Colored Pencils

Coloured pencils are the colour medium with the finest control: portraits, botanical illustration, animal drawing, realistic still life, colouring and travel sketching all run on the same sharpened point. The pigment goes exactly where the point goes, works over graphite and under fineliner, and needs only a sharpener and paper to be complete.

The core sets the character. Wax-based pencils are the soft ones: colours mix quickly, and a firm final pass presses the layers into a smooth, polished surface. Oil-based pencils hold a needle point through long detail work, take layer after layer with the colour staying clean, and their pigments carry high lightfast ratings, made for work meant to last. Many artists keep both on the desk, the oil point for edges and detail, the wax core for soft passages.

The craft of the medium is patience in layers. Colour is built in several light passes, each one deepening the tone while the paper’s texture stays open, and depth comes from layering colours over each other. This is why coloured pencil has become the medium of choice for botanical artists and pet portraitists: it rewards exactly the slow, observed detail their subjects demand.

Coloured pencils come in sets and as individual colours. A portrait of a dog is drawn from a dozen browns, and single pencils let the palette grow to fit the work.

Art & Colour carries coloured pencils in sets and individual colours, alongside sharpeners, blending pencils and the papers that suit them.