Watercolor Pencil Comparison

Hi friends! I started a video series this year of going through various types of supplies in my collection and comparing them. Over the last two decades of teaching and a lifetime of creating art I have tried quite a variety of things and I hope this series will help determine what is right for you and what products are essentially duplicates for one another. I’ll also share my thoughts on what I feel is the best bang for your buck. Below the video you can see the products listed out. Some may be discontinued. Maybe you already own some of these products and it will inspire you to use them or maybe you are trying to decide between a couple of these products. In any event, I hope it helps! By the way, I am using blick white sulphite drawing paper for my swatches, it is a lovely drawing paper that will accept a light wash. I figure this middle of the road paper will give you a middle ground comparison since I have some stampers and papercrafters working on smooth cardstocks as well as watercolor artists who watch. Keep in mind working on a rougher paper will pull off more pigment and give you richer colors. On to the video!

Watercolor pencils in order or appearance. *denotes my best favorite/recommendation. Affiliate links used.

Budget & Craft Grade Pencils

• *Pagos 72 set *Also available in a set with the 72 colored pencils at a lower per pencil price. I like both of these and the colors match perfectly. This would be a great starter set. Full reviews here: https://www.youtube.com/c/thefrugalcrafter/search?query=pagos%20review

• *Arteza 120 (smaller sets available, look for the EXPERT range)

• Prima Marketing (lots of duplicates between sets, I think these have been discontinued)

• *Spectrum Noir Aquablend: These retail for $39 for a 24 set but Craft Stash has them for $21.69 for the 24 set or $12.99 for the 12 sets. I know there are no duplicates in the 24 sets so you can build your collection as your budget allows) These are the pencils I use the most often and I have been very happy with them

Artist-grade Pencils Artist-grade watercolor pencils are available open stock so you can buy a couple of pencils to see if you like them before investing in a set or replace a pencil if you use it up without having to rebuy a set. Also, they should have lightfast ratings available that are trustworthy. Keep in mind not all artist grade pencils will be lightfast but checking the ratings can help you avoid these if you wish.

• Caran Dache Supracolor: These are not the top of the line watercolor pencils offered by CaranDache but they are pretty good. Caran Dache products tend to run on the high side but they are wonderful. If you are interested in their top of the line watercolor pencil you will want the Museum Aquarelle, I have not used those myself.

• *Faber Castel Albright Drurer: These are my favorite watercolor pencils, they are lightfast, open stock and still a good value, I bought my set of 120 for around $160 over 10 years ago and the price is still around that on Blick. Work will last done with these pencils.

• Derwent Watercolor Pencils: These were my first watercolor pencils more than 20 years ago. They are not bad but there are better choices available now for the price in my opinion,

• *Derwent Inktense pencils and Blocks I really love these for the color payout and the fact that I can use them on fabric and they are permanent. A really versatile product! They are available in pan format too.

• Koh I Noor Mondulez: These are good but come in a smaller color range and open stock is harder to find but available

Specialty pencils:

• Derwent Metallic watercolor pencils (discontinued but you can find old sets with the silver barrels on Amazon, the gold barrels are not watersoluble)

• Derwent Graphitint

Woodless Watercolor pencils (and watercolor crayons that are hard like pencils)

• Altenew

• *Arteza (recommendation based on a lower price for equivalent products)

• Creatacolor *see my full comparison to the above 3 products here

• *Jane Davenport/Sargent Art/Mungyo watercolor crayons (I recommend as an alternative to the discontinued Aquatone pencils)

• Dina Wakly Scribble Sticks

• Aquatone (discontinued)

*I also compared them to LYRA watercolor crayons which are softer and waxier and I really like them but they are not what I’d call a pencil and also the Caran Dache Neocolor 2 crayons. You can check out my watercolor crayon comparison here.

Hopefully this gives you some ideas on how to use the products you have, maybe look at them in a new way or decide what it right for you. Please check my YouTube channel for other comparisons! Happy crafting!