WH Smith's Colouring Pencil - Ideal for the pencil novice

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Ideal for the beginner

The WH Smith colouring pencils are perfect for those new to coloured pencils and I would recommend them to anyone. Even though they are cheap, they have many excellent qualities and they are a good gateway brand for those looking to try coloured pencils as a new medium. Many cheap pencils can be more binder than pigment and the colours are a little loose. These pencils have great pigmentation and their blendibility is better than expected for a low cost brand, that you can use these for many projects.

As an art tutor, I have used these pencils in my coloured pencil workshops since 2012. They have been around for at least 30 years as I used to have a set of them in my pencil collection back in the 90's. They have many benefits that a professional pencil brand offers and some that they do not. Of course they do have their disadvantages and it is important to stress that these pencils are not lightfast, so it is likely that the binders and pigments found in these pencils will be of a far lower quality and the colours will fade considerably quicker than lightfast ones.  Although I would not recommend them for creating commissions, providing you place your artwork behind protective glass, this will help to extend the lifespan too.​

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CHARACTERISTICS

Base: ​Wax (probably)

Hard or Soft Lead:  HARD

Lightfast rating:  NONE

Costs: RRP £3.99 - £10.99

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Sets available:

Let's find out more about these pencils and what they offer

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How good are these pencils?

Student quality coloured pencils are predisposed to inferior colour, due to there being more binder and less pigment in their make-up. In many cases, you need to apply more than one application to build up a significant amount of colour. Surprisingly, the pigments in these pencils are pretty generous and for pencils that cost so little, they can achieve so much. ​If you are new to coloured pencils, the WH Smith brand is ideal. Should you find this medium is not for you after all, you haven't wasted a lot of money on an expensive set.

Having extended the colour palette from 36 to 48 colours, back in 2017, this allowed far more scope to use them for human portraiture as they offered a wider selection of paler tones along side the darker tones. A portrait is made up from a collection of colour tones, and the more you have available, the more effective your portrait. 

When drawing subjects like this Black Labrador, as there are only 2 greys, a White and a Black, you may feel this could limit the work you can create. To a degree this is true, but remember that you can create other shades of grey with the black and white pencils. Introduce blues or browns to the layers to add cool or warm tones and you will find that you can achieve a lot of depth this way.

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Does a small colour palette hinder the creation of detailed drawings?

There may only be 48 colours in this range but you can still get great results with a minimal palette. Using just eight colours, I was able to create some great detail in this Blue Merle Shetland Sheepdog. You can achieve this by loosely applying the pencils and layering over the top using other tones which will add extra shades to your drawing and create more realism. These pencils are so versatile, they sharpen well and the colours are strong, with the exception of the white pencil which is somewhat translucent and I would recommend you use the white from a professional range such as Coloursoft or Luminance.

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How Do These Pencils Compare to Professional ranges?

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How well do these pencils perform on tonal and textured papers?

The pigments in these pencils are strong and lay down well on any paper tone, even dark ones. Although the white pencil is a little translucent, it still shows up well on both the dark grey and tan coloured papers. A good way to test a pencil range before you buy a full set, is to see how pigmented the black and white pencils are, especially if you are buying individual pencils in-store. The black is strong, the white less so, but still impressive when the full set of 48 colours cost less than £11.00.

If you are working on gritty papers like Colourfix or Mi-tientes Touch, any pencil, but in particular wax-based ones, will wear down far quicker than on smoother paper, so it can be more cost effective to apply your base tones with a cheaper brand before adding the finer details using expensive, professional ones.


These pencils are as versatile as some professional brands when it comes to application, you can practise your techniques and gain more confidence before you purchase your first professional brand. There is no comparison when it comes to pigment content between a student brand and a professional one, hence the price difference, but they are definitely a good 'introduction to coloured pencils' brand.

Find Out More About working on textured paper paper

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Other related articles that may be of interest

View all our Coloured pencil articles

How do these pencils compare with professional brands?

Why not try one of our step by step tutorials

Come to one of our UK Art workshops

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These pencils do not come with a colour chart, so they have no colour names or lightfast information. It is highly unlikely that these pencils are lightfast, that said the colours which should perform best are the earthy colours with the pinks, blues, purples and reds most likely to fade the fastest. Any artwork you wish to display that have been produced using these pencils, would be best protected behind specialist glass which stops UV light penetrating, the main cause of fading.

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ADVANTAGES
* Affordability! Great for beginners
* Great for varied types of pencil work (realism,
    Illustrative & sketch)
* The ability to layer with them
* Strong leads even though the price would denote
   cheap quality
​* Available from most WH Smith outlets or online
* Easy to select the correct colour due to the large
   coloured end section

DISADVANTAGES
* These pencils are not lightfast meaning they will fade over
​    a shorter period of time than professional pencils
* Open stock is not available
* A limited palette of colours
* The white pencil is not a strong white, so would recommend
    you buy a white from a professional range
* Only available in the UK (do not deliver outside the UK)
* They are popular and stores can sell out within days of
    receiving stock including the website.

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The vintage WH Smith colouring pencil

These pencils have been in my collection since the 1990's. These early pencils are the same thickness, with almost the same colour palette as the ones you can buy today. The only difference is the colour of the barrel represented the pigment in the lead and the ends were dipped in a dark blue paint with WH Smith is silver printed on the side. Although the later pencils also have the silver print on the tips, the barrels are all coated in a grey, matt coat with 'The spectrum sings' printed in silver down the centre. Over the years, some of the colours have changed slightly, notable in the greens, blues and browns, but the majority have stayed the same. 

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Lastly, where can you buy them? Only in the UK.
Any WH Smith store should sell them, although you are more likely to find them in a larger store than a smaller one. If you cannot get them in your local store, you can go online and purchase the 48-pack through their website HERE* - They often have them on offer too, so you might be able to get them even cheaper! Packs of 12, 24 and 36 are also available.
* If this link appears broken, it may be that the product is out of stock.

Additional information: Some airport stores worldwide have WH Smith stores in them and you may be able to buy some there. A list of airport stores can be found HERE - these pencils may or may not be available in all or any.

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Article created: March 2016
Updated: March 2021