Mixed, Prismacolor®, and Crayola® Colored Pencils
We tried all of the brands throughout the years. Our progression through the brands went from the inexpensive to the expensive. Holly's first colored pencils were inexpensive and picture below. I made a pencil holder for her for easy access. I grouped them by color and as you can see, they are still grouped by color. Holly continued the sorting method.
The mix of pencils brands consists of Prang®, Kodak, Crayola®, Roseart® and a couple of extremely old pencils, the striped ones that I used in the 1970's. They are printed with the name: Dual Kolor by Empire. The rest of the pencils were purchased during the 1990's.
Prismacolor® and Crayola®
Prismacolor® and Crayola® have been used the most at our house during the last decade.
Prismacolor®
I purchased Holly a 72-pencil boxed set of Prismacolor® pencils as a gift years ago, late 90's more or less. She used some of the colors up and we had to purchase more. That just means she likes them. If you go looking for Prismacolor®, you will see that they now offer two formulas, Premier and a new one called Premier Lightfast.
The coverage you can get from Prismacolor® pencils is excellent. I have no recent samples that Holly wants online, but below are a couple of old drawings. These are some of her first efforts at using her Prismacolor® pencils. The only thing you can get from these examples is how densely the colors can be applied as shown in the thick pink and red (in places) of the subjects' hair. The colors can blend. Even in Holly's inexperience, she was able to make delicate skin tones in the left image.
Crayola®
Crayola® colored pencils fall into the inexpensive category. My daughter has been using them a lot lately. The coverage is not as dense or creamy as expensive brands, but apparently they are good enough for what she is currently working on. You may see examples at Crayola® Samples.
