I also tried the pencils on Bristol Smooth paper, which incidentally was the paper I drew the Buzz Lightyear on, they worked very well on this smooth surface, I also tried them on Velum and Watercolor paper with very similar results on all papers.

There is a leather flap at the top and bottom to cover up the leads of the pencils to prevent them being broken when transported and the case folds over to half the size and can then be rolled up and safely kept closed with a leather strip and a secure popper (press stud). The tips of oil pencils are much more resistant to breaking than wax pencils, so techniques like burnishing where the artist applies pressure to create thick layers of pencil can be achieved without breakage. I eventually changed the name of the channel because I wanted to branch out and review markers, pastels, watercolors etc and naming the channel Coloured Pencil Reviews was a little bit too restricting, hence the change. Prismacolor on the other hand is almost impossible to get and those few places that do sell them charge more for a set of 24 than for the 36 set of Lyra. On discovering this I quickly became aware of the fact that I was not delivering accurate information in my reviews.

These German-made pencils feature a 4mm core and are available in sets ranging from single pencils to a 105-piece collection. My reviews in the beginning simply consisted of me providing a swatch of the set I had, a layer test of selected colours and a simple blending test. Although they can be layered with ease, they will seldom reach the same “buttery” consistency that can be achieved with wax-based pencils.

In this article, I'll be sharing my top 5 picks for the best oil-based colored pencils on the market. They offer good color output and intensity, although heavier application is needed to achieve the desired results. They are also perfect for people who are interested in painting with oil because they’re good at blending colours together. Wax-based colored pencils utilize a waxy binder, while oil-based pencils utilize an oil-based binder.You can get smooth, velvety laydown of colour and when mixed with oil mediums, the pencil colour can behave more like an oil paint. The Derwent Lightfast colored pencils, made in the UK, are purposefully crafted to provide maximum lightfastness, ensuring that your artwork remains vibrant and resistant to fading. Following extensive testing, we can confirm that all 100 colours in the Lightfast range are 100% lightfast, meaning they are lightfast for up to 100 years (under museum conditions). Where you can find lots of brands of high quality wax based pencils, there are only really one or two brands of oil based pencils. And I found that Lyra Rembrandt’s Polycolor colored pencils are a great overall choice for most artists.