When I began learning how to advance my colored pencil skills, I wasn’t sure what tools I needed. Colored pencils as a medium have really advanced over the past 20 years, and there are a lot of options out there.

Here are my essential tools for anyone who wants to get started with colored pencils. I’m including affiliate links below, so I’d get a tiny percentage if you ordered the supplies from the links I included in this article.

1. Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils

   There are people who might disagree with me, but I believe that Prismacolor Premier colored pencils are the best ones to use when starting out.

   I think it’s easier to understand layering and burnishing when using wax-based pencils. The final pieces have more of a saturated color look to them as well, which I love.

   Caran d’Ache Luminance colored pencils are great wax-based pencils as well, with better quality, but they are too expensive coming in at $306 for a set of 100. Which is why I recommend Prismacolor Premier.

   You can get a full set of 150 Prismas for around $110, which is the cheapest professional pencil around. You can also purchase them in smaller packs if you choose. Their options are as follows: 150 pencils for $102, 72 for $46, 36 for $28, and 12 for $14. I would say get the largest number of pencils that you can afford. Although you can do a degree of mixing hues by layering, it will be much easier for you to have more colors.

   One thing to be aware of with the Prismacolors is that they break easily. Try not to drop them on the hard floor if you can help it. Sometimes you might get a pencil that won’t hold a point- it will keep breaking when you sharpen it. This is my biggest complaint about these pencils, but it unfortunately happens.

   If you run into a pencil that breaks a lot, surround it with a heating pad and let it sit there for a bit. Then remove the pencil and let it cool. My thinking is that the core of the pencil might melt back together after applying heat. I believe it works, so if you are at your wit’s end give it a whirl.

   People complain about Prismas breaking frequently and they say that the quality has gone down, which is true. However, in my opinion, they are still worth purchasing. If you find that you love working with colored pencils (and I hope you will!) you can upgrade to the Caran d’Ache Luminance if you choose.

2. Pencil sharpener

I’m not into expensive pencil sharpeners. I use the Prismacolor Premier pencil sharpener. It has two hole sizes for different pencil types, and it has a container that catches the shavings. That’s enough for me.

It’s a good idea to run a graphite pencil through your pencil sharpeners from time to time because that will help to clean off the wax buildup which results from sharpening your colored pencils.

Once the sharpener gets dull, buy another one.

I have also used cheap pencil sharpeners from Walmart or any other store. I find that they work just as well as the more costly pencil sharpeners. I believe the key to easily sharpening your pencils is to have a sharp blade. You can tell if it’s time to get a new one when the sharpener starts to chew on the wood of the pencil.

3. Strathmore Colored Pencil Paper, series 400

Two weeks ago I did a whole blog on 5 colored pencil paper types. You can check that out here.

The Strathmore Colored Pencil Paper, series 400 is what I recommend for beginners. It’s a great paper. It has medium-tooth, can hold lots of layers, can handle burnishing and even solvents, and is pretty cheap coming in at $13 for a 9x12” pad with 30 sheets.

4. Tombow Mono eraser and kneaded eraser

You can of course use a standard eraser which works well on the paper I suggested, but I have two other ones that I also love.

The main eraser you may end up using on the paper type I recommended is the Tombow mono eraser ($6). I like that it is small and so it can get areas that my other favorite eraser can’t quite do justice. I misplaced mine last week, and I am upset about missing it! (Update: I found it under a table today- hoorah!)

My other favorite eraser is the kneaded eraser. I like the Faber-Castell and the Prismacolor ones. I don’t see a difference between the two brands. They are really cheap ($3 or cheaper if you buy more than one in a pack), and they last forever. Well, not forever, but you get my drift.

5. Colorless blender

Because I recommended Prismacolor Premiers, and they look so amazing when burnished, I have to recommend a colorless blender.

Colorless blenders are used to blend the colors together and fill in the tooth of the paper. They help to get rid of the grainy texture of the paper. You can always use a different color, like white, to burnish. But sometimes you don’t want to tint your hues, so it’s good to have a colorless blender.

The Prismacolor colorless blenders are great. They are fairly cheap at around $7 for a pack of 4. You don’t need 4 straight away, but that’s the only way I could find them packaged on Amazon. If you see a one-pack that will do just fine.

Conclusion

You can get started creating beautiful colored pencil pieces with a minimal list of supplies. Buy the largest amount of pencils you can afford, fill out your arsenal with some other cheap tools, and you should be good to go! Happy creating!

Love to hear your thoughts.