Prismacolor, Faber-Castell and Caran d’Ache.
These have been my favorite colored pencils out of the many I’ve tried on this channel and I keep coming back to them time and time again – but if I had to choose just one…. I don’t know if I could!
So today, I’m pulling them ALL out to color a page from Johanna Basford’s Worlds of Wonder Adult Coloring Book and see if I can choose an ultimate favourite colored pencil.
Note: This content is NOT sponsored or endorsed by any of the brands mentioned in this post or video. This post contains affiliate links and I may earn a commission if you click them (at no cost to you).
Art Supplies Used in This Video
Johanna Basford’s Worlds of Wonder Adult Coloring Book
This is the first page I’ve colored from this beautiful book by Johanna Basford. Because I just couldn’t resist color these delicious looking treats. Buy your copy of this book HERE.
The Color Catalog
I’ve chosen a bright color palette from The Color Catalog that really gives the whimsical vibe I’m going for, and I’ve used this to grab some colors from each of my favorite pencil sets.
Colored Pencils
- Prismacolor Premier – Buy at Amazon: 1 | 12 | 23 | 24 | 36 | 132 | 150
- Caran d’Ache Luminance – Buy at Amazon: 20 | 40 | 76 | 100
- Caran d’Ache Pablo – Buy at Amazon: 12 | 18 | 30 | 40 |80| 120
- Faber-Castell Polychromos – Buy at Amazon: Set of 12 | 24 | 36 | 60 | 68 | 120
Other Art Supplies
- Caran d’Ache Colorless Blender pencil
- Artistro Fine-Point Paint Pens
Colored Pencils Used in This Video:
| Brand | Pencil Colors |
|---|---|
| Caran d’Ache Luminance | 504, 001, 002, 801, 242, 820, 030, 036, 850, 350, 120, 159, 129, 180, 862, 083, 214 |
| Caran d’Ache Pablo | 031, 001, 004, 062, 030, 051, 270, 280, 081, 350, 215, 191, 180, 120, 099, 090 |
| Faber Castell Polychromos | 101, 186, 108, 109, 124, 189, 125, 123, 157, 246, 153, 156 |
| Prismacolor Premier | PC996, PC938, PC1031, PC1034, PC1002, PC928, PC994 , PC929, PC208, PC1008, PC905, PC992 |
If you’ve watched more than a few of my past videos, you won’t be surprised to see the Prismacolor Premier colored pencils among this list of my favorites today. They are my go-to pencil for so many of my projects – ESPECIALLY coloring pages. And I use them more than any other brand in my videos.
But are they my absolute favorite? That’s what we’re here to find out.
Because alongside the Prismacolors today, I’ve got the best of the best in colored pencils.
- The Caran d’Ache Luminance
- The Caran d’Ache Pablos
- And the Faber-Castell Polychromos.
These brands for me are my ultimate favorites. And while I know there are other comparable brands available, I just can’t help but come back to these.
I’ve chosen far more colors than I need for a page like this so I can switch between brands, compare them side-by-side, and get a feel for how they compare when I’m using them all at once. And by the end of this video…. I WILL CHOOSE ONE BRAND. I will choose my ultimate favorite.
What Do These Colored Pencils Have in Common?
So these are some of the most expensive pencils available – with Prismacolor usually being the cheapest of these, and we’ll talk more about why a little later. But first, let’s look at what these pencils have in common.
- First, these pencils all produce vivid, beautiful colors that lay down easily. You get a lot of pigment with little effort, so you don’t get a sore hand and the end results are beautiful.
- They have huge color ranges, and you can buy each of them in big sets, small sets, or as individual pencils to replace your most-used colors.
- They can all produce amazing results. And owning any ONE of these sets is more than enough to create amazing art.
What Are the Differences Between These Pencils?
The biggest difference comes in the way these pencils feel. And this is not a sign of which is better or worse, but this makes some of them more suitable for different types of art or makes them more appealing to different artists. It’s also what makes this comparison so hard!
The Prismacolor have a buttery, waxy, soft core that makes them wonderful for blending, but not so good for fine details. The soft core doesn’t hold a sharp point for long and is very fragile, but the buttery blending is something that many other brands have tried to replicate, and is what makes the Prismacolors a favorite pencil among so many artists.
The Faber-Castell Polychromos are oil-based and have a firm but smooth lead – which has quite the opposite feel. Instead of buttery, it feels dry. It holds a sharp point, still lays down color incredibly well, but the colors can’t be mushed and blended in the same way as a Prismacolor pencil – instead, they need to be layered. With proper technique, these pencils can produce some amazing art and are an absolute joy to work with.
The Caran d’Ache pencils – both the Luminance and Pablo pencils – are a bit of a hybrid blend between the Prismacolor and Polychromos, if there were such a thing.
I’ve been guilty of assuming the Pablo pencils were oil-based in the past… but have confirmed that both the Caran d’Ache Pablos and the Luminance are wax-based.
They are NOT as buttery smooth as the Prismacolors, but they are great at blending, and the core is much stronger. Because they are slightly dryer and firmer, they are also better at fine details – the Pablo are firmer than the Luminance, making them a little bit more like the Polychromos but as a wax pencil – other than this, both the Luminance and Pablo are similar in their quality and performance.
As I’m continuing to color, I’m definitely finding the Pablos and the Polychromos are the easiest of these pencils to use for the fine details. These both hold a sharp point the best from our 4 pencil sets.
But when it comes to blending and the bigger areas of color, I’m personally finding the Prismacolor and the Luminance are more enjoyable to use.
The Polychromos are the hardest to blend out of these 4 pencils, and it’s why many people who’ve fallen in love with Prismacolors find them difficult to use. But these pencils are some of the best artist-grade pencils in the world. Because they are oil-based, they work better with a layering technique, not with the same blending technique that many people use for Prismacolors.
I used them for my 100k subscriber artwork and was really impressed with the results and the vibrant colors.
Which, by the way, I’ll be turning into a print soon!
Colored Pencil Prices
So why are 3 of these brands are priced so much higher than the other in most shops?
While many artists, myself included, LOVE the Prismacolor pencils, when it comes to artist-level quality, they don’t quite match up to these other brands.
First, let’s compare the quality of the pencil casings. Prismacolor have a soft-core, so it’s essential that they are well protected, and yet the casing of these have been known to split and are not a consistent quality like these other brands. Many of the cores are off-centre, and this increases the risk of damage to the core when sharpening and using the pencils.
In comparison, the quality control on the Luminance, Pablo and Polychromos pencils is amazing. The pencils are all perfectly centred, an it’s unlikely you’ll find cracking or split barrels in a set.
Then, there’s the color of the barrels. The process of matching the color of the barrel to the color of the actual pencil is one that I wish more brands would take the time to do well.
And these higher-end brands have done this. You can grab a pencil and be confident of the expected color.
Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for Prismacolor – most colors are a good match, but a few are quite different to the actual pencil color. So you’ll need to rely on swatches if you want to choose exactly the right color pencil when you are coloring.
Lightfastness measures how well the pencil pigment holds its color and doesn’t fade over time. This is something that doesn’t matter to the average user. But it DOES matter if you are selling your art professionally. The colors that usually fade the most in ANY brand are pinks, purples, reds and blues… this is probably because of the ingredients used to make these pigments. Because it’s so important in professional art, brands spend a LOT of money to do proper lightfast testing. Although to be confusing – every brand seems to use a different system.
The most common lightfast standards for pencils are the ASTM standard or the Blue Wool rating.
Faber-Castell uses a 3-star system to simplify their blue-wool testing results. 102 out of the 120 Polychromos colors have the highest 3 star rating, which ranks 7-8 on the blue wool scale. From the remaining pencils, 16 have very good fade resistance of 25+ years and just 2 have a lower rating and probably aren’t the best for commissioned art.
The Caran d’Ache Pablo also use a 3-star system, but for these pencils, 3 stars means 100+ years, 2 stars means 50+ years, and 1 star means 15-50 years. So even though they seem to be rated lower, they aren’t TOO different to the Polychromos. Although again, I’d avoid the 1-star colors if you’re wanting to use lightfast colors only.
The Prismacolor pencils often get a bad name in this category. But out of the 150 pencils, 85 are actually considered lightfast under the ASTM rating.
The problem is the 26 pencils that have the LOWEST lightfast rating. And with no stars on the pencils, you’ll have to find this information online. But if you wanted to use these professionally, you could separate your set and create a selection of lightfast Prismacolors to work from, excluding the poor and even fair rated pencils.
The winner in lightfastness definitely goes to the Caran d’Ache Luminance.
All of the pencils in their range have a rating of 1 or 2 in the ASTM system, which makes them highly lightfast and reliable to stand the test of time.
It’s worth mentioning that Derwent also has a similar range of Lightfast pencils, – and while I haven’t personally tried them enough to include in my favorites, they are very comparable to the Caran d’Ache Luminance in performance and lightfastness ratings.
Are Prismacolor Pencils a Waste of Money?
With all that technical talk out of the way, it’s important not to completely discredit Prismacolor when comparing it against these other high-end brands. After all, Prismacolor is generally far more affordable – and is still my go-to pencil for so many of my coloring books.
It’s the brand I recommend to friends who want to get into adult coloring, and it just feels good to use.
Other posts about Prismacolor Pencils:
To see the full video of this artwork, check out my second YouTube channel and watch it HERE.
As I finished my coloring page today, I tried to stick to the limited color palette as much as possible, even with the huge selection of pencils from each brand, and honestly, I didn’t know what was coming next at most points during this coloring page. I just kept coloring the next thing that made sense until it all came together, so this end result is as much of a wonderful surprise for me as it is for you watching.
And although all of these pencils are amazing, I think I’ve finally decided on my ultimate favorite.
I know I will continue to use all of these brands. I love using them together, more than anything – to take the strengths from each one and make up for the weaknesses in the other.
Mixing brands will expand your color range as well, because every set has a slightly different range of colors, although more often than not I tend to just mix the colors I want if they aren’t included in the set I’m using.
But my favorite, and you’re probably not surprised… the Caran d’Ache Luminance.
Other posts about Caran d’Ache Luminance:
As an artist or even a hobbyist, the best way to decide on your favorite mediums is to use them often. I’ve tried so many different pencil brands from all different budgets and these are the ones I keep coming back to for my projects. Take the time to discover what feels right for you, try lots of different mediums and keep creating!
Hi Sarah! Thank you so much for this article. This helped me understand why I like Luminance pencils the best. Prismacolor is just TOO soft for me!
Hello Sarah! I am so grateful for your professional work. You are amazing. Which of these four brands works best to finish watercolor work? I don’t know if it’s better more or less soft or if it’s better with wax-based or oil-based. Greetings from Chile.
can these pencils be mixed?