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Colored pencils vary considerably even within the same brand. Pigment load, filler content, binder formula, opacity, value, and best handling practices can change from color to color.
Let’s test one of Prismacolor’s many vibrant reds:
The original dozen…
Prismacolor started making pencils in 1936 and Crimson Lake 925 was part of the first expansion set.
Today, Prismacolor makes several gorgeous reds with only subtle differences (see below), Crimson Lake is their darker wine red.
Crimson Lake is close but not the same as Prismacolor’s Crimson Red 924.
This classic red is ideal for portraiture, botany, food illustration, and general sketching.
Let’s look closer at Prismacolor’s Crimson Lake, PC925.
Prismacolor Premier: Learn about the pencil line, sets, and how Prismacolor colors compare.
The Color: Prismacolor Crimson Lake 925
Name: Crimson traditionally refers to cooler reds which lean more towards purple than orange. The word “Lake” when added to a color name indicates that the color is transparent. Crimson Lake basically means “Transparent Crimson”.
Temperature: Crimson Lake is a cool red which feels like it has a dash of purple mixed in.
Resemblance: While many companies do make Crimson Lake paint, Prismacolor’s Crimson Lake more closely resembles one of the redder Alizarin Crimson paints. But really, if you’re looking for the perfect wine red or to add shade to a brighter red, Crimson Lake is perfect.
Neutralization: Crimson Lake has a slightly murky and desaturated feeling.
Value: Crimson Lake measures 80% gray in value.
Indicator Accuracy: The paint on Prismacolor Crimson Lake is darker than the fully burnished color but it’s near enough that you can easily tell what you’ll get when you use this color.
Remember, back in the 1930’s when the early colors were developed, indicator accuracy wasn’t a priority because there were only a few red pencils in the entire world.
Availability: All Prismacolor Premier colors are sold open stock but not every retailer carries the entire line. Check with your retailer before travelling. As for sets, Crimson Lake is not one of the more popular reds and is therefore only included in the larger sets of 72, 132, and 150.
Buy Prismacolor Premier Crimson Lake PC925
The smallest Prismacolor set containing Crimson Lake is the standard 72-count set.
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Test Results: Prismacolor Crimson Lake 925
Core Firmness: Prismacolor Premier pencils are well known as one of the softest artist grade pencils on the market today. Crimson Lake has the standard smooth glide across the paper.
Oil or Wax Base: Read more about why this is nonsense here.
Point Retention: Like all soft colored pencils, Crimson Red does not hold a point well. It’s actually about average for Prismacolor Premier softness so it surprised me how wide that 50th stroke looked.
Starting with a freshly sharpened pencil, I lost the fine point about halfway through and the strokes got very wide even before I got to 50 strokes. This pencil is not recommended for detail unless you sharpen frequently.
All tests are conducted on Strathmore Bristol 300 Smooth for consistency.
Opacity: Color opacity is one of the most important features of a colored pencil. Read why here.
The name Crimson Lake indicates that this is a transparent pencil and it lives up to the name. Crimson Lake is an extremely translucent, almost transparent pencil.
When colored over a black swatch, to the naked eye, this pencil is almost invisible and even when tilting the paper this color didn’t catch very much light. That’s an actual swatch photo, the color is there but it’s hard to see, even in person.
Glazing: The transparency of Crimson Lake makes it perfect for glazing. In my classes at ColorWonk.com, we call these “magic pencils” because they’re chameleon colors, ideal for adding glazing subtle color without loudly advertising which color you used. Crimson Lake provides a bonus when shading because of the slightly murky color. An ideal shade-glaze color for realism!
Masking: Translucent pencils like Crimson Lake cannot be used to mask or block previous layers of pencil. Even if you press hard, this pencil is incapable of blocking prior layers.
Pigmentation: While I can’t measure true pigment load without laboratory equipment, Crimson Lake behaves like a moderately pigmented pencil.
The color builds noticeably with changes in hand-pressure (shown above) but with repeated layers of light consistent pressure (below), the color increases more slowly. This is likely due to the transparency of this color and transparent pencils usually contain less pigment (but I can’t be certain without testing this color).
Note the difference between the Burnishing level color above and the 10th layer of color below. Crimson Lake didn’t reach full value and potency at 10 light layers of pencil, another sign of it’s transparency.
Glide: Like most Prismacolor Premier pencils Crimson Lake has a smooth glide with zero sand, grit, or drag.
Laydown Consistency: When applied with light to moderate pressure in even layers, Crimson Lake’s laydown is consistent with no streaks of binder or blotchy pigment.
I don’t typically recommend burnishing with a heavy hand. I prefer to build to the burnishing stage gradually in light layers. But if you insist, Crimson Lake is a excellent candidate for single-coat burnishing without pilling or excessive shedding.
Paper Adhesion: Crimson Lake is a soft pencil. There were no issues getting it to stick to Smooth Bristol.
In fact, I specifically recommend Prismacolor Premier pencils when working on ultra-smooth or polished marker papers where adhesion is usually a problem. Prismacolor often sticks when nothing else will.
Layering Adhesion: I had no issues getting Crimson Lake to stick to itself. In the sample above, the area burnished with light layers (top left half) shows 15 moderate pressure layers and I saw no trenching or pilling in the process. There was also very little shedding with heavy pressure, it’s a soft pencil so they’re not going to withstand a lot of pressure without giving way. Excellent adhesion is typical of Prismacolor Premier.
Erasure: Soft colored pencils are not generally not erasable.
With 10 firm swipes of a non-abrasive polymer eraser over a pressure-burnished swatch, the best I was able to do was lift a small amount of color, one of the worst erasing pencils I’ve tested so far BUT remember that soft colored pencils were not designed to be erasable. Even after firm erasing, you can still see significant pigment embedded in the tooth and the paper is permanently stained.
Shedding: Throughout the entire testing process, I saw very little shedding or dust from Crimson Lake and the white margins around my test swatches are extremely clean. A very tidy pencil to work with.
To avoid grinding the dust into your paper with the side of your hand, I recommend stopping periodically to lightly brush your project clean with a soft hake brush (Amazon) (Blick), a large makeup brush (Amazon), or a natural fiber drafting brush (Amazon) (Blick).
Point & Breakage: I sharpen all my colored pencils to a long point using the X-Acto School Pro (Amazon) (Blick).
Crimson Lake was tested with this same long point. At no time did I break my lead or snap off the tip, not even when coloring with burnishing level pressures.
Crimson Lake is a sturdy color which can handle firm pressure but not abuse.
LET’S CELEBRATE!
ASTM D6901-06 Rankings:
I - Excellent, 100+ years
II - Very Good, 50-100 years
III - Good, 15-50 years
IV - Poor, 1 year
V - Very Poor, weeks - months
Lightfast Rating: Crimson Lake 925 scores a I (excellent) rating using certified ASTM D6901-06 lightfast testing.
See Prismacolor’s full chart with test results here.
Level I pencils can last 100+ years before any fading might occur.
This makes Crimson Lake the perfect pencil for use in projects where you intend to sell your original framed artwork for display.
Given that this color is 1930’s technology and that it’s a cooler red (which tend to fade more), I’m actually shocked to see this pencil score so high!
Crimson Lake in Action:
Here’s a taste of how I use Prismacolor Crimson Lake 925. Each lesson project teaches realistic coloring techniques using professional markers and colored pencils.
