{"id":659,"date":"2025-04-16T16:10:11","date_gmt":"2025-04-16T16:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jasminasusak.com\/blog\/?p=659"},"modified":"2026-04-22T08:27:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T08:27:23","slug":"top-3-best-colored-pencils-for-artists-in-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jasminasusak.com\/blog\/top-3-best-colored-pencils-for-artists-in-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 3 Best Colored Pencils for Artists in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\nBy Jasmina Susak<\/a> \u2022 Updated on April 21, 2026 \u2022 Includes FREE drawing tutorials<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After 10 years of working with colored pencils<\/strong> on a daily basis, I can confidently say which are the best and most popular artist-grade colored pencils in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

To me, a good colored pencil is the one that doesn\u2019t leave visible pencil strokes when I press hard. This is why I use wax-based<\/strong> colored pencils. They\u2019re soft, creamy, and spread easily over the paper.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

\"artist<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

When I started drawing, I used graphite pencils only. Then everyone around me kept asking why I don\u2019t try working with colors. I was given some orange and green colored pencils by acquaintances and decided to introduce them to small areas of my graphite drawings. As you can see in the examples below<\/strong>, my graphite shading skills were already pretty decent, but the areas with colored pencils definitely weren\u2019t. Still, that was the beginning of my journey with colored pencils<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"pencil<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"pencil<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Tip:<\/strong> I always suggest beginners start with graphite pencils and practice values <\/strong>before moving on to colored pencils, because values are more important<\/strong> than colors. In my case, it just happened that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, in 2014, when I launched my YouTube channel<\/a> and opened my social media accounts, I bought my first Prismacolor Premier 150 set<\/strong> because everyone was talking about how they were the best. Since then, I\u2019ve only been buying individual colored pencils<\/strong>, because I don\u2019t use them all equally. For example, I still have the Lilac from that first set, but I\u2019ve gone through trillions of browns <\/em>and grays<\/em>. Fortunately, we can buy single colored pencils – imagine having to purchase the whole set every time we run out of blacks and whites (which I also use a lot!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, for the portrait of actress Hedy Lamarr (see the time-lapse drawing video<\/strong> below), I used only Black<\/strong>, White<\/strong>, and Cool Grays<\/strong> by Prismacolor Premier<\/strong>. If you want to practice values first, you can use these pencils instead of graphite. They blend much better and smudge less than graphite or charcoal. I narrated the entire drawing process, and the real-time video is available at Colored Pencil Tutor<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n