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Choose Your Wand
Every journey begins with the right tool. Here are the ones
I personally trust to bring these worlds to life.
Best
for
Blending
Prismacolor Premier
If you seek the ultimate, butter-soft blending experience for Journey's deepest shadows, this is the
gold standard.
The soft, wax-based core allows for seamless layering, creating those ethereal, misty gradients that define the Journey universe.
This is the set I personally reach for when building the atmospheric shadows in Journey illustrations.
Best
for
Precision
Faber-Castell Polychromous
When the journey requires absolute precision, these are my go-to. Their oil-based lead stays sharp for those intricate, fully closed line details.
Unlike wax-based pencils, these do not produce 'wax bloom,' keeping your darkest blacks and finest textures crisp and clean.
This is the set I use when I need crisp lines and darker accents in the artwork.
Best
Budget
Set
Kalour
For those who want a vast palette of colors without the professional price tag. A solid choice for beginners to start their Journey.
While slightly firmer than the Premier series, Kalour offers an incredible range of shades to explore every corner of the story with vibrant detail.
A great starting set if you’re exploring colored pencils for the first time.
The Finishing Wands
Pro Blending Tool
Prismacolor Premier
Colorless Blender
The secret wand to marry all your colors. It polishes your work until the paper texture disappears, leaving only the magic.
Save this for the final stage to burnish your layers and achieve that deep, cinematic atmospheric depth.
I usually save this for the final stage when I want the colors to melt together softly.
Essential Tool
Faber-Castell Kneaded
Eraser
Art is as much about what you take away as what you add. This tool allows you to lift color gently, creating soft misty highlights without hurting the paper.
Essential for creating 'fog' and 'mist' effects within Journey’s mysterious landscapes by delicately lifting pigment.
I often use it to bring light back into the scene after layering shadows.
Detail
Tool
Derwent Electric
Eraser
For those 'high-stakes' details. When you need to reclaim a tiny highlight or clean a sharp edge within the most intricate patterns, this tool provides surgical precision.
Perfect for cleaning any pigment bleeds outside your fully closed contours, keeping your linework crisp and professional.
Perfect when I need to recover small highlights inside dense pencil work.
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