Prismacolor Scholar Colored Pencils, 60 Count - Vibrant Colors, Art Supplies, Drawing, Coloring, Holiday Gift for Kids, For Beginner Artists

Are these?.....could they be?......dare I suggest?.........just as wonderful as Prismacolor Premieres??? Rich colors, smooth laydown, blends nicely, a pleasure to use. Sharpen nicely, too. No breaking cores noted. I bought them looking for the "hard" core for detail work. After all, the 60 colors in this set are more desirable than only 36 colors of the Verithins for detail. They do detail nicely but are softer than Verithins...the tip eventually wears down and needs sharpening to continue more sharp detail work. The Prismacolor guide described them as "hard". I make a color sheet and test each pencil, then color a little for the quickie test-drive-around-the-block, so to speak. Wow! I kept being inspired to do one more, and then another. Used these pencil for 4 nights straight enjoying every moment with them. I have 132 Prismacolor Premiers and the full set of Faber Castell Polychromos and 72 Derwent Coloursoft and Inktense.....so I've played with great pencils before. I suppose they are not colorfast....well, I am doing coloring, not fine art to sell. The professional will have a different opinion, I'm sure. Packaging left a little to be desired in that it was not sufficient to protect the pencils. Case had partially popped open, several pencils escaped and a few had broken tips. Just a plain cardboard box, such as the one used for Verithins would keep overhead cost low and still protect the pencils. There must be plenty of people with art backgrounds that will disagree with me....but I am impressed and highly recommend them to ANYBODY. For the people who have problems with breaking leads......heat will soften up the wax base an perhaps cause a little expansion. The core will stick back together. People have suggested leaving them in the sun, using a hair dryer, putting them into a cooling oven etc. Only bad story came from someone who put the into a microwave and one of them burst.

Let's go ahead and get the question I'm sure you're asking yourself out of the way. Are these really worth the extra cost? I would say, yes...ABSOLUTELY. Especially if you're taking an art class. I know it's tempting to skimp out of you're just taking an art elective for the credits, but do NOT do it. My professor specifically forbade us from using Crayola or any other cheap pencils. He said to get Prismacolor or Faber Castell and at first I had no idea why. I just sucked it up, used a 50% off coupon at Michael's and got a small tin of pencils. Fast forward a few years and I finally use up the last of my pencils and try to save some money with super cheap pencils from the dollar store. It only took one attempt at coloring to see the light (and it was just that...an attempt because the color payoff was atrocious no matter how hard I pressed). I got some Crayolas the next time there was a sale and they were decidedly better, but still not nearly as good as Prismacolor since they are so much harder. So yes, these are pricey but the color payoff is amazing and the leads are so soft and smooth they actually save you effort. These are an EXCELLENT choice if you're just getting into colored pencils and want to know if it's really worth it to you to go for professional materials. Oh, and hear you should avoid the version that has a toucan on the front. Everyone I know says that they are NOT as good as these.

I bought these pencils because i did not feel crayola was meeting my needs, first off 1. The pencils were incredibly soft compared to my other pencils 2. The pencils layered well and blended like a dream with the help of white and premier blend pencils 3. The color selection was average, skin tones were nice blues/greens were ok but dark reds and browns wasn't screaming greatness but nothing deal breaking by any end of the spectrum 4. The clam shell package folded into a nice pencil holder that tied my desk together 5. If you are concered on whether to buy premier or scholar my opinion is on the scholar for some certain reasons A. It is cheaper but cerataintly doesn't feel cheap in the hand and on paper. B. The lead won't break easily (deal maker with me) C. If you are afraid to draw on expensive paper or with nice pencils these are great for that from the price. D. Way easier to sharpen without breakage. Whether you are an artist or a hobbyist i recommend this to any one in the market for pencils! In over all, these pencils blew miles past my regular thought on how these pencils would peform, and will be with me as i become better at what i do as a hobby.

Honestly the best color pencils I’ve ever owned, but there is a lack of warmer tones and reds/oranges. Beautiful greens and blues though! The soft core makes for great blending and they don’t break super easily unless you sharpened the point too small. They sharpen well :)

TLDR: I bought these due to the many reviews saying they are almost the same as the Premiere Series. This is untrue. While they are good pencils, they are not a suitable replacement for the Premiere Series. These pencils are harder, more durable and really good for keeping a point. The Premiere are softer, lay down smoother and blend better. These Prisma scholar pencils are a slight step above Arteza, Castle Arts and other mid-grade brands. I would absolutely buy over Crayola. In truth, you can make good art even out of Crayola pencils... but it will require more effort and ultimately more time. I am not disappointed in these scholar pencils, but I am disappointed in some reviews that say they are like Premieres. The pencils are good, but I already have many pencils similar to these and I would have paid the extra price for Premieres over these. If it matters, I own a full set of Faber Castell Polychromos, a decent amount of Prismacolor Premieres, a good number of Caran D'Ache Luminance pencils, Castle Arts, Arteza, Crayola (yes, I own those too), and a few other off brands.

I didn’t really like using color pencils until I discovered burnishing, and then I fell in love with using them. I have a small set of the regular Prismacolor pencils but couldn’t afford a set with more colors. Regular Prismacolors are softer & easier to use but they do wear down quickly. This set of Scholars are the perfect solution with lots of colors, being more affordable and they last longer due to the pencils being harder with more wax. The two white pencils that are included are perfect for burnishing. What is burnishing? It is smoothing & filling in the look of color pencils by going over a color in white or a colorless blender pencil. It will look flatter, more like a marker but not quite that smooth. You can then use the color on top again if the color lightened from using white. For example, lay down some blue, burnish with the white pencil and if the blue now looks a tiny bit lighter lay down some more blue, and burnish again with white if desired. I keep repeating the process until I get the look I desire, usually 4 layers of a color & white total. Tip to not break the pencil tips: use a manual sharpener with a large hole to sharpen them. I discovered by accident that the tips don’t break using the larger hole rather than the smaller one on my manual sharpener. This is a game changer! As I’m currently wearing down a few of the Scholar pencils I’ll replace them with the open stock regular Prismacolor pencils and use them in conjunction with the Scholars to make them last longer. Eventually, I may buy another set of Scholars as I love them and find I can get pretty much the same look to the regular Prismacolors with a little more effort.

These are great for scripture journaling. They don’t smear, the variety of colors is a good value for the price. If you want the colors to look smoother, use the white pencils or purchase the Prismacolor blending pencils to burnish your finished picture. I do prefer the Premiere version, but if you are looking for a more affordable and quality item, buy these. I won’t use any other brand!

I am a Prismacolor Premiers and Faber Castell Polychromos fan, but I thought that for the price, I would try a set of these just to see what they were like. I was impressed with the quality of these pencils. They are not as smooth or as densely pigmented as artist quality pencils, but they are several GIANT steps up from "bargain" priced pencils. They go down fairly smoothly, have decent color density, layer and blend without too much effort, and best of all..they have a very similar color range as the premiers. The quality of the wood casings was good. There were only a few pencils with slightly off center leads so they were easy to sharpen, and they don't break easily under pressure. I wouldn't rely too heavily on the lightfastness of these pencils for artwork, but for coloring book or student work, these would be an excellent choice. So, bottom line, if you can't quite afford those artist's quality pencils you've been looking at, I think these would be a very good alternative. Best of all, you could gradually switch over to the premiers as you wear down these pencils. The colors are very similar, some even have the same names. So as you wear these down, you could replace them with single pencil purchases of open stock Prismacolor Premier pencils in similar colors from a discount art supplier and eventually you would end up with a very nice set of artist quality pencils.