If you regularly use colored pencils in your adult coloring books, you know how important it is to have access to a decent pencil sharpener. The wrong sharpener will chew up your precious pencils in no time at all.
It’s a little embarrassing to admit, but I generally hate sharpening pencils by hand. With my less expensive colored pencils, I will use an X-Acto electric pencil sharpener. This sharpener is a little louder than I’d prefer, but it’s quick to use and creates a nice sharp point on every brand I’ve tried it with.
Of course, I can’t exactly to my electric sharpener to a friend’s house to color. If I’m on the go or I want to be extra careful sharpening my more expensive pencils, my top pick is the Prismacolor Scholar hand sharpener. I first tried this sharpener at a coloring club event at my public library. It’s just as high quality as you’d expect from the Prismacolor brand. I love it so much I picked up a second one to send to school with my son in the fall so he doesn’t have to use their outdated sharpeners that shred your pencil instead of giving it a decent point.
Regardless of your preferred pencil sharpener, one important tip I’ve learned since I started coloring is to be careful you don’t accidentally drop your pencils. If they drop with enough force, you can break the lead inside the pencil. This will make them difficult to sharpen properly no matter what brand of sharpener you select.