Most adults who are just starting to color are not willing to invest a bunch of cash for colored pencils or other art supplies until they decide that they want or need to, and honestly, you can get beautiful results from the cheapest of pencils.
There are three differences between student grade and artist-grade colored pencils.
- Colorfastness – if you are just coloring for fun, you don’t need to worry about this at all! What it means is that your colors if exposed to light will fade over time. Sometimes they even do that right in the book even if it’s not exposed to light.
- Ease of Coloring – the artist quality pencils have more pigment in them so the colors are easier for older fingers to apply. , Luminance pencils, for example, the most expensive of the artist pencils glide on your paper like silk.
- The intensity of Colors – the intensity of the colors is much deeper and richer with fewer layers.
All that being said, if you are coloring for fun, recreation and relaxation, those things really don’t matter, so these are our favorite inexpensive colored pencils.
Best Budget-Friendly Colored Pencils
Marco Raffine Colored Pencils
The least expensive wax-based colored pencil that performs like it’s oil-based more expensive cousins are the Marco Raffine line from Japan. These were the first set of cheaper pencils we tried out and we are still a huge fan. They are my go-to set to take with me on outings because for one thing, the whole set fits in my pencil roll-up AND if I lose them or one gets broken, my investment is minimal. You can buy these from Amazon here.
Pros: Lost Cost, Nice Colors, Ease of Coloring
Cons: Only 72 colors, no color names on pencils (just a number) and the barrel is silver so it’s sometimes hard to see what color the pencil is. No tin.
Click to order here.
Marco Raffine 48 Amazon US UK Canada
Marco Raffine 72 Amazon US UK Canada
SCHPIRERR FARBEN COLORED PENCILS
96 named and numbered oil-based colored pencils at this price and they have amazing reviews.
They come in a pretty tin pre-sharpened and fall somewhere between Prismacolors & Polychromos pencils. I like that they look different than my other colored pencils, sometimes it’s hard to remember which stick you have in your hand. This set doesn’t have as many earth tones as the more expensive brands but lots of great colors for most uses in your coloring books.
Click to Order US, UK or Canada
Crayola Colored Pencils
These are a fantastic option and for the price, you can’t beat it. You can invest in better pencils later and let the kids or your friends use these, but some colorists find they like the results they get from these as much as they do the expensive artist brands.
- Amazon – Crayola Colored Pencils 100 pack
- Amazon – Crayola Colored Pencils 50 pack
- Amazon – Crayola Colored Pencils 36 Pack
Pros: Low Price, a large variety of colors, easy to sharpen, barrel of pencils is the color of the lead and the color name is clearly printed on the barrel.
Cons: Very waxy making them hard to layer, no tin.
If you really hate to sharpen pencils, you might give Crayola Twistables a try.
Prang Colored Pencils
I found a few Prangs in my stash from my kids’ school supplies and played with them a bit and I like them a bit better than my Crayola’s. The color selection isn’t as large but what is there is nice.
Sudee Stile Colored Pencils
This set is the largest variety of colors in our list of cheaper colored pencils and gives you 150 different colors. Some shades are close as is the case with all large sets of colored pencils, for instance, I find there are always too many shades of yellow that are virtually identical to one another. There is some talk about these pencils having a strong unpleasant smell. That smell seems to come from the case so when you get rid of that and use a pencil cup or a pencil wrap, the bad smell disappears.
Pros: LOTS of colors, low price
Cons: no color name on pencils, barrels aren’t the color of the lead.
Johanna Basford’s recommended colored pencils are the Staedtler’s.
Staedtler Colored Pencils
Johanna really likes these colored pencils for use in her books because you can sharpen them to a very fine point and they blend nicely. They have a coating around the led that produces less breakage than other pencils. I also really love this stand-up plastic case.
Click here to Order Amazon US ~ UK ~ Canada
I was set a gorgeous tin of 36 Staedtler Ergosoft Colored Pencils from the manufacturer and I adore them, however, they still don’t seem to be available to the public. The tin has Johanna Basford designs on it so it’s even more special. As soon as they are available I’ll alert everyone on social media.
Coleen Colored Pencils
This set of double ended pencils are really fun to use, particularly for a travel set since twice as many colors fit into half as big of a spot. They lay down nicely and layer pretty well, particularly for the price.
Click to Order Amazon US, UK or Canada – The newer version (787’s) includes a couple of neon colors too.
Black Window Colored Pencils
I’ve just started hearing great things about these pencils but haven’t tried them out myself yet. The advertising says they are easy to sharpen but reviewers say the opposite. They are difficult to sharpen and tend to be eaten up easily by the sharpener. They are similar to the Marcos in that they have a black barrel and no color numbers and only come in a set of 24 colors, really not enough to bother with and your money would be better spent on a set of 100 Crayolas. Reviewers also say they have hardly any pigment at all when using them in coloring books. They come with or without a tin with a price variation, really the best part about them is the cool tin with a cool picture of a scorpion or a Black Widow Spider! They are made in China. If you look on all the listings you will see lots of negative reviews however one of our readers was really upset that I gave them this review because she loves them. I’d love to hear from my readers about them if you have tried these spider inspired pencils.
Original Black Widow Pencils
Hopefully, Black Widow Manufacturers are listening to their audience and will improve the product. You can check them out here.
The flesh toned sets of colored pencils by Black Widow have gotten some great reviews.
Dark Skin Tone Colored Pencils for Adults
Click to Order Amazon US, UK or Canada
Light Skin Tones Black Widow Pencils
If you have any favorite cost-saving ideas for your coloring please let us know on social media or in the comments here.
Click to Order Amazon US, UK or Canada
Blending Tools
There are a few special techniques to make your cheap pencils perform like artist quality and that’s blending tool. There are specific blending pencils that will take your coloring pages to the next level. Different blenders work with different paper and pencils, so I’d buy both and play with them.
Many people love to use baby oil for blending. You apply a VERY small amount with a paper blending stump
Cheapest Background Coloring Materials
If you want a nice easy and inexpensive background idea, head to your dollar store and find some eyeshadows and blush colors or use your own old makeup. You can use either a makeup applicator, a cotton bud or a makeup applicator which you can also purchase at the dollar store if you don’t have some at home to use.
To say the Black Widow Pencils are the worst when you haven’t even tried them or sharpened them is so unfair.
Who does a review on a product based solely on other comments? Who does a credible review statement unless you HAVE ACTUALLY USED THE PRODUCT! I have both the first set of the Black Widow Pencils and the followup second set of Scorpion Pencils and they are fantastic. Knowing many people don’t know the proper way to sharpen a pencil could be the problem. There are many other variables as well. You should be ashamed of yourselves for making a statement based on other opinions and not actually using this product. YOU OWE MediHealth1 an apology for your review and you owe us Colorists truthful credible reviews. I can no longer call you a CREDIBLE SOURCE!
Rubbing alcohol works for blending and it won’t leave a greasy/oily residue on your paper. It evaporates quickly too. I haven’t tried it yet, but I thought about filling a waterbrush with alcohol & using that to blend with… it gives some control over amount applied.
Interesting! I’ve never heard that
I have many different brands of “economy” pencils. I agree that Prangs are good and I also like Lelix which you did not mention. I think I ordered them from Amazon.
I’ve not heard of Lelix? Have you tried the Marco Raffines?
Yes, I also have a set of Marco Raffines 🙂
What about derwent academy color pencils?
I haven’t used them, I have the more expensive Coloursoft’s from Derwent. Do you recommend the Academy?
I’m looking for a regular Adult Coloring Book w/pictures that have the “pencil numbers ” printed inside the pictures lines…so that the senior patients DO NOT have to decide what color to use.
They can use numbered pencils included along with the coloring book ( or purchased seperately) . Any Suggestions !!
Interesting idea, I get what you mean… like a color by number set where the paint comes with the picture. I haven’t seen anything like that unfortunately in the coloring book realm. You could affix a number to a set of pencils that correlate to the colors in the color by number books here. https://coloringbookaddict.com/color-by-number-adult-coloring-books/ and also check out my list of books for seniors here. https://coloringbookaddict.com/coloring-books-for-seniors/
I have used the light skin set of Black Widow pencils along with the Faber Castell Pitt Pens skin tone set after a lot of frustration with messed up grayscale portraits from colors being too orange, too muddy, or too pink. Black Widow is still coming out with new colors. A 48 piece set was just released priced at less than $10 more than one of their 24 piece sets. The light skin set is amazing in my opinion. I’m planning on buying more of their pencils, if not the entirety of their collection. It takes little effort to apply color and it lays down beautifully. You’re able to get into detailed areas and there are several hair colors contained in the set as well as lip and skin colors. Sherbet is my favorite color for lips. It’s a nice coral color. The biggest plus for me is that I don’t lose so much of the pencil like I do with my Prismacolors when sharpening and they are comfortable to hold with my poor hand function.
I don’t quite agree in scolding you over the Black Widow pencils, but you should try them. At this point, if you buy each tin, you end up with, like, 180 different colors. They ARE “manufactured” in China—like MOST pens & pencils are, with obvious exceptions, like the German, Swiss, British, & Italian pencils historically used by fine artists—but as noted one man, a German Australian, I believe, created the line—not some copycat trying to make a cheap buck. He is a fine gentleman from my personal experience, having needed a replacement set due to a missing color, which he handled per gratis. The wood is actually a very hard Asian or South Pacific wood of which I can’t recall. But it is quite hard and they seem to be the EASIEST pencils I have to sharpen. The pigments are beautiful! They are wax but hard like Verithins. The color goes on at least as good as the Tombow. Another “Chinese” manufactured set often immediately put down w/out testing are the Castle Arts brand. They’re created by a wonderful small British firm that makes fine products for artists and hobbyists alike. They’re just mass produced in China for costs reasons. They’re also great pencils. They have a gorgeous set of pastel tint pencils I adore! Not everything seemingly “Chinese” is a knockoff or cheapies too budget for any real use.
I appreciate your thoughts on this!! I have ordered and used the two skin tone sets and while I did like the idea and the color selection,I just didn’t enjoy using them. As you say they are similar to verities which I only use for specific applications. I find the black widows too hard to blend with.
I am guilty of throwing Castle Arts into the “why bother” category and you are probably right! I assumed they were just another cheap poorly made pencil. You’ve made me want to check them out Shane. Thank you! I hope you have a fabulous coloring project happening now.
Chrissy*