As many artists do, I started sketching when I was very young with a regular #2 pencil with a pink rubber eraser on the end that my grandmother had in a utensil drawer and a plain sheet of printing paper. I was a late 80’s baby living in a small town in dry, hot NE Texas where there was absolutely nothing to do in the heat of the day.
As I grew up, I continued this method, drawing on homemade sketchbooks or notebook paper or just scraps of paper until that fateful day I received my first sketchbook as a gift from my uncle. In college, I took classes that introduced me to acrylics and watercolors, but it was my drawing classes I enjoyed the most. Where I found painting to be a much faster technique than drawing to get my images out, there is something about using pencils that has always been like… Beethoven or Mozart composing music, a natural attraction from which I cannot escape.
Prismacolor was one of my go-to trusted brands to use during college. Recommended by my first art instructor as exceptional sketching pencils, I first purchased Prismacolor pencils, graphite ranging from 6h-6b, individually, from my college’s bookstore.
My first set of Prismacolor Color Pencils was a 24-count set that I used for classes and sketchbook activities. I could definitely see the difference between these and other color pencils. The pigment is rich and blends very well naturally, and Prismacolor offers blending markers that enrich the colors and allows for higher details and burnishing pencils for a smooth finish.
I discovered Derwent when searching for watercolor pencils two years ago and have been exploring their line of specialty pencils ever since, beginning with a 72-count set of watercolor pencils, and now exploring the drawing and color pencil sets, many of which are also water-soluble.
Every artist has their style and preferred medium. Over the years I have discovered this is mine, though I very much enjoy using many different mediums to create art.