Faber-Castell POLYCHROMOS vs Prismacolor PREMIER vs Caran D'ache LUMINANCE | Colored Pencil Review
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- čas přidán 19. 06. 2024
- Which colored pencil is best? This colored pencil review features Faber-Castell Polychromos, Prismacolor Premier, and Caran D'ache Luminance. In this colored pencil comparison I also discuss lightfastness, wax bloom, the blending ability of Prismacolor vs Polychromos, white opacity of Luminance vs Polychromos, proper pencil sharpening that avoids colored pencil core breakages, and many other features of these top colored pencil brands.
As mentioned in the video, here are more product reviews that might interest you:
WATERCOLOR COMPARISON - • Watercolor Comparison ...
Product Comparison: Derwent Inktense, Caran D'Ache Neocolor II, Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer - • Product Comparison: De...
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Thank you! That was the best video I've seen comparing the 3 top brands of colored pencils. I have a very old set of Prismacolor pencils from the mid 1970s. They were a part of the supplies I needed for retouching color photographs when I was going to photography school. Those pencils are so much better than the set of newer Prismacolor pencils I purchased several years ago. I became frustrated with the constant breaking of the leads that I gave up on them. When I decided to go back to using colored pencils for drawing and coloring I bought myself a set of Farber Castell polychromos. I also have a set of Derwent's that I am happy with. I recently bought myself a set of Inktense pencils by Derwent. I love them and plan on using them more. You did a great job on this video. Thanks!
Oh, how nice! Thanks Randallcosta. I'm encouraged by your comments. I love the Derwent Inktense too. I'm glad I bought a large set years ago when the price wasn't yet as high as it is now. It's ridiculous how art supplies are getting more and more expensive nowadays. That said, it really is necessary to do our homework and research first before actually buying. Happy new year to you. I hope you keep watching this channel. I'm glad you're here.
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Thanks. Learned a lot!
I learned a some time ago from a few elderly expert professionals who have used, loved & favor Faber-Castell Polychromos there entire life. They teach that you cannot use Oil based color pencils in the same technique as wax based pencils with intense pressure right away. Oil based pencils are designed to be layered slowly with a light hand. You can layer many many times with an oil based pencil to get your blends successfully without muscling the pigment into the paper with a heavy hand. NEVER start a oil based pencil work with a heavy hand putting the pigment on thick to begin with to blend. The very last layer can then be pressed slightly harder. You cannot rush the oil based color pencils. PS, I have lightfast tested in full sunlight for over 7 months, watercolor pigments (that are the most vulnerable) and when a pigment is rated with excellent lightfastness, it IS LIGHTFAST. Others I know, had theirs out in full sunlight for a full year and found NO fading in any pigments rated as excellent except a couple out of 100. Meaning that under normal museum lighting (all day every day very bright) the work will last 50 to 100 years. Blessings and thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the info Renee. I did hear about that too, much later in my professional career, that oil-based coloured pencils need a gentler approach. You need a tad more patience in layering. You can't rush the colouring as you do with waxed-based pencils. In the beginning, I didn't know this, and so made many mistakes in my art.
The benefit of Caran D'Ache having the color name wrapped around the pencil shaft at the end is that it will be the last bit of important information to be sharpened away. That is a professional component. Make no mistake. These pencils have been well thought out are second to none.
Well that explains it!
I just got a set of 76 Caran D'Ache after using Prismacolor and Derwent for decades. One thing you didn't mention was the blender stick that comes with the set. This blender does something unusual. It doesn't just "blend" pigment together, it brightens them as well. You could lay down a brownish red, then over it with the blender and it brightens the red aspects of the pigment.
Also, paper is key. Flat, smooth paper like Bristol board or copy paper, doesn't allow the pigment to come off the pencil very well, leaving your colored areas splotchy. If you use Vellum or some illustration board that has some tooth, like cold press, the pigments lay down easier, quicker and blend smoother because the pigments are more free and loose.
Just a couple of cents. Good and through video. Also an expensive video O_O!
Thanks for the tips falcon048. So glad you visited my channel. Happy to read your comments too. You're right. I also find cold-pressed paper works best for colored pencils. The texture allows multiple layering since pigments have teeth to attach to. The more you burnish and flatten the paper surface, the harder for layers to build up. So yeah, smooth paper won't work so well.
Haha... you're so right! This was a very expensive video to produce. It took me more than a year to invest in the sets before I can make this review. And I had to explore the media fully as well to make sure I understand how they perform. Too bad I forgot about the blender pencils. There were so many details to go through. That one fell through the gap. Sorry about that! :D
The luminance work fabulous on Strathmore toned grey paper. I don't need to burnish at all, I layer very light and blend with the blender to get it smooth.
That was a GREAT review of the "Top 3" and I thank you!!
Glad it was helpful! Thank you, Steve, for dropping in and leaving me a comment.
it wasn't, bad information about the polychromos.
Just got my full set of Polycromos today, very pleased with them! I have an old full set of Prismacolor (before the manufacturing in Mexico took over), I like them but think the Polycromos are even better.
Nice comparison, but you forgot something important: In some parts of the world the prices may differ. In Europe Polychromos are cheaper as Prismacolors, even Luminance are way more cheaper than in other countries, (near prismacolor) , and when I take that in consideration, for people in Europe PolyChromos and even Luminace are a way better choice than a very expensive and bad quality prismas
This is an excellent comparison of these three brands. I like your idea of Caran d’Ache as the main set, supplemented by pencils from the others. Very clear presentation.
I just discovered you as I was looking for colored pencils reviews for adult coloring. I really enjoyed your video, and I learned a lot. I am not an artist, just a regular person who loves to color, and other papercrafts. I own many different brands, so now I am collecting pencils!! Thank you for sharing your knowledge, and your time in making this video.
Oh wow! I'm so thrilled you found my tiny space, Stephanie! I'm glad to meet you. Thank you for spending time watching my video. I hope you stay, watch the other stuff here too, and maybe find something to inspire you in your crafts. I do have junk journals, collages, and other mixed media craft tutorials here, plus doodles for beginners. Take care, Stephanie!
Thank you for such a thorough comparison. I have a large collection of colored pencil sets. The polychromos are my favorites.
Excellent video. Very informative and laid out. You covered everything very well. Thank you
About lightfastness, its probably a good idea to add exposure and conserving recomendations on each painting you sell, and add proper varnishes on each piece as to increase durability. But you need to alert your clients about not exposing it to direct sunlight to maintain a good reputation
I agree. As commissioned artists, those things should be included in our best practices. We are not just selling art. We are marketing our brand and reputation.
this has been the best most informative video on these 3 brands ive ever seen thank you
Aaaw... what a nice thing to say! Thank you Danny. I appreciate the encouragement.
Wow! You clearly made the right research afterwards. This video is probably the most complete that I have seen. Thank you!
Thank you Emma. This was one of the hardest videos I made because of all the testing and research involved. But I'm happy it came as a benefit to many.
I really appreciate your through review! I have been thinking about getting a good colored pencil set and this and your comment section has helped a lot. So glad CZcams suggested this video, I subscribed and look forward to watching more of your videos. 😀👏🏻
Oh sweet! Thank you 018Cat, and welcome to the channel. I'm happy you joined this Art That Plays and Prays family. I hope you find other videos helpful too. Take care :)
I have 72 polychromos and 12 Luminance and i'm so happy with them. At first i was unsure if i go to luminance or prismas, but then i decided for the luminance, because they have much higher quality and i don't want pencils they are break every 5 minutes and obivasily fade after few years. I have the derwent drawing too and they are EXTREMLY soft & creamy but they can hold their point very well if you consider how soft they are and they are extremely lightfast too!
I used Prisma for 5 years and NEVER once had an issue with quick breakage. Maybe you had a defective set
@@Uniacoty Did you just have them? If you read reviews all over the Internet the quality in recent years has skydived. I bought a set and so many had crack lines down the body of the pencil and broke every time I sharpened.
@@pingteo6104 Nope, haven't bought any recently but some singles to replace the ones I uses up in my first set. My first set is purchased 5 years ago.
i think that this is supposed to have ALOT more views!!! great video by the way :)
Aaaw sweet! Thank you SmoresPiggy! My channel doesn't receive as much exposure in CZcams as other bigger channels do. That said, I'm glad you, nonetheless, found my tiny space here. Glad to have you on board. Take care :)
Thank you so much for the detailed review.
Thanks Mar U. I appreciate your support of this channel. Glad you watched :)
Thanks for a great video. I have watched it twice now. You explain things really clearly and I like the sound of your voice.
Aaaw, you're so sweet Sally. Thank you. You made me smile. I hope you come and visit this channel again. Take care.
Very helpful comparison. Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks Lisa
Thank you so much for your review on these pencil colors 💕
You're most welcome, Eliza. Glad you watched.
Thank you. Excellent comparison.
Thanks too Alpineeva for coming into my channel. I appreciate your support :) So glad you watched!
Thank you so much now I can decide what colour pencil I want to commit. Hope you teach more about this field.
Hi Mark Angelo, I'm so glad you watched and that you found the video helpful. I have several colored pencil reviews in this channel. If you want to see the results of the lightfastness test I did for Caran d'Ache Luminance, Derwent Lightfast, and Prismacolor, the video is here ... czcams.com/video/u0cLfRLZy24/video.html ... If you want to explore Koh-i-Noor colored pencils as a cheaper alternative to Polychromos, you can check this video ( czcams.com/video/OoA65cvxENk/video.html ). This link (czcams.com/video/1ncmKGCIk-8/video.html) talks about Derwent Inktense. And this one (czcams.com/video/BDFsNOZjDv8/video.html) is about Arteza colored pencils, although I don't recommend Arteza. I hope these videos can help you further in your decision.
Thank you so much❣️🥰. This has been so helpful. I see how important good quality is and what a difference it can make. I remember having cheap four pencils and all the frustration. Quality and peace is so much better than quantity.🙏🏼🙏
Great review. I love the prismas I hand pick the open stock and for the price are a good buy. They are a pleasure to use and blend very well and very pigmented. I did have 2 out of my selections break constantly during sharpening but for the cheap cost I just replaced them. Maybe Ive been lucky but I love them.
I honestly thought I clicked on a Jazza video and am ashamed to say it took me a good two minutes to start questioning if it was a funny little voice editing software skit
I don’t regret coming here tho, I swear 😂😂
Hahaha... that's so funny cute! I'm so glad you stumbled into this space, though. You're welcome to stay :D
Really informative thank you as I’m considering what pencils to buy currently
Thanks for watching, Galaxy. I'm glad the video helped. Feel free to browse the channel. I hope you'll find more videos that interest you.
This is the best review of all reviews, like all reviews I've ever seen :D
aaaw, thanks Thevil
Great video. I was leaning towards Caran due to quality and Prisms due to color quanity. But I'm chosing Faber with a few open stock colors of Prisma. Caran I don't care for how the grain from them looks like. Thanks for the great information here.
Wow - that was an amazing review. Thank you.
Thanks for watching, Christine. I'm happy you found this channel. Thanks for your kind comment!
This is the most amazing and detailed review of all 3 brands! You did a superb job in explaining the differences! I have been watching comparison videos for like 2 days straight (just started to gather the polychromous set and was thinking of whether or not I should at least order a small set of Caran d'ache).
Thank you for sharing this!!!
Excellent unbiased comparison. I agree with your assessment. I also have all three and love Cara D’ache and wish, in Canada We had better access to replacement pencils.
Thanks for watching Sue. I agree with you. I wish too that our art supplies are priced more competitively. Supplies here are so difficult to source. And when you do find them, they're often doubly expensive than in the States. Pre-pandemic, I even dreamed of traveling to Japan or Korea just to buy all sorts of watercolors, pastels, markers, and pens there.
Thank you, this was a very thorough and informative review! 👏💐
Glad it was helpful! Thanks Mari Iris :)
I bought a small set of the luminance but wasn't impressed I thought the prismor colour was better just a shame about the quality, it's about time they sorted this out. faber castell great too. I think the carran d ache product's are over priced to be honest. Loved your video
Many people bring up the fact that prismacolor pencils’ quality deteriorated since they moved their manufacturing to Mexico. Just my opinion but the quality has nothing to do with Mexico. If Prismacolor wanted to improve the quality of their pencils they would do so, no matter where they were made. The company that manufactures Prismacolor is located in the USA.
Different management and experience.
I agree with you
Great video! Thanks so much. I am only part way through the video at the point where you are comparing the three versions of Cobalt Blue. It is immediately apparent to me that the Caran D’Ache cobalt is the only one of the three that looks like true cobalt. Both of the other two look closer to ultramarine. Weird and revealing. As a long time professional artist I own sets of all three but my go to pencil has been Caran D’Ache for a long time. But I admit I use all three brands interchangeably. Whatever works I use and sometimes I grab the pencil closest to me for any color I need at the moment. Some artists would take me to task for it but I’m not the neatest or most exacting person in the world so that’s just the way it is but Caran D’Ache has always been my favorite pencil when it comes right down to it. Thanks again for this review. I just subscribed to your channel. I’m watching the rest if this review now.
It's so nice of you to visit and subscribe to my channel, Rev. Bockstop. It's an honor! I'm glad you found the video helpful. There are tons more in this channel that I hope can inspire you too.
Fantastic thorough review.
Thanks for watching, Gardenia. This was one of the most difficult videos for me to build, so I'm happy you found it helpful.
Your explanation of lightfastness, and the process of photodegradation was so helpful, thank you very much
Thanks too for watching, Leanne. I'm glad the video was helpful.
Price aside, I would still choose Faber Castell Polychromos. second choice would beCaran D'ache Luminance. As for the Prismacolor, I wouldn't even bother to try it...Your review is simply perfect!! Keep it up!
Thanks for watching, Greek Veteran. I'm currently running a lightfastness experiment with Caran D'Ache, Prismacolor and Derwent Lightfast. I've had my swatches under the sun for 34 days now and so far Caran D'Ache is holding up so well. I now have so much respect for that brand. It's pricey but at least I now know they're not lying about their lightfastness claims.
@@GingerUmali That's Great!! Thanks for sharing your results!
This is very comprehensive. Thank you for the video. Once I use up my practice pencils (Fabre Castel Golfaber) im gonna get me some polychromos and a small pack of luminance.
Thanks for watching and leaving me a comment! I appreciate it :)
I had 2 of the brands prisma and polychromos. My faber castle is in fine shape but the prisma when I open it 13 out of the 150 pencils has cracks and one has broken lead tip already. I never use them yet. Got my set at National Bookstore here in the Philippines.Great review by the way I wish a saw your vid before i got my PRISMA. How i wished i got the derwent lightfast 72 set instead 😑 nervous that may pencil will do the same thing 😣
That’s amazing review and thanks for sharing.☺️❤️
God bless you.☺️🙏🏻
Thank you so much 🤗
Wow, I wish I’d come across this review before I bought about 20 new prismacolor pencils! I do have about 40 pencils that I’ve had for years, some even go back to the late 1980’s. I’m going to look into some of these other brands...
Thanks for finding me here, Linda. I'm glad you watched. Prisma is still great with blending colors, but in no time, your set will run out because the leads don't hold up as well as the others. I hope you'll visit this channel again as I'll have more reviews and art stuff coming soon :)
Great review. This video deserves more views.
Thanks for watching, Blue Sky. Thanks for the kind words too :)
I loved your video. very instructive.
Thank you, Rafael. I'm so happy the video helped. It was one of the hardest to make, but I'm glad it's useful.
Great review Thanks
Thanks for coming into this channel, Penny! So glad you watched. I hope you'll stay and find other videos here helpful as well. Take care!
Great review,I can decided how to choose them😘
Thanks for watching!
I have had so many people tell me how great prismacolors are and we sell them at my job and I don't know, I get a lot of complaints from customers that they keep breaking and how much lower the quality got overtime. At first I really considered buying them but after some time I opted for the Faber Castell as it seems to have a much better current reputation. And they are great! The colors are so vibrant, I have yet to try them on suitable paper. I had never heard of Caran d'aches before however, we don't sell them in our art stores except for their watercolor pastels, this piqued my interest
I loved your review. It was very profesional and informative
Thank you so much, KaixoKalea! Glad it was helpful. I hope you find other videos in this channel helpful as well.
Ginger, that was FANTASTIC. Just timely, in fact, because I am debating on buying some of these sets, or at least stock. I do have to tell you, though, compared to Prismacolor, my Amazon Basics (yes!) are far superior. They glide on smoothly, the leads stay sharp longer, they sharpen uniformly and the colors are more vibrant. I do urge you to try them. Of course, they are much cheaper, but don't let that put you off. I am so glad I have those because it seems that all these expensive pencils have one fault or another. Also, the white of the Basic set is superior to all others I have found. I wonder why, but they are hard to find on Amazon. Now, I know that I bought the right set of 72 pencils, after all.
Sally, I'm so glad you watched. Thanks for dropping me such a nice note. And yeah, I heard a lot of good things about the Amazon brand. I'm actually curious to try. I've seen the price of Prisma skyrocket during the covid year and I've been toying with the idea of making a video about possible Prisma alternatives. I'm thinking of reviewing Arteza and maybe pit that against Amazon. Maybe? I'm still deliberating if that's worth discussing in a video.
On the Prismacolors losing their vibrancy when blending with white, have you tried their colorless blender? It works very well, imparting no color that would pastel-ize the underlying colors. I also think that Prismacolor's greater opacity is a feature, not a detriment, so loss of vibrancy when their very opaque white is applied would be expected. Very nice review. You are always so detailed and thorough. Thank you.
Oh so sorry Teresa. I only got to your message now. I've tried the colourless blender before but it didn't work well for me. Not sure if I received a dud but the pencil was scratchy and didn't do anything except destroy my art. So I've compensated by just using white and I liked the results anyway. The only problem is my white runs out faster and I have no access to a single pencil replacement.
@@GingerUmali No need for apologies. It was a rhetorical question! We all carve out the tools we like. :-).
@@ArtBrain Thanks. Take care :)
Ginger! We haven't spoken in a while, this video just showed up on my playlist, great job as always. You really go over everything thoroughly and easy to understand. God bless, Linda😊🤗🌹🙏 (vangogo).
Oh my sweet Linda! Happy Easter! I was actually thinking about you the other day and wondered how you've been. I was remiss in updating my blog and wanted to write devotionals so you can read something from me again. But I've been extremely busy editing my manuscripts. Thanks for dropping by. I hope you get to check out the more recent videos I made. I'm working on one right now and hope to upload on Saturday.
@@GingerUmali Hi my friend! So good to hear from you, you are often in my thoughts and prayers. I realize you are a very busy gal , I was just glad to see even an old video of yours, well done as always. God bless you and keep you and your family well, Happy Easter to you as well!😊🤗😚💖🙏🙏🙏🌷🌷🌷⚘⚘⚘🌱🌱🍀☘🍀☘🌹🌹🌹🖍🖌✏🎨🖼
@@vangogo6819 How nice of you! Thank you for the prayers. I need it a whole lot. I hope you're having a great weekend. The sun is beautiful on our side of the globe and cherry blossoms make the landscape so pretty. I hope you watched my latest fabric collage video. Enjoy!
@@GingerUmali Hi Dear Ginger, it was beautiful on my side of the globe too! Yesterday I enjoyed the spring weather in my backyard, it was so nice to see things starting to bud and bloom and nature returning to life. Spring comes a little later where I live and it doesn't last long before we a thrown into the heat of summer so I savor every moment of spring that I can! I am praying for you and yes, I watched the video, I love your style and work. Lately I am itching to get out my watercolors and do some sketches but I am stuck, hopefully I will snap out of it soon. God bless you and keep you well, your friend in Christ, Linda.😊🤗😚🙏🙏🙏💖💖💖🌱☘🍀🌹⚘🐦💖🌸🏵⚘🥀🌷🌼🌼🌼✏🖌🖍🎨🐥🐥🐥
I have a set of the 150 Prismacolor pencils and I haven't had any problems with them at all! I love them! Yes, if you drop them then the lead is probably going to break, but that's to be expected with a soft lead pencil. But the soft lead makes them super easy to blend. The colors just smoosh together so nice and easy. That's the trade off with a soft lead pencil, you have to be careful because they can break more easily. And yes that means you have to also be careful when sharpening but I have a Dahle 133 sharpener and I've only have one of my Prismas break one time when using that sharpener. So if your Prismas keep breaking when sharpening, you may need to get a different sharpener. The only thing about the Prismacolor pencils that I was disappointed about is the packaging. The trays are flimsy so you have to be careful when lifting up a tray to get to the bottom trays. Also, there are 6 trays, 2 rows that have 3 trays, and I would rather have 3 trays to access the colors on the bottom more easily, but that's just my preference. Overall, I truly love my Prismas! But coloring is my hobby and I'm not too concerned with lightfastness. My next set of pencils will be the Polychromos, which I will be getting very soon!
Awesome!!! Thank-you!
Great review!! Very well done and so informative. For me, Prismacolor Premier is best. I love the vibrancy of color and as far as lightfastness, according to the CPSA’s LF workbook, out of 150 pencils, 8 pencils were rated fair and 40 pencils were considered fugitive (rated 5.4 or less). 102 pencils are rated good to excellent on the Blue Wool scale. I simply swap out the fair and fugitive colored pencils with an equivalent color of the Luminance - so I end up with lightfast colors mixed set of my favorite pencils.
Great tip, Rick. Yup, just swap out the fugitives in the set, which is convenient to do with Luminance since they sell pencils by the piece.
That’s a very well done review, thank you :) ❤. I bought a full set of American made Prismacolor pencils a while back on eBay though I’m never going to use them… I think they’ll be worth a lot one day =D
haha... yes, who knows that set might become a collectors' item :) ... Thanks for watching Heidi. Glad you visited my channel. Take care.
I just got a set of polychromos and the outside of the tin (inside the plastic shrinkwrap) was covered in pigment dust. Just from shipping, most of the pencil ends had chipped to the point where they were all basically blunted and there was a ridiculous amount of dust. But I re-sharpened them and put them in a more protective case and I'm sure they'll be fine going forward. They do have IMO better color than the prismacolors.
Wow, that stinks, just got my complete set today, from Amazon, there was a tiny bit of bubble wrap so I feared the worst, but they were actually in great shape, only one lead chipped a tiny bit. There was some of the pigment dust on the sides of the tin but not much. The tin was much heavier than I ever expected! I like them better than my prismacolors too but am getting two of the colorless blenders for my prismacolors, that may make me like them more, I was blending with white and a very light beige shade.
I love this video and it deserves more views🙌🤩. I learned so much about colored pencils... and I guess, I have to invest on the best colored pencil set the soonest. Realization101: above all, it's always the quality not just all about quantity.
Aaaw, thank you Redflutterby421. I'm glad you found my channel. I also don't know why my videos don't get featured too often. That must be why people don't discover this channel too easily. I'm happy you're here!
@@GingerUmali hats off to you! Looking forward to more informative and fascinating videos here🙌🤩
@@redflutterby521 Thank you, my newfound friend! You're so encouraging, you make me smile till my cheeks hurt ... haha
@@GingerUmali 🤩🙌 so happy to receive replies from an amazing artist and to learn things with you also...
@@redflutterby521 I'm so happy to engage in a conversation with this CZcams family and to get to know those who watch. Thanks for joining this channel. I'm so pleased to meet you and to listen to your suggestions. I'll put that video request in my projects list and hopefully get it done soon.
Coming to watch these alot it just depends on your preference and what you intend your art to be. So far I've tried prismacolor and I like it, my barrels have not cracked and they endure my heavy hand. I just ordered caran 'dache and I can't wait to try them out
Wow I own many prismacolor sets and never had any of these issues...I personally think quality wise ( the performance of the led) it is the best out of the 3( and I am a professional colored pencil artist) the only thing that is missing is the quality of the design of the barrel and box...and maybe the lightfast if it is important to you..( although I have portraits hanging in the daylight made years ago and the color did not move) but the color selection, layerability, blendability, intensity of the pigments and creaminess is uncomparable. I personally find the Luminance are very dry, don't blend or layer very well and some of them scratch the paper leaving horrible marks on it...they also miss a lot of tones for me. The Polychromos are great but the blendability is not nearly as good as prismas, they take a lot more work and the color palette is incomplete to me.
You're not supposed to blend polychromos anyway, so that's kinda weird that that would be even an issue.
I'm with you. I've had an excellent time with my Prismacolors. I use their pencil sharpener and I save any burnishing for after several layers have gone down so I don't have to press as hard. That makes for a better result anyway.. They blend wonderfully. I don't have huge breakage problems and the affordability meant I could buy the whole set without much guilt. Actually I have some regrets about buying so many colors because I tend to use no more than 10 in a drawing and often it's the same 10 with only a few changes. But they're pretty and joyful to look at, ha. During the first few months of ownership, I stored my Prismacolors in a warm, sunny place, figuring it would slightly warm the pencils and help with any brittleness. Maybe that was key. I've heard people say they microwave them. Any trial of that should be done with the least favorite pencil! I'm not a pencil artist by any means, just a happy hobbyist.
I very much agree with this!
Luminance & Polychromos do in fact blend well. These 3 pencils are like comparing apples to oranges & bananas. They all have their own qualities and work differently from each other.
I have a set of 48 Prismacolors purchased well before 2010 and some of the pencils are of the same poor quality. Some of the pencils can’t be sharpened because the wood split in half, and most of the cores are not centered like you showed. I would not blame Mexican manufacturing, it’s the company. My box says “Made in the U.S.A.”
Thanks for the info Mariana. I appreciate it. I guess we all get varying experiences with Prismacolor. They don't give off that consistency in quality. I've heard from many artists that their pre-2010 made in US sets were perfect. But I think I should have clarified in my video that the great ones were marked BEROL. Berol Prismacolor produced colored pencils from 1969 to around 1995 (I think). The pencils were packaged in a black box with a picture of colored pencils arranged in a circle with their lead tips all pointing to the center. I never had the privilege of owning a Berol Prisma, but many say those were the great ones. What you got might have originated from Sanford.
Even better are the ones made in Canada back in the 80’s. If you’re lucky you can find old stock still for sale.
@@stanleonowicz3546 I didn't know they made these in Canada before. Great info! Thanks.
its bc is some time they changed their formula u can look ar readizzle vid she did some digging
Mine were made in USA too (bought about 15 years ago), I have two very annoying pencils that break every time I try to shapen, but that is out of a complete set.
I prefer Caran D'ache Pastel Pencils, I like the color selection and I'm partial to pastels. Mind you, sometimes you can get some dud pencils that had the pigment poorly mixed not being able to use them properly.
Oh so true, Ben. That happened to me with Derwent Inktense. I got a dud that had no pigments at all. I sharpened and scrubbed, thinking that the problem was only at the tip of the pencil. But even then, the core had no colors to give out. I thought I had a blender pencil on my hands. But no. I guess once in a hike, we get bad ones mixed with the good. But we'll never find out what batch we received until we use them.
I already have polychromos and love them. I decided to give prismacolor a try and used them for the first time yesterday. Omg, they kept breaking on me. Just one pencil broke on me 5 times in the space of not even 5 minutes. I couldn't sharpen them to a fine point either. So goodness knows how you can do detail with them. Other than the range of colours and softness, they're not really worth spending money on in my view as the quality is bad. I'm glad I only got the 36 pack. I'd rather have a quality pencil that will last for as long as it should. I think I'd probably wind up having to spend a lot more if I stick to prismacolor. I also have staedler ergosoft and some other artist pencils. I haven't tried luminance as yet.
Thanks for dropping in, Me Plife. I'm glad you found my channel. I agree with you. I also think it will cost more in the long-run if a product like Prisma breaks down quicker and needs sharpening more often than normal.
I love my Prismacolor, they are so creamy, high opaque and the colour range is so nice. I sharpen them with the „Faber Castell Grip“ sharpener and they don’t break any more. Or try the metal sharpener from „herlitz“. If you can get it, I live in Germany and so it’s no problem.
I purchased my Prismacolor Premium 150 set this month and they don’t have the irregularities in them as the ones you’ve shown.
I know right. My Prismacolor colors are perfect. I feel bad for the videos that discredit Prismacolors. People are missing out on good pencils.
Same. Mine also don’t break as fast, so i always wonder what everyone is doing while sharpening them.
I just bought a set of 150 and they have a ton of issues . At least 35 of them have split wood and the paint is chipping off of most of them at the bottoms. Also a ton of very off center cores. I bought them from blick art supply so luckily I could take them back.
@@jenica1388 im sorry they had such issues for you :(
@@jenica1388 Sad! I bought the 120 set of Star Joy pencils. I like them better than Prismacolor. The only thing better about Prismas is the pastel shades.
This video is damn informational, congrats good job! ^^
Thanks. Glad you like it :)
I really like this review cuz it helps me made my mind on what to buy! I was kind of having second thoughts in prismacolor since I've had people saying of the bad quality. Poly is expensive but I think it will be worth to buy sadly I could only afford the 60 set but selection in colors is really not that good, it lacks skin tones. I'll buy it anyway so thanks for your input on this :)))))
Thanks Lu Fei, for watching and leaving me a comment. Glad to have you in this channel. You're right. These brands are not cheap. I actually waited a long, long time before I managed to make this video because I had to save up lots of funds to buy these sets. But it was worth the wait. It's okay to start with the smaller sets first so you can play around with them already and paint what you can. I did that with Prismacolor. I checked out how it performs by buying the smallest, cheapest set first. Polychromos is worth the investment. So is Caran D'Ache. Thanks again for coming into this channel. Take care :D
Lu Fei, if you want more skin tones, Caran D'Ache Luminance has a better selection than Polychromos' 60-tin set. You might want to try that instead. And Caran D'Ache is a pleasure to lay down. It's smooth like Prismacolor.
@@GingerUmali oh yeah thanks for replying though I think I'll try the polychromos first XD caran d'ache is just on another level that I'll go broke completely since I'm still a highschool student. Although having poly AND caran d'ache would be amazing but that's too far in the future. I'm kinda jealous of your collection though XDDD
Someone gave me the Polychromos as a combined birthday and Christmas gift... and those dates are months apart! Haha... Yes, Poly is worth the buy. Good thing too they have smaller sets that are cheaper.
Prismacolor is not bad.I honestly did not notice all these complaints people make. Mine never breaks and it’s very creamy. Maybe I was blessed with a good set ☺️ but I love my Prismacolor, it’s colors are so vibrant✨, I love polychromos too. Im aiming for caran d’ache next.. but that price 😥
Could you have been duped? Isn't the 150 Prisma set supposed to have the butterfly on the front of the box? You are so right, the quality has gone down.... Your review is excellent! It helps me decide on whether to get a new set of Prismas or Caran D'Ache! I already have Faber Castell and they are wonderful!
She has bought the prisma color premier pencils while you have bought primacolor premier softcore color pencils and maybe the soft core one might be the old one while what she is using is the new one
Very complete review. I had just bought the Caran D'ache so it was nice to feel good about my purchase. Two things I did not like about the set of 76 was first, several colors were so close that I had trouble distinguishing one from the other. Secondly, I bought the set hoping to use them to detail pan pastels and the light colors just didn't show. Also, I didn't understand how to use the blending sticks.
Oh wow! Thanks. I'm glad this review was helpful. I agree with you. I also couldn't figure out how to use those blending sticks. They just left scratchy marks on my work. I didn't like them at all. I found that blending with white was better for me in most cases.
Well done! That is some major investment!
Thank you! This video very usefull, it helps me to choose for buying one brend of pencils
i hope i wrote the previous comment without errors, so I'm from Russia
Thanks for watching Elizaveta. I'm glad you found this video and that it was helpful for you. Your English is pretty good and I understood well what you meant :)
Did you try the Derwent Lightfast? I think they are now considered the set with the best lightfastness.
Wow! Is that a new product? That's news to me. I haven't heard of that yet. Hmmm ... that sounds like a great medium to try next.
I just bought the prismacolor premiers and I’m not too impressed. They’re very waxy for my taste. Might have to try the poly
I would've sent those prisma's back, you got a very dodgy set, I don't mean the off centre, they're all like that of varying degrees, but the missing colour and the cplit barrels. TBH, if Arteza had proper light fastness, didn't dissolve in water and could be bought open stock, they could take out prisma easily.
Hi Ginger, thank you very much for this in - depth review of all the brands. I think your video is the best of all I could find on youtube, because you take your time and tell everything you know / experienced in detail. Since I usally use watercolors or watercolor pencils for my drawings, I started out with an off-brand set of 120 colored pencils from amazon. Sure, I spent "only" 40 €, but for me it is stil a lot of money. After trying those pencils, I'm not very satisfied with the quality and since I already own a bunch of Faber Castells Albrecht Dürer watercolor pencils, I was wondering if the Polychromos would suit my needs. Furthermore I was considering the availability, because I live in Germany and all the Faber Castell products are very easy to come by, hence the Prismacolors are extremely expensive (150 € for the 150 Set plus shipping and custom fees, would be around 180 to 200 € in total). I think that light fastness is quite important, because I like to mount my favourite drawings in a golden frame in my living room . Although I love the complex color options from the Prismacolors, I will purchase the Faber Castells, due to prefering a firmer lead, I can purchase them for about 1,50 € each and the lightfastness is pretty good. Thank you for helping me to choose the best brand for my personal needs and likes. Much love from Germany.
can you recommend any sharpener that doesnt eat up wooden part too far?
(i prefer the pencil to have shape like it was from factory)
most sharpener i use eat up a wooden part so far and make my pencil look ugly.
its hilarious that the 36 set of polychromos costs the same as the 150 prismacolor set in my country, and the luminance are not even available.
27:36
That is a huge difference not to buy Prismacolour, nice presentation and comparison.
i know prisma must be really good if people put up with all these flaws
@@waynehuttel5905 It’s also the cheapest of the 3, price is a big factor.
@@pingteo6104Depends on where you live, in my country Polychromos cost 1.75$ per pencil and Prismacolor around 3$ per pencil, which is in my opinion makes Prismacolor completely not worth buying… I have 72 set of Prismacolor and full set of Polychromos, and slowly will build up my Luminance collection which are around 3.5$ per pencil
Great and honest video!
Thank you, Led. I super appreciate your kind words.
I put all my pencils in jars bc of the trays but I really like the prisma colour but I might see if I can get polychromes next when my prisma colours are done
I have my Prismacolors in a tin (not laying down, standing up) but am keeping my Polycromos in the tin they came in, it's very handy.
@@charlottesmom I now keep my prisma colours in a pencil case
Just a note: I buy sets of high end brand coloured pencils at the thrift store…usually $2 to $3 dollars. Loose bags of 200 mixed pencios…$2. Best of all, lots of older production sets…
You can also get other artist supplies..paints, brushes, etc. For next to nothing.
You're so lucky you can find those treasures in your thrift store. Ours only carry clothes and house wares.
Wow! What thrift you shopping at! None of the ones near me even sell any art supplies at all
Just so you know, I don't leave my work out in the sun. Second, I have colored pencil drawings that are years old that haven't faded. I use Prismacolors, Derwent, and crayola. One doesn't need tons of money to spend on colored pencils.
good points made / informative
Thanks Pj Lewis. I'm glad the video was helpful. It was a difficult episode to make but comments like yours make the effort so much worth it.
I have all these colored pencils and more.....BUT, my favorite is Prismacolor even with all the issues because I love the creamy feeling and how it lays down on paper.
I have yet to find pencils that can surpass the creaminess of Prismacolor. That's the only feature that stops me from throwing away my set. Overall, it's still easy to use.
Thankyou so much😲is very interesant👍
Thank you too Bris Va for dropping in. I hope you'll find other videos in this channel helpful too. Take care :)
I would really be interested if you could do an in depth comparison like this but with Luminance vs Derwent Lightfast.
Hi Christina. Thanks for the suggestion. I put in an order for a set of Derwent Lightfast so I can make a video about it. It's pretty expensive so I just got the smaller tin. The colored pencils are in short supply so my order will come early next year. I'll definitely make a product review soon after so I hope you can check back next time.
@@GingerUmali
They are terribly expressive! I'm trying to decide between a set of Luminance or Lightfast. I think I like the color palette of the Derwent Lightfast better but they both are lovely. And expensive!
@@ChristinaTodd1970 I was hoping to get the largest set of Derwent Lightfast but realized I couldn't afford it ... haha ... So I bought the 24 set so I can just make the review. It took a long time for me to save up for the Luminance as well. It's really hard to make reviews especially since I'm not sponsored. But I love trying out products and discovering hidden gems out there. So thanks for suggesting it. I hope you can wait for my video to upload. It will take a while since the order will be delivered sometime mid January.
Honestly, it looks like the odds grow worse in one’s favor the larger the set of Prismas. You got a pretty bad box of those. I only have the tin of 36, and I was considering getting the themed tins of 24. Like Botanical, Ocean, etc. but upon looking at the colors within some of those boxes, I found repeats of what is in the 36 tin I have. I think they could have tried to have no repeats. No more Prismas for me!
Could you post a link to the sharpener?
The best rewiew ever..
Aaaw sweet! Thanks Viva! Glad to see you in this channel. Hope you drop in again.
The polychromos actually dissolve a bit with water, not as much as albrect durer but they do activate.
Thanks Margaret. I didn't know that. Thanks for the info.
Thank you soo much
You're welcome! Thanks for watching.
Hello, thank you so much for this test!
I am so impressed, please tell me with which colour did you blend the red pencils, especially the Luminance red? When I blend my red pencils (polychromos and prismacolor) with the white Polychromos Pencil, it becomes pink!!!!
Second question: I habe both brands, Polychromos and Prismacolor. How do the Luminance cover on plack paper compared with the Prismas? Polychromos do not cover well. The prisma cover better, but the yellow pencils, for example, are very transparent. I am looking forward to hearing from you 😀
Hello EmilyErdbeere! I'm so glad you watched. Thank you. Sorry, but I can't exactly remember the which shade of red or yellow I picked for the test. I didn't realize I should have shown the pencil barrels on the video to give more info. Yes, you're right. I can imagine pink showing up when you blend red and white. I guess if you want more of the red hues to show through, you can just burnish the red with a colorless blender and not use the white. I showed somewhere in this video a test on black paper, using white colored pencils. You can see that the Luminance has awesome opacity and covers the black paper pretty well. For the Prisma to cover well, I find that you have to press down on the paper harder. If you just swish a light hand left to right on black paper, the Prisma's pigments will look translucent and the black paper will still be visible. I hope this helps. Yellows are notorious for being transparent, whether in colored pencils or other media like acrylics. I find them too difficult, honestly. When I paint with acrylics, for instance, I have to mix yellow with white to achieve better coverage and opacity.
@@GingerUmali
Thank you for answering 😍 Sorry, my English is so bad... 😬
I still wonder why the red doesn’t get pink in your colour chart, especially the Luminance. It’s a kind of magic 😅
Another last question: If you have already been trying. Could you tell me which of the yellow hues covers on black paper? I only want to order one yellow pencil, maybe a red, too, because it’s so expensive. My Prismas cover well on black paper, except the yellow and red hues ☹️
@@emilyerdbeere9210 No worries, Emily. I understand what you mean perfectly well. The red in the video was mixed with a yellow pencil. That's why it didn't turn pink.
As for your question, which brand were you referring to? The Prismacolor yellow?
@@emilyerdbeere9210 Ooops... I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were referring to the last row of the swatch, not the second to the last... yes, I used white over red on that one. I didn't produce much pink maybe because I had a lot more red pigments on the paper. To make pink, you must lay down more white than red.
@@GingerUmali
Sorry, I forgot... One Yellow obviously does work very good on black paper, but I don’t know the name or number. The second one on this chart:
www.deviantart.com/leochi/art/Coloured-pencils-on-black-paper-599955453
Unfortunately I cannot contact the person who took this photo.
Havent finished this vid yet but at the 4:43 mark I believe you are mistaken. I don't think some of the lines you are referring to have anything to do with the quality of the wood that is used rather than the quality of the adhesive used to hold each half of the pencil together. Those lines you were showing follow axially along the plane these pencils are typically glued together. Granted some were simply surface scratch of the paint and really don't matter in terms of Pencil integrity. Will continue to watch, but wanted to clarify for your sake and others.
I watch this, but I don't have them, so😐 But thank you! Nice comparison! You supposed to have more viewers and subscribers!💖💖
Hi Starry Meow! I'm so glad you found my channel. Thanks for watching and for leaving me a note. It's been my long time wish too that more subscribers flow in. I hope you can pass the word to your friends so they too can visit this space and discover my videos. Take care, friend! 🙏🏻💕😃
Surprised how many people have had issue with Prisma. I have been using them for 5 years and never had any issue with them. I definitely will be buying the Caran Dache set though because I would love to try them out
I just recently bought the prismacolor 150 set from blick art supply and it also has issues. I was so excited because I have other sets that I love but sadly this one is very low quality. At least 35 pencils have split casings,most have paint that’s flaking off and a ton of cores are extremely off center. It was a major disappointment. Thankfully Blick art has a great refund policy.
You're lucky the return policy was great. Not all art supply stores are as nice. I made the mistake of not opening my set until long after the return window expired so I had to live with the damaged pencils.
Hello. Where can I find information about the light fastness of each prismacolor pencil color?
Hi Olga. Thanks for asking. You can find Prismacolor's lightfastness chart here www.dick-blick.com/pdfs/20508color.pdf
@@GingerUmali Thank you! this is a very handy table! I kept it for myself. is there a similar lightfastness table for FC polychromos?
I have all of these sets of color pencils so,l use all 3.🤷🏿♂️ And get good results and great work.😏😁👍
So glad I have a “vintage” prismacolor set 😂 I bought them back in high school pre 2009. I’m glad to know that they aren’t worth buying as much anymore though. That’s too bad.
I personally never had any issues with primas and I own the vintage ones made in the US...no difference at all. I just think some people were sold deffective batches
@@petitsucrecatala9265 the only issue I’ve had is the lead breaks easily when sharpening so you have to make sure you’re careful and use a very sharp sharpener.
I have all Prisma sets, 12, 24, 48, 72, 132, 150 and not one pencil broke on me. I have Polychromos too but I prefer my Prismas. I have Caran d Ache Pablos but I still prefer my Prismas. Im trying out Luminance, they are being shipped to me.
Wow, you've got an impressive set of supplies, Bunny Lady. How fun! Thanks for watching. I hope you visit my channel again. I'm glad to have you here. Take care :)
Lucky you.
Hiii umali 🙏🙏🙏🇮🇳
Which color pencils u pick.... ??
I like using my Caran d'Ache for more professional work and Prisma for just casual illustrations. Thanks for coming into this channel Sahil. I hope you visit again and watch my other videos too :)