Shedding is the release of loose pigment from the sides of the sharpened core as a colored pencil moves across the paper. This material collects as fine dust or small particles on the surface of the paper.
It’s important to periodically brush this dust away as you work. Failure to remove the dust can result in color stains, embedded speckles, and streaks in the margins and light areas of your project.
Shedding is a normal characteristic of colored pencils. It’s a myth that shedding is a sign of a cheap or poor-quality pencil as any user of Luminance pencils can tell you. Colored pencils shed far less material than soft pastels.
Shedding is more noticeable in dry or crumbly pencil formulas.
Excessive pressure and repeated burnishing also causes shedding, even with high-quality pencils.
Shedding is different from pilling— when excess pencil material gathers into waxy clumps which stick to the paper. Many wax-based pencils naturally pill as the layers of color build up and the tooth of the paper begins to fill.
Both shedding and pilling happen together when an artist continues applying color to an already burnished surface.