What are the best soft colored pencils for artists?

Are you struggling to find colored pencils that blend smoothly and create vibrant artwork? Many artists waste money on harsh, scratchy pencils that frustrate their creative process.

The best soft colored pencils for artists include Prismacolor Premier, Caran d'Ache Luminance, Derwent Coloursoft, and Faber-Castell Polychromos. These brands offer superior blending capabilities, rich pigmentation, and professional-quality results that satisfy both beginners and seasoned artists.

After testing dozens of colored pencil brands in our manufacturing facility over the years, I've discovered what truly makes a pencil exceptional. Let me share the insights that can transform your artwork from amateur to professional quality.

What coloured pencils do professional artists use?

Do you wonder why some artists create stunning, gallery-worthy pieces while others struggle? The secret often lies in their choice of colored pencils.

Professional artists primarily use Faber-Castell Polychromos, Caran d'Ache Luminance, Prismacolor Premier, and Derwent series. These brands provide consistent quality, excellent lightfastness, and superior blending capabilities essential for professional artwork.

Through years of working with professional artists and testing various brands in our research lab, I've identified the top choices among professionals. Faber-Castell Polychromos¹ leads the pack for detail work. These oil-based pencils offer medium-soft cores that resist breaking while providing excellent layering capabilities. Their lightfastness ratings² are outstanding, making them perfect for artwork intended for long-term display.

Caran d'Ache Luminance represents the premium tier. Swiss manufacturing³ ensures consistent quality, and their lightfastness⁴ is unmatched. Nearly every color can resist sunlight without fading, making them ideal for museum-quality pieces. However, the price reflects this excellence.

Derwent offers multiple professional series. Their Artists series⁵ provides rich colors with medium-soft texture at reasonable prices. The Lightfast series⁶ emphasizes fade resistance, while Coloursoft delivers the softest experience in their lineup. This variety allows artists to choose based on specific project needs.

Brand	Series	Softness	Best For	Price Range
Faber-Castell	Polychromos	Medium-Soft	Detail Work	Mid-High
Caran d'Ache	Luminance	Soft	Museum Quality	Premium
Derwent	Coloursoft	Very Soft	Blending	Mid
Prismacolor	Premier	Very Soft	General Use	Mid

What are the softest color pencils?

Have you ever wondered which pencils glide across paper like butter? Finding truly soft pencils can revolutionize your artistic technique.

The softest colored pencils are Prismacolor Premier and Derwent Coloursoft, both rated 5 stars for softness. These pencils contain high wax content that creates smooth, creamy application with minimal pressure required.

Based on our laboratory analysis and real-world testing, these two brands consistently rank as the softest available⁷. Our testing revealed that softness depends heavily on the wax-to-pigment ratio⁸ in the core formulation. Higher wax content creates that creamy, effortless glide artists love.

Prismacolor Premier⁹ achieves extreme softness through their proprietary high-wax formula¹⁰. This creates nearly zero resistance when drawing, allowing for quick color laydown and seamless blending. Artists can achieve smooth gradients and rich color saturation with minimal effort.

Derwent Coloursoft¹¹ matches this performance with their own formulation. The name says it all – these pencils were specifically designed to be as soft as possible while maintaining structural integrity. They excel at covering large areas quickly and creating smooth transitions between colors¹².

However, extreme softness comes with trade-offs. Both brands are more prone to breaking, especially during sharpening. The soft cores can also create waxy buildup on paper surfaces, limiting the number of layers you can apply. Despite these limitations, their blending capabilities remain unmatched.

Our research team has analyzed the exact formulations that make these pencils so exceptional. We've used this knowledge to develop our own professional-grade soft colored pencils that match their quality while addressing their weaknesses.

Why are prismacolors so soft?

Are you curious about the secret behind Prismacolor's legendary smoothness? Understanding their formulation reveals why they dominate the soft pencil market.

Prismacolor pencils are extremely soft due to their high wax content formula. The wax base creates a creamy texture that glides effortlessly across paper, depositing rich pigments with minimal pressure while enabling superior blending capabilities.

After analyzing Prismacolor Premier cores in our laboratory, I discovered their unique formulation secret. The high wax percentage creates that signature butter-like application that artists worldwide recognize. This wax base serves multiple purposes in their design.

The wax acts as a binding agent¹³ that holds pigments together while maintaining flexibility. Unlike clay-based binders used in harder pencils, wax remains pliable at room temperature. This allows the core to deposit color smoothly without scratching or skipping across paper texture.

Their pigment concentration¹⁴ is carefully balanced with the wax content. Too much pigment would make the pencil crumbly, while too little would create weak color payoff. Prismacolor's formula achieves optimal saturation while preserving that creamy consistency.

The manufacturing process involves precise temperature control during core formation. The wax must be heated to exact temperatures to create uniform density throughout each pencil. This consistency ensures every Prismacolor pencil performs identically, building trust among professional artists.

However, this softness creates challenges. The high wax content makes cores fragile during transport and sharpening. Extended layering can cause waxy buildup that prevents further color application. Artists must learn to work with these characteristics rather than fight against them.

Based on this analysis, we've developed our own soft pencil formula that captures Prismacolor's smoothness while improving durability and layering capacity. Our enhanced formula reduces breakage while maintaining that coveted creamy application.

What colored pencils are comparable to Prismacolor?

Are you looking for alternatives that match Prismacolor's performance? Several excellent options provide similar softness and blending capabilities.

Derwent Coloursoft, Bruynzeel Design, Holbein Artist's, and Caran d'Ache Pablo offer comparable softness to Prismacolor. These brands feature similar wax-based formulations that create smooth application and excellent blending properties.

Through extensive testing with professional artists, I've identified several brands that deliver Prismacolor-level performance¹⁵. Derwent Coloursoft stands as the closest competitor, featuring nearly identical softness levels and blending capabilities. Their color range is extensive, and the price point makes them accessible to most artists.

Bruynzeel Design Colour Pencils from the Netherlands offer exceptional softness with superior European manufacturing quality. Their cores are remarkably smooth, and color saturation rivals Prismacolor's intensity. However, availability outside Europe can be limited.

Holbein Artist's Colored Pencils represent Japanese precision engineering applied to colored pencil manufacturing. Their cores feature perfect consistency, bright pure colors, and softness that matches Prismacolor's smoothness. The main drawback is limited availability and higher pricing in most markets.

Caran d'Ache Pablo provides a middle ground between their premium Luminance series and more affordable options. These pencils offer impressive softness with brighter, more vibrant colors than many competitors. Swiss quality control ensures consistent performance across their entire range.

For wholesale customers seeking Prismacolor-quality pencils for custom applications, our manufacturing facility has developed professional-grade soft colored pencils that match these premium standards. After years of research and development, we've created formulations that deliver comparable performance while offering superior value for bulk orders.

Our testing shows that our professional series matches Prismacolor's smoothness while improving layering capacity and reducing breakage rates. Multiple rounds of artist feedback have confirmed these improvements, with consistent praise for both quality and cost-effectiveness.

Brand	Similarity to Prismacolor	Advantages	Availability
Derwent Coloursoft	95%	Price, Availability	Worldwide
Bruynzeel Design	90%	European Quality	Limited
Holbein Artist's	92%	Consistency	Asia-focused
Caran d'Ache Pablo	88%	Color Vibrancy	Worldwide

Conclusion

The best soft colored pencils combine high wax content, quality pigments, and precise manufacturing to create tools that transform artistic vision into reality effortlessly.