Hi! Because lots of people have asked me how to choose a color pencils, i decided to share tips here on my deviant account.

Color pencil is on the top of my favorite art media. I use it a lot and in my opinion, it's the best dry media because it's so easy to control. You can also do several rendering technique with it, from smudging to cross-hatching.

My very first recommendation if you want to master color pencil is : Derwent

Just like a painter prefer Windsor and Newton to any other brands, I prefer Derwent color pencil.

First of all, because I can always buy one pencil instead of a box. Everytime I draw human figure, I only use 6 colors : pink madder, orange, light blue, light green, purple, and brown; and additional : red. Instead of buying a box with 24 colors, I prefer to buy those 7 colors of Derwent because it's going to be cheaper as well.

Second, Derwent color pencils are both soft and hard. The lead is very soft so that it's very easy to blend, but I said that it's hard because in fact, it's very hard to break. Most of color pencil brands, if you drop the pencil, the inside lead are very easy to break.

If you think that Derwent pencils are too expensive, here are some tips my teacher have told me.

If you are going to buy a box of color pencils [further : CP], choose Staedtler LUNA. LUNA CP are very easy to blend. They have very soft leads and you don't really have to press the pencil so hard to get the color. Though I've found a problem with it : if you are a wet handed, you can't really use LUNA because they only have water CP. Your work will get dirty by the time you're finished.

If you already have a fabercastell CP, or you are a wet handed (buy the fabercastell one); here is a tip. Fabercastell are well-know for its hard leads. So when you want to create a human skin (apparently you won't be rendering it with one layer only), put the orange or brown color on the last layer. Basically, put all the color you want to show on the last layer.

I haven't got the chance to try the other brands, but I'm pretty sure there are plenty other brands out there. Again, this is only based on my experience, and since I'm still considered as an amateur, my experiences are not that much.

Have fun drawing!