Best Pencil Sharpeners for Artists

This may be the most important post on the whole internet. Especially if you are an artist looking for the best pencil sharpener you can get your hands on. Because, face it, there are probably not many more things in this world as frustrating as a bad pencil sharpener.

You’re vigorously nodding your head, aren’t you?

How many pencils have you sharpened down to the tiniest of nubs after breaking off 45 points that you had to unclog from deep within the sharpener? Mmmmmm-hmmmmmm

Read on to find out the best pencil sharpener for each type of pencil, and why sometimes a sharpener isn’t the best sharpener at all… 🤔

the Best Pencil Sharpener for Artists

Sharpeners for Graphite Pencils

This is the best sharpener you can buy if you are using graphite pencils. With graphite, when you draw, you want to have lots of the graphite exposed from the wood to basically give you more drawing material to use.

I adore my Kum sharpener for graphite pencils, as it has 2 holes for a 2-step sharpening. The first hole you use is the wider one, and that strips down the wood around the graphite. Then you move the pencil to the smaller hole to sharpen the graphite into a long point.

Sharpening the pencil thusly is as close as you can get to using a flat razor blade or craft knife to sharpen it, which is the best way to sharpen a pencil, but I don’t know many artists who have the patience for that.

Don’t miss: The Best Drawing Pencils

Charcoal Pencil Sharpeners

Remember a second ago when I was talking about – and rejecting – the idea of sharpening pencils with a knife?

I actually sharpen charcoal pencils with an X-acto knife because I can sharpen them slowly and precisely. The sides of the pencil tips won’t be perfect and round, but your pencils will last longer because they won’t constantly break inside the sharpener.

Charcoal is so fussy and sensitive (like me), so you really want to take care of it or it will break easily (again, like me). So you can by all means try a sharpener on your charcoal pencils, but I highly recommend an X-Acto knife.

Best Sharpeners for Colored Pencils

Colored pencils are soft, so they break really easily. Don’t mess around with a bad sharpener with these; you’ll end up wasting half the pencil. Unlike graphite pencils, you want a shorter tip when you sharpen your colored pencils.

I am giving you 2 options for colored pencil sharpeners, just because each has its super-fans, and you can choose according to which seems like the best option for you. If you are like many colored pencil enthusiasts I know, you will have several different pencil sharpeners on hand!

Tip: If you use a handheld sharpener for colored pencils, hold the pencil still and twist the sharpener. This results in less pressure on the pencil, and less chance of breakage.

The Kutsuwa T’Gaal sharpener is pretty amazing for colored pencils, as you can adjust the angle at which it sharpens. From 1 to 5, it goes from short to long point – this is the angle of the point. You can experiment with which you prefer and for whether you are doing detailed colored pencil work or covering more broad areas.

The sandpaper sharpener is a viable option for colored pencils (and charcoal pencils.) I cannot use these however, because the sound and feel of pencils rubbing across sandpaper gives me the total willies. Some people swear by these, however, so if you don’t have a weird sandpaper problem like I do, try ’em out.

Sharpener for Mechanical Pencils

You think I’m kidding.

Actually! You can totally buy a little sharpener for your leads, so you mechanical pencil people, rejoice!

Best Pencil Sharpener For On-The-Go

If y’all are looking for a cute but mighty pencil sharpener for all pencils that you can carry around in your bag, look to brass sharpeners. This are made in Germany and will lovingly sharpen any pencil you feed it, plus it’s super cool-looking. These are the ultimate small gift for artists.