How to Organize Colored Pencils Properly: Tips and Ideas

If you love to draw, you probably have already accumulated a great number of coloring supplies. Unfortunately, the more the better doesn’t work in this case. Dozens of colored pencils are spread all over the house with no hope of finding the hue you need quickly. A broken pencil tip is one more drawback which breaks your heart.

It is obvious that the acquisition of numerous drawing tools brings organizing challenges. Storing them correctly significantly saves your time when searching as well as money for purchasing new items.

I offer the following system of organizing colored pencils. I hope you will find it useful. With a little time and creativity, your instruments will always be tidy and neat. Let’s bring order to chaos.

Organizing Pencils by Color

You may have never heard about any wrong or right ways of pencils storage, but unfortunately, there are. If you keep your drawing tools in an improper way, it can greatly shorten their lifespan and devour your precious working time. Imagine a situation when you are trying to find the required pencil and after you are done with work just pushing it back into an extremely tight box section. Annoying, isn’t it?

If you are tired of searching for the right blue shade out of the twenty you have available, it is high time to arrange your colored pencils. If you keep them in their original packages on the surface of your working desk, be careful – pencils have a tendency to roll off onto the floor. In order to stop pulling them out of a cardboard box every time, accommodate your drawing instruments into comfortable mason jars, plastic containers, holders, or other storage options.

There are several methods how to organize colored pencils properly. A natural tendency of organizing pencils is to group them by color – either individually or by a general family.

Sort them into neutral, bright, and pastel hues:

• place all neutral colors (plus brown, black, and white) together in one jar;
  
• separate bright hues (pink, red, purple) in another jar;
  
• let pastel shades (yellow, light blue, and light green) also have their own location.
  

With this rearranged scheme, you can easily reach for any hue you need in the shortest time possible.

Most Simple Way

The easiest way to systemize your drawing tools is to sort them by a color family. For example, separate all the tones of red from all the pencils you have and place them in one section. Hold all shades of blue in another, and so on. You can simply grab the tone you need from a separate container.

You may have some shades left which don’t belong to any family, like metallic, neutral, or black. Accommodate such colors in their own individual section.

Warm and Cold Colors

One more way of sorting out pencils by hue is to separate them by a scheme based on color temperature – warm and cold colors.

Warm hues refer to orange, red, yellow, pink, etc. Cold hues include blue, purple, green, grey, and similar shades. Place these pencils in individual containers according to their color category.

Skin (or neutral) tones and white, which don’t fit anywhere, can be stored together in a special bin.

Use Color Charts

A good way to organize your pencils is by using original color charts provided by a manufacturer. They list all the color options available. As a rule, brands offer these charts for downloading at their official websites. Just print this picture out and organize your writing tools in accordance with this hue order.

In other cases, members of art communities create their own charts in order to arrange their supplies. You can also create these color swatches on your own. Cut small paper cards and shade a square with each pencil. Attach the name of the hue and its manufacturer.

Group your pencils according to the charts provided by the brand. Such implements serve for quick orientation in the colors you have. You will be aware of which true shades they show on paper and compare them with other colors. You can stop wasting pigments swatching each time you are looking for a particular shade.

Rainbow and Color Wheel Organizing

Another method is to organize your pencils according to a rainbow spectrum. To use this way of organization, just place your tools in Roy G. Biv order. The conventional colors of the rainbow symbol include the sequence of the following seven shades:

• red;
  
• orange;
  
• yellow;
  
• green;
  
• blue;
  
• indigo;
  
• violet.
  

If you find such an accommodation not quite exact or you don’t know where to put black and white, use a color wheel instead. This thing helps to put hues in a wheel and not in line, because all colors have an equal value. This tool offers a marvelous hue display, which contains a wider range of shades.

Create Your Own Organization of Colored Pencils

If you are a crafty person, if you have got a talent for woodwork, or if you show some magic with a sewing machine, you can make your own organizer of colored pencils. A self-made implement will completely meet your needs and suit your style.

The abovementioned ideas can be upgraded and modified. More DIY solutions to bring your drawing instruments in a correct order can be easily found on the internet. Pencil holders, fabric wraps, wooden caddies, pencil carousels, boxes, and other artistic homemade tools will help each of your favorite pencils to have its own place.

You are free to use these instructions for your own creative interpretations. Adapt these techniques for a larger or smaller pencil collection. I believe you will get a fantastic masterpiece. Fingers crossed!

Final Thoughts

All these tips are useful for a convenient color distribution. Now you can spend more time drawing instead of searching for a proper pencil. Such things are perfect for indoor pencil organization.

I am fond of drawing outside and always keep my pencils in a separate case, which protects them from damage. It is quicker to pack and transport and less prone to disaster in case I drop it. For all artists on the go, I would recommend the following collection of the best pencil cases. I hope you will find a unique one, which will properly house and protect your drawing supplies on the road.