About Pencils

Colored Pencils

Prismacolor Premier

Prismacolor Premier pencils are my go-to pencil for sketching. They have a larger softer lead (similar to a B lead on a pencil) than their companion, Verithin, variant. I like the softer lead because I can get a much more expressive line when I vary pressure and deliberately do so.

However, because they have a soft lead, they do tend to smudge a bit more. Paired with bienfang marker paper or other high quality paper, the Premier pencils are a dream, because of the “toothiness” of the bienfang marker paper. I don’t particularly like using them on regular old printer paper. Tracing paper works well. Vellum too. As with other Prismacolor pencils, Premier pencils come in a variety of colors, though I typically use Indigo Blue or Black.

Prismacolor Verithin

Primsacolor Verithin pencils are the H to the B when it comes to colored pencils. They do have a harder lead and tend to stay sharpened longer than the Premier pencils. However, I don’t like that they don’t give me as dark or bold a line as I do with the Premier pencils. At times, when I do want more control and precision (cleanliness) in my lines, I do like to use a verithin. As with other Prismacolor pencils, Verithins come in a variety of colors, though I typically use Indigo Blue or Black.

Accessories

Oh yeah, Sharpeners!

My favorite sharpeners are the old OLD O L D Panasonic sharpeners with autostop. They unfortunately don’t make these anymore, but you can find these workhorses on ebay. Because I love them so much, I have 3. Or maybe 2. I think I did lose one at some point. If you can’t find one of these for some reason, XACTO also makes a decent sharpener, though I’m not sure it’ll come with autostop and a solid motor. The nice thing about the autostop feature is that the sharpener won’t waste your pencil by eating more of it than it needs to eat to give you that sharp point.