Colored pencils are often remarked as childhood items, but it is apparent that grown-ups want to use them too, with the adult coloring book craze. However, these methods can do far more than merely paint. Artists regularly use colored pencils in their sketches to give their art more life.
Determining the best colored pencils for artists can be challenging as there are so many choices. Ultimately, it comes down to personal preference and taste.
This article has taught you everything you need to know to choose the best-colored pencils for your beautiful sketch.
What Are They?
Colored pencils are made with a type of pigment, clay, a filler, and are tied together with gum or oil. They are then immersed in wax, which, as you drag a colored pencil tip over a piece of paper, gives them the sleek feel of your experience.
Many draftsmen are the preference because they offer a pencil’s accuracy marks but are available in a range of colors. Colored pencils are smooth enough so that you can shade with them, but they can also be sharpened while drawing lines to give you a high degree of control.
Things to Consider
Gauge
The bulk of colored pencils have a 3/8-inch diameter core. For a high degree of detail in the painting, this is perfect.
You would generally want to use thin shade pencils so that you don’t add too many thick colored pencil layers. It will leave the surface greasy and coated so that you can’t work on it anymore.
One or More
Colored pencils can be purchased individually or in a package, as in most other art media. Buying individual pencils ensures that you get precisely what you want. Still, a box will provide you with a variety of complementary colors to aim for.
Types
There are several styles and brands of colored pencils out there. Wax-based and oil-based are two broad categories. Pencils based on wax are typically more economical.
They are considered more difficult to remove, layer, and mix than oil-based pencils in drawing characteristics. However, both can be used together.
Shape
Color pencils can be found, like most other pencils, in circular wooden shafts or hexagonal ones. Before you order it, pick up your pencil to see what looks most natural in your palm.
Soft or Hard, Expert or Student?
If you want a longer, opaque stroke and smooth colors, use a soft pencil; tougher ones are ideal for detailing but not covering vast areas.
Manufacturers also create two grades of pencils, one for students and one for practitioners. There is a significant price difference—student-grade pencils are often less expensive—but in general, you get a lower pigment to binder ratio for the student-grade models. You have to use all of it to get the same color strength.
Final Note
Colored pencils can render expressive and abstract, or informative and photorealistic forms of painting. Though they are sluggish to use relative to wet media like paint, they are almost unmatched when it comes to controlling and precision.
