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Colour pencils - what's your favourite? (1 Viewer)

colonelboris

Right way up again
I know there was an older thread here, but though it worth getting a few more opinions as time's passed since then.
I'm using a real mish-mash of pencil types based on a) what's available and b) what effect I'm looking for.
I'm torn on which are my current favourites: either Caran D'Ache Supasofts or Prismacolor ___. Both have very soft lead, which is excellent for strong colours and can (for a few seconds at least) keep a very sharp tip which doesn't crumble. The downside is that I can't get single CD pencils here in Australia and Primacolor don't have quite the range I need for wildlife work.
My previous favourite (and still that of Mrs Boris) is Berol Karismacolor, now sadly discontinued. Exceptionally soft lead - almost like drawing in lipstick - which is excellent for thick colour on fine lines when sharp and also good for area coverage when blunt. Downside is that a) you can't get them anymore and b) pictures drawn with them tend to bloom after a while, although fixative spary takes the edge off of it.
The market in Australia seems to be dominated by Faber-Castell and Derwent. I'm not a huge fan of either as they are hard leads, sometimes prone to crumbling when sharp and sometimes harder to get the depth of colour down. However, they do have some good tones for wildlife work - a lot of soft greens, browns and skin tones.
Between them, I manage to cobble together my drawings, but does anyone else have any recommendations?
 
One thing I forgot to ask: it always seems that at least once in every picture, I colour over a section that should be white, or at least in a shade darker than intended. I've tried various fixes from using a scalpel to remove the wax to over painting with acrylic, but the method I've currently settled on is a white chinagraph pencil (Staedtler Glasochrom), which is incredibly thick and soft and covers all manner of sins.
Any other fixes?
 
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At the risk of sounding like it's just me in here, I've since found out that the Prismacolor Premier range is identical to the old Karisma color range, which is very useful indeed.
 
I always liked Caran d'ache for more detailed work and Karisma for layers. Always had to be careful with the Karisma though, they had a tendency to get a bit of a waxy build up.

Mike
 
I always liked Caran d'ache for more detailed work and Karisma for layers. Always had to be careful with the Karisma though, they had a tendency to get a bit of a waxy build up.

Mike

Agree with that - just glad we can replace the Karismacolors now. We had a few inch-long stubs that were getting increasingly hard to hold...
 
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