The Best Colored Pencils | Reviews By Wirecutter

Top pick

The best colored-pencil set for beginners

Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils (24-count)

These perform as effectively as artist-grade pencils twice the price. They lay down vibrant color, blend nicely, and are easy to sharpen.

$25 from Amazon$25 from Target

More colors, same great pencils

Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils (72-count)

If you’re willing to pay a little more, this set provides three times as many colors and the same great quality.

$75 from Amazon$85 from Walmart

Although Prismacolor’s Premier Colored Pencils are considered artist grade, we think they’re a great choice for most people — from older elementary-school-age kids to adults — because they’re so satisfying to work with and affordable. They’re also widely available at art-supply stores and online, in case you ever want to replace or add colors.

The pencils are well-made and easy to sharpen, and they come in a durable metal box. The 24-count offers enough colors for most beginners, but if you want to expand your palette, the 72-count set is a great upgrade. (You can also buy packs of 36, 48, 132, and even 150 pencils, if you prefer.)

Budget pick

A great student-grade set

Prismacolor Scholar Colored Pencils

This set comes in a narrower range of colors, and the pencil lead isn’t as buttery. But it’s a good choice for kids and adults who don’t mind the slightly harder lead.

$15 from Amazon$15 from Walmart

The 24-count Prismacolor Scholar Colored Pencils set offers good quality at a great price. When we compared this set against the Premier set, the Scholar pencils were almost as good as their artist-grade counterparts, but the lead was firmer and didn’t lay down as smoothly. This set comes in a less comprehensive color range, and the plastic packaging is less durable than the Premier set’s metal case.

The pencils in the Scholar set come out to about 62 cents per pencil, so they’re just a bit cheaper than the Premier pencils ($1.04 per pencil at this writing). But if you want to invest in a bigger set — say, for a kid who wants a lot of colors — those cents can add up, and the Scholar pencils may be the way to go.

Top pick

The best pencil sharpener

Prismacolor Premier Pencil Sharpener

It has a sleek design, is easy to use and maintain, and can put a fine or medium point on most pencils.

$6 from Amazon$6 from Walmart

If you’re investing in a colored-pencil set, we recommend getting the Prismacolor Premier Pencil Sharpener to keep your pencils pointy. This was our favorite of the five new sharpeners we tested in 2018, and the favorite of our panel of kid testers.

It has a small hole for sharpening standard colored (or graphite) pencils, and a larger hole for cutting colored pencils at a shallower angle (as well as for oversize pencils). The integrated shavings container allows you to sharpen without standing over a trash can, and its cover lets you throw it in a bag without worrying about escaped shavings. We think the sleek design will appeal to artists of all ages.