What Are The Best Watercolor Pencils? Reviews, Ratings & Buying Guide

Introduction

When I first started looking for watercolors pencils I was clueless and overwhelmed.

There were many watercolor buying guides and websites but many of them talk to me like I already knew what I was doing.

So I decided to put together this guide to help you make your decision a little bit easier and know what watercolor paints and supplies to buy.

In this article we want to give you an overview and the best advice I can based on my experience when it comes to the best watercolor pencils for you.

I have purchased and try many of them and definitely read about all about them. I also listen to other artist what they think.

Watercolor Pencils Pricing

First, with art supplies you will hear it over and over again – you get what you pay for.

It doesn’t mean you want you get the most expensive one right away, but remember that you first set is probably going to be on a budget and as you gain experience, you will want to try a more professional set.

What Level Are You and What’s Your Goal?

Are you a beginner? Already experienced with the kind of art supplies you use? Or a crafter that uses them for scrapbooking and journaling as an add-on only? Or are you a professional artist who sells his or her products commercially?

If you have some experience it is important to consider your personal preference!

Just like with nearly anything that you can buy, different people like different things. The same goes for art supplies and watercolors! Pick any item on this list and some people will say it is their favorite product in the world while others do not like it at all, for whatever reason…

The goal of this article is to provide you with the kind of knowledge to choose the top watercolor pencils to fit your needs and that you will enjoy for a long time to come!

Product	Features	Price
Caran d’Ache Neocolor® II Watersoluble crayons	These watercolor crayons are a dream to work with! Artist quality Wide range of colors, very vibrant and beautiful. Sets of 10 / 15 / 30 /40 / 84 / 126 and open stock. Make sure you get the ones with a 2 on the packaging, only those ones are the watersoluble crayons.	Check The Best Price
Albrecht Dürer Watercolor Pencils by Faber-Castell	High quality watercolor pencils. Artist quality. Sets of 6/12/24/36/60/120 and open stock. The colors coordinate with the Faber-Castell Polychromos Artist colored pencils.	Check The Best Price
Derwent Watercolor pencils	A great choice for any watercolor artist. Great sturdy quality Versatile Sets of 12 /24/36/72 Open stock Good price.	Check The Best Price
Caran d’ Ache Supracolor soft pencils	Great performing watercolor pencils of outstanding quality. Sets come in 12 / 18 / 30 / 40 / 80 / 120 and open stock singular aquarelle pencils. Anniversary sets / Limited edition of 30 and 60 The best in the market and probably the most expensive. Produce a clean no-trace results	Check The Best Price
ARTEZA Professional Watercolor Pencils	Arteza is a pretty new brand in the art supply industry, but these aquarelle pencils seem like a good option for watercoloring beginners. Great for beginners and intermediate users Great price for large sets More of a student grade than professional Set of 72 / 120	Check The Best Price
Stabilo Aquacolor	They were my first watercolor pencils and I enjoyed working with them in the beginning. Great for beginners on a budget. They get light fast Not as versatile They re currently avaialable in sets of 12 / 24 and 36.	Check The Best Price
Prismacolor Premier Watercolor Pencils	I haven't tried this ones but I heard a lot of people rave about these. The color range is limited to 36 colors, but then you can always mix your own colors… Great for blending Vivid colors Limited color selection and only available sets of 12 /24/ 36 colors Good price	Check The Best Price

What to know while Buying Watercolor Pencils

There are a few things you want to know when purchasing watercolor pencils.

If you are a total newbie you usually learn this things as you start creating more art, so I am going just to gie a quick introduction.

About Pigments

The thing with art supplies and colors is that it is all about the pigments. And the more pigment a product contains, the more intense and concentrated the color is that is used, and the more expensive the production costs get. That is why the best pigments tend to be the most expensive of them.

Light fastness

Another factor for pricing of a product is the light fastness that comes with a pigment / the pigments used.

The higher the lightfastness rating of a color, the less likely it is to fade when exposed to sunlight. This factor might be especially important if you want to produce art that is meant to be hung in somebody’s living room.

If you scan your artwork right away or only use your colors on materials like the inside of sketchbooks, this might be a less important factor for you.

So when it comes to pencils it comes down to not only what you want to get and which effects you want to achieve with them, but also your level of experience and the amount of a product which you will use for a project matter.

Open Stock

When you are looking for watercolors sets, you may also want to consider the ones that have the Open Stock option. This means you can find purchase the pencils individually. This becomes a factor the more that you use them.

For example, I use regular coloring pencils and the noir (black color) I use the most and is always lower than the other ones. If you are planning to dedicate a lot of times to this craft, you may want to invest

Color Sets

The total sets come with different quantities from 12 to 120. In some cases the limited colors is fine like skin colored pencils but in other cases you want to purchase a larger set. Smaller sets doesn’t mean they are not enough because you can always blend some colors and create your color by mixing them, but you will have more options on larger sets.

Where’s the Best Place to Buy Watercolor Pencils?

There are many stores to consider when purchasing your watercolor supplies.

If you want local Michael’s and Hobby Loby as the main stores.

If you re buying online I recommend using dickblick.com.

They have great support, prices and selection, even if their price is a bit higher than amazon, I’ll pay extra for it.

These days and age we all purchase things from amazon but they are not always the best stores. Sometimes they are limited on the sets and also the shipping can damage the products.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are many different watercolor pencils to choose from. If you finished reading this article, but you still feel unsure which pencils to get, I would suggest getting a smaller set or some open stock watercolor pencils for the start to get a feel for the products.

After trying them out and maybe even trying different brands (those also in small quantities in the beginning) you will find out what your needs and likes are.

If you really love watercolor pencils as a medium, I would highly recommend getting a bigger artist quality watercolor pencil set to fit all of your coloring needs.

But do not forget that you can mix your own colors yourself! Especially when it comes to watercolors, you can get a huge range of color shades by mixing and diluting the color pigments with water.

So even if you have a somewhat more limited number of watercolor pencils, you can easily make your own colors and broaden your color range in this way, without buying every single shade and color of watercolor pencils there is out there.