Best pencils for grayscale coloring and why ordinary ones look flat

What a grayscale page is asking of your pencils

In an ordinary colouring book the picture is black outlines on white paper. You supply every bit of light and shade yourself. In a grayscale book the shading is already printed in grey: the dark folds of a witch's cloak, the glow on a pumpkin, the shadow under a gate. Your colour sits on top of that grey, and the grey shows through it. That is the whole trick. A light pass of orange over a shaded pumpkin looks round and lit, because the printed shadow does the work.

It also means the pencil has to be transparent and soft enough to glide over the grey without scrubbing it out. A hard, waxy school pencil does the opposite: it skates over the dark areas, leaves white speckle in the paper grain, and the picture goes flat and chalky. That is the "it looks worse coloured in than it did in grey" problem, and it's the pencil, not the person.

Soft wax or hard oil? Both have a job

A set of 48 is plenty. Grayscale pages want a few colours used well, not 150 used once.

The colourless blender: the one thing beginners skip

A colourless blender is a pencil with no pigment in it, just the binder. Rub it over an area you've coloured and it melts the strokes together, fills the white grain of the paper, and makes the surface look painted rather than scribbled. On grayscale pages it is close to magic, because it also softens the edge where your colour meets the printed shadow. If you buy one extra thing, buy this.

Four small habits that matter more than brand

1. Light pressure first. Build colour in two or three thin layers instead of one heavy one; you can always add, you can't take away.
2. Follow the grey. Press a little harder where the print is darker and ease off where it's lighter, and the form appears on its own.
3. Keep a blunt point for shading and a sharp one for edges; a two-hole sharpener gives you both.
4. Put a spare sheet under the page so the pencil doesn't pick up the texture of the page beneath.

Soft or hard, at a glance

One thing to know when you search: "grayscale pencils" also brings up sets of grey-toned pencils. Those are for drawing in shades of grey. For a grayscale colouring book you want ordinary coloured pencils; the grey is already printed on the page.

The six things worth buying

These are the picks we'd give a friend starting out. The links go to Amazon; as an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases, and that is what keeps the free printable pages free.

The main set

Prismacolor Premier Soft Core, 48 colours

The classic for grayscale. Soft and creamy, covers the printed shading in one gentle pass and blends like butter.

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The budget set

Staedtler 146C, 72 colours

Harder lead that keeps its point, so lace, whiskers and lettering stay crisp. Less blending, far fewer broken tips.

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The secret weapon

Prismacolor Colorless Blender pencils, 12

Melts your strokes together and fills the paper grain so the page looks painted. Twelve lasts a very long time.

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The small essential

Prismacolor Premier two-hole sharpener

One hole gives a long drawing point, the other a blunt shading point. Soft pencils need a gentle, sharp blade; this is it.

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Keep them in order

BTSKY 72-slot pencil case

A set you can see is a set you use. Holds 72 in colour order and zips shut, so it travels to the kitchen table and back.

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If money is no object

Faber-Castell Polychromos, tin of 24

The artist's oil-based pencil: lightfast, break-proof, and a joy for fine detail. Dearer, so buy the 24 and add singles later.

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Prices move about; check the Amazon page. We have no arrangement with any of these brands; they're simply what works on our pages.