I've been watching lots of Youtubers use Polychromos pencils instead of Prismacolor pencils, so I started wondering if I should investigate the Polychomos. I own a large number of Primsacolor pencils, so I wanted to know if it would be worth an investment to change.
I purchased a pack of 12 Polychromos pencils from Amazon and gave them a head to head comparison.
The pack of 12 pencils was limiting, especially since I wanted to see how the colors blended - hard to find pairs of pencils among 12 that would be close enough to blend. Below are the Polychromos I pulled and the Prismacolors I pulled to try to match them.
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| Prismacolor Pencils |
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| Polychromos Penscils |
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Part of what I wanted to do was compare the color intensity on different kinds of paper, so you'll see three head to head comparisons below:
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Primsacolor on the left, using Neenah Solor white paper
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Primsacolor on the left, using Neenah Desert Storm paper.
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| Primsacolor on the left; black paper |
Conclusions:
- Primsacolors are wax-based pencils; Polychromos are oil-based. That did make a difference in the way you can layer color. Once there is a lot of wax from the Prismacolors, there isn't much more that you can do. You probably can't see it in the pictures, but I could see a big difference in sheen - the Primsacolors had a waxy shine.
- I didn't really have the right pairs of colors to check out the blending abilities of either set, so no answer there. I know the Prismacolors do blend well (from other work I've done with them).
- I didn't worry about sharpening the Polychromos, because from what I read, they aren't prone to breaking. I never really know when I use the Primsacolors if they are going to break.
- Other than the waxy coat, I didn't really notice much difference between the two.
So, I still don't know. Nothing in what I did convinced me to go out immediately and start buying Polychromos, but maybe something will later? I haven't decided yet. But it's fun to play!
