Good colored pencil technique actually encourages this embedding. Pigment particles are tiny enough to work their way deep into paper fibers. The combination of pigment, binders, wax, and oil is fiendishly hard to erase. The lead (called a core) is a sticky mixture of pigment plus wax, oil, and long-named chemical binders which have been baked (or cured) into a potent crayon consistency. Colored pencils are a completely different beast.Ĭolored pencils are made with vibrant pigment particles, milled much finer than graphite.
