Prismacolor Premier 72 Colored Pencils: A Procurement Manager's Honest Cost-Benefit Analysis

No universal answer — just the right answer for your situation

I manage procurement for a 12-school district in the Pacific Northwest. I've overseen our art supply budget — roughly $96,000 a year — for six years. In that time, I've processed over 200 orders, negotiated with 30+ vendors, and tracked every purchase in our cost system.

Prismacolor Premier colored pencils come up in nearly every budget cycle. The 72-count set is the single most requested item in our system.

It's also the item I've talked more people out of buying than anything else.

Why? Because whether the 72-count set makes sense depends entirely on who you are. You fall into one of three buyer groups, and each group should make a different call. Let me help you figure out which one you're in.

The three buyer profiles

After six years of order data, I see three clear patterns:

• Group A: Formal art programs — high school or college courses where drawing is taught and practiced daily.
• Group B: General classroom or shared supplies — carts, closets, and community tables where pencils pass through many hands.
• Group C: Individual working professionals — illustrators, designers, and fine artists who depend on colored pencil for paid work.

Each group has a different cost structure. Here's the breakdown.

Group A: Formal art programs — the 72-set earns its keep

If you run a serious drawing curriculum, the Premier 72 is one of the most cost-effective tools you can buy. I'll defend that statement to anyone.

The math: in 2024, I compared quotes from four vendors for our annual art supply contract. The Prismacolor Premier 72-count came in at $95 to $135 per set depending on volume. Sounds like a lot, until you divide by 72. You're paying roughly $1.30 to $1.90 per pencil. Single open-stock replacements sell for $1.79 to $2.20 each. The full set gets you the color spectrum at a volume discount.

That matters in a teaching environment. When a student is rendering a portrait and needs a specific ochre, there is no substitute for having that color in reach. I've tracked the quality of Prismacolor pencil drawings in our advanced classes, and the jump in finished work when we moved from 36-color to 72-color sets was visible to every instructor. Fewer compromises. Better technique practice.

People assume the soft core is a drawback because it's fragile. From the outside, that looks like a flaw. The reality is the soft core is what makes the pencils efficient. Students lay down more pigment with less pressure. Less hand strain. Fewer layers. Faster progress.

I have hard numbers to back this up. When I audited our 2023 spending, the budget 36-count set we tested cost us about 40% more per completed drawing than the Prismacolor 72. Why? Lower pigment density meant students needed more layers to reach the same color depth. More paper. More time. More frustration.

Not ideal for a tight budget.

One caveat for Group A: treat the 72 sets as professional tools, not communal supplies. We keep ours locked and check them out per class period. I've seen districts that treat them like crayons lose half their inventory in one term.

Group B: General classroom — this is probably not your answer

Here's where I upset people.

The 72-count set is close to the worst purchase for a general classroom supply closet. I say this from experience — I made that exact mistake in year two.

I ordered ten 72-count sets for our elementary art program. Within a single term, seven were broken or incomplete. Students borrowed pencils. Individual colors vanished. We ended up with thirty orphaned pencils of random hues — good for nothing except coloring scraps.

People think the problem is discipline. It isn't. The problem is that a 72-color set with a soft core is the wrong tool for casual shared use. Young kids press hard. Soft cores snap. Loose pencils disappear. That's not negligence. It's physics.

The budget system treats all supplies like paper clips — cheap, interchangeable, easy to replace. A $120 set of pigment-dense drawing pencils has nothing in common with a box of paper clips. It's closer to a capital investment. If you can't manage it like one, don't spend like one.

For Group B, my consistent recommendation is:

• The Prismacolor Premier 24-count set ($25-$40) as a centrally stored class set
• The 36-count ($45-$60) if you serve advanced students who handle tools carefully
• Reserve 72-count sets for dedicated advanced classes or supervised art clubs

Is that elitist? I don't think so. It's stewardship. You wouldn't hand a $200 chef's knife to a kindergarten lunch table. Same principle.

My experience here is based on K-12 districts in my region. I can't speak to community art centers or adult education programs. But the "many users, no owner" dynamic I've observed has held up consistently across every school I've consulted with.

Group C: Working professionals — the honest case for and against

This is the group where I've gone back and forth the most.

For working illustrators, the Premier 72 is often the right call. Color range is a real bottleneck in client work. When you're matching a brand palette or a sequence of skin tones, having 72 colors within arm's reach means fewer interruptions. Time is money. A $100 set that saves an hour of color mixing pays for itself by the second commission.

But — and this is the honest limitation — not every professional needs it. If your primary medium is acrylic or oil, with colored pencil as a supporting tool, the 72-count is overkill. I've seen brilliant work produced with a 24-count Prismacolor set alongside gouache and watercolor. If you're learning how to thin acrylic paint for washes, that's a sign you're primarily a painter. Colored pencil is your detail tool. Smaller sets cover that role perfectly well.

Same logic if you're mostly digital. Sketching in Procreate? You don't need 72 physical colors for underdrawings.

The question isn't whether Prismacolor is "good." It's whether your work actually uses the range. I built a spreadsheet that functions like a grade average calculator for our supply budget — it tells me which purchases deliver value per dollar and which are prestige items gathering dust. Solo professionals should run the same mental model. If the 72-set isn't in your "used weekly" column, it's not earning its keep.

Price reality check (as of January 2025)

Pricing shifts constantly. Here's what I verified with four major vendors in mid-January 2025:

• Prismacolor Premier 72-count: $95-$135 at standard retail
• Seasonal sale pricing: $75-$90 during back-to-school or major retail events
• Open-stock replacement pencils: $1.79-$2.20 each through specialty suppliers
• The included tin is functional but flimsy — budget $15-$35 for a proper case if students carry sets

I've tracked the discount cycle for four years. It's predictable. If you can wait for a back-to-school or Prime Day event, the 72-set regularly drops below $80. That's the sweet spot. Timing the market sounds silly for pencils, but the difference between $90 and $130 per set across a dozen sets is $480. Real money in any budget.

How to tell which group you're in

Not sure? Answer these three questions honestly:

1. How often will the pencils actually be used? Daily or weekly = Group A or C. Monthly or occasional = Group B.
2. Who touches them? One accountable owner = A or C. Many rotating users = B.
3. What does a broken pencil cost? A quick replacement of an essential tool = A or C. A missing piece of a dissolving set = B.

That's the framework I use every budget cycle. It's saved our district roughly $8,400 per year by preventing over-spec purchases — money that goes back into supplies students actually use.

Final verdict: the Prismacolor Premier 72-count is an excellent product. I recommend it confidently for formal art programs and working professionals whose work demands the full range.

I also recommend it honestly. Which means telling you when it's the wrong tool. If you're running a general classroom with shared supplies, don't buy the 72-set. You'll lose money, you'll lose sleep, and you'll end up with a box of orphaned pencils nobody can use.

No hard feelings. Just math.

Match the tool to the use case. Budget accordingly. Repeat every year.