Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
If you’ve been wondering which coloured pencils work best in Johanna Basford’s adult colouring books, this video will help you decide.
In this Pencil Showdown, I test 14 different pencil brands on the same page using the same technique so you can see how each one truly performs on Johanna Basford paper (UK edition).
I’ve included Prismacolor, Polychromos, Black Widow, Luminance, Ohuhu Halawa, Arrtx, Castle Arts Soft Touch, Pablo, Woomer, Chromaflow, Arteza, Holbein, Staedtler Design Journey and Brutfuner Round pencils.
Each set is scored across four key areas:
Overall feel
Colour payoff
Layering
Blending
At the end, I’ll share which pencils performed best overall, along with some great alternatives depending on your colouring style.
If you enjoy testing and comparisons like this, let me know by leaving a pencil emoji in the comments ✏️
And I’d love to know, what are your go-to pencils for Johanna Basford books?
This video is part of my Pencil Showdown series where I test different coloured pencils across a range of colouring books and paper types.
--
📝 My list of essential art supplies: mycolourfulcountrylife.com/post/essential-art-supplies-for-beginners-my-top-picks-for-sharpeners-papers-and-more
--
🛒 SHOP MY AMAZON STOREFRONT:
US: amazon.com/shop/mycolourfulcountrylife
UK: amazon.co.uk/shop/mycolourfulcountrylife
AUS: https://www.amazon.com.au/shop/mycolourfulcountrylife
---
🎁 SAVE ON ART SUPPLIES – EXCLUSIVE DISCOUNTS
• Grabie – 15% off with code KARENART
• Diamond Art Club – 20% off your first purchase with code COUNTRYLIFE20
• Ohuhu - 10% off with code MyColourfulLife10
• Caydo - 15% off with MYCOLOURFULCOUN
• Cutebee - 10% off with MYCOLOURFULLIFE
• Journalsay - 8% off with MYCOUNTRYLIFE
---
📝 NEW TO ADULT COLOURING?
Check out my blog post with all my favourite beginner-friendly colouring supplies – including pencils, books, paper and tools I personally use.
👉 mycolourfulcountrylife.com/post/essential-art-supplies-for-beginners-my-top-picks-for-sharpeners-papers-and-more
---
🎥 WATCH NEXT - POPULAR VIDEOS & PLAYLISTS:
🎬 Beginners Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxhknBUSy5azCyhD2vrmHtCnJci1ueRic&si=ohIIc5MlnT__nekZ
🎬 Blending Like A Pro: youtu.be/9LIzpMS_-2U
🎬 Understanding Colour Theory: youtu.be/SNiOEpLu3ss
🎬 How I start a colouring page: youtu.be/4ts8s4H5BZk
---
☕ WORKSHEETS, CHARTS & DOWNLOADS
Looking for my colour combo worksheets, pencil conversion charts, swatch charts and more?
Grab them here on Ko-fi:
ko-fi.com/mycolourfulcountrylife/shop
---
🎨AMAZON WISHLIST:
https://www.amazon.com.au/hz/wishlist/ls/20AZCBJ0AKNKG?ref_=wl_share
---
💖 SUPPORT THIS CHANNEL
The best way is to like 👍, comment 💬, and share. Thank you for being part of this wonderful community!
---
📬 CONTACT ME
PO Box 121, Crookwell NSW 2583, AUSTRALIA
📧 Email: mycountrylife@bigpond.com
🌐 CONNECT WITH ME ONLINE
• 🌍 Website: mycolourfulcountrylife.com
• 📸 Instagram: instagram.com/mycolourfulcountrylife
• 👍 Facebook Page: facebook.com/mycolourfulcountrylife
• 👩🎨 Facebook Group: facebook.com/groups/mycolourfulcountrylifefamily/?source_id=379259886061721
---
🎶 Music
All music come from Epidemic Sound.
🛍 Affiliate Disclaimer
My storefront is affiliated with Amazon. Purchases made through my links may earn me a small commission (at no extra cost to you). These help me keep creating free content for the channel!
#adultcoloring #adultcolouring #adultcoloringchannel #colourwithme #coloring #coloringpages #coloringbooks #colouringpages #colouringbook #coloring #adultcoloringbook #coloringplans #mycolourfulcountrylife @johannabasford
0:00 – Best Coloured Pencils for Johanna Basford Books (Tested!)
0:17 – Pencil Showdown Series
0:44 – Book & Paper Details
1:24 – Why Pencil Performance Depends on Paper
2:00 – Rule of Thumb: Smooth vs Toothy Paper
2:24 – How I Tested the Pencils (Method Explained)
2:46 – Scoring System: Blending, Layering, Colour Payoff, Feel
3:31 – Prismacolor Results & Review
5:18 – Polychromos Results & Review
6:48 – Black Widow Results & Review
8:23 – Luminance Results & Review
9:49 – Ohuhu Halawa Results & Review
11:14 – Arrtx Results & Review
12:23 – Castle Arts Soft Touch Results & Review
13:46 – Chromaflow Results & Review
15:03 – Woomer Results & Review
16:44 – Pablo Results & Review
18:04 – Testing More Brands
18:25 – Arteza Results & Review
19:47 – Brutfuner Round Results & Review
20:51 – Holbein Results & Review
22:10 – Staedtler Design Journey Results & Review
23:25 – Final Results & Rankings
23:55 – Personal Favourites vs Top Scores
24:19 – What This Paper Is Really Like
24:43 – Vote in the Poll for the Next Test
🎨PALETTEKIT:
PaletteKit is your go-to toolkit for finding colour combinations, converting pencils across brands and organising your colouring collection all in one place.
🔗 Try PaletteKit here: palettekit.com
If you’ve been wondering which coloured pencils work best in Johanna Basford’s adult colouring books, this video will help you decide.
In this Pencil Showdown, I test 14 different pencil brands on the same page using the same technique so you can see how each one truly performs on Johanna Basford paper (UK edition).
I’ve included Prismacolor, Polychromos, Black Widow, Luminance, Ohuhu Halawa, Arrtx, Castle Arts Soft Touch, Pablo, Woomer, Chromaflow, Arteza, Holbein, Staedtler Design Journey and Brutfuner Round pencils.
Each set is scored across four key areas:
Overall feel
Colour payoff
Layering
Blending
At the end, I’ll share which pencils performed best overall, along with some great alternatives depending on your colouring style.
If you enjoy testing and comparisons like this, let me know by leaving a pencil emoji in the comments ✏️
And I’d love to know, what are your go-to pencils for Johanna Basford books?
This video is part of my Pencil Showdown series where I test different coloured pencils across a range of colouring books and paper types.
--
📝 My list of essential art supplies: mycolourfulcountrylife.com/post/essential-art-supplies-for-beginners-my-top-picks-for-sharpeners-papers-and-more
--
🛒 SHOP MY AMAZON STOREFRONT:
US: amazon.com/shop/mycolourfulcountrylife
UK: amazon.co.uk/shop/mycolourfulcountrylife
AUS: https://www.amazon.com.au/shop/mycolourfulcountrylife
---
🎁 SAVE ON ART SUPPLIES – EXCLUSIVE DISCOUNTS
• Grabie – 15% off with code KARENART
• Diamond Art Club – 20% off your first purchase with code COUNTRYLIFE20
• Ohuhu - 10% off with code MyColourfulLife10
• Caydo - 15% off with MYCOLOURFULCOUN
• Cutebee - 10% off with MYCOLOURFULLIFE
• Journalsay - 8% off with MYCOUNTRYLIFE
---
📝 NEW TO ADULT COLOURING?
Check out my blog post with all my favourite beginner-friendly colouring supplies – including pencils, books, paper and tools I personally use.
👉 mycolourfulcountrylife.com/post/essential-art-supplies-for-beginners-my-top-picks-for-sharpeners-papers-and-more
---
🎥 WATCH NEXT - POPULAR VIDEOS & PLAYLISTS:
🎬 Beginners Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxhknBUSy5azCyhD2vrmHtCnJci1ueRic&si=ohIIc5MlnT__nekZ
🎬 Blending Like A Pro: youtu.be/9LIzpMS_-2U
🎬 Understanding Colour Theory: youtu.be/SNiOEpLu3ss
🎬 How I start a colouring page: youtu.be/4ts8s4H5BZk
---
☕ WORKSHEETS, CHARTS & DOWNLOADS
Looking for my colour combo worksheets, pencil conversion charts, swatch charts and more?
Grab them here on Ko-fi:
ko-fi.com/mycolourfulcountrylife/shop
---
🎨AMAZON WISHLIST:
https://www.amazon.com.au/hz/wishlist/ls/20AZCBJ0AKNKG?ref_=wl_share
---
💖 SUPPORT THIS CHANNEL
The best way is to like 👍, comment 💬, and share. Thank you for being part of this wonderful community!
---
📬 CONTACT ME
PO Box 121, Crookwell NSW 2583, AUSTRALIA
📧 Email: mycountrylife@bigpond.com
🌐 CONNECT WITH ME ONLINE
• 🌍 Website: mycolourfulcountrylife.com
• 📸 Instagram: instagram.com/mycolourfulcountrylife
• 👍 Facebook Page: facebook.com/mycolourfulcountrylife
• 👩🎨 Facebook Group: facebook.com/groups/mycolourfulcountrylifefamily/?source_id=379259886061721
---
🎶 Music
All music come from Epidemic Sound.
🛍 Affiliate Disclaimer
My storefront is affiliated with Amazon. Purchases made through my links may earn me a small commission (at no extra cost to you). These help me keep creating free content for the channel!
#adultcoloring #adultcolouring #adultcoloringchannel #colourwithme #coloring #coloringpages #coloringbooks #colouringpages #colouringbook #coloring #adultcoloringbook #coloringplans #mycolourfulcountrylife @johannabasford
0:00 – Best Coloured Pencils for Johanna Basford Books (Tested!)
0:17 – Pencil Showdown Series
0:44 – Book & Paper Details
1:24 – Why Pencil Performance Depends on Paper
2:00 – Rule of Thumb: Smooth vs Toothy Paper
2:24 – How I Tested the Pencils (Method Explained)
2:46 – Scoring System: Blending, Layering, Colour Payoff, Feel
3:31 – Prismacolor Results & Review
5:18 – Polychromos Results & Review
6:48 – Black Widow Results & Review
8:23 – Luminance Results & Review
9:49 – Ohuhu Halawa Results & Review
11:14 – Arrtx Results & Review
12:23 – Castle Arts Soft Touch Results & Review
13:46 – Chromaflow Results & Review
15:03 – Woomer Results & Review
16:44 – Pablo Results & Review
18:04 – Testing More Brands
18:25 – Arteza Results & Review
19:47 – Brutfuner Round Results & Review
20:51 – Holbein Results & Review
22:10 – Staedtler Design Journey Results & Review
23:25 – Final Results & Rankings
23:55 – Personal Favourites vs Top Scores
24:19 – What This Paper Is Really Like
24:43 – Vote in the Poll for the Next Test
🎨PALETTEKIT:
PaletteKit is your go-to toolkit for finding colour combinations, converting pencils across brands and organising your colouring collection all in one place.
🔗 Try PaletteKit here: palettekit.com
