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Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils are known artist grade colored pencils. They allow for various artist colored pencil techniques and their lightfastness is good to excellent. They are made in Mexico.

SiVO Colour Pencils, sets of 36 with no repeating colors, are made by Hindustan Pencils, Ltd., Mumbai, India. I recently found them at Walmart for $5.97 a box of 36 but they do not appear on Walmart's online store. They are somewhat water-soluble -- colors can be lifted to a great degree but not totally, with a brush, cotton swab or wet wipes. They allow layering and work well with Mona Lisa Odorless Paint Thinner and various colored pencil blenders. My Mungo Gallery Artist's Soft Oil Pastels, a higher end (!) student grade pastel according to professional artists, go over the top of these colors very nicely.

Category: They don't quite stand in strictly in one category, meaning they're mostly like regular colored pencils but their leads crumble a bit at times thus reminding me of pastel pencils but they don't perform like pastel pencils, they're somewhat water-soluble but wouldn't do as watercolor pencils, and they're marketed for youths but allow layering and working with pencil blenders and solvents, things most more affordable pencils often don't accommodate very well or at all. I'm excited about them for doodling, practicing various techniques, and color studies anyway. People who expect pencils to fall neatly in one category or people used to the best artist grade colored pencils in existence are going to perhaps dislike these. People who are willing to play, observe, accept these pencils for what they are, and push boundaries with them are probably going to love them because you get far more play out of them and more techniques are possible with them.

Quality Ranking: Despite their vividness, they do not match the best professional color pencils (Faber-Castell Polychromos, Caran d’Ache Luminance, Lyra Rembrandt Polycolor Oil-Based Colored Pencils...) in all aspects but are far better than Crayola (understatement!) and many other more affordable brands for kids, doodlers, or coloring book aficionados.

Canson XL Mix Media (also found in Walmart) and Stonehenge papers, heavier papers, are better candidates for this type of pencil. Pastel paper will work but will warp from pressure and layering techniques, so that type of paper performs less satisfactorily for these.

Notes: They can smear a bit. Personally, this doesn't bother me because I'm already fixing my art journal pages and mixed media papers/boards with Krylon Matte fixative spray, regular or UV Resistant. These pencils do not perform well on black paper, save one earthy red color. Colors and lightfastness ratings (how quickly and how much they'd fade in direct sunlight) do not appear on the pencils or their packaging.

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situation of widespread disease
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permanent genetic change
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encourages or causes
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