Arteza Expert
The Arteza Expert colored pencils were one of my favorite Prismacolor alternatives. They are comparable to the Arrtx pencils (above) and are available in a good variety of sizes. They blend well, have beautiful vibrant colors, and even handled the layering and durability tests. The pencils include lightfast ratings of each color on each pencil barrel.
Set Sizes available: 48, 72, 120
Available as open stock: Yes
Price Range: Mid-Range
Where to Buy: Amazon
Arteza Expert Color Range: 120 Colors
Black Widow Range
The Black Widow colored pencils come in a variety of sets that you can collect to build up the full color range of 180 colors. They are a very creamy pencil, and are a popular choice for their blending and colors. They are advertised as water-soluble, and are overall a nice pencil to use for adult coloring. I haven’t found any lightfast testing information for these.
Set Sizes available: 12, 24, 36, 48
Available as open stock: No
Price Range: Mid-Range
Where to Buy: Amazon
Black Widow Color Range: 180 Colors
Blick Studio Artist
The Blick Studio Artist colored pencils are a good mid-range pencil that feels similar Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils, but isn’t quite as good at blending or layering overall. I found them to be slightly scratchy when drawing, and their vibrancy wasn’t as good as the other pencils I tested. They are available at Blick stores, so might be harder to buy elsewhere. The pencils include lightfast information on each barrel, based on Blick’s own testing.
Set Sizes available: 12, 24, 36, 48, 72
Available as open stock: Yes
Price Range: Mid-Range
Where to Buy: Blick
Blick Studio Artist Color Range: 72 Colors
Bruynzeel Expression Series
The Bruynzeel Expression series are a firm and smooth pencil, good for fine details. They feel like an oil-based pencil, not as high quality as a Polychromos, and not as nice as the more expensive Bruynzeel Design range. I have not been able to find any lightfastness ratings but this is common for budget and mid range pencils.
Bruynzeel Expression Series Color Range: 72 Colors
Castle Arts Pasteltint
The Castle Arts Pasteltint pencils are a good alternative to the more expensive Holbein pastel pencils and have a very similar range of colors. They have a nice range of smooth, vibrant colors that are easy to work with. They made it into my top 5 best pastel pencils, however, their higher price point bumped them to the bottom end of the ranking. There is no lightfastness testing data or rating available for these pencils, which is the case for all the pastel ranges I’ve tried. Overall, these were enjoyable to use.
Set Sizes available: 48, 50
Available as open stock: No
Price Range: Mid-Range
Where to Buy: Amazon
Castle Arts Pasteltint Color Range: 48 Colors
Castle Arts Gold
The Castle Arts Gold colored pencils are a good low-mid range pencil with a soft core, that feels waxy even though it is advertised as being oil-based. They are a great mid-range option for beginners and offer amazing blending capabilities. They are also one of the best budget Prismacolor alternatives. The company says they do their own lightfast testing, but I was unable to find any lightfast information online.
Set Sizes available: 72, 120
Available as open stock: No
Price Range: Mid-Range
Where to Buy: Amazon
Castle Arts Gold Color Range: 120 Colors
Chameleon Color tones
The Chameleon Color Tones are a fun gift-able pencil range, with 25 dual-sided pencils that have a color on each side to help colorists choose the right colors for shading and blending. I love this concept, but it does feel like a bit of a novelty, and might be better suited to kids, rather than adults or serious artists. I have not been able to find these pencils for sale recently, so I’m not sure if they are still available.
Set Sizes available: 50
Available as open stock: No
Price Range: Mid-Range
Where to Buy: Amazon
Chameleon Color Tones Color Range: 50 Colors
Colleen
Colleen Color Range: 72 Colors
Set Sizes available: 24, 36, 60, 72
Available as open stock: No
Price Range: Mid-Range
Where to Buy: Amazon
Crayola Signature
Crayola Signature colored pencils are Crayola’s version of a buttery Prismacolor alternative. They are vibrant and blend well, and are significantly better than a standard Crayola pencil. However, I did find they broke a lot and were brittle, and they were more expensive than many other similar-quality pencils that had better performance and larger color ranges. They don’t seem to have any lightfastness ratings.
Crayola Signature Color Range: 50 Colors
Deli
Deli colored pencils are an oil-based pencil that feel similar to Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils, with good pigment and smooth feel. They work well on different types of paper, but I cannot find any lightfastness rating on these. They are one of the best mid-price colored pencil sets for beginners.
Set Sizes available: 24, 48, 72
Available as open stock: No
Price Range: Mid-Range
Where to Buy: Amazon
Deli Color Range: 72 Colors
Derwent Academy
Derwent Academy Colored pencils are affordable and widely available. However, unlike most other Derwent pencils, these do not have lightfastness ratings. They feel more like a Crayola pencil, but nicer. I found that these pencils can be scratchy at times. They are a good option for beginners, but I do think there are a range of better colored pencils available at a similar price point.
Derwent Academy Color Range: 24 Colors
Faber-Castell Black Edition
The Faber-Castell Black Edition colored pencils perform really well for a pencil that seems to be marketed towards kids. The pencil barrels don’t have any color names or numbers, which is a shame, because these pencils blend beautifully and the colors are vibrant. They are soft, creamy and quite similar to Prismacolor Premier. They didn’t sharpen well in the desktop crank sharpener, so a manual sharpener would be better. I was unable to find any lightfastness information for these pencils.
Set Sizes available: 12, 24, 36
Available as open stock: No
Price Range: Mid-Range
Where to Buy: Amazon
Faber-Castell Black Edition Color Range: 36 Colors
Faber-Castell Naturals
Faber-Castell Naturals Color Range: 24 Colors
Set Sizes available: 12, 24
Available as open stock: No
Price Range: Mid-Range
Where to Buy: Faber-Castell Australia
Indra Macaron
Indra Macaron Color Range: 72 Colors
Set Sizes available: 36, 72
Available as open stock: No
Price Range: Mid-Range
Where to Buy: Amazon
Marco pastels
Marco Pastels Color Range: 24 Colors
Set Sizes available: 12, 24
Available as open stock: No
Price Range: Mid-range
Where to Buy: Amazon
Marco Renoir
The Marco Renoir could be considered a good alternative to the Lyra Rembrandt Polycolor pencils as they feel very similar but are slightly more affordable. Unlike the Lyra’s, the Marco Renoir are not available as open stock but they are soft and smooth to work with.
Set Sizes available: 48, 72, 100
Available as open stock: No
Price Range: Mid-Range
Where to Buy: Amazon
Marco Renoir Color Range: 120 Colors
PhoenixColor 50 set
These pencils are definitely aimed at collectors more than artists. The packaging and the pencil barrels are the most beautiful I’ve seen, but the pencil performance isn’t anything notable. They do blend ok, and they layer even better, but they are not my top recommendation unless you want them for their pretty packaging. I haven’t seen any lightfastness ratings for these.
Set Sizes available: 50
Available as open stock: No
Price Range: Mid-Range
Where to Buy: Amazon
PhoenixColor 50 Set Color Range: 100 Colors
Prismacolor Col-Erase
Unfortunately, I was quite disappointed with these pencils as they are very scratchy, not great for blending or layering, which is why I would not recommend buying these pencils.
Although they are designed and advertised to be erasable, they did not seem to be more erasable than most of the other pencils I tested, and their erasable feature seems to come at the cost of other features like performance and color vibrancy.
Prismacolor Col-Erase Color Range: 24 Colors
Schpirerr Farben
Schpirerr Farben Color Range: 96 Colors
Set Sizes available: 72, 96
Available as open stock: No
Price Range: Mid-Range
Where to Buy: Amazon
Staedtler Supersoft
Staedtler Supersoft Color Range: 24 Colors
Set Sizes available: 12, 24
Available as open stock: No
Price Range: Mid-Range
Where to Buy: Amazon
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