This is a follow up to my previous blog post where I list all tools and materials I use for my graphite drawings.

Here I am talking about what I use for my colored pencil drawings. Like, what I use all the time. Fortunately (for you!) I am the weird minimalism artist, who doesn’t own much. Although I have to admit, while writing this post I found out that I have accumulated quite a few tools and materials over the years!

Let’s start.

Faber-Castell polychromos colored pencils

My holy grail pencils. If I had to choose one brand and draw with it for the rest of my life, that would be faber-castell polychromos.

Prismacolor premier colored pencils

These colored pencils make drawing a joy. They are opaque and creamy and are perfect for covering large areas. Also they are perfect if you are on a budget! If you are a beginner I would recommend starting off with prismacolor.  

Lyra Rembrandt polycolor colored pencils

I will completely honest with you. I bought a few shades of lyra a while ago, but I don’t plan to restock when I run out. No particular reason, they are really good pencils (I once was obsessed about them) but they have a couple of serious disadvantages (leads breaking easily and limited access to these pencils where I use) and like I mentioned, I am a minimalist, I don’t like to own extra stuff.  

Caran d’ache luminance colored pencils

These are the newest addition to my collection. I would very much to love them (they are extra… pricey and everyone in the art community is raving about them) but so far… I’m in a love-hate relationship. Unless I get the grasp of them, I will probably not restock when I run out. 

Winsor&newton promarkers

I occasionally use markers as a first layer, it makes the overall drawing brighter and delivers a good amount of color with minimal effort. Piece of cake!

Winsor&newton Extra smooth Bristol board

I basically use this extra smooth paper when I want to drawn something, well, … extra smooth! Like female skin. It saves me from a lot of work.

Winsor&newton smooth surface cartridge pad 

My all time favorite paper. When in doubt, I use this one. It is slightly grainy so you really need to work the colors into the dents but the end result is sooo worth it! 

Tombow mono zero eraser

A Pencil eraser, so sharp it is like drawing with an eraser. I use it pretty much for everything, correct, pick up extra pigment, create sharp white lines, etc

X-acto knife/mechanical pencil

I use these two tools to create indentations on my paper. For stray white hairs and/or small details.

That’s my complete list. Pretty straightforward right? No fancy tools and weird stuff. Let me know your favorite tools for colored pencil drawings!