Do Professional Artists use Coloured Pencils?

Well the short answer is yes - but that wouldn’t make a very interesting blog post! (Whether or not I’m a “professional artist” is another matter!)

Coloured pencil is still a relatively new medium in the art world, you won’t see many (or indeed any!) coloured pencil pieces in major galleries or national art collections. It’s finding it’s way into certain niches though, it’s a popular choice for artists that enjoy portraying animals and wildlife, even human portraiture can be done very successfully using this medium. It’s a great choice for creating very detailed work and replicating all kinds of textures, so it’s great for realism and hyperrealism. At the other end of the scale it’s also great for sketching, although for working outdoors a full set of 100+ pencils might not be the best choice!

Coloured pencils are great for sketching as well as detailed work

Why use coloured pencils?

It’s appeal to many is that it’s a relatively clean medium – no paint to spill or brushes to clean up. You don’t need too much space to do it, although if you do get hooked, then a permanent workspace and some storage for paper and an ever expanding pencil collection might be needed! The downside is it can be a very slow medium if you want to achieve realistic results, so it’s not a good medium if you want quick results. This also makes more difficult to produce larger pieces, the bigger you draw the longer it takes!

Why stick to one pencil when you can use all of them! It's fine to mix brands, they all play together nicely!

Reasons to use professional quality coloured pencils

The coloured pencils I use in my drawings are very different to those you find in a supermarket, or you those might have used at school. Like and artist’s quality materials, professional grade coloured pencils are made with high quality materials and contain much better quality and quantity of pigments. The best pencils also have a lightfastness rating, which means that if you use pencils with a high rating, the finished artwork should stand the test of time and not fade due to light. Of course, the drawing should be framed behind glass to protect it from dust and hung away from direct sunlight. This means your hard work should be preserved for years to come, just like any oil, acrylic or watercolour painting.

Coloured pencil is great for realism and detail

As with everything, quality comes at a price, coloured pencils aren’t cheap! But you don’t need a full set to get started, I recently wrote a blog post about creating black and white art using coloured pencils, which might be a good place to start. If you do want to buy a larger set, shop around and you can usually find some great deals online.

To see some examples of my coloured pencil art, please visit the gallery section of my website.