Prismacolor announces new Scholar colored pencils

Prismacolor have just sent me an email announcing they have introduced a new line of art media for aspiring artists with the brand name Scholar(TM)

Three points which any aspiring artist needs to bear in mind

1. It's good to have more economical supplies available for children and those who aspire to be artists.  That's the way a lot of artists start - with lots of drawing in colour when they are younger.
2. Serious artists will appreciate that serious art requires professional quality supplies and they need to move beyond a student range.
3. Student ranges and professional ranges also don't work in quite the same way as their composition differs (ie there's a reason for the price difference!).  This often means needing to relearn how you use your pencil as you graduate from student level to professional level pencils.  Many people are amazed at the difference

new Scholar(TM) products

The new Scholar(TM) range by Prismacolor comprises

• Scholar Colored Pencils: The Scholar Colored Pencils contain harder cores designed for the developing art student and crafters, but they are still soft enough to learn blending.  The range also includes new erasable coloured pencils
• Scholar Art Markers: Scholar Art Markers are easy to use, water-based ink markers ideal for idea development, rendering and mixed media. Available in both a brush and bullet tip.
• Scholar Graphite Pencils: The Scholar Graphite Pencils feature a specified range of hardness for shading and detail line drawing for the aspiring artist.

New Scholar accessories include

• a new pencil sharpener designed for the Scholar pencils (That had me wondering how it varies from most standard pencils and whether the dreaded Prismacolor breakage problem has been addressed!) and 
• a new eraser - which is black and left me wondering whether it would mark the paper.

Now - obviously - I haven't seen of these products.  Comments are based on known issues with existing pencils.

My final point - I'm left wondering how much this new range might cannibalise existing use of Prismacolor pencils which has been declining of late as more people become aware of other quality options.