The Best Colored Pencils for Layering

Coloring with pencils is a relaxing and fun activity that can produce amazing pieces of art. However, to build up depth, richness, and texture in your work, you’ll need to learn this important skill: Layering. 

Building up layers on your artwork allows you to mix colors, create smoother blends, and have a lot more control over what you create. It’s less important for beginner artists but super important if you want to draw textures or create a photorealistic portrait. 

If you can learn to layer pencils, it will take your art to another level. Layering gives you more flexibility, control, and the ability to correct mistakes and add more detail. 

Using better quality pencils makes layering much easier and will give better results for both new and experienced artists. They also make learning how to layer much easier, since you won’t be fighting your pencils for good results. Paper makes a big difference too, and can allow you to build up more layers with any brand of pencils, like I’ve shown in my comparison of Crayola and Caran d’Ache pencils, and in this detailed review on paper.

While layering with higher-quality pencils is easier, you can begin learning layering techniques with any kind of pencil. You may not get the best possible results, but good technique and patience will lead to very pleasing artwork. 

I Tested Every Colored Pencil

My goal during this test was to find the best colored pencils for layering.

I wanted to find out exactly how many layers each of the 90+ brands I tested could build up before the paper refused to take any more pigment. I also rated them on user experience: scratchy or difficult-to-layer pencils received a lower score, even if they could apply lots of layers.

I decided to test 90+ brands of colored pencils to find the best pencils for layering, along with other tests on blending, durability, and more. (See the full overview here)

How I Tested the Colored Pencils

For this test, I used Springhill Bristol Vellum paper, which should allow me to add a lot of layers. I tried to keep my pressure light and consistent for each layer. So, if a pencil can’t build up 5 or 6 layers on this paper, it is going to fare even worse on smoother card stock or typical coloring book paper. 

Unfortunately, without a robot to color for me, I can’t guarantee that my coloring is 100% consistent between pencils, but I have done my best, and I think the results are still interesting. My hands, however, have become quite sore after all this testing!  

Scores for this test were based on how many layers a pencil could build on Bristol vellum paper and on overall user experience. 

The Results

So, with 9-10 days spent layering, 90+ brands tested, and very sore hands, here are the results:

Which Colored Pencils Layered the Best?

The highest performing pencils, all achieving 10 layers and an ease of layering score of 5/5, were:

BiC Intensity 

Black Widow Dragon

Brutfuner 260

Caran d’ache Luminance

Castle Arts Premium

Derwent Lightfast

Faber-Castell Classic

Faber-Castell Polychromos

Lyra Rembrandt Polycolor

Marco Renoir

Mitsu-Bishi

PheonixColor 50 Set

Sanford Karismacolor (Japan)

Sanford Prismacolor (Vintage)

Schpirerr Farben

SJ Star-Joy Gold Edition

With all that testing done (did I mention my sore hands ), I’m confident that these findings will help you make smart investments in great layering pencils that will help you learn layering techniques, and keep your art looking its best.

Layering isn’t the only thing that matters when looking for good-quality colored pencils, which is why I also tested these pencils for blending, durability, water resistance, and more. Check out all my testing here!