I am a 10 year old new artist this helped a lot after i've been searching for a month and this was here the whole time. Thank you for sharing I'm adding them to my list!

Castle Arts is doing great things by offering their pencils already in a zip up case rather than just the tin. More companies should do that.

I started out with Prismacolor and moved over to Polychromos and used them together. I didn't think about what was the best brand for beginners. I just dived in and started coloring with both brands. Then I was introduced to Inktense and used them along with the other two brands minus the water activation. I was having a ball. Obviously, I'm not the norm. I don't mind. It's all an adventure to me. I'm still having fun with the other brands I have added to my collections and mix them all the time. I do have Castle Art themed sets, which I love as well as the Black Widow sets BW is coming out with 48 new colors pretty soon. Can't wait for that. Thank you for sharing your expertise on colored pencils.

Interesting how people have different experiences. I much prefer the Castle Arts to Arteza. I find they blend very well.

My first colored pencil was prisma color. Love Terri Simmers.

Hi I’m new at art and late in life but I am so interested in it I been doing this about a month now glad I found your page

I have used prismacolor for years ,eventhough i have tried , polycolor khoo i knoor, polychromos, derwent colour soft and artist editions , castle art , arteza, crayola, lyra , luminance and as You mentioned , prismacolor are the best.

My first own coloured pencils that I had as a child were such a 12 set of Faber Castel in triangular, I had always been bothered by a pencil that was cream-coloured on the outside and the colour with which the coloured pencil draw was an accidental pink, pink mixed with orange looked that, and I never knew what to use it for. I wanted so that the pencil is also cream-coloured not only the outside so that I can mix light shades with it. My parents always gave me only sets with a maximum of 12 colours as a child, because the coloured pencils of FC were not so cheap, and my parents thought if other large sets cost as much as the 12 colours, then they are no good. I had received my first big set on a birthday from a nice neighbour, they did not know exactly whether I prefer to draw or paint. that's why they gave me a large set of water-paintable coloured pencils. the set was a real treasure for me because I didn't know where to buy something like that, and it was my first big set, it had to go everywhere when we went on excursions. I was also enthusiastic about the small booklet, because there are also short tips on how the colored pencils can be used and also other products were shown of which I had no idea that they exist.

Prisma 150 are $89.00 right now on Dick Blick and Amazon.

Dark to light -- YES!

I think you're the only one that likes Arteza over Castle Arts. Everyone is trying the "improved" Castle Arts and they said they are just as smooth as the old Prismacolors from the early 2000's. I still have my OG prismas and some new ones and will be comparing them on various media alongside CA. Even reviewers on Amazon for CA are satisfied with the price and quality of the pencils I've yet to try. They should be here tomorrow. If I had a camera, I'd do a comparison. Prisma has the best color range in the market hands down but their quality had dropped over the last 20 years.

Thankyou for your words if wisdom, I agreed whole heartedly with your opinion when I started coloring (this was one of the first videos I watched) and that's why I went a got the prismacolor set flat out. I've acquired a few more sets over the years, and was looking into purchasing another "budget friendly" set. But I'd really rather just restock my most used colors and continue using the product I love and excel with. 👍👌 Thankyou for sharing your time and talent as always and yes this video stands the test of time and was a good revisit!

I recommend Amazon's 72. They are super affordable and the colors are nearly identical to Prisma so you will train your eye to see the Prisma color scheme when you get ready to move up. Amazon is a quality student grade color pencil, a bit lower grade than Prisma but perfect for a beginner. Practice for a few weeks with them, then if you know you are going to stick with it pull the trigger and get the Prismas; the largest set you can afford. I got the 150 set at Dick Blicks about 2 months after starting and I have never regretted it. They are the best for coloring books. I say this because truthfully if you like coloring and nail down the basic techniques you will want to graduate to a higher quality pencil fairly quickly so don't waste money going through cheap sets. Prisma is the set most use (and most KZfaq tutorials use them). And, in my mind, is only superseded by Faber Castells which is super expensive, and performs very differently (it's oil-based and Prisma is wax-based). Personally, I have found less expensive oil base pencils that approximate Faber Castells (not in lightfast though, but at the moment that is not that important to me), but nothing performs for me like Prisma. I do get frustrated by them because they crumble easily, (invest in a good sharpener and watch tutorials on how to use and care for them!) but once you get used to that creamy buttery texture and saturated color it's nearly impossible to go back to a lower grade pencil.

Though using color pencil is not my type of drawing..but after ur review i would really love to try these..thank for sharing👍

Black widow has a monarch set to complete it. There now 144 pencils. I'm starting off with that set and trying others in my drawings.

So funny... I also started w marco raffine. Got from Amazon like back in 2015-ish. Found a tin of 132 prisma a little later on sale and got those. My husband n I used them interchangeably. Then we stopped coloring. It’s now 2023 and I just picked coloring back up. Got into watching coloring videos recently, that I knew nothing about back then. Maybe if I had I would have seen artist style improvements in my coloring learning blending/shading/n such. I have to say I’ve tried other pencils, but those are the two I keep coming back to. Marco holds point better, but prisma it doesn’t seem to matter what the paper is I can keep layering and smooshing them together. Plus I like that even if you don’t like what’s coming together as coloring you can keep going and can turn it into something you do like! Highly recommend for beginners bc you will have an easier time and enjoy them more!! Save up and get even a smaller set like 36. It’ll be worth it in the end!

Hello, I wanted to tell you that I bought the 120 pencil case from Castle Arts after watching The Art gear guide video. He makes the comparison between Arteza and Castle Arts pencils. And, above all, he makes the same design with each of the brands. The difference in rendering determined my choice. More natural color and better contrast. That said, here's my opinion on Castle Arts pencils 1- they really do not smell good and I aerated them several days to dissipate the odor. I don't know if it's the same for the other wax-based pencils. 2- Very nice range of colors which allows you to make any subject 3- Easy mixing 4- Hardness of the pencils. For me an advantage because allows several layers and therefore plies subtlety in the tones. 5- Shade names. We find the names of pigments that we have in watercolor or oil paint. This gives indications on the mixes to make (or not). And you are less lost if you work or want to work with things other than pencils.

thanks for this great overview! i think the distribution of black widow isnt really a drawback, at least not for me, bc i discovered them "too late" so its not worth it to get all of them BUT i will definitely get the skin tones since im missing those in my small collection so far (i have 43 different polychromos, started with the 12tin and bought the colors i wanted open stock) and for the colors i like to use, im only missing skin tones and grey so its great that black widow has those in seperate tins. and lyra rembrandt has a seperate set for greys. i really like it when brands have sets that are not just 12,24,36etc in the "standard" colors but specific sets =)

I like the Castle it has lots of yellow.

I got my 150 set of Prismas on Dick Blick for 70 dollars, I think. Might have been a black friday sale...

my Arteza 120 was $110. in Canada

I prefer Brutfuner over Castle Arts and Arteza. It's basically the same pencils, manufactured in the same chinese factory, but much cheaper.

Amazon also uses other distributors and sources for their products; therefore the price differences. One thing I noticed is the Castle Arts pencils do not have a true red. Their reds lean pink! Prismacolor has a not so record for lead breakage and other quality colors! I haven't really had any lead breakage in Prismacolor, but I'm not heavy handed either. Nice video!

Good information, Thank you

Awesome👏👍

Thank you so much I wish I could've seen this before I bought the Faber Castel colors they are so hard to work with and blend but I am thankful that I only bought the 12 set

Black Widow has released a new set of Monarch pencils. They are really nice :)

Thanks for sharing🙏🏿

Best colouring pencil for adult coloring book?

They do sell Arteza open stock on their site.

Do u have a pdf file of yr color combos I’d love a copy I bet it’s beautiful

All pencils are wax and oil based. Some "oil based" are still soft leads. Some also use fats. What's important is soft core versus a hard core pencil when it comes to layering and blending techniques.

like a week ago they were not 80 dollars the prisma color

When there on sell is when there isn't a holiday

My first coloring set is Sargent art, I am looking for a set to replace it.

I like pentel alot. Also staedtler. I like their un breakable leads. You really don't need 120 pencils. 24 is really all you need. Don't buy anything over 24.