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Best Colored Pencils for Coloring Books

By Addicted Colorist 42 Comments

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Colored Pencils Options 

Colored Pencils are the most used item for those folks that are truly addicted to adult coloring books. If that sounds like someone you know then this is the list for you. 

Alice in Wonderland - Good Wives and Warriors colored by Chrissy the Coloring Book Addict

Everything we have learned about the best coloring supplies for the most discerning Adult Coloring Book Addicts!

The first question you will have to answer is pencils or markers? If pencils are your answer then you just have to decide your budget and buy the best line you can of the biggest color selection you can. Buying a smaller set will only frustrate you so it’s best to just wait and order the big set.

Oil-Based Colored Pencils include: 

Faber-Castell Polychromos Colored Pencils

Faber Castell Polychromos colored pencils perfect for adult coloring books
My beloved Polys

At the top of the list are the beloved Faber-Castell Polychromos Colored Pencils. They are not THE most expensive but they are near the top. These pencils are creamy, smooth, blend easily, layer forever and will give you a gorgeous result with practice and patience if you are new to this skill. The largest tin has 120 luscious colors including 3 metallic pencils.

We have found that the sharpener that is made for the specific brand of pencils works fairly well but I always have my trusty Kum sharpeners with me as well as you can never have enough of them.

Lyra Rembrandt Colored Pencils

lyra rembrandt colored pencils

Only recently have we discovered these gorgeous sticks of color and we are currently in serious crush status with them. (pictured at the top of this page) They are soft and luminous and the colors are different than the Polycromos so you get a completely unique look when you use them instead of the polys. The only complaint we have is that the largest box is 72 pencils. Lyra’s are oil-based so no pesky wax bloom and they layer and blend nicely. They also come with their own blending pencil in the box but it seems completely useless and has zero effect so stick with your Derwent or Prismacolor blender colorless pencils instead. (More about those later)

Caran d’Ache Colored Pencils

Caran d'Ache Colored Pencils

Apparently, the finest colored pencil money can buy. We can’t speak about these from our own experience I SPLURGED! After reading the glowing only 5-star reviews and from coloring friends! We bought the small box of 20 just to see and WOW!!! I now have to rave about them too!!! If you can afford them, give them a try as you won’t’ be sorry. “Caran D’ache luminance pencils are simply the best-colored pencils money can buy.”Each pencil is pocketed in its own foam bed within the box. I have enjoyed my set of 20 and the white pencil does amazing things for highlights and special effects.  Read the description and reviews carefully as Caran D’ache makes several lines of colored pencils including these two top artist varieties which get fabulous reviews and then the and student and watercolor pencils which didn’t get great reviews for use on adult coloring books. These Luminance pencils have the highest lightfast rating meaning that they won’t fade over time like wax and other oil-based color pencils do. They have SO much pigment and go on SO easily, they really are so lovely.  One day I’ll have the big set!! Maybe!

Pablo Colored Pencil Set Of 120 Metal Box “They are delicious. No wax bloom, no flaky bits. Gorgeous colors that lay down over each other well and blend beautifully. Plus the pencil wood casing is harder, easier to sharpen.” These pencils aren’t quite as pricey and get rave reviews in all the groups on Facebook.

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. You can buy these from Amazon here.
Marco Raffine 48 Amazon US   UK   Canada
Marco Raffine 72 Amazon US   UK   Canada

Other brands that are gorgeous but only sold in high-end fine art stores are these BruynzeelColored Pencils are uber soft and creamy, possibly too creamy if there is such a thing but I would test these pencils at the nearest high-end fine arts store near you before you invest in a set of these. I have a few to fill in missing greens I wanted for Enchanted Forest.

Wax Based Colored Pencils

prismacolor colored pencils

Prismacolor Premier Artist Pencils – These very nice pencils come in the biggest set and for a price below all but the Marco Raffine pencils in the oil-based pencils above. They are a huge step up from Crayola or other school / student-grade colored pencils and I’ve had no difficulty with mine breaking or chipping when they get sharpened. They do get a wax bloom if you want to layer your colors to blend and they aren’t colorfast, meaning your colors will fade over time particularly if your pictures are exposed to light.

I recently learned something else about these coloring work-horses for mixed media use. These are THE go-to pencils for many mixed-media artists and art journaling enthusiasts because they DO seal in the color from water-based art supplies you might use in proximity and completely seals the colors if you are doing encaustic work or sealing with beeswax.

What does “wax bloom” mean? 

Wax bloom is a natural oxidation process of wax-based materials, just like rust is an oxidation of iron. It appears as a cloudy white film over a drawing or color lay down. If you are plagued with wax bloom, simply wipe your drawing with a clean, dry cloth and spray it with a final fixative to seal out air. If you find your drawings are prone to wax bloom, you may want to use a workable fixative intermittently as you layer your artwork and then finish with a final fixative. Wax bloom is especially prevalent in warmer climates and for artists who apply greater pressure when working with colored pencils. Prismacolor FAQ’

Prismacolor Verithins Colored Pencils are not to be confused with the Prismacolor Premier. These pencils are very hard and to be used for details and tiny spaces. They do not work well for blending or shading. Many people like to use them for the tiny spaces in books like Secret Garden or Time Garden.

Prismacolor Verithins Colored Pencils UK

Prismacolor Verithins Colored Pencils Canada

COLORED PENCIL TIP: You want to be careful with these colored pencils because the wax core can break and if that happens it pretty much ruins the pencil because you can’t sharpen it without it falling apart. Some people swear by microwaving them if that happens but Prismacolor FAQs warn against that and instead tell you to lay them in a sunny hot window and then firmly press the cores back together. Another person in our Facebook group suggested laying them on a heating pad. I think that would work well too.

Prismacolors are usually available open stock at Hobby Lobby, Michaels and Guirys so you can always buy a couple to test them. Once you try any of these nicer quality pencils you won’t be able to color with a Crayola colored pencil or <GASP> a crayon every again. But those are great to have around for the kids or grandkids.

Tombow Irojiten Colored Pencils  US  – UK  – Canada

These pencils remind me of a cross between a Lyra Oil-based pencil and Prismacolor Verithins. These pencils sharpen to a nice sharp point and keep the point nicely. The one thing I really LOVE about the Tombow line is that they come in small packs of 30 colors that don’t overlap one another so you can continue to add to your collection without having to buy a small pack and then have duplicates when you decide to buy the bigger set. They are HARD pencils though and don’t have the pigment of either then Prisma’s or the Poly’s.

Chel had this to say in an Amazon review, I’ve only a small pack of these so this explains how the colors are organized brilliantly.

A few things to note:
The Irojitens are pretty hard, as far as colored pencils go. They are not a smooth, creamy pencil that seems to melt over the paper with the lightest of stroke. They cover beautifully, and a little goes a long way, but they definitely require a little more “push” than the softer color pencils on the market. HOWEVER, they are super rich and creamy, and even if you push down on them quite a lot, the leads do not crumble or turn into dust. They maintain a sharp point for a long time. And the ability to shade with these pencils is incredible- because they are slightly harder, you can get very very light layers of color, and layer many different colors together without losing the surface of the paper under a waxy buildup.

The color range is very untraditional- there is one set of “Vibrant” colors that has your basic red, blue, green, yellow, orange, but the rest of the range are mostly pastel, “dull” (their name, not mine), and softer, creamier colors (also, one set of ten neon color, which are SO bright and vibrant!)

If you are looking for a collection of bright, traditional, clear jewel-tone colors, you may not love the colors that are available in the Irotijens. I happen to LOVE the colors- they are all creamy, beautiful, painterly… but again, very unusual, especially for colored pencils. It’s almost as if the opaque paint was made into a pencil.

The color names are equally unusual- there’s no Cadmium Red or Gamboge or Cobalt Blue. There’s “Lettuce Green”, “Firefly Yellow”, “Verbena”, and “Jay Blue”, just to name a few.

The pencils are grouped into nine “Volumes” of ten different colored pencils, each following a color theme. There’s Vibrant, Pale (I and II), Very Pale, Dull, Deep I (I and II), Fluorescent, and Light Grayish. The pencils are packaged inside a little box shaped like a book, ten pencils per “Volume”. The packaging is beautiful, but for regular use, I eventually had to give in and store the pencils in a more traditional holder (I wish there was a ton available for the complete set of 90.) Even though I store them out of their book-packaging, I couldn’t bear to separate them out of their color Volumes because they are grouped so perfectly (and I’m the kind of person who obsessively swatches everything and rearranges colors according to my eye rather than whatever numeric system/order they come in).

tombow pencils

I do wish more colored pencil brands split up their pencils into color volumes like this.

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. The triangular shape is also easy to hold. Click here to Order  There just aren’t enough colors here to keep me happy but I do like to take these pencils with me when I color at the coffee shop, the stand is really nice and makes it easy to share with friends.

Click to order Staedtler Colored Pencils Amazon US     Amazon UK    Amazon Canada

Since Adult Coloring Books are gaining such a huge market share, lots of manufacturers are jumping in to produce coloring supplies. So far NONE of the new colored pencils that have come to the market is anything I would recommend.

Things to look for before you buy Colored Pencils

  1. Do the core colors match the outsides of the pencils?
  2. Are the cores centered in the wood? If not you will never be able to sharpen them correctly and the cores will break.
  3. Do the colored pencils have color names or numbers?
  4. Are there actually as many colors as the label says or are there duplicates? I was recently sent a set of 50 colored pencils, as I pulled them out to see what the difference was between the 36 and 50 set, I was so disappointed to find that the extras were just that extras of the same colors that are in the 36 set. If you stick with one of the suggestions above that fits your budget you will be much happier.

Honestly simple Crayola Colored Pencils give fantastic results, you just have to work harder to get the color onto the paper.

Blending Pencils & Medium

A blending pencil is a colorless pencil that you use to blend your color together and smash the pigment into the tooth of the paper so those white speckles aren’t showing anymore. They give you a very painted look instead of the scratchy appearance you might think of with colored pencils.

I have both the Prismacolor blender colorless pencils and the Derwent blender, they both work well for me. Test them with the colored pencils you have decided on to see which one gives you the effect you are looking for. I find that each book with its paper and binding takes me at least one picture to find the pencils I prefer for it. It’s hard not to go right for your favorite image but try so you won’t be disappointed.

Many people prefer to use solvents to help with their color blending in their coloring books.

Gamsol*  US   UK   Canada – take great care with this item as it is toxic and fumes could bother those with respiratory issues.**

Zest-ii is only available in the UK but colorists there swear by it

Baby Oil*  – I like this pack of 3 small bottles because no matter what, I am constantly misplacing my coloring supplies. This is the one I choose to use as it’s the non-toxic option.

Vaseline* – I’ve seen both a method using a q-tip dipped in vaseline and also where you put the pencil itself into the pot of Vaseline.

*As always please test these methods on a scrap page of your coloring book.

There are Colored Pencil Tutorial Video’s here using these blending methods. 

Erasers

Yes, you CAN erase particularly if you have a light hand with the pencils. I like the erasers that come inside a plastic tube like a pen but any good quality artist eraser will work at least partially. Each brand erases to a different degree. Kneadable erasers are something I’ve loved ever since I dated a commercial artist, these little gems are fun Derwent also makes a battery-powered eraser for the truly addicted. There is a list of my favorite erasers on the Stocking Stuffers page here.

While taking an online art class one of the teachers recommended this amazing erasing tool the Tombow MONO and I immediately ordered both the round and square versions. I use these in Lifebook quite a bit!

tiny erasers
CLICK TO ORDER AMAZON US, UK OR CANADA

Colored Pencil Sharpeners

Really you can never have enough sharpeners because they are easy to lose and they do wear out if you are coloring often.

The biggest bang for your buck is the German-made KUM sharpeners. There are a few varieties but this little metal guy is a workhorse. You can find them anywhere you see fine art supplies.

Kum Sharpener If you have any 2 hole sharpeners and use just one side of this sharpener you can save a little cash by switching the blades to the size you use most often
 Click to Order Amazon US, UK or Canada 

sharpener

Kum Long Point Sharpener

long point sharpener

Click to Order Amazon US, UK or Canada    

Staedtler double hole colored pencil sharpener – a great tip shared by Peta Hewitt in one of her videos is to get double duty out of these types of sharpeners. You mostly use the smaller hole so when that blade starts to get dull, simply switch the blades and get double the amount of use out of the sharpener. That would work with the Kum Sharpeners as well.

Staedtler 2 hole sharpener with compartment for shavings

pencil sharpener
prismacolor blender and sharpener

Prismacolor Pencil Sharpener – works well on… you guessed it Prismacolor Colored Pencils. For the life of me though, I can’t get this to open so I can empty it so it’s not one I use at all. The Kum brand works just as well.
Prismacolor Sharpener + two blending pencils

Faber Castell Colored Pencil 3 hole Sharpener CLICK TO ORDER

pencil sharpener

I have all of these and keep them in different spots where I like to color. Another tip is to sharpen a regular #2 pencil with them every couple of weeks to clean off the wax and the oily buildup from the blades. The Kum Sharpeners also let you change out the dull blades for new ones.

Colored Pencil Storage

canvas pencil storage bag
CLICK TO ORDER AMAZON US, UK OR CANADA

How to carry around your colored pencils. I like to color in public so the first thing I started looking for were ways to bring my new favorite hobby with me so I could share. This Derwent Canvas bag came very highly recommended by the pro colorists I’ve met in Facebook groups.

Two pencils fit in each space on the 3 dividers that fit on the binder rings and you can buy more of these if you have more than 132 pencils. Pens also fit nicely in this bag but it’s not big enough to stick a full-size coloring book into but the postcards and portable books fit nicely on the inside or the outside pocket. There is a zipper pocket inside for your erasers and sharpeners too. The shoulder strap is removable.

Large Binder for Colored Pencil Addicts

Several people in our coloring group have recommended this jumbo pack that holds 216 pencils and/or gel pens. There are also 2 pockets for erasers and sharpeners and a zippered mesh pocket to hold your favorite coloring book. It comes in green, pink and black.

pencil storage

Click here to Order Amazon US, UK or Canada

Me & My Big Ideas Striped Organizer Bag

striped art supply storage

I recently started adding Mixed Media pieces into my coloring books and stumbled upon this bag that one of the people in my class had. I fell instantly in love with it. SO many supplies will fit in this bag and all the zippers keep things nice and organized.

Click here to Order and also see a video that shows you all the amazing that is inside this cutie.

I have heard RAVE reviews about these pencil drawers for all of your coloring supplies too.

US Art Supply® Artist Wood Pastel, Pen, Marker Storage Box with 4-Drawers

Colored Pencil storage

If I worked at a desk they would be a must-have for me but since I seem to color everywhere, I will stick to my bags and baskets full of pencils for now.

Not addicted yet? Overwhelmed by all of this pencil chatter? No worries, check out

Did I miss anything? Do you have other favorites? Let us know in the comments below. 

Happy Coloring!

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Top Coloring Supplies

By Addicted Colorist Leave a Comment

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Every year new coloring supplies come into the market and in 2020 these were the most popular & purchased items by the Coloring Book Addict Fans. They aren’t necessarily my preferred / recommended supplies so I have editorialized the list below. I’ve listed the top 10 coloring supplies in a few categories below.

Top Colored Pencils 2020

  1. Prismacolor Colored Pencils 72 Colors – Probably my favorite too. Prismacolor Colored Pencils various sizes
  2. Crayola Colored Pencils 50 Colors ( recommend Marco Raffines over these for pigmentation and blending)
  3. Castle Art Colored Pencils ( I haven’t heard of them but they have amazing Amazon reviews and a low price)
  4. Marco Raffine – 72 Colors (These are my favorite budget pencils)
  5. Sargeant Art Pencils 50 Pack
  6. Lyra Rembrandt 72 Colors
  7. Faber Castell 120 Colors – Tons of pigment in these color sticks they rank neck & neck with the Prisma’s for me.
  8. Staedtler Ergosoft Pencils (Johanna Basford’s favorites)
  9. Faber Castell Polychromos Artist Pencils 60 count
  10. Luminance Colored Pencils – the most amazing pencils money can buy, lightfast, creamy dreamy, uber-expensive buy oh my what a treat. I have a small set and adore them. I also use them in my mixed media art.

Top Coloring Gel Pens

  1. Color-it Gel Pens – These were a new supply for me in 2020 but WOW what a punch of glittery shimmery perfect color in my books. Plus the pack they come in is just fantastic.
  2. Sakura Gelly Roll Pens – Big box of 72 – a long time favorite of mine, particularly the sparkly set, you all know I can’t live without the clear sparkle pens that you can use over your pencils or marker marks.
  3. Uniball Signo White Pen in Bold – invaluable for making white highlights and other special features in your coloring.
  4. Reaeon Gel Pens – a set of 100 with 100 refills – 28 Glitter, 18 Metallic, 16 Neon, 15 Pastel, 14 Neon-Glitter, 6 Swirl, 3 Classic
  5. Tanmit Gel Pens set of 100 with 100 refills
  6. Gel Pens – a small set of 30
  7. Glitter Gel Pens, 100 Color
  8. Arteza Gel Pens, set of 60
  9. Shuttle Art Gel Pens, set of 180 with 180 refills
  10. Fiskars 48 Gel Pens
  1. Staedtler Fine Tips Markers – These are really the only markers I use in my books. Always recommended by our Queen Johanna Basford and still the best. They are bright, never bleed and come in enough colors (36) to keep me happy.
  2. Pentel Markers set of 36
  3. Staedtler Triplus Fineliner Pens – My go-to for fine liner pens in my books, another favorite of Johannas.
  4. Dual Tip Brush Marker Pens by Tanmit 
  5. Dual Tip Art Marker Pens Fine Point Journal Pens & Colored Brush Markers 
  6. iBayam Journal Planner Pens
  7. Arteza Real Brush Pens
  8. Ohuhu 40-color Alcohol Markers – Reminder! Alcohol markers bleed through paper so these should only be used on one-sided images with a barrier behind your coloring page
  9. BIC Intensity Fashion Permanent Markers
  1. Prismacolor Sharpener
  2. Staedtler Sharpener
  3. Kum 2 Hole Pencil Sharpener – This is my favorite, yes it’s a bit more expensive perhaps but it works on every pencil and never breaks them. Any of the Kum sharpeners are fantastic.
  4. Staedtler 512 001 ST Double-hole Tub Pencil Sharpener – this is my preferred Staedtler sharpener particularly if you have the ergosoft pencils.
  5. Faber-Castell Grip Trio Pencil Sharpener
  1. Derwent Blender Burnisher Set
  2. Mungyo Square Chalk, Soft Pastels for Backgrounds
  3. White Posca Pens – Fabulous option for white details in your coloring pages

I hope this helps you narrow down your choices if you don’t want to read through my in-depth supply pages on Colored Pencils, Markers, Gel Pens, and Background Materials.

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Best cheap colored pencils for adult coloring books

By Addicted Colorist 10 Comments

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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.

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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

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.

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
staedtler colored pencils johanna basfords recommendation for her coloring books
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

Black Widow Colored 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

dark skin tones for coloring

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 and blend it. Put a piece of paper underneath and leave the book open for the oil to evaporate. You can also dip your pencil in the oil or in Vaseline. I would play with this on a book where the pages are removable just to see what you think. There are expensive blending mediums and mineral oils but they are toxic so why not use something you may already have in your house.

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.

These are quite nice too!

Chrissy and the crew at the Coloring Book Addict

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Lets Color! Coloring Books for Grown-Ups

By Addicted Colorist Leave a Comment

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How long has it been since you opened that box of Crayons and saw all those new shiny coloring points in the big yellow box? I know I always wanted the HUGE Box of Crayola’s but we couldn’t afford that one so I got the one that the school asked for with the supply list. Now that I’m grown up I can get the BIG Box… so I did.

For the brand new colorist, I HIGHLY recommend this book if you want to learn techniques and go beyond the simple filling-in of color.

The New Guide To Coloring – Colored Pencil Techniques + Tips and Tricks for Colorists of all skill levels

Inside this friendly guidebook, you’ll find plenty of easy-to-follow advice from best-selling coloring book artists. Their tips and tricks will have you drawing like an accomplished “colorista” in no time. Discover the differences between gel pens and marker pens. Learn the best way to use watercolor pencils. Understand why expensive materials are different from those that are cheaper. Master exciting techniques like patterning, blending, cross-hatching, shading and other cool ways to “up” your coloring experience. It is published by Design Originals and the editors of DO Magazine.

Click to Order Amazon US, UK or Canada  or  Book Depository

I LOVE CRAYONS

Remember the smell of that new box of crayons the first day of school? Go for the biggest box or 96 Crayons, if you don’t like them they’ll be perfect to let the kids or grandkids. There are some spectacularly detailed coloring books being produced just for adults that you are sure to fall in love with. There are so many to choose from you will get lost on Amazon as I did. My dad used to enjoy painting scale model airplanes and I even found him some coloring books with World War I and WWII airplanes and tanks along with an Audubon Bird Coloring book.

I LOVE COLORED PENCILS

These coloring books for adults have some very fine detailing in them that really needs either fine-tipped markers or colored pencils. Gosh you mean I need some more art supplies? That makes me a happy camper.

You are fine starting out with Crayola Pencils just to see if you like that medium. If you decide you love them as much as I do depending on your budget you will want to upgrade to Marco Raffine, Prismacolor Premiere or a big upgrade to Faber-Castell Polychromos. You can also play with watercolor pencils. I love Derwent watercolor pencils. You can put a dab of water in the center of a flower and get some really neat effects without all the mess of real watercolors.. and by a dab I mean I put my finger in my mouth and rub it around. This is for having fun, not for becoming a professional artist. Derwent Inktense colored pencils are more like paint in a stick form and just like the name says the colors are very intense.  (Since I wrote this I’ve learned much more about pencils, please read my Best Colored Pencils & Watercolor Pencils articles linked here.

I LOVE GEL PENS

You are going to want at least a few gel pens and I’m particularly in love with the ones that sparkle,  and shimmer from Sakura’s gelly roll pen line. You DO need to be careful to let them dry a few moments before you touch them or they smear but they dry quickly and look just lovely on the page.

Below I’ve listed some of my favorite coloring books (So far) along with my favorite supplies for you to check out.

COLORING BOOKS

Joanna Basford’s two coloring books are an absolute delight! I still don’t have Enchanted Forest but it’s on my wishlist because the one I DO have “Secret Garden

” is so completely beautiful you save it for your favorite time of day to color in. Each page has fine details and she hides forest creatures throughout that you will love discovering as you color.

This magical coloring book by Johanna Basford takes colorists through an enchanted forest to discover what lies in the castle. Similarly interactive like SECRET GARDEN, ENCHANTED FOREST also features hidden objects and fun mazes. Beginning at the entrance to a fairy-tale forest, the journey progresses through highly embellished woods and through intricate flora. Castles, treasure chests, and other magical elements add a fairy tale narrative to the designs. Special features include a gate-folded two-page spread and a colorable jacket.

Secret Garden was my first coloring book and I just adore it!

This magical coloring book by Johanna Basford takes colorists through an enchanted forest to discover what lies in the castle. Similarly interactive like SECRET GARDEN, ENCHANTED FOREST also features hidden objects and fun mazes. Beginning at the entrance to a fairy-tale forest, the journey progresses through highly embellished woods and through intricate flora. Castles, treasure chests, and other magical elements add a fairy tale narrative to the designs. Special features include a gate-folded two-page spread and a colorable jacket. The jacket also has some shiny golden details.
It is just a beautiful book you are going to want ASAP.

I share my coloring book pages on Instagram so please come follow me there. 

CREATIVE HAVEN has the most budget-friendly option.
If you have a cat lover in the family you are going to want to get “Creative Cats“. The great thing about most of the Creative Haven books is that the coloring pages are one-sided so if things bleed through, you haven’t ruined the page below. I still recommend you tear the page out or put a piece of paper behind just in case the markers you buy bleed through. Many of them do, so test that first.

These are MY favorite books so your results may vary.

Hanna Karlzon Coloring Books Dagdrömmar (Daydreams)

Dagdrommar coloring book by Swedish illustrator artist hanna karlzon

Click to Order on Amazon:  US     UK     Canada    or   Book Depository

Blomster Mandala Coloring Book  aka Twilight Garden by Maria Trolle

twilight garden blomster mandala favorite coloring book

I probably have more pictures colored in this book than any other. There’s just something really magical about Maria Trolle’s drawings and they are easy to figure out. The paper is SPECTACULAR! If you are familiar with Hanna Karlzon’s books, this paper is the same Swedish type including the bookbinding. I purchased the Swedish edition from the Pen store, but the same publisher that recreated Hanan’s books are also working with Maria Trolle so I’m sure they are going to be just fabulous. I promise you will want this one for your collection. My video flip-thru

Click to Order Blomster Amazon US   Amazon UK  Amazon CA  Book Depository

All four of the Good Wives & Warriors small-sized coloring books are my go-to for on the go coloring because of the compact size or just when I want to complete a page in an evening of TV “watching” and coloring.

Escape to Wonderland  – Escape to Oz  – Escape to Christmas Past  –  Escape to Shakespeare

Summer Nights (Sommarnatt) by Hanna Karlzon

summer nights favorite coloring book

Click to Pre-order on Amazon:  US     UK      Canada      or   Book Depository

Secret Garden – Johanna Basford

Johanna Basford Secret Garden

Of course returning to Secret Garden is always a bit magical because like for many of you, it was the gateway drug to my coloring book addiction. It holds my very first adult colorings that now look quite childish to me by my new jaded standards but then again it’s great to see how much my style has changed in the last year. This book is a bit of history and whimsey for those of us who started with Johanna as our coloring queen. Enchanted Forest is a close runner up!

Floribunda Coloring Book by Leila Duly

floribunda favorite coloring book floribunda

This one is very special for me because I discovered it while I was on a girl’s weekend with my two favorite people on the planet, my two grown daughters. It’s really a gorgeous book with artist quality paper. You can order on Amazon Floribunda  US   ~    UK   ~   Canada and Book Depository

Leila Duly has a new book for 2017 that looks gorgeous too. Done more in the Hanna Karlzon fashion as a 2-sided bound book. I can’t wait to see a copy. It’s called “The Flower Year“

Favorite Coloring Books that are harder to find

The adult coloring book craze started in Europe with Scottish illustrator Johanna’s Secret Garden, so some of my favorite books aren’t available in the US or on Amazon! I see them by following some fabulous colorists like Morena Vajak on Instagram. She’s always posting colorings from books that I desperately NEED to have.

Fantastisches Malbuch (Fantasmical Coloring Book) by Colin Thompson

favorite coloring book

This book still isn’t available on US Amazon so I checked Ebay, Etsy and finally located it on the wonderful free shipping book site Book Depository. You would never know how fabulous this book is by looking at this listing BUT I saw images from it on Instagram This is my first coloring from the book. It’s that really cool grayscale that makes it look like you are a fabulous artist. I love that!

You can order on Amazon UK     and nationwide and on Book Depository You can buy it on Amazon US here but I’d still recommend Book Depository.

Animal Kingdom: Color Me, Draw Me

I’m pretty sure I need at least one of the coloring books by Millie Marotta, She seems to combine Zentangle and coloring into one book.

Outside the Lines: An Artists’ Coloring Book for Giant Imagination
This unique coloring book takes all sorts of artists drawings and illustrations and plops them into this book.

Creative Coloring: Animals

This is a fabulous book for beginners. “Tangled Treasures Coloring Book: 52 Intricate Tangle Drawings to Color with Pens, Markers, or Pencils – Plus: Coloring schemes and techniques”

Beginners Colored Pencils:

Good Old Crayola Colored Pencils work great too for those of us who may or may NOT really know the difference, and the price point can’t be beaten.

50 Pack of Long Crayola Colored Pencils. Do watch out that you don’t get short ones or classroom packs that don’t have 50 different colors. These are an excellent value for sure and a great way to let your kids and grandkids color with you without worrying about them ruining your expensive pencils. Twistable Crayola Crayons are also lots of fun and you don’t have to sharpen them. 

Better Colored Pencils

Prismacolor Colored Pencils – Wax Based Pencils
Click to Order Amazon US  – Amazon UK  – Amazon Canada

Derwent Inktense – Water Color Pencils – very vibrant color
Click to Order Amazon US   –  Amazon UK  –  Amazon Canada 
Read about how to use watercolors in Coloring Books here.

Best Colored Pencils

Faber Castell Polychromos are fabulous, oil-based colored pencil that gives you the deepest colors, the best blending, and the smoothest application out there for the very detailed books.  If you are a Johanna Basford fan then you are going to want the largest pack of these you can afford.

I STRONGLY recommend downloading the Hobby Lobby, Michaels and Joann’s App to your smartphone. That way you always have the coupons with you. Being the clumsy person I am.. I ALWAY forget the coupons at home or in the other car or the other purse.. you get me. right?

I’ve also heard wonderful things about Lyra Colored Pencils but haven’t used them myself. Update, They are OK, but are in 4th or 5th place behind Prismas, Polys, Marco Raffines etc.

Getting started with Adult Coloring books? Check out this post Supplies for New Colorists and the top 13 tips you need to know.

AMAZON PRIME – If you aren’t a member you should look into it.

You get free 2-day shipping every day at Amazon with Amazon Prime. You can try it for free right now. The Amazon Prime membership program offers other special benefits. Members can instantly watch over 40,000 movies and TV episodes and borrow 1000’s of books from the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.

Topical Lists of Coloring Books for Grown-Ups to check out

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Colored Pencil Tutorials for Adult Coloring Books

By Addicted Colorist Leave a Comment

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When you open your first coloring book for adults you might be a bit overwhelmed at the amount of detail and then when you start exploring the hundreds of Facebook coloring groups with amazing artists sharing their work you might get very intimidated! However, never fear, there are a few books to guide you and this book is hands down the best I have seen.

The New Guide To Coloring – Colored Pencil Techniques + Tips and Tricks for Colorists of all skill levels

This book has everything you ever wanted to know about coloring in adult coloring books but didn’t know how to ask. From basic blending, shading and highlighting techniques to complex color theory, ideas for things to do with your colorings and advice on supplies. The amount of knowledge in the coloring book bible will blow you away. It is published by Design Originals and the editors of DO Magazine.

Click to Order Amazon US   Amazon UK   Amazon Canada    Book Depository

YouTube is also your friend, just search for “Colored Pencil Tutorials” and dozens will come up I’ve posted a few of my favorites for you below.

Johanna Basford Easy Coloring Tutorials

3 ways to Colour Leaves in Magical Jungle by Johanna Basford

How to Color Treasure by Johanna Basford

How to color a dragon in Ivy & the Inky Butterfly by Johanna Basford

How to Color Skin Tone by Johanna Basford

Blending Techniques – Colored Pencil Tutorials

Blending Tips – Colored Pencil Tutorial with Cher Kauffman

My favorite colored pencil teacher is Peta Hewitt. In this one she chats while coloring in Johanna Basford’s Enchanted Forest and explains which pencils she uses and then shows her methods for blending and choosing colours.

Colouring Tutorials: Pencil Blending and Choosing Colours by Peta Hewitt

These first three have the artist chatting with you and explaining different aspects of coloring with colored pencils. This next video has the artist just coloring in a Johanna Basford owl.. Just watching her color you can get ideas about how to blend  colors together.

This tutorial addresses the problems colourists have with picking colours and planning their work. Using this multi-part tutorial Peta will colour the grasshopper picture in Hanna Karlzon’s colouring book ‘Sommarnatt’ (‘Summer Nights’ in English). I’ve added part 1 and 5

Chris Cheng has a completely different style for her Johanna Basford Owl. There is NO one way to color, no rules at all! That’s what sets adult coloring book apart and makes them such a stress reliever. If you want a purple owl then color it purple. Chris’ owl is more traditional palette of Earth tones and with lots of white highlights showing through. Both are fabulous and as you learn techniques you will come upon your own individual style.

If you have explored Johanna’s Secret Garden & Enchanted Forests or have gotten a copy of Floribunda or the Swedish artists Hanna Karlzon or Marie Troll’s gorgeous coloring books you know that coloring flowers and leaves is something you need to master. This colored pencil tutorial from Davlina Art shows different methods of leaf shading and highlighting.  It moves slowly enough that you could color right along with her.

How to create shiny leaves – Leaf Shading Colored Pencil Tutorial

How to color flowers – Colored Pencil Tutorial

Coloring Pencil Tutorials: How to Color Leaves by Peta Hewitt

Peta explains what she is doing and why as she colors, as you listen she will also reveal all sorts of other little tips that you haven’t heard of before. I really enjoy watching and listening.

Colouring Tutorial: Using Light and Choosing Colours – Colored Pencil Tutorial

Advanced Colored Pencil Tutorials

colored pencil tutorials by peta hewitt

Once you have the basics of flowers and leaves down you will need to move into more advanced techniques and once again I turn to Peta Hewitt. She is a great teacher who explains things in such a way as she colors that the concepts come alive.

Colouring Tutorial – How to Colour in a Face shown in Dagdrommar by Peta Hewitt

Coloring Skin & Hair Colored Pencil Tutorial by Chris Chen ColorvsColour

Chris doesn’t explain what she is doing or why but you can learn by watching her color in Dagdrommar coloring book in this video.

How to Color Gemstones and Jewels – Colored Pencil Tutorial by Peta Hewitt

As soon as you get your copies of Dagdrommar & Sommernatt you will want to know how to color in all the gems and jewels in Hanna Karlzon’s colouring books.

How to do a background in your coloring book – Video Tutorials

Background Basics – Coloring Book Tutorials

Cher Kauffman shares 10 different ways to do backgrounds.

How to Color a Black Background – Colored Pencil Tutorial by Peta Hewitt

How to color a background with pastels- Colored Pencil Tutorial by Peta Hewitt

Tips and Tricks for Pastel Background

Coloring Backgrounds with Pastel Pencils – Colored Pencil Tutorials

Colored Backgrounds using eye shadow – Coloring Tutorial

Check out these Tips for New Colorists, best colored pencils to buy, best markers to buy and best gel pens for adult coloring books.

We will continue to add our favorite Colored Pencil Tutorials to this page as we discover them.

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Best Watercolor Supplies for Coloring Books

By Addicted Colorist 6 Comments

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Watercolor Supplies for Adult Coloring Books

I’ll be introducing my favorite watercolor supplies to use in your coloring books in this article. As always, use caution with any new supplies and play with them a bit in your art journal or a page you aren’t in love with before you tackle a new project. Know that MOST coloring book pages aren’t watercolor paper so you will need to take care to use less water than what you would use for proper watercolor painting. You can always copy the pages in your books to watercolor paper.

Derwent Watercolor Pencils

Derwent has two options:

Derwent Inktense Watercolor pencils can be used wet or dry but when water is added the colors become INTENSE.. thus the name.  Derwent Intense come in tiny packs of 6, or 12 but I would recommend one of the 3 middle sizes. 24, 36, 48(in a fancy wooden box below) or 72. Derwent Inktense Watercolor pencils in the UK and in Canada. These are not actually watercolors but instead are ink in the form of a pencil that activate with water. They are a bit magical. Peta Hewitt’s videos are invaluable in learning to use this watercolor supply.

inktense watercolor pencils in a beautiful wood box watercolor supplies

My favorite instructional artist Peta Hewitt shows you how to use Inktense Colored Pencils in this tutorial video.

Peta Hewitt warns us Inktense Pencils actually aren’t watercolor but rather acrylic ink in the form of a pencil so it does activate with water, but once it dries, then it’s permanent as opposed to watercolors which you can add water too and move the color around.

Faber Castell also has a couple of options for you in Watercolor Pencils

Albrecht Durer Artist Watercolor Pencils

These pencils open new horizons to your artistic creations by combining the advantages and applications of the classical watercolor paints and color pencils. The high pigment density ensures unsurpassed brilliance and the maximum possible light- fastness even for the most delicate shades and nuances.

Wonderfully creamy leads and high-density color make these pencils a perfect choice for anyone who is at all serious about working with watercolor pencils. The colors are more muted than those of Derwent Inktense Pencils, but the marks made can be moved more than once with water, so they serve a slightly different purpose. The two sets combined would be the absolutely ultimate collection a water colorist could desire. 

Click to buy Albrecht Durer’  Watercolor Pencils   US   UK   Canada

Albrecht Durer’s set of 24 includes: White, Light yellow glaze, Cadmium yellow, Dark chrome yellow, Dark cadmium orange, Pale geranium lake, Deep scarlet red, Dark red, Magenta, Helioblue-reddish, Ultramarine, Light ultramarine, Phthalo blue, Dark phthalo green, Emerald green, Light green, Earth green yellowish, Venetian red, Burnt ochre, Raw umber, Walnut brown, Warm grey V, Warm grey II, Black.

Albrecht Durer’s set of 36 includes: 

White, Cream, Light yellow glaze, Cadmium yellow, Dark chrome yellow, Cadmium orange, Dark cadmium orange, Pale geranium lake, Deep scarlet red, Middle cadmium red, Dark red, Magenta, Rose carmine, Middle purple pink, Mauve, Dark indigo, Helioblue-reddish, Ultramarine, Light ultramarine, Phthalo blue, Cobalt turquoise, Cobalt green, Dark phthalo green, Emerald green, Light green, Leaf green, Earth green yellowish, Pompeian red, Venetian red, Burnt ochre, Dark Naples ochre, Raw umber, Walnut brown, Warm grey V, Warm grey II, Black

Albrecht Durer’s set of 60 includes:

White, Cream, Light yellow glaze, Cadmium yellow lemon, Light cadmium yellow, Cadmium yellow, Dark cadmium yellow, Dark chrome yellow, Cadmium orange, Dark cadmium orange, Pale geranium lake, Deep scarlet red, Middle cadmium red, Permanent carmine, Dark red, Magenta, Madder, Rose carmine, Middle purple pink, Pink madder lake, Red-violet, Purple violet, Mauve, Delft blue, Dark indigo, Indanthrene blue, Helioblue-reddish, Ultramarine, Light ultramarine, Phthalo blue, Bluish turquoise, Prussian blue, Cobalt turquoise, Cobalt green, Deep cobalt green, Dark phthalo green, Emerald green, Light green, Leaf green, Pine green, Juniper green, Olive green yellowish, Earth green yellowish, Chromium green opaque, Medium flesh, Pompeian red, Venetian red, Sanguine, Burnt ochre, Naples yellow, Dark Naples ochre, Raw umber, Van Dyck brown, Burnt siena, Walnut brown, Warm grey V, Warm grey II, Cold grey II, Cold grey IV, Black

Albrecht Durer’s set of 72 includes:

White, Cream, Light yellow glaze, Cadmium yellow lemon, Light cadmium yellow, Cadmium yellow, Dark cadmium yellow, Dark chrome yellow, Cadmium orange, Dark cadmium orange, Scarlet red, Pale geranium lake, Deep scarlet red, Middle cadmium red, Permanent carmine, Dark red, Magenta, Madder, Rose carmine, Middle purple pink, Pink madder lake, Light magenta, Red-violet, Crimson, Purple violet, Mauve, Delft blue, Dark indigo, Indanthrene blue, Helioblue-reddish, Cobalt blue, Ultramarine, Light ultramarine, Skyblue, Phthalo blue, Light phthalo blue, Bluish turquoise, Prussian blue, Cobalt turquoise, Light cobalt turquoise, Cobalt green, Deep cobalt green, Dark phthalo green, Phthalo green, Emerald green, Light green, Leaf green, Pine green, Juniper green, Olive green yellowish, Earth green yellowish, Chromium green opaque, Earth green, Medium flesh, Light flesh, Cinnamon, Pompeian red, Venetian red, Sanguine, Burnt ochre, Naples yellow, Dark Naples ochre, Green gold, Raw umber, Van Dyck brown, Burnt siena, Walnut brown, Warm grey V, Warm grey II, Cold grey II, Cold grey IV, Black

Faber Castell’s Complete Set of Watercolor Supplies

Albrecht Durer’s set of 120 includes: White, Ivory, Cream, Light yellow glaze, Cadmium yellow lemon, Light cadmium yellow, Light chrome yellow, Cadmium yellow, Dark cadmium yellow, Dark chrome yellow, Cadmium orange, Orange glaze, Dark cadmium orange, Light cadmium red, Scarlet red, Pale geranium lake, Deep scarlet red, Deep red, Middle cadmium red, Permanent carmine, Dark red, Magenta, Madder, Alizarzin crimson, Pink carmine, Rose carmine, Fuchsia, Middle purple pink, Light purple pink, Pink madder lake, Light magenta, Ligth red-violet, Red-violet, Crimson, Manganese violet, Violet, Purple violet, Blue violet, Mauve, Delft blue, Dark indigo, Indanthrene blue, Helioblue-reddish, Cobalt blue, Ultramarine, Light ultramarine, Skyblue, Cobalt blue günlich, Phthalo blue, Middle phthalo blue, Light phthalo blue, Helio turquoise, Bluish turquoise, Prussian blue, Cobalt turquoise, Light cobalt turquoise, Cobalt green, Deep cobalt green, Hooker’s green, Dark phthalo green, Chrome oxide green fiery, Phthalo green, Emerald green, Ohthalogrün hell, Light green, Grass green, Leaf green, Permanent green, Permanent green olive, Pine green, Chrome oxid green, Juniper green, Olive green yellowish, May green, Earth green yellowish, Chromium green opaque, Earth green, Caput mortuum, Indian red, Caput mortuum Violet, Burnt carmine, Dark flesh, Medium flesh, Light flesh, Cinnamon, Pompeian red, Venetian red, Sanguine, Burnt ochre, Terracotta, Light yellow ochre, Naples yellow, Dark Naples ochre, Green gold, Brown ochre, Raw umber, Bistre, Van Dyck brown, Nougat, Burnt umber, Burnt siena, Walnut brown, Dark sepia, Warm grey VI, Warm grey V, Warm grey III, Warm grey II, Warm grey I, Cold grey I, Cold grey II, Cold grey III, Cold grey IV, Cold grey V, Cold grey VI, Payne’s grey, Black, Silver, Gold, Copper.

You can also order beautiful wood boxed sets for special gifts for the artists in your life.

faber castell albrecht durer watercolor supplies for coloring

Albrecht Durer’ Colored Pencils  Click To Order US   UK   Canada

Your third artist grade watercolor pencil option is from Caran D’ache the pencil company that brings you the beautiful Pablo and Luminance colored pencil also has a line of watercolor pencils called Supracolor which compare to the Pablo’s and Museum Caran D’ache Museum Aquarelle Watercolor Pencils which are the Watercolor version of Luminance! WOW! The price reflects. 

Caran D’ache Watercolor Pencils

Oh, MY these are beautiful, just like their Luminance line of colored pencil they come boxed with little pillows for each pencil and that is how I treat my small set of 20.. like royalty. You can purchase these 72 gorgeous sticks of color by clicking here in the US  but they are in limited supply available in the UK here and Canada here.

caran d ache museum aquarelle watercolor pencils

The Caran D’ache Museum Aquarelle Pencil also sell in a set of 20 Landscape Colors 

Click to Order Amazon US  Amazon UK  Amazon Canada

Caran D’ache Museum Aquarelle Pencil Sets Museum Intro set of 12 colors includes
Black, Yellow Ochre, Brown, Lemon Yellow, Purplish Red, Payne’s Grey, Gold Cadmium Yellow. Light Cadmium Red. Dark Ultramarine, Permanent Blue, Phthalocyanine Green and Bright Green

Click to Order Amazon US  Amazon UK  Amazon Canada

Inexpensive Watercolor Sets

My absolutely favorite for my mixed media art projects but would also be perfect for coloring books are the sets by Prima. Just the tins they come in are worth the full price. They come in color coordinated sets based on what type of art you enjoy.

Prima Watercolor Sets

Decadent Pies Watercolor Set

Click To Order Amazon US   UK   Canada

Prima Marketing Watercolor Confections: Tropicals 

Click To Order Amazon US      UK    Canada

Prima Marketing Watercolor Confections: The Classics

Click To Order Amazon US     UK     Canada
Prima Marketing watercolor Confections: Shimmering Lights 

Click To Order Amazon US      UK    Canada
Koi Water Color Travel Set – I really love this set as it contains a mini set of 24 pans of paint plus a Koi Waterbrush. This is made by Sakura, makers of Gelly Roll pens. This is the set I have.  I was warned at the art store that these colors aren’t artist grade and will fade with time and exposure to sunlight so if that is important to you, check the lightfast rating.

Click to order US       UK      Canada

koi watercolor portable kit with water brush by sakura

Also, a nice budget option for watercolors are the Koh i Noor stack of watercolors with 24 pots of color in a cute stack of color wheels
kohinoor color watercolor supplies

Click to order US    UK    Canada

Winsor & Newton Cotman Water Color Pocket PLUS Set of 24 Half Pans

This is a student grade of watercolors but still a nice quality that would work perfectly for your coloring books. Each color has good transparency, excellent tinting strength and good working properties.
windsor and newton watercolor supplies

Click to order US    UK    Canada

Some people have a hard time controlling the water that comes out of water brushes so you can use watercolor brushes. You will need a small and medium round and a small flat brush. You can buy sets of them for very inexpensively to start out or head to your hobby store and buy one or two nice one’s using whatever coupon you have.

Waterbrushes are quite handy and are my favorite one’s particularly on the go as you don’t have to rinse the brushes out,  just blot off the color on your practice paper and go to a near area. See Peta’s video above for two ways to use the water brushes.

Zig Kuretake Aqua Brushes come in two sizes Medium and Zig Detail Aqua Brush

Click to Order Waterbrushes UK      Waterbrushes Canada

How to use water brushes Tutorial Video from Peta.

We hope this helped you get started with watercolor supplies for your coloring, be sure to check out these coloring books designed specifically for watercolors and more video tutorials on watercolor coloring techniques here.