The Best Colored Pencils for Beginners - Derwent Chromaflow Review

The Derwent Chromaflow colored pencils are a budget-friendly option from a brand known for high-quality art supplies. Designed to offer vibrant colors and smooth application, these pencils are perfect for beginners and hobbyists looking to achieve professional-looking results without breaking the bank. 

In this review, I'll dive into the key features, share my personal experience using them, and compare them to other popular brands like Derwent Lightfast, Prismacolor Premier, and Faber-Castell Polychromos. 

Let’s see how these pencils stack up in terms of performance, durability, and overall value.

Disclaimer: In the name of full transparency, please be aware that this blog post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through such links will result in a small commission for me (at no extra cost for you).

Key Features of the Derwent Chromaflow Colored Pencils

Smooth Wax-Based Core for Easy Blending

The Derwent Chromaflow pencils have a wax-based core. This means that the core is softer and more creamy compared to the harder oil-based pencils. This makes coloring techniques like blending and burnishing a lot easier and it takes a lot less effort to create smooth color gradients.

Round & a Bit Thin

These pencils have a round shape that's a little thinner than the more premium colored pencils. The pencils have a diameter of 7.2mm and a core width of 3.5mm which is a tiny bit less than the 4mm most more expensive pencils have.

All the Colors You Can Dream Off

The Chromaflow collection consists of 150 different colors in total, which is more than most other brands. The color selection includes any color you can imagine which is a huge pro for me. You can download the color chart here.

Another thing I like is the pigmentation and vibrancy of each of the colors. They give off their pigment super easily making drawing with them a pleasant experience.

Most Colors Won't Fade for as Long You're Alive

Each color is lightfastness rated and on average they have good to very good lightfastness. According to Derwent, a lightfastness rating of 6 (good) or higher is considered highly lightfast and won't fade under museum conditions for 100+ years.

Lightfastness isn't that important in my opinion, but it's nice to know that the colors will look good for a long time especially if you plan on selling your colored pencil art.

Mediocre Durability

I found that the durability is not great, but also not bad. It's a solid medium for me.

The core is thinner than more expensive pencils making the point last less long. This means that you'll need to sharpen the pencils more often, especially if you're coloring larger areas.

Since the barrel is relatively thin it doesn't protect the core well enough, so make sure to never drop these pencils.

Testing the Derwent Chromaflow Pencils

After exploring all the key features, I wanted to see how these claims hold up in practice.

To truly evaluate these pencils, I tested them across several important areas like blending, smoothness of application, durability, and more.

To test each of these aspects I did what I like most—I created a photorealistic drawing of a car. If these pencils can do this well, then they're likely good enough for most other drawing styles and techniques.

My Experience Coloring with the Derwent Chromaflow Colored Pencils

Here's how the Derwent Chromaflow colored pencils performed during my test drawing.

First off, here's the drawing I made.

Pigmentation

Before I started the drawing, I swatched each of the colors on a piece of paper to see how pigmented they were. And to be honest I was pleasantly surprised at how pigmented these pencils were. Each color of the set of 24 I had bought looks very vibrant. These are some of the most vibrant colored pencils I have ever used.

Most of the colors are also pretty opaque. This is very important in my opinion. If the colors are transparent they will blend less smoothly and they can look more grainy. Only 3 colors in this set looked a little more transparent than I would've liked. This is approximately as good, maybe a little better, than most other brands I have tried.

Smoothness of Application

When using these pencils to color my drawing, I found that they applied very smoothly to the paper.

I never had to press hard to fill in the grain and each pencil gave off a lot of pigment.

Ability to Layer

These pencils layer pretty well. I could easily layer and mix colors to create new colors. They might not be able to handle as many layers as more expensive pencils can, but it was more than enough for me to create a beautiful drawing (if I say so myself).

Blending & Burnishing

Blending and Burnishing is where these pencils stand out for me.

Due to their soft wax-based core, these pencils blend like butter (if that's something you can say about butter).

You don't need that many layers to create a smooth gradient between multiple colors, the pigment does most of the job for you. Of course, you still need to be a little patient when layering and overlapping colors for the transition to be smooth, but compared to most other pencils this is super easy.

Because of their soft core, they're also super easy to burnish. As long as you keep the point relatively sharp you don't need to press hard at all to fill in the white of the paper.

The only thing I struggled a bit with was highlight burnishing. Highlight burnishing is a technique where you use a light colored pencil like white to add highlights in darker parts by pressing a bit harder. I found that you can do this to a certain degree, but you can never get it to be as light as the pencil itself. Plus the point can't handle that much pressure very well.

When I found this out, I just colored with a bit more patience and marked out where the highlights would be before I colored over them with a color that was too dark.

Ease of Use

These pencils are super easy to use.

For some brands you might need a better understanding of each technique and how to make the pencils look the best. But I found that these pencils are very intuitive and easy to use. They just do whatever you expect of them most of the time.

Durability & Build Quality

The build quality of these pencils is pretty good. They're easy to sharpen and quite nice to hold.

The durability could be a bit better. But for the price of these pencils, I would say it's good enough, especially if you take the whole coloring experience into account.

The only thing I have to say about this is that I find the core and the barrel too narrow. Because of this, the core will break in multiple places if you accidentally drop these pencils.

Another thing I noticed was that if you press too hard, not only will the point break off, it will also shatter the core. You'll then need to sharpen quite a bit off the pencil to get to the good part of the core again. This will make you go through your pencils faster.

One last thing is that you'll need to sharpen these pencils more often than pencils with a thicker core, especially when coloring larger areas and burnishing. This will also make you go quicker through them compared to pencils with a larger core.

Price vs Value

For all the coloring value you get from these pencils, I would say these pencils are more than worth it.

My Final Rating (7.5/10)

Based on my experience with creating the drawing, I give these pencils a solid 7.5 out of 10.

They're a great set for people on a tighter budget and if you're new to colored pencils.

But they're also perfect for anyone who wants to dip their toes into the premium colored pencil world.

Check them out on Amazon

Pros & Cons of the Chromaflow Pencils

Pros

• Vibrant Pigmentation: The colors are highly pigmented and vibrant, with most being opaque, leading to rich and bold artwork.

• Smooth Application: These pencils apply smoothly without needing excessive pressure, filling in the grain of the paper easily.

• Great for Blending and Burnishing: Thanks to the soft wax-based core, the pencils blend exceptionally well and are easy to burnish, creating smooth gradients between colors.

• Good Layering Capability: They layer and mix colors effectively, allowing for new color creation and depth in your drawings.

• Ease of Use: Intuitive and beginner-friendly, requiring less technique mastery to get good results.

• Affordability: Offers a lot of coloring value for a relatively low price, making it a good budget option for those entering the premium colored pencil market.

• Comfortable to Hold: The pencils are nice to hold and easy to sharpen.

Cons

• Core Durability: The narrow core is prone to breaking, especially if the pencils are dropped or if too much pressure is applied. This results in faster pencil consumption.

• Highlight Burnishing Limitations: The pencils struggle to create distinct highlights through burnishing with lighter colors, and the soft core can’t handle excessive pressure during this technique.

• Frequent Sharpening Required: Due to the soft and narrow core, they require frequent sharpening, especially when coloring larger areas or burnishing.

• Core Shattering: Pressing too hard can cause the core to shatter, which wastes more of the pencil when sharpening to access the unbroken core.

Derwent Chromaflow vs Other Colored Pencil Brands

My Final Verdict

The Derwent Chromaflow colored pencils are a fantastic option for artists looking for vibrant pigmentation, smooth application, and ease of use, all at an affordable price. 

While they may not offer the same durability or lightfastness as higher-end pencils, they excel in blending and burnishing, making them perfect for beginners or anyone wanting to explore premium coloring without the premium price tag. 

However, their fragile core and frequent need for sharpening may be a little bit of a drawback. 

But overall, they provide excellent value for money, especially for hobbyists or those on a budget.

Check them out on Amazon

Luuk Minkman

Full-Time Artist Specialized in Automotive Art

I'm an artist and I draw realistic cars with alcohol markers and colored pencils. I have been doing so for a decade. I'm sharing everything I know about drawing on this blog. On here, you can find all you need to know to learn how you can draw realistic cars and other subjects yourself. Stay updated by following me on Instagram.