READ NEXT: Sign in style with our selection of the best fountain pens The best colouring pencils you can buy in 2023 1. Prismacolor Premiers: The best soft-core colouring pencils Otherwise, simply freehand the cherries onto your drawing project and place them within the center (leaving enough margin around the edges to mat and frame the piece if you so choose).I like to use Prismacolor Col-erase pencils for the line drawing. Faber Castell Polychromos Pencils are a unique tool in the world of sketching. They are oil based as opposed to being wax based like other pencils, allowing them to blend with solvents, like turpentine or white spirit in a similar way to how you would blend oil paints. For detailed artist drawings, we recommend using a smooth paper, such as Bristol board, Strathmore toned pads, Hot Press Watercolour Paper or textured Pastelmat.

In colored pencil, burnishing can also happen when you’ve applied so many pencil layers and used heavy enough pressure to smooth the surface of the paper. This generally means the paper or surface you’re working on will not take more layers. If this happens unintentionally, it is sometimes referred to as accidental burnishing. Coloured pencils are pigment held together by a binder and encased in wood. The quality depends on the ratio between pigment and binder and the quality of the wood. The artist quality pencils will create more vibrant colours and the most popular wood for pencils is cedar. Most colour pencils will use a wax binder and with these pencils you can add layers and layers of colour to get a depth of colour. For whiskers, try carefully removing a line of colour with craft knife or plan ahead and indent the paper with an embossing tool prior to adding colour. You can also use a Tombow Mono eraser for more subtle highlights. Finding the best colouring pencils, the ones that feel just right in your hand, ultimately boils down to personal choice. But that’s not to say we can’t nudge you in the right direction with our guide to the leading brands for artists.Burnishing, as a word, technically means to polish by rubbing. The word actually comes from a word that means, “to brown”. In colored pencil art, you can create the appearance of glossy or shiny objects by using this technique. When creating your artwork with a Polychromos color pencil, you can rest assured knowing your work is going to last a long time. Of the 120 colors, 102 colors have a 3-star lightfast rating. The pencil has a high archival quality of more than 100 years of fade resistance. In terms of colour, the Arteza pencils have excellent pigmentation, offering a wonderful range of colours in the 72-piece set, from warm and cool to earthy and dark. Lightfastness is pretty solid too, with only a dozen of the 72 pencils not being recommended for professional work. Considering the price, the Arteza pencils are an exceptional choice should those expensive top-tier brands fall out of reach.

There are many ways to get the job done when it comes to burnishing. Many pencil manufacturers make their own version of a burnishing pencil. These are pencils without color and mostly contain just the wax and/or oil found in a colored pencil. You may also choose to use another colored pencil as your burnisher. My teenage daughter is a budding artist and she draws and colours prolifically so she'd wanted these for a long time. The depth of colour is brilliant and they are so easy to use as you don't have to apply much pressure so no aching hands from hours of colouring. Very impressed!” - Kim Larrad-Tye

The Polychromos

They aren’t quite as soft as those more expensive brands, which should have the benefit of making them more durable, while still providing a creamy touch on paper. That’s perfect for getting even coverage over a larger area. One thing to remember with Polychromos, is not to rush, take your time to build up layers in an almost meditative concentrated way.

For those with a preference for drawing on darker paper, the Caran d’Ache Luminance 6901 set is just about perfect. Their superior luminance means they perform well on darker materials, but they can be used on lighter paper too. I started out by first determining where the light source is coming from and where the shadows are cast. I also made note of where the light and the shadow separations were within each element of the composition.With a huge color choice of up to 120 count sets available, just about any color approach imaginable can be achieved with these. The hearty core is wrapped around in a round wooden exterior. Visual Appeal – 4.5/5

If there are simple elements in the piece that need to be changed I’ll do it. On the other hand, if there’s a significant amount of changes required, then I’ll take reference shots all over again, noting the changes I need to make. Blending will be greatly assisted with the help of a thinner, however, so this needs to be considered before going to work with these. That being said, you can still blend successfully without the assistance of paint thinner if necessary. But to open the core material up, just a small dab of some sort of solvent seems to release things. The buying decision can also hinge on how you plan to use them. From everyday workhorses that can be used again and again, to beautifully crafted models that might be saved for special works, coloured pencils vary enormously in quality.Finding a pencil that suits your particular style should be at the forefront of your buying decision. The hand of each artist moves in a slightly different way, producing their own distinctive works. Pencils vary enormously too, in the hardness of the lead, how they feel in the hand and in the variety and depth of pigment. Matching your style to that of the pencils is key. The Goldfaber Color Pencil lives in our Creative Studio line. Not to be overshadowed by Polychromos, Goldfaber is the high-quality choice for the student, aspiring, and hobby artist. With 48 colors to choose from to let your imagination run wild, you will never get bored.