Titan portrait in progress 4 - Are Prismacolors lightfast?

I often hear Colored Pencil artists say they won't use Prismacolor pencils because they are not lightfast. But that’s not true.

Prismacolors have lightfast ratings 1 through 5. 1 is “Excellent”, 2 is “Very Good”, 3 is “Good”. That compares to other premium colored pencil brands that are known to be lightfast. 4 and 5 are “Fair” and “Poor”. Some artists just remove those colors from their Prismacolor collection. Still, Prismacolor makes 150 colors, more than other premium brands, so even without 4 and 5, there are roughly as many lightfast colors as brands which have 120 colors or less. 

This photo was taken in my studio while I was working.

On the left are the colors for the black and tan Doberman coat. On the right are the colors I'm using for the tongue. Some of those are not lightfast colors. I have them separated by an eraser, lightfast colors to the left of the large eraser. 

The folder that is open above the pencils is my swatches chart of lightfast Prismacolors. The page on the left shows “Excellent” lightfast colors, the one on the right shows “Very Good” and “Good” lightfastness. Other pages (not showing) are “Fair” and “Poor” colors. If I want lightfast colors, I choose the ones from category 1, 2, or 3.

Sometimes I don’t bother restricting myself by lightfastness…I just choose the colors I want to use in my art. This is a commissioned portrait and I am using lightfast colors. 

Here's a closeup of the finished tongue.

Titan’s tongue was created with lightfast colors, ratings 1, 2, and 3. It took longer than it would if I could have used some of the brighter pinks that are not lightfast, because I had to create those colors by blending two or more other colors instead of just picking up a pencil in the color I needed. Pinks and some reds are some of the worst offenders for not being lightfast. 

✏️  The Prismacolor Premier lightfastness rating chart can be found HERE.

This post is about Prismacolor Premier pencils, not Prismacolor Scholar, the student-grade pencils.

Portrait of “Titan”

Goldgrove Irish War Cry CAX FCAT SWNE SWE SCM SEM SBM SHDN WAC RATN CGC TKN ATT NW1

Commissioned by Alicia McCarthy. 

🎨 Prismacolor pencil on “Sky Grey” Canson Mi-Teintes paper, 16 x 20 inches.