5 Colored Pencil Questions

Today’s colored pencil questions concern blending, color matching, and Prismacolor alternatives.

Following are today’s questions.

Remember that if you have a question, you can always email it to me. I try to answer every email I get personally. Your question could be the inspiration for a blog post!

Answers to 5 Colored Pencil Questions

I’m not sure which pencils are blend-able, and don’t want to keep buying pencils that don’t achieve this. Help!

Most colored pencils are blendable, even if all you can do is layer them.

But the better the pencil, the more likely it is to be blend-able in ways other than by layering.

Most pencils can be blended with solvents such as odorless mineral spirits or turpentine. Different brands—and sometimes different colors—may react differently, so you need to test them on scrap paper first.

Most pencils can also be blended by burnishing.  You can use either a colored pencil or a colorless blender (a colored pencil without color) to burnish, and most of the pencils I’ve used can be burnished. It’s just takes more effort with some brands than others.

Is there a solution blender available that doesn’t have fumes? I’m asthmatic and very sensitive to odors.

Fumes and odors are not always the same thing. All odors are detectable by your nose. You can smell them.

But there are fumes that are odorless. So you can have an odorless solvent, and still have fumes. That’s why it’s so important to use any solvent with caution. Be smart!

Odorless mineral spirits and similar solvents are free from odors. Some are natural solvents, and some are not.

I’m not asthmatic or sensitive to odors, so can’t advise you from personal experience. So I suggest is you speak with other artists who are sensitive to odors and see what they recommend. Lisa Clough of Lachri Fine Art is one such artist, and I know from listening to her live streams, that many in her audience also use odorless solvents.

You might also contact Lisa and John at Sharpened Artist Podcast. They’re always looking for topics for their weekly podcast about all things colored pencil. If they haven’t already talked about solvents, you may provide the topic for the next podcast!

Beyond that, consult your doctor or healthcare provider.

I am tired of the Prismacolor Premier because of their fragility and high waxy content. Just too many problems to justify the expense. How are Derwent, Faber Castell in this regard?

If you want pencils that aren’t waxy, you may want to take a look at oil-based pencils. There aren’t as many brands to choose from, but there are three that I recommend. Faber-Castell Polychromos, Lyra Rembrandt, and Koh-I-Nor Polycolor. I do use Faber-Castell Polychromos, and have a set of Koh-I-Nor Progresso, and believe other Koh-I-Nor products are also high quality.

As for the two brands you named specifically:

Faber-Castell Polychromos

Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils are oil-based. They do contain a limited amount of wax, but the primary binder is oil. Usually vegetable oil. You will have no problems (or very few) with wax bloom or wax build up with these pencils.

I’m very happy with the Polychromos, and find myself reaching for them more than the Prismacolor pencils. They don’t have quite as many earth tones as I’d like (brown is my favorite color,) but most of the blues and greens are perfect for animals and landscapes.

They can be pricey unless you buy them from Dick Blick or some other online supplier, but the price is well worth it, in my opinion.

Derwent

Derwent are wax-based, but not as waxy as Prismacolor pencils. I’ve heard very good reports about the Derwent Coloursoft and Procolour pencils, as well as the Artists line of colored pencils.

At the moment, the only Derwent’s I use are the watercolor pencils, so they may not be of any help to you.

However, they draw very well dry, so they’re good for traditional drawing methods. I’m very pleased with the set I have, which is only 12 colors. They’re well-made and feel solid in my hand. I’ve used them dry, and with water, and have been very happy with them.

They’re reasonably priced, too. I paid a little under $20 for a set of 12 at Hobby Lobby. Use the 40% off coupon, and they’re a great value.

My recommendation? If you can find any of these (or other pencils) in open stock in stores, buy a few and try them. What works for me and my methods may not work for you and your methods. So try as many as you can.

I have just started using pencils after years with oils. I like dramatic pictures so I’m using black paper. Once I’ve put in a starter coat of white for flower petals I’m getting resistance to later coats. I’m using Caran D’ache supracolour.

I can’t speak about Caran d’Ache Supracolour pencils, since I’ve never used them.

But the problem sounds more like a paper problem. If the paper is too smooth or slick, it will not take very many layers of color before you start to experience the type of resistance described in the question.

So the first thing I’d suggest is to try a different paper. I like Canson Mi-Teintes for colored pencil, but make sure to use the back. It’s the smoothest and behaves best with colored pencil unless you want a lot of texture.

Second, I’d ordinarily suggest that you use a harder pencil like Caran d’Ache Pablo or Prismacolor Verithin for the white under drawing. But Supracolour are a watercolor pencil, so they are going to be harder than other pencils.

In addition, you won’t want to layer Supracolour (or any watercolor pencil) over a traditional colored pencil, because it may not stick.

There are a couple of other things you might try.

Draw the Black Background

Since you’re using a watercolor pencil, paint the background with a combination of black and other dark colors. You’ll get a black background that’s richer than plain black paper.

Canson Mi-Teintes and Stonehenge papers both stand up well to limited amounts of water.

You might also try painting the white under drawing with white watercolor pencil. That will preserve the tooth, and that may solve your problem.

So the only other thing I can suggest is to try a very light coat of a workable fixative made for colored pencils over the under drawing, then try layering color over that. This, however, is a last resort.

I am a brand new color pencil person and have been working with Darrel Tank’s online classes. He does not offer much as regards color pencils and uses Prismacolor Col-erase. Is there a good tool for matching between brands?

Many manufacturers offer color charts for their colored pencil lines. You should be able to match colors with reasonable accuracy by comparing color charts.

Beyond that, my best suggestion is to find a store that carries open stock and physically compare the colors.

Conclusion

I hope my answers to these colored pencil questions have helped you. Or at least pointed you in the right direction.

Of course, the real answer to most questions about colored pencils (or any art medium,) is experimentation. Even if the experiments don’t work, the answers are much more likely to “stick” in your mind if you try for yourself.

At least that’s the way it works for me.

Want to learn more?

I also recently answered four reader questions in an EmptyEasel post.

Readers wanted to know whether or not they could use White Out or correction tape on colored pencil pieces, suggestions on the best illustration board, information on white specks left after spraying with fixative, and how to draw like an expert.