The first art colour pencils were invented and produced in 1924 by Faber-Castell and Caran d'Ache. Berol made its colour pencils in 1938.
The invention of the coloured pencil
Through his innovation, Johann Sebastian Staedtler went down in history not only as a pencil manufacturer, but also as the inventor of the wood-cased coloured pencil based on oil and chalk. In 1835, Johann Sebastian Staedtler laid the foundation for the STAEDTLER Group today.
Traditional colored pencils are made of pigment bound in wax (sometimes with a little oil too) and encased in wood. Colors can be blended and applied lightly or boldly. A great medium to use if you like to draw but you also enjoy working with color. A Guide to Traditional Color Pencils.
There are three main types of colored pencil: wax-based, oil-based, and water-soluble. You can also get color sticks and woodless pencils, which consist of the same “lead” material. I'll also briefly address pastel pencils, but they belong in a separate category.
The Perfect Pencil by Faber-Castell is the most expensive in the world.
Ticonderoga - The World's Best Pencil.
12 Color Set - This Polychromos Colored Pencil Set includes one each of Black, Burnt Ochre, Cadmium Yellow, Dark Cadmium Orange, Deep Scarlet Red, Emerald Green, Light Green, Light Ultramarine, Magenta, Phthalo Blue, Walnut Brown and White.
Derwent is better than Faber-Castell in terms of graphite pencils or coloured pencils, but at least, when it comes to Watercolour Pencils, Faber-Castell's Albrecht Dürer is better than Derwent's.
Lightfastness
One of the reasons Prismacolor offers a wider color range is precisely because it is easier and cheaper to manufacture poor light-resistance pigments. Less than 20% of their pencils have an adequate lightfastness rating, whilst 80% of Faber-Castell's Polychromos have a professional grade.
The first art colour pencils were invented and produced in 1924 by Faber-Castell and Caran d'Ache. Berol made its colour pencils in 1938.
Artist- and professional-grade
Artist-grade pencils have the largest color ranges; 72 color sets are very common and there are several brands of 120 colors or more. They are also typically available as individual pencils.
You can use a white pencil to make erasable guidelines that are highly visible on dark-colored papers. The white pencil shows up well on dark papers, which allows you to write orderly white (or light-colored) calligraphy.
Faber-Castell is in fact the world's oldest pencil manufacturer. This product has been in constant production ever since, and is still a popular product now. Kaspar Faber's ambitious great-grandson, Baron Lothar, took over from him at a later date.
Later in the 19th century a major pencil manufacturing industry was created at nearby Keswick. The 'oldest pencil in the world', found in a timbered house built in 1630. It wasn't discovered until 1960s when the house underwent renovations.
The oldest surviving pencil is a German carpenter's pencil dating from the 17th Century and now in the Faber-Castell collection.
Using only the highest grade materials, designed by the world's best designers and produced by the world's best craftsmen, Faber-Castell guarantees timeless quality over and over again.
Pricewise, all three are in the same relative range, with Staedtler being the lowest and Derwent the highest.
Prismacolor Verithin pencils and Caran d'Ache Pablo pencils are hard when compared to their Prismacolor Premier and Caran d'Ache Luminance cousins. But they are still artist-grade pencils. Also be aware that oil-based colored pencils are usually harder and drier than almost any wax-based pencil.
Pencil crayons go by many names. A large portion of Canadians refers to them as pencil crayons whereas Americans tend to call them colored pencils. Meanwhile, in Britain, they are commonly referred to as coloring pencils.
Rainbow Pencils function like regular wooden pencils, and are the same size and weight, but they're not made from wood, they're made from lots of layers of recycled waste paper. So the shavings / sharpenings look like rainbows. Pack Types.
Charcoal pencils, used primarily by artists, are another popular form of black lead pencil, made from a different form of carbon than graphite that is more like coal. These make a very dark black mark on the paper compared to even very soft graphite pencils, such as 8B.
In terms of colored pencil brands, there are Prismacolor, Faber Castell, Caron D'Ache, Lyra, Bruynzeel, Coloursoft from Derwent just to name a few! There is no one brand better than the rest. Instead, try the lot of them to see what they can give you and so you will have an understanding of the looks each can achieve.
Most professional artists will want good sets of both coloured pencil types to switch between when needed. However, if you're looking for one, go-to type of pencil; you should opt for the one you're most likely to need regularly.
Derwent is a UK brand so it should be easier to find Derwent products in the UK, while Prismacolor is US-based. Some people actually like Derwent Coloursoft Pencils better than Prismacolor Colored Pencils, so you might want to try them for yourself and see what you think!