And some brands price their sets at over $550. That's because of the time and attention put into creating pencils whose colors are rich, blendable, and last decades.

According to the brand, the lightfastness of these pencils is such that no visible colour change will occur after being exposed to the equivalent of 100 years of indoor museum lighting.

Student-grade colored pencils and professional-grade ones vary drastically not only in their price but how they're made. A set of 120 Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils costs $350, 14 times as much ...