press super hard to get bright, vibrant color, I don't consider the pencils to be highly pigmented (and I'm likely not that fond of the pencils). If, with a single layer, I only have to barely touch the paper to get just a bit of color or apply medium pressure to get bright, vibrant color, I consider the pencils to be highly pigmented.

What an amazing video. Holy moly, thank you for doing all of that work! I love your analytical approach. The scientist in me loves it :)

I applaud your trying to be consistent…..I think the inherent oils and waxes in the different pencils were a factor that made comparisons difficult. I think the Derwent Colorsoft ( my faves) came in high because of the low wax/oil content, and for that reason I tend you almost always use a light sanded paper.

I love this. I've wanted to learn about the different colored pencils out there.

Great video! I was wondering if you could add prices though? I do a ton of art and love the caran d'ache brand (my #1) but I also know how expensive the Luminance pencils are (averaging 400$ for a pack of 76). They're gorgeous artist pencils and whoever loves to draw and sketch will most likely enjoy them. However, for the fans that enjoy coloring books and/or the beginner learner, I think it would helpful to see the price points so they don't get disheartened when they realize some pencils cost more than most phones lol

Thank you so much for sharing this. It was a ton of work! Great 👍 video!

I absolutely loved and appreciated the fact you took so much time and efforts for this video. I watched every second of it, didn’t skip anything. You’re just amazing! Thank you so much for all this help and keep up with this great work!

This was a great video. I appreciate your attempts to apply scientific method to assess the quality of the art supplies we spend so much money on. Your hard work is appreciated. I was surprised like you were by some of the results. I too enjoy coloring with the Tombow recycled pencils and thought they would place higher, the same for the Prismacolor Premiers. I was particularly confounded by the Blick and Koh-I-Noor Polycolors as rumor has it that they are the same pencil, apparently not. The Prismacolor results weren't really surprising when I thought more about it. I've seen videos when people use Gamsol with those pencils it doesn't work as well, or they have to use more solvent. Perhaps, the same test with different solvents or a uniform amount would be interesting. This may not be the best test if the Gamsol cause the different binders to react strangely with the pigments. I don't really use solvents with my pencils, so I don't really know. Sorry for the long reply, but I found this test really interesting and would duplicate it if I had all the pencils. These are just some thoughts I had while watching. Again, you did an awesome job!

Thank you for all your hard work so that all of us could benefit!!!!!

wow.... i thought i was a maniac with figures and colors.... you got me at square one.

As I am picking up coloring once more after 65 years, it is interesting to me that there are SO MANY types of coloring pencils (and pens) and quite by accident I spent a lot of money for the Woodless Kohinor and enjoyed them a lot. Then, because we travel a lot and I was away, I rushed into a store and bought the Prang to have in the RV. I've been using them a lot lately since I earned my CZT in The Zentangle Method and now I think I will go back and pull out the woodless and compare them. Thanks for all this hard work and I know it cannot be quite as precise as mixing ingredients for a cake, but it was very interesting. I'll tune in again!!

Can't believe I'm just now seeing this. Super job! Very thorough and helpful! Thanks so much!😊

That was a lot of work! It was very informative.

Wow. That must have been a TON of work. Thank you so much for all of your hard work. My favorite pencils are still prisma premier. :-) xoxo

Thank you for all the tedious work you did on this video! The results are so helpful for your viewers. This is the first of your videos that I have seen and looking forward to watching others. Thanks again.

So happy to find this as I am going to have a nice set of colored pencils on my wish list for Christmas this year. I'm very curious about what the woodless pencils are made with and how do you sharpen them? Thanks so very much for all the time you spent testing the pencils and putting this video together!

Thank you!!! So far I only have crayola an a 24 pack of prismacolor pencils

Not sure how helpful this test is. The gamsol breaks down the wax and fillers to get to pure pigment but it is the amounts and types of wax and fillers that determines how much pigment we can access when actually using the pencils. A pencil may be heavily loaded with pigment yet contain enough wax and fillers to interfere with the pigment that reaches the paper. Likewise a pencil may contain less pigment yet show more color payoff on paper if it contains less wax. It may feel less smooth in use than highly waxed pencils yet the color may be more intense.

EXCELLENT WORK!! Most objective review/test I’ve come across 👌🏿 I really appreciate you taking the time and being so meticulous. It helps many of us save money getting the right colors!

Wow, look at you and your organisation with this, and the sheer amount. Thank yo so much for doing this test xxx

Very cool, but not crazy about the colour range in the Blick Studio pencils :(

Thank you for this wonderful video. I really appreciate the time and dedication you have put in this video!

Thanks for going through all of this testing and sharing it with us. Well done.

Awesome test! Thanks so much for spending so much time on your very clever comparison! Can’t imagine a better test anywhere!

Impressive dedication. I enjoyed watching and was surprised at the results. Well done! 💜

Great video! I've shared it with my craft group, thank you for taking the time to film this x

What a huge project! Thank you so much for doing this mammoth experiment and posting for all to see. There were a few big surprises for sure! Awesome information!

Excellent. Just excellent! Thank you for doing such a thorough analysis.

As a math teacher and a hobby artist, I love how you quantified the results! Will you please do one of these for blending?

I feel like you did fine when it comes to the human factor, I understand that it's there and it's gonna happen and I appreciate that you pointed it out. My biggest problem with this is the fact that color erase isn't a wax base pencil. A lot of those aren't wax based pencils so they're not going to react well to the mineral spirits. Color erase is a clay base pencil and is used for different things than regular prismacolor. I still did appreciate this test though and I appreciate all the time that you put into a. :)

I would love to see the same sort of test done with watercolor pencils. Thanks for the amazing amount of work you did on this testing sequence.

Thank you for your review. I really appreciate the tremendous time you took with your comparison test.

Great video. You did a lot of work, much appreciated.

Damn, You're committed. Thank you!!!

VERY informative as I am researching where to begin my colored pencil collection. THANK YOU!!!

Thank-you so much for your comprehensive, time-consuming review! I work primarily in coloured pencil and it was so much fun (and informative) to watch this.

Thank you, that was a lot of work. I was pleased to see the Polychromos come high on the list. Have never heard of some of the brands, but will definitely consider the Blick pencils.

I'm not really surprised that crazy art was last

WOW what a huge task! Thank you very much for doing this testing-interesting results-i am glad i found your channel

I think Cray-Z-Art bumped up their game recently because I bought some for my kid and had to borrow a few for some art projects and wow what a difference! They are WAY MORE pigmented now and were standing up to Fabre Castell Goldfabers, I dont if they changed formulas but I was pleasantly surprised

This was awesome! Colored pencils, I just recently realized, are my favorite medium to play with. I love my Color Collection by Conte but I can't wait to afford to buy more brands. Thanks for all the time it took for you to do this and yes I feel like this was a pretty legit test. :)

Oh, the Cra-Z-Art ones are awful!!! I did a project, and I couldn't even get them to mark on the paper.

Very well done. New to water coloring. This was extremely helpful. Tfs, Blessings!

Nicely done. Seems like a very fair assessment of each brand of pencil. I was also surprised that the Blick pencils were the number one rated. I’ve always been partial to the Berol Prismacolor for a number of reasons... price, availability, pigmentation, blendability, and colorfastness. I may have to try out the Blick’s! Thanks

Hi Jennifer, I just want to ask if you have tried the Staedtler Luna colored pencils? Thank you!!!

But does not this depend on how many layers and how hard you deposited the colored pencil's pigment?? Wax vs Oil based colored pencils?? This is still very subjective, as you are determining what mark is strong and which is not.

Thank you for doing this! I was hoping that one of the sets would be the Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolor Pencils, but even without that, I appreciate all of the work you did to put this together! Well done!

WOW what a great test. You really went all out on this one. Awesome 👏 thank you 😊

Thanks, very informative. I have the Prismscolor Premeir pencils & I really like them. Sure wish they'd been on the Best list.

You weirdly remind me of my principal 🤨😂🤣 Interesting video tho💜

One of the things I would have liked to have been noted in your wonderful test process would be whether you are working with a wax or oil base. Thank you for taking the time to create this wonderful video.

I just found you and I'm subscribed and notifications on. I've bee looking for other artists that work mostly in colored pencils. Your testing all different ones in different ways. Thanks for your hard work.

I remember prang colored pencils, it all my school used to use XD They were so dry.

Well done .She put a LOT of work into this presentation.

Kudos to you for doing this incredible amount of work and sharing your results with us!

Well done on the three days worth of work! It is greatly appreciated… I would agree that this is one of the deciding factors and there are many others - but this is great information to have, and obviously information you can’t get unless someone like you does a test if you don’t own all of the pencils.. Awesome work :-)

Blick Studio and Koh I Noor Polycolor pencils are the exact same pencil- Koh I Noor manufactures and relabels them for Blick. So I am very confused.

I appreciate your hard work and effort. However, I am not an artist. I use colored pencils for coloring books. Most of the people I know who color don't use gamsol. More of my groups use baby oil or vaseline as fixatives and we don't use that all of the time.

Word of caution, I have quite a few Blick colored pencils, loved them. However, the last few times trying to expand my stock I ordered Blick CP I received Utricht pencils. Blick bought Utricht out. The Utricht pencils are not as good as DB. For the time being will not order Blick's pencils but Prismacolor again.

The pencil shavings in this video were gorgeous, Jen. They looked like little piles of colorful confetti. Did I just come up with an idea?! I think I might have! We can use pencil shavings as party decorations or packing material. 😁 I always appreciate your videos. You have so many ideas and share so much useful knowledge with your viewers and I sincerely appreciate the time and effort you put into each video and also enjoy your chattiness. I watch and re-watch a LOT of your videos because they're so informative, I know I don't garner every little piece of info by watching just once and I have really learned so much from you and improved both my sketching and coloring skills, which brings me great joy and a sense of accomplishment. You're a real gem, lady! Thank you so, so much for all you do! Stay blessed & blissful! ❤❤

Like you, I'm surprised by some of the results. Did it matter if they were wax or oil based? The Koh-I-Noor woodless were one of the first pencils I bought, probably 7 or 8 years ago, before I really knew how to use colored pencils. That user error made me put them away, thinking it was the pencil. I recently pulled them out and was so pleased to see how well they worked, especially on a smoother paper! So I have two of the top 3 now. Trying hard not to jump to the Blick site to order theirs. lol I have a question that you might be able to answer, one that's been bugging me... Why are really sharp pencils better at putting down pigment than duller pencils? I find myself struggling to get color down, but once I sharpen it, it's not a problem. I don't get it. One would think that a duller pencil, with more surface, would give you more color. I've been doing a bunch of coloring recently and I'm seeing my pencils disappearing due to the sharpening. I'm starting to panic! lol Thanks for your thoughts.

2019? But my favorite brand is Caran D’ache

I love this amazing vidéo. You always push further to show us everything about color, although I am new you are my prefered channel..

Wow! What an excellent effort...even allowing for any differences in your method, such as consistency in amount of pigment put down, or even inconsistencies in determining pigment values after using the Gamsol, you have given viewers an idea of where to perhaps start, or at the very least, perked their interest to do their own follow up research of various brands...yeah, well done and thumbs up.

Wow. This is right up my alley. Using science (data gathering) and applying it to art.

I'm surprised by the steadler ergosoft :O And the derwent coloursoft, I was never really a fan of mine.

I'm looking at a few (or several) videos on colored pencils, and found your channel and subscribed. This was a great way to see many different brands and it didn't cost me a penny to get some ideas! Thank you! Still, the best part of the video is your adorable dog! 💟

Wow what a really detail test drive you did, very impressed I have Derwent Watercolour,and was very interested in Prisma colours but found it very hard to great an unbiased option. So Thankyou I will stick with Derwent but the coloursoft, I have bought 6 individual Coloursoft and I love. Will have to start saving my pennies, they are rather expensive here in Australia....🤩💜