Amy Shulke 5/24/25 Amy Shulke 5/24/25

Vanilla Beans: The Big Small Question

Some of you are getting ready to buy your first set of quality pencils.

You’re running through my checklist and comparing it to product descriptions and reviews,

But there’s one question we haven’t talked about yet…

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WHAT’S NEW ‘ROUND HERE?

The pond just gets everyone dirtier. We’re doing box baths until everyone has their big kid feathers.

BTW, for size context, their bodies are the size of ducks now but with their long necks and gangly legs, they stand much taller. I was prepared for them to grow fast but I’m still shocked every morning when I open the stall door.

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Over the last few months, we’ve covered the Ten Tests of a Quality Colored Pencil and the Reach Rule.

Then last week, I gave you six things to not worry about.

Now let’s end the series by answering the big question.

THE BIG SMALL QUESTION

I love the emails I’ve been getting—

Some of you are getting ready to buy your first set of quality pencils.

You’re running through my checklist and comparing it to product descriptions, photos, written reviews, and videos— looking for hints on how the pencils match up to my tests before you spend any money.

Which is great!

A pencil doesn’t have to ace every characteristic we’ve talked about. The report card doesn’t have to be solid A+’s but the pencils should pass most tests with a B or B+.

So once you find a brand that looks worthy of your time…

As your finger hovers over the “Add to Cart” button…

Every one of you is about to ask the same question. It’s almost creepy how universally true this is.

“Should I buy the big set or the small set?”

Here’s my advice—

Although it may make some of your heads explode. Hang on and give me a chance to explain.

What’s your budget?

What’s the most you can spend on a set of pencils without giving your husband an aneurism?

That’s what you should spend.

Purchase the biggest set of colored pencils you can afford.

Now please note, I’m not saying “buy the most expensive pencils you can find.”

I’m saying whatever brand of pencils has caught your attention, looks like it passes the tests, and fits within your budget…

You’re looking at ONE brand, no matter which brand it is,

Buy the biggest set that brand makes.

My First Reason: The price per pencil is almost always lower in sets than open stock. And as sets get larger, the price per pencil goes down even further.

Most of us will only ever buy the set once. After that, it’s only open stock replacements.

It makes sense to start with the best value even if the cost is more.

But here’s my other reason:

Most of us say “I color lots of tomatoes and lots of puppies” so you look for red pencils and brown pencils.

But you don’t know which colors this brand offers which can work miracles with tomato red and puppy brown.

See, if we jumped into a DeLorean and went back to 1990 to find young Amy with her Doc Martens and blue mascara…

She’d laugh at Greyed Lavender.

Ewwwww.

I can’t think of a single object this color and yet I can’t function without this pencil. I use it everywhere.

Young Amy didn’t know Grayed Lavender existed until she saw someone using it at work, probably a good 5 years after Prismacolor started selling it.

I had a set of 36 Prismacolor and I used 36 colors for years.

This is what happens when you buy small sets— you can’t use a color if you don’t have it.

You don’t know which colors will change your life.

When you buy the big box, every color sits patiently, waiting for the day you need it.

If you can’t buy the biggest set right away, go as large as you can. Then ask Santa for the biggest set ASAP.

You will need the full range eventually.

But wait a minute Amy!

I read here in Beans… You said nobody needs all the Copic Markers. You said you don’t use all the Copics and you wouldn’t own them all if you weren’t teaching!

But now you say I need every pencil a brand makes?

Yes. You’re absolutely correct.

Because markers and pencils are different.

First, 300+ markers is a lot of colors for anything. I don’t know any pencil sets that large and if there were, I probably wouldn’t recommend it because when you get over 200, the colors start to repeat.

But also, alcohol markers are all transparent.

Meanwhile in colored pencils, we’re looking at a range of translucencies. There may be 15 red pencils but they’re all different in laydown and coverage.

So even though I only use about half of my Copics, I probably use 85% of my pencil colors.

Now here’s what I’ve got to warn you about—

The worst advice I’ve ever seen

When you’re trying to decide which size set to get, you may look online for advice.

Which sets did other people buy and were they happy with it?

Seems like a smart question, right? But I can guarantee, someone will recommend this set:

When I see this recommendation, I get so angry!

I want to drive to their house and march them up to their coloring room and make them show me whatever crap they colored with this set of pencils.

Everyone’s an expert in the comment section.

I don’t know if the small set people are stupid or trolling. Take your pick.

Just don’t take their advice.

They’re setting you up to fail.

Here’s the lilac photo again, from the top of today’s Beans. Let’s say you were using the Polychromos 12 to color this lilac.

Please tell me which pencils you’d use.

Most of you have no idea, right?

Folks, I’ve been to freakin’ art school and I’d rather be waterboarded than color that photo with these pencils.

I could do it but I’d not be happy about it.

In theory, I’d start with the cyan pencil and layer back and forth between cyan and the magenta. I’m thinking about 10-15 passes at a level 1 pressure… maybe 2 parts magenta and 1 part cyan to slowly build up the illusion of purple without building excessive value.

But who knows, maybe that wouldn’t work at all. I think it’d probably take me a dozen test swatches to develop the right purple blend.

If I ever did find the right purple, I’d start working in red to create various shades of purple but not enough red to develop conflict because the red contains hidden yellow.

I’d shade petals with the dark blue and develop the background black with the purple blend plus dark green and maybe that funky ochre brown. I might add a bit of warmth with orange pencil.

Does this sound like anything you’re prepared to do right now?

Does this sound easy and fun?

Does this sound like something you want to do for the rest of your life?

If you want a sandwich, you don’t buy a package of wheat seeds, right? We’re modern people. We don’t to grow and grind flour and bake our own bread for every PB&J.

You could. It’s totally do-able. Some might even enjoy doing things the Amish way.

But every step we add to the process moves you further from the goal.

And closer to quitting in frustration.

The people who recommend 12 pencil sets might say:

“It’s important to learn how to blend pencils to make the colors you want.”

I agree.

It’s also important to learn to swim but we don’t hit you upside the head with a brick and push you into a shark tank.

As an art instructor, my primary objective is to give students a series of wins and successes.

The more you win, the more you enjoy art.

The more you enjoy art, the more you learn.

The more you learn, the greater the wins.

See how the cycle works?

You are most likely to learn with plentiful and logical color options at your fingertips.

Small sets are for people who already know what they’re doing.

OR they’re for people who have an excellent instructor standing right next to them telling them step by step what to do and correcting them before disaster strikes.

Learning is easier and more enjoyable with a bigger set.

Get a big set with lots of color options.

I promise, you’ll still learn to blend. It’s just easier to learn when you don’t feel stupid.

And that’s it folks.

Everything I can think to say about choosing high quality colored pencils in our current environment. I know there’s a lot of bad advice out there and many pencil companies seem more predatory than helpful.

But the good news is that you don’t need more than a couple excellent brands.

Honestly, I may never add another new brand to my studio.

What I have works well for what I do. I could be set for life.

I’d rather color than chase the latest fad. I hope you feel the same.

____

Next week, we’ll start a new series on a totally new topic.

It’s time to think about where we color.