Prismacolor Premier Coloured Pencils review

" Prismacolor Premier® Soft Core Colored Pencils feature soft, thick cores that are perfect for layering, blending
and shading. These colored pencils are vivid and intense in one stroke and subtle and soft in the next, making them
great for both beginners and professionals. Available in a wide array of rich, vibrant colors, these high-quality
colored pencils help add enhanced impact to artwork. "

Taken from the Prismacolor website - www.prismacolor.com

We are currently in the process of updating this article. Please bear with us.

​We purchased a small tin of Prismacolor Premier pencils after seeing so many fantastic pieces of art being created with them so we could trial them ourselves. If there was ever an oil paint in pencil form, these would fit the description perfectly. They blend so well, with a butter-like feel, and the pigments are as vibrant as they look.

There are 150 colours available, which include metallics and neon colours, and there is also a colourless blender which softens transitions without any colour change.

An affordable, lightfast pencil range providing a wide colour palette suitable for any artist. In this article we go into more detail about this range and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this brand.

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CHARACTERISTICS

Base: ​Wax based

Hard or soft lead:  Soft

Lightfast rating:  ASTM 6901

Costs: RRP £1.90 (ave)

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ADVANTAGES
* Vibrant and strong colour application
* Soft pencils
* Great blendibility
* Relatively Cheap
* Large range of colours
* Extensively available in the US at great prices​

DISADVANTAGES
* Many colours have poor lightfast qualities
* Many complain of poor quality wood and breakages
   with complaints ongoing for at least 10 years
* High wax bloom
* Few UK suppliers for open stock or sets

We discuss some of these issues in more detail so keep reading.

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The lightfast chart of 150 colours

Soft and vibrant colour

The Prismacolor Premier pencils are soft and provide vivid colour in your work. This allows the artist to achieve highly pigmented drawings with less effort. This piece of work depicting the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights, was produced using just 6 colours from the Premier range. Soft lead pencils like Prismacolor Premier allow for even coverage with less hard edges,  allowing you to cover an area much swifter than if using a hard lead pencil. It also 'reduces' the hard edges and makes it easier to blend.
The importance of layering and the introduction. Use the white and black pencils to achieve the values in your work rather than using a large amount of colours, is what makes this drawing effective.
Including other products such as metallic pencils and pens, can add further interest to your work and adds an additional level of realism to your coloured pencil work. 

Discussing the negatives, providing solutions

Breakages:
Researching numerous reviews, we found complaints such as  leads continuously breaking, warped wood, leads falling out of the barrel and more. We have not see any of these problems with our set but suspect if we were using them on a daily basis and placing regular orders, these issues may arise. If your order from an international supplier, there is more possibility of damage in transit too, which could be the main reason for some of these complaints. Soft lead pencils will always be more prone to breakages and how you sharpen them is key to minimising this. We discuss these pencils in our dedicated article on best practices for sharpening your pencils. 

The lightfast chart of 150 colours

Lightfast information

Prismacolor Premier pencils are available in 150 colours. This covers a wide spectrum that includes metallic and neon colours. Although the lightfast ratings of these pencils are rated using the ASTM D4236 system, some are far less lightfast than others and this will matter if you use these pencils to create art for paying customers. 
There are 84 colours that offer very good and excellent lightfast ratings, so buying the full set may not be as cost-effective as you thought. As with most pencil ranges, the earthy colours are the most lightfast and these colours are used regularly for pet and animal art.

Lightfast ratings may not be important to you if you use the pencils for colouring books, during art demonstrations or to create prints from the original drawing. If you wish to protect original art, there are ways to extend and protect the pigment. You could spray a  UV fixative over the completed drawing and/or during the framing process, ensure the glass is of a UV or museum quality standard, and hang the art in an area that is not hit with strong sunlight for extended periods.

Sets available:

Individual pencils

Metal tin of 12

Tin of 12 - Landscape

Tin of 12 - Under the Sea

Tin of 12 - Botanical Garden

Box set of 23 - Magna art

Metal tin of 24

Tin of 24 - Portrait

Metal tin of 36

Metal tin of 48

Metal tin of 72

Mixed Media set of 79

Metal tin of 132 colours

Box set of 150 colours

If you wish to know what colours are found in each set, we came across a website by Jenny's Crayon Collection, who has created a list providing this information. View the Prismacolor Premier sets and colours charts.

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Where can you buy stock?

As a UK based website and knowing how few stockists there are of the Prismacolor Premier pencils, the two links below take you to online stores based in the UK that sell these pencils. They also ship internationally too. Links to other sellers for those outside the UK will be added soon.

purchase single pencils - uk

sets and singles (boxes of 12) - uk

Accessories

Prismacolor have other products that can be used alongside their Premier soft core pencils.

BLENDER
​A blender helps to soften hard edges, smoothing out your applications without altering your colour palette. Colours remain bright and brilliant. Waterproof formula.

PENCIL SHARPENER
The Prismacolor Premier Pencil Sharpener has one blade that provides a fine point and a separate blade that sharpens your Prismacolor pencils to a medium point. The blades are premium sharpened steel.

VERITHIN COLOURED PENCILS
The Verithin pencils have a hard core and are ideal for use with the Premier soft core pencils. Thin cores are perfect for details, edges and lettering. They are available in 36 colours.

Blenders & Burnishers - How to use them

How a sharpener can help your pencil techniques

Karismacolor pencils - Prismacolors' European pencil

Coloured pencil mini tutorial - How to layer

The History of Prismacolor

The Prismacolor pencil range was launched in 1938 by the Eagle Pencil Company (founded 1856), and was known as the Eagle Prismacolor (known today as the soft core range). Berol Ltd. purchased the Eagle Pencil Co. in 1969 and renames the pencil Berol Prismacolor. In 1995, Berol Ltd. was acquired by Sanford L.P, a division of the Newell brands, which includes a large portfolio of brands including PaperMate and Sharpie. Sanford sold the Karismacolor pencil, which was the European version of the Prismacolor pencils. Sadly their Karismacolor pencils were discontinued in 2005. 
TO BE UPDATED

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​Article written: February 2016
Updated: 2021