Prismacolor Pencils

[mommac1]

Okay, I am new to the colored pencil world. I have looked on both Viking and DickBlick for the prismacolors. What do you recommend? What is the difference between Verithin Prismacolor pencils and the regular? How many colors should I start with? At first glance, Dick Blick looks like a better deal...the pencil sets appear to be cheaper. Any advice? Thanks so much.

[Sereikastamper]

I know that everyone went nuts for the prisma colors...but you can also do the same technique with Crayola Colored pencils for MUCH cheaper... just a thought... I do not have the Prisma colors...or else I would give you my opinion on them too!

I believe the Verithin pencils are harder leads. The regular Prismacolor pencils are soft. If you want the huge box, they are back in stock at Viking and you would get free shipping. The 120 box is 56.98 and if you shop there regularly and have that $20 coupon available to you, you can get them for 36.98. The code for the pencils is AL2-3602 and the discount coupon came up automatically when I went to checkout. Even the smaller boxes are reasonable if you have a discount code. For example, the 48 box was 22.98 last week and if you ordered something to bring it up to $25, you would get free shipping too.

[nickelini]

I have complete sets of both regular Prismacolor pencils and the Verithin. They are designed for two different purposes. The Verithins are hard and used for drawing and sharp detail. The regular pencils are for colouring. I never use my Verithins and am sorry that I wasted my money on them, because I only use pencils for colouring and shading. For more info, go to their website www.sanford.com

The regular Prismacolor pencils are artist grade pencils. Crayola pencil crayons are student grade, so what brand you buy depends on how picky you are about quality. I love Prismacolors because they are soft and blend so nicely, but I know some artists who hate them. Because of that softness, they are difficult to sharpen. I'm told it's the high wax content.

Other brands of superior-quality pencils that I like to use are Schwan Sabilo Softcolor and Schwan Stabilo Carbothello (sharpenable chalk in a stick) and Faber-Castell Polychromos. The Faber-Castells come in the most amazing neutral colours.

Hope that helps,

just call me the Pencil Crayon Queen