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But that’s my entire shtick!
I don’t track it, but for this one it’s about 20.
Looking closely, the second panel here contains every different colour I used in the same panel, except Razira’s dark green hair tie, and the yellow I blended into the gold for Konsi’s two-tone eye shade - so if you include those, it’s 27.
Coloursoft pencils are quite versatile in the range of shades they can produce - so (for example) all the different shades in the wooden beams are the same pencil - or all the different reflections on the silver parts of Razira’s dress are the same pencil.
I haven’t included the black of the ink pen or the pure white of the untouched paper in this count - or the digital watermark at the bottom.
Perhaps an easier demonstration of what I mean by “producing a range of shades” is to look at something I drew a little larger:
This image uses five greens, three yellow/gold, and two white/grey pencils - so ten colours total…
Her skintone here is all the same pencil - polychromos 167, her hair is similarly all one pencil - polychromos 278
Wow! Thank you so much for the in depth explanation and examples! All those shades with one pencil is fantastic! Good to know the brand I’ve never actually seen a quality color pencil before myself, only ever had Crayola or Roseart ‘artist kit’ from the mid 90s
The pencils I use are “coloursoft” pencils, a special type of acrylic pencil that puts down a LOT of colour very quickly, and as you layer it, it gets darker and more vibrant. There’s also a high wax content in the lead, which means you can sharpen it to an extreme point that doesn’t break easily. This is really good for comics, and good for people who draw small like me. The main “downside” of coloursoft pencils is that they don’t blend well, so if you want an exact colour, you sort of have to own that colour.
While most of the pencils I use are the Faber Castell Polychromos brand - I was lucky enough to be gifted the full set after years of drawing comics. Before then I made my comics with a much cheaper set that’s also very good. The yellow-gold in Konsi’s under-dress here is one of those such pencils.
That cheaper brand is Staedtler Ergosoft - they’re pretty inexpensive, because they’re marketed for kids, and they’re sold all over… but they’re really good quality - if you want a nice set of cheap(ish) pencils, they’re the ones I recommend. The packaging for the 24 colour set looks like this. (There’s a tin of 36, but it’s harder to find) - If you don’t care about getting an exact colour, a set like this is all you really need.
Thank you again, so much!