Cheap $4 vs expensive $400 coloured pencils. What's the difference?

For many of us, our first introduction to colouring was using coloured pencils. For most pre-schoolers, this would be a familiar sight - the Staedtler Luna 12-coloured pencil set with the iconic sailboat picture and candy cane striped pencils.

Nostalgic, isn't it? I had a set of the half sized pencils as a kid and I'm pretty sure my kids had some version of this too. These are the watercolour pencil version but you can buy the regular 12-pencil set for just S$4 or so. Extremely affordable.

And then, on the other end of the spectrum, you have your Swiss-made Caran d'Ache artist-grade Luminance coloured pencils where a 12-pencil set can set you back S$60. If you want the largest set of 76 colours, be prepared to be poorer by S$400 or so. It's the Ferrari of the coloured pencil world.

So what's the difference, besides the fancy packaging? I'm writing this post to try and explain the different grades of coloured pencils in case you're wondering what to get.

Grades

To keep it very simple, there are two very broad grades of coloured pencils: student and artist. It used to be these were two extremes: student grade pencils were very cheap and crappy, and the artist grades solid. But today, the lines have blurred, and the ranges within each of these two grades have also expanded tremendously, meaning that the higher end student grade coloured pencils can be close in quality to the lower end of artist grade coloured pencils. Not that everything is on a linear scale, of course. Much of it depends on the user's preferences and also the branding tactics of the coloured pencil company.

But what's true is that most of the major and established coloured pencil companies in the world produce a wide range of coloured pencils, both student and professional grade, to cater to different target markets and budgets. Which is why you may be confused when you see different types and different prices of coloured pencils put out by the same company.

Take Faber-Castell for example, possibly the most familiar coloured pencil brand in Singapore. I'm sure you recognise the iconic red pack with the parrot pics. You see these coloured pencils on sale at Popular all the time. These are Faber-Castell's student-grade coloured pencils and they're rather affordable (maybe around S$10 for a set of 24).

But that's just one of the coloured pencil series produced by Faber-Castell. At last count, I found at least 10 different ranges. Faber-Castell has a history of making coloured pencils since 1761 and artists consider their artist grade pencils to be among the world's best. Currently, their most sought after range is the Polychromos, which is an oil-based coloured pencil (most coloured pencils are wax-based). A 24-pencil set costs about S$75.

But ok, you want to know what's the difference apart from the price.

Texture

Some people think that cheap coloured pencils are hard and expensive ones are soft. It's understandable to think that because we all have that memory of a pre-schooler scribbling furiously on his colouring sheet with his coloured pencil, covering it with harsh lines. In fact, I think the reason why many people don't enjoy using coloured pencils is that they remember how unfulfilling it was as a kid. It takes so much effort to cover a large space with colour and then the results are usually, well, ugly. 

I remember being terribly frustrated as a kid when I couldn't replicate the smooth, seamless colour I saw in my picture book drawings. Instead, you could see all the hard pencil lines in mine and I didn't know how to fix it. Of course, part of the reason was that I was a kid and kids haven't learnt how to control their strength and strokes when wielding the coloured pencil. 

But another reason is that cheap coloured pencils are made with cheap fillers that make them less blendable. You're less likely to be able to create an even patch of colour without being able to see the pencil lines. Blending different colours together or having a seamless transition to another shade is also difficult.

It's not about having a hard lead. Yes, many professional grade coloured pencils are soft and creamy. They glide over the paper like butter, making them a dream to use, and they blend almost effortlessly. However, some professional grade coloured pencils are hard too, like the Faber Castell. Polychromos. Yet they're very blendable and give you a nice soft gradient of colour. Some artists like their pencils hard because they're able to draw very fine details with them, unlike the softer pencils. Look at that incredible detail achieved by Lisa Clough (one of my coloured pencil gurus) in this picture! She used the Polychromos here.

 

Pigment

Another big difference between student and professional grade coloured pencils is the pigment. Cheap coloured pencils are mostly made of fillers whereas the high end ones have high pigment content. Hence, if you swipe a high end pencil on the paper, you'll get rich colours whereas the cheap ones will likely give you an insipid streak.

Back to when I was a kid, I tried to replicate the colours I saw in my picture books. I tried colouring lightly to avoid the pencil lines but the colours were so dilute and flat. So I tried colouring with a lot of pressure (also called burnishing) but it ended up being uneven (and I could still see those darn pencil lines!)

You don't get these problems with professional grade coloured pencils. But again, the level of pigmentation can vary and it's more to suit preferences than because of quality. Prismacolors from the US are very popular because of their bright, vibrant hues but some artists, especially nature and wildlife artists, don't like them because they prefer natural shades. Also, there are quality issues with people complaining about constant breakage.

Going back to the Polychromos, oil-based coloured pencils tend to be more translucent in quality but many artists like this because it means they can pile on many layers without saturating the paper too quickly.

Lightfastness

If a coloured pencil is lightfast, it means the colour won't fade over time. Student-grade coloured pencils are generally not lightfast. While not all artist-grade ones are lightfast, they have at least have been tested for lightfastness and the level of lightfastness will usually be stated for each pencil. This quality probably won't matter if you're just colouring for fun, but I thought I would mention it anyway. It's more critical if you intend to frame up and display your work.

Recommendations

At the end of the day, which set you get depends on what you'll need the coloured pencils for. Putting artist-grade coloured pencils in the hand of a pre-schooler is simply flushing money down the drain. Plus giving a rough-handed toddler soft coloured pencils means they will break in no time. For kids, a reasonable student-grade set would do nicely. In fact, I think having a wide range of colours is probably more important! Kids love colour and having a rainbow of colours at their disposal is very appealing.

If you're an adult looking to colour for fun, a mid-range set would make colouring a joy without it being too costly, in case the interest doesn't last. And finally, if you're an artist, invest in the best. Coloured pencils are relatively inexpensive compared to other art mediums like oils, so I would say, go for it. Actually if you're an artist, you wouldn't be reading this post, haha.

So here are my reccommendations on what to get (purely my opinion!)

For beginners/students: Faber-Castell (red box) or Crayola (I find them softer and easier to use than other student-grade coloured pencils. They have a ton of colours and are cheap too!)

For colouring as a hobby: Faber-Castell Goldfaber (review by Art Gear Guide) or Derwent Academy sets (review by bestcolouredpencils.com.) I think you can get both of these from the larger Popular bookstores.

For artists: Derwent Lightfast (they're oil-based pencils like the Polychromos but I find them creamier and easier to use) or Caran d'Ache Luminance if you have extra cash (they're so, so lovely to use though!) Get them from Art Friend, Overjoyed or from Cult Pens in the UK. You can read my comparison review of the Polychromos, Lightfast and Luminance.

I also wrote a comprehensive overview of all Derwent coloured pencils, if you're interested in this brand.

Cult Pens in the UK delivers to Singapore free of charge for purchases above £70. If you use my referral link, you get 10% off your first purchase.