If you’re looking for some beginner or entry-level colored pencils for adult coloring, you’re in the right place!
Today, I’ve chosen 7 popular brands to go up against my set of Prismacolor Premier Soft-Core Colored Pencils to find the BEST affordable alternatives for beginners and for adult coloring books. All 7 brands are cheaper than Prismacolor, and a few were surprisingly good quality!
Disclaimer and affiliation: This post contains Amazon affiliate links and I may earn a commission if you click them and make a purchase (at no cost to you). I am not affiliated in any other way with the brands mentioned in this video. I have purchased all of the pencils mentioned in this video, with the exception of the Black Widow Monarch Pencils that were provided to me by Black Widow to review. All opinions are my own.
What are the Best Affordable Colored Pencils for Adult Coloring Books?
I get a lot of questions about which colored pencils are the best for beginner artists or adult coloring books. And while I know we’d all love to splurge on a set of Caran d’Ache Luminance pencils, Faber-Castell Polychromos or even the more affordable Prismacolors – they aren’t always in the budget.
Prismacolors are a favorite set for many artists and colorists. They are quite affordable compared to other artist-grade pencils, and they still produce great results. They blend beautifully together because they have a soft, buttery wax-based core. The downside to the super soft core is that they also break very easily, which is something I discussed in my previous video.
So my goal today is to see if we can find something else that blends as well as the Prismacolor Premier Soft-Core Colored Pencils that still is that affordable range… and hopefully even a bit cheaper!
I’ve chosen 7 popular brands to go up against my Prismacolors to find the BEST affordable alternatives for adult coloring books.
With the help of Colour with Claire, who has herself reviewed quite a few of these brands and more, I put together a list of some of the more popular and affordable colored pencil brands. These are some of the favorites from our coloring groups and friends, and are ALL cheaper than Prismacolor (on Amazon US). This is by no means the full list of affordable coloring pencils available. There are hundreds of affordable pencils around, but these are the most popular and most recommended brands I’ve found.
Affordable Colored Pencil Brands:
(Click each pencil brand to jump to it’s relevant section in the post below)
- Prismacolor Premier Soft-Core Colored Pencils
- Arteza Premium Wax-Based Core Pencils
- Crayola Colored Pencils
- Castle Arts Premium Colored Pencils
- Marco Raffine Fine Art Colored Pencils
- Black Widow Monarch Colored Pencils
- Fantasia Artist Premium Coloring Pencils
- Crayola Signature Blend & Shade Colored Pencils
I’ve taken each pencil through a few tests.
First, I wanted to see how they blended together, so I’ve created a gradient using analogous colors. (If you want to learn more about analogous colors, I recommend reading my color theory guide for beginners)
Then, I’ve created some boxes to test how many light layers I could build up before I was unable to add more layers of color, and how well the colors mixed when layering in this miniature version of my larger free color mixing chart I’ve used previously.
I also tested them all on a coloring page, and then on some black paper, just to familiarise myself with each set and see how they performed on different surfaces and over time.
Here’s how they went!
Prismacolor Premier Soft-Core Colored Pencils
(Watch in the video from 4:50)
As I mentioned above, the Prismacolor pencils have a soft, buttery wax-based core and so this helps them to blend easily. They do build up a bit of “wax bloom”, which is the slight waxy film that can appear on the top of the artwork when you apply multiple layers.
During my swatching, I experienced some breakage with a few of the pencils, which is what I’ve found to be common with Prismacolor, but otherwise I really like the Prismacolor pencils.
They are also quite easy to layer, and you can build up many layers of pencil, which makes it easy to mix colors, adjust your artwork, and create beautiful gradients.
Price Range:
$0.65 – $1.25 per pencil
$15 – $100 per set
(USD, based on Amazon.com)
Arteza Premium/Expert Wax-Based Core Pencils
(Watch in the video from 7:49)
Arteza offer 2 different sets of similar colored pencils, so I’ve used the premium set in this video, but have since discovered that they also offer a professional/expert set. I’ve been assured that the only difference is the shape – these are triangular rather than round, but otherwise they apparently perform the same.
These are wax based pencils, but they do not feel as waxy as the Prismacolor pencils. There’s barely any wax bloom, and yet they still blend very easily and have a soft, buttery core. So far, they don’t seem to break as often as the Prismacolors, and they hold a sharper point more easily.
When it comes to layering and mixing colors, they perform beautifully. I am really impressed at how well the Arteza pencils performed against the Prismacolor pencils, and consider these to be a very good quality pencil for the price. They are a great pencil for beginners, and a legitimate competitor for the Prismacolors.
Price Range:
$0.40 – $0.65 per pencil
$18 – $80 per set
(USD, based on Amazon.com)
Crayola Colored Pencils
(Watch in the video from 12:20)
These Crayolas are some of the cheapest pencils you can buy, without losing out on quality completely. They are not artist-grade pencils, but they can still produce beautiful results.
Compared to the Prismacolors, the colors aren’t as bright, the cores aren’t the soft wax-based cores and so they don’t blend as well, and it takes a lot more work to create gradients and beautiful artwork with these pencils. But, it’s not impossible. These are a great starter set for kids (I buy these for my kids!) but they aren’t really created for adult coloring. Crayola have released a Signature range for adult coloring, which I’ve also reviewed later in this post below.
Price Range:
$0.10 – $0.20 per pencil
$3 – $23 per set
(USD, based on Amazon.com)
Castle Arts Premium Colored Pencils
(Watch in the video from 13:57)
My first impression of these pencils wasn’t great – the packaging had a really strong smell that was VERY off-putting for me, but I’m sure this would fade over time. Once I started using them, though, the pencils were actually quite nice.
They aren’t as good as the Prismacolor or Arteza colored pencils, but they still blended well and had a soft, buttery core. The colors weren’t as bright, but they are still a nice quality pencil overall, and a good, cheaper alternative to Prismacolor.
Price Range:
$0.45 – $0.60 per pencil
$18 – $55 per set
(USD, based on Amazon.com)
Marco Raffine Fine Art Colored Pencils
(Watch in the video from 16:21)
The Marco Raffine pencils are a little different to the others I’ve tested so far, in that they are more like an oil-based pencil, not a wax-based pencil. (although it’s unclear which category they actually fall into!) The leads are harder, which is great for keeping a sharp point or working in detail, but not as great for blending and creating smooth gradients. The colors aren’t as bright, and they don’t allow you to build up as many layers as the other brands we have tried so far.
They are not really comparable to the Prismacolor pencils, but they are still a good quality pencil, and they are a MUCH more affordable price. I’d recommend these as a good budget-friendly pencil, but maybe not as the best Prismacolor alternative.
Price Range:
$0.30 – $0.35 per pencil
$16 – $23 per set
(USD, based on Amazon.com)
Black Widow Monarch Colored Pencils
(Watch in the video from 18:14)
The Black Widow pencils are a very soft, buttery wax-based pencil, similar to the Prismacolor. I can see why these are very popular. The colors are vibrant, unique, and they are easy to work with and blend together.
They do seem to have more wax in them than the Prismacolor or Arteza pencils, so I’m finding that it’s taking more layers of pencil to fill the paper tooth reduce the white gaps on my page, and they do leave some wax bloom on the artwork, much like the Prismacolors.
Black Widow pencils come in multiple color ranges, and today I was testing the Monarch set, which has a unique range of pastel colors that I haven’t seen in many other sets. Each small set has a unique range of colors for you to collect, instead of the traditional small, medium and large sets other brands offer.
They are definitely a decent alternative for the Prismacolors, although maybe not quite as good for detailed artwork. I think the Black Widow pencils would be a great addition to an existing pencil collection, instead of being the only set you own.
Price Range:
$0.50 – $0.75 per pencil
$17 – $25 per set
(USD, based on Amazon.com)
Fantasia Artist Premium Coloring Pencils
(Watch in the video from 20:51)
The Fantasia pencils didn’t perform as well as the other pencils I’ve tried today. The colors weren’t as bright, they were harder to blend, and they didn’t allow me to build up more than a few layers. They feel like either a hard wax-based core, or more likely an oil-based core. They did hold a sharp point well, but overall, I found them underwhelming.
Strangely, the colors were more vibrant on my scrap piece of printer paper than on my artist colored pencil paper.
These pencils were ok, and possibly still better than many of the other similar priced brands available. But I feel like I’ve tried enough other options today that I’d either opt to save the money and stick with my Crayola set, or spend the extra and choose one of the better brands I tried today.
Price Range:
$0.75 – $1 per pencil
$23 – $40 per set
(USD, based on Amazon.com)
Crayola Signature Blend & Shade Colored Pencils
(Watch in the video from 23:00)
I mentioned above that Crayola have now created a range for adults – and this is it! The Crayola Signature range is Crayola’s answer to Prismacolor – and they are priced accordingly.
They are significantly better than the kids’ set of Crayolas, and perform very similar to the Prismacolor pencils, in both the good and the bad. They are wax-based, with a soft, buttery core, beautiful colors, and lots of pigment. They are really easy to use, and they layer well. It’s a shame they only have 50 colors in their range at the moment.
But they also break… a LOT. In fact, I think the breakage is worse than the Prismacolor pencils. After using them for a little while, it became obvious that the wooden casing was cheap, and it just shredded itself and splintered into chunks in my sharpener, which is a massive disappointment. If it weren’t for the breakage, these would have been ranked much higher in my recommendations… but at their price, I’d suggest spending the little extra for the actual Prismacolors.
Price Range:
$0.70 – $0.85 per pencil
$20 – $40 per set
(USD, based on Amazon.com)
Which colored pencils work best on black paper?
I also decided to test out each of the pencils on a black page to see if any performed as well as (or better than) the Prismacolors on a darker background.
As you can see, the Prismacolor really does stand out and performs better on black than any of the other pencils, however, the rest actually worked quite well… Even the cheap Crayolas!
The black page test did highlight the difference between how crumbly some of these cores were. All this means is that you need to keep a brush on hand to wipe off any crumbs from your page as you’re drawing, so you don’t accidentally smudge them or wipe them with your hand and ruin your artwork. I just use an old makeup brush for this.
Which pencils are as good as Prismacolor?
My top choice is the Arteza Premium Wax-Based Core Pencils
I think the Artezas are a definite competitor for the Prismacolors. I was so impressed and surprised at how well these pencils performed, and I’m keen to find an excuse to buy myself the bigger set (although, given that I now own about 20 different brands for this test and some upcoming videos, it might take some serious husband convincing!)
The Arteza pencils were fantastic quality. They blended easily, were fun to use, and kept a sharper point than the Prismacolors, without losing the soft, buttery feel.
They are more affordable than Prismacolors, and seem to break less often so far.
Some people actually don’t like how soft the Prismacolor are, so if you’re someone who’s looking for a slightly harder lead or that would like to keep a sharper point, you might actually find that you prefer Arteza over Prismacolor.
It’s something I plan to investigate in more detail – Arteza Vs. Prismacolor!
I’m incredibly curious to see how these 2 brands compare over time… after all, I’ve been using Prismacolor for a few years and Arteza for a few minutes. So I’ll plan a closer comparison of both in an upcoming video.
In second place, the Crayola Signature Blend & Shade Colored Pencils were also a close competitor for the Prismacolor pencils, except that the amount of breakage let them down. At a lower price point, I would have said this was a reasonable trade-off, but at almost the same price as Prismacolor, I’d prefer the real deal.
And the Black Widow and Castle Arts pencils both get an honourable mention here too. Both brands have created beautiful wax-based pencils that blend great and are great for beginners. They are not quite Prismacolor quality, but they are more affordable too, so they are a good starting point!
Which colored pencils are the most affordable?
Now let’s take a look at which pencils are the most affordable and which are the best value for money.
For the sake of a consistent reference point, these prices are all based on Amazon.com and are in USD, so different websites or locations will vary, and some brands may end up more expensive or more affordable than others.
Low budget recommendations:
The cheapest out of all of these is definitely the Crayola (not the Crayola Signature).
Now, they didn’t rank well on the quality, but that’s because they’re not aimed at adults, they aimed at kids, and you can get a set of 100 for under $15. So consider them a good starting point, with the aim to upgrade as you grow your skills. (P.S. I have a video on how to get the most out of cheap pencils)
The Marco Raffine pencils are also quite affordable. You can get a set of 48 for under $20 (approx. 35c each). So while the Marco Raffine pencils are not my personal favorite, they are great value for the price, and are better than many of the other brands around this price.
Mid-range budget recommendations:
If you can stretch your budget a little bit further, the Arteza, Black Widow and Castle Arts at all cost 40 to 70 cents per pencil.
That means that their sets, depending on whether you get a small set or a big set or range between $20 – $80 for a set.
I think that’s a really, really good range for a starter set. And from those, I would personally choose the Artezas.
Higher budget recommendations:
Now the Crayola signature and the Fantasia pencils actually end up costing pretty much the same as the Prismacolors on Amazon.com, which is about 70c – $1 per pencil.
When it comes to that value vs quality, I’d either just spend that budget on a set of Prismacolor Premier pencils, or save a few dollars and get one of those other sets like the Artezas, the Black Widows or the Castle Arts that are that slightly lower budget, but still good quality.
Prismacolor pencils are a favorite set for many artists and colorists for good reason. They are quite affordable compared to other artist-grade pencils, and they still produce great results. They blend beautifully together because they have a soft, buttery wax-based core, which is hard to find it other affordable pencils.
But as we’ve seen today, there are several other legitimate competitors worth considering if you’re trying to stick to a low budget, or if you’re not completely happy with your Prismacolor pencils.
Today I’ve chosen the brands of pencils that are cheaper than Prismacolors, but I’ve got other pencils ready to try as I continue my hunt for the best value, best quality and best all-round colored pencils for adult coloring in the coming months.
I’ve already put the Prismacolors to test against the amazing Caran d’Ache Luminance (apparently the best pencils in the world!) and I’ve got some Holbeins, Derwent Lightfast, Faber Castell Goldfaber, Polychromos, and other popular brands still to try.
If there’s a particular brand you’d like to know more about from today’s post, or in a future post, please leave a comment below or on my YouTube video! I’d love to hear from you and take your suggestions on brands I should try.
Other Coloring Tutorials For You:
- How to Make Any Color from 12 Colored Pencils (+ FREE Color Mixing Chart)
- How to Use a Color Palette
- 5 Easy Tips to Instantly Improve your Adult Coloring Pages
- The Best (and Worst) White Pens for Drawing: The Ultimate White Pen Test!
- 10 Tools to Get Started with Colored Pencils | Guest Post by Carrie L. Lewis
I want to know where I can get that colour page you paint in this video(the prismscolour alternative)
It’s from my Coloring Through Cancer coloring book, which you can get as a printable here: https://sarahrenaeclark.com/shop/coloring-through-cancer-printable-adult-coloring-book/
Helpful,❤
Hi,
I just wanted to say that in Germany the prismacolor 150 cost around 190 EUR which it is quite expensive. We cannot buy it out of stock making then not the best choice for me.
Which colored pencils would you recommend?
Derwent coloursoft?
I was wondering if you have ever tried Marco Renoir. I think they are a step up from Marco Raffine and they feel similar to Prismacolor. Just wondering what your thoughts were on them. Thank you.
I’ve bought them to try, but haven’t had a chance yet!
You should make a blank template for testing different colored pencils .Just like the one you used .Example would be 1 page layout with several larger rectangle for blending , then next to it a 3 by 4 square chart to try multiple mixing combinations..
Will you do one on water color pencils?
I would be interested as well. I have several brands but really like the Derwent Inktencils.
I have begun working with pyrography. (wood burning art). My wife got me a set of Crayola pencils. They work pretty well on the wood.
Then an Artist friend gave me a few prismacolor pencils to try. WOW what a diff. Have you tested any of the others on wood?
Uh.. the only ones I have are Prismacolor set of 12 and Crayola colours of the world. Needless to say, Prismacolor performs a lot better than ALOT of Crayolas. Crayolas are somewhat in my opinion not very pigmented and well. I don’t know what else to say except the blending levels for Prismacolor v Crayola are somewhat very different (in my opinion.
Is Kings art a good set or is it of low quality ?
I have recently purchased the Prisma soft cores upon recommendation to try and compare against my ancient regular Prisma color set. You didn’t mention those and I was wondering how you felt about them since they are still available. I am a mixed media collagist and just getting to know my colored pencils as a stand alone medium. Your videos are so helpful and I like your delivery style. You and I are friends!