I suppose it depends how much you want to spend. Perhaps the Prismacolor, as they are wax-based and lay down a little more buttery which could be fun for him, as a beginner, to experiment with blending etc. You can get a colorless blending pencil with them too.

I agree. Derwent Inktenses are difficult for a beginner and Prismacolors have their notorious lead breaking habit. If you don’t want to spend a year’s salary buying a Faber-Castell Polychromos 60 colour set, a Caran d’Ache Pablo 80 set or a Caran d’Ache Luminance 6901 76 set, you might consider Lyra Rembrandt Polycolor and Koh-i-noor Hardtmuth Polycolor as they are quite soft and feel similar to Prismacolors. I don’t know how the Blick Studios feel but they (as well as Utrechts) come from Koh-i-noor Hardtmuth and have exactly the same colours, and Koh-i-noor Hardtmuth Mondeluz is their water-soluble sister. Another twin pair you might consider are SoHo Urban Artist and Cretacolor Karmina; both are made by Cretacolor and in quality terms I’d compare them to Koh-i-noor Polycolors and its siblings.

Koh-i-noor Hardtmuth Polycolor (or Blick Studio or Utrecht) would be my choice (after Faber-Castells and Caran d’Aches) if the nephew was mine. A couple or even a half dozen of different drawing pads (thin ~ thick and smooth ~ rough paper, there is no such thing as The Best Paper For Everyone), a handful of metal sharpeners and, yes, perhaps a couple of adult colouring books. (Last week I found three Disney colouring books printed on very acceptable sketchbook-type paper, and unless your nephew absolutely hates Disney animation classics and children’s colouring books, you might find one with Harry Potter or big machines or familiar animals at the local book shop or supermarket.)

A K-i-n Hardtmuth Polycolor 72 set:

http://www.htconline.in/content/images/thumbs/w_1_0008652_kohinoor-polycolour-artist-coloured-pencils-set-of-72-tin-box.jpeg

and a colour chart with approximate lightfastness stars:

http://img15.deviantart.net/d05e/i/2012/052/8/c/color_chart_koh_i_noor_polycolor_by_jankov-d4qej5q.jpg

Heikki

PS. Lyra Rembrandt Polycolor and Koh-i-noor Hardtmuth Polycolor are two totally different products – ‘polycolor’ is just a Latin-like equivalent of ‘many colours’. The Lyra 72 set includes two blenders and looks like this:

http://g01.a.alicdn.com/kf/HTB17TH9KpXXXXcRXVXXq6xXFXXXH/36-colors-high-quality-Lyra-Rembrandt-Polycolor-Premium-Oil-Based-Colored-Pencils-iron-box-packed-colored.jpg

I picked up prismacolors and havent looked back. I have yet to try any other CP simply because I dont feel there is a need to. Id say see if you can buy a couple individual pencils of each and try them out that way. Good Luck!!!

What kind of sharpener do you use? And you can also throw them in the microwave for a few seconds to soften the lead it helped me with the breaking issue.

Koh-i-noor Polycolor pencils are really good for the price, though they are probably much cheaper in Europe. I think that a 36 set would be sufficient for a 12 year old beginner.

I just recently decided to try color pencils, and ran into way too many reviews about Prismacolor being fragile, and a lot of internal breakage. Also the leads (?) are often off center causing sharpening breakage.

Hate to give such a bad opinion, keep in mind that what I read on the internet, so it must be true…. right?

I went with Fabre-Castell Polycromos for lack of bad reviews. Also I wanted sharp tips, less pastel look, good price, so that influenced my purchase.

Not enough info on the Dick Blick brand, so no opinion.

… the 2 sets of Prismas that I bought from Amazon last year, actually sold by Amazon and not a third party, have none of the flaws that people experienced in the past with that brand.

Possible Prisma’s quality dip has been addressed? That would be really good news as they were apparently such a wonderful pencil.