Pastel is a medium used for sketching, drawing, or painting since the Renaissance, not an aesthetic.
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| Hard, Medium & Soft Pastels |
Overview
Includes a brief history of the advantages of the medium.
History of Pastels
Pastels were first mentioned by Leonardo da Vinci in 1495, documenting his recipe for pastels using the word "pastello," which means "paste" in Italian, and have been in use since the Renaissance.
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| Chardin. pastel. 1771. |
The medium became very popular in Europe during the 18th century, especially in France. Until the French Revolution, it was fashionable for the aristocracy to have their portraits painted in "pastiche," the French word for pastel.
The medium reached American shores during the 18th century and initially only had occasional use in portraiture; however, in the late nineteenth century, pastels became accepted in modern and contemporary art because of their broad range of bright colors.
Recently, the quality of pastel products available to pastel artists has increased dramatically. Today, pastel paintings carry the same stature as a significant fine art medium parallel to oil and watercolor. Many of our most renowned living artists have distinguished themselves in pastels and have enriched the art world with this beautiful medium.
About Pastels
Pastel is a painting or sketching medium favored by many artists constantly on the go. It does not darken, fade, yellow, crack, or blister with time because it does not contain a liquid binder, as found in oil paint.
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| Pastels |
A particle of pastel, seen under a microscope, looks like a diamond with many facets. Therefore, pastel paintings reflect light in the same way as a prism, in multiple directions. Beautiful, long-lasting, high-quality works of art can be produced quickly because no drying time is needed as with wet mediums.
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| Pigments |
Pastel combines drawing and painting skills, allowing a spontaneous approach to the subject. It has a velvety texture, and no other medium has the same color intensity.
Pastel artwork is created by stroking the stick across an abrasive surface, embedding the color within the "tooth" of the paper or board, also called "the ground."
Pastels do not oxidize with time. They are one of the most permanent mediums when applied to acid-free archival paper or board and framed correctly.
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| Variety of Pigments |
Pastels from the 16th century exist today, as fresh as the day they were created, although in many cases, the paper has begun to deteriorate, not the pastel.
How Are They Made?
Pastels have three components: a pure, powdered pigment (also used in traditional paints), a filler, and a binder. The current process for manufacturing pastels today has remained almost the same ever since the sixteenth century, except most manufacturers keep their unique recipes secret to stay competitive with other brands.
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| Jars of Raw Pigments |
Unlike oil paint or watercolor, premixed dry pastel colors are not always composed of a single pigment but are often a combination of two or more pigments bound together. Pastels are made with dry pigments and fillers that are ground into a fine powder.
The filler is a white base used to tint the pigment. It also gives the pastel substance and creates consistency. Gum tragacanth is added to bind the mixture together.The softest pastels only have enough binders to hold the pigment together, while harder pastels or pastel pencils have more or different binders.
When added, the binder creates a paste, which is then rolled into a stick. After the binder is dry, the stick is ready for use. Unfortunately, the shape of the pastel stick (round or square) gives no clue as to the degree of its softness or hardness.
Materials or Supplies
Includes unique types or brands.
What are Hard or Semi-Hard Pastels?
Soft pastels contain more pigment and less binder than hard pastels and pastel pencils. Harder pastels can be sharpened and will release the pigment with more pressure. These drawing sticks are made of pigment, chalk, or other binders.
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| Holbein Pastels |
They can be sharpened to a point that offers crisp or hard edges. They do not crumble. They must be snapped to be broken down into smaller sticks.
Brands
- Createacolor (Australia)
- Faber-Castell (Germany)
- Holbein (Japan)
- Nupastel (USA)
See also Conte crayons.
What Are Pastel Pencils
Pastel pencils are wood-encased sticks of hard pastel. They may serve as a cleaner alternative to working with hard pastel sticks.
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| Pastel Pencil Set |
Pastel pencils are ideal for sketching or drawing and can add fine details to any soft pastel painting. Their techniques are characteristic of pastels and other sketching mediums such as charcoal or graphite. For example, hatching, crosshatching, or smooth gradations can be achieved. They can also be blended to create one even flat tone.
Preferred Brands for Black
- Stabilo CarbOthello "Lamp Black" (No. 760)
- OR Faber-Castell PITT® (No. 101)
- OR Conté "Black"
- OR for pencil lovers: Faber-Castell Polychromos "Black."
Preferred Brands for White
- Stabilo CarbOthello "Titanium White" (No. 100)
- OR Faber-Castell PITT® (No. 101)
- OR Conté "White"
- OR for pencil lovers: Faber-Castell Polychromos "White."
Preferred Brands for Brown
- Stabilo CarbOthello "Bister" (No. 635)
- OR Faber-Castell PITT® (No. 177)
- OR Conté "Bistre"
- OR for pencil lovers: Faber-Castell Polychromos "Brown."
PITT® Pastel Pencils
Faber-Castell calls its PITT® line of pencils and pens because they are earth colors that appear as though they came from a "pit," hence the name morphed into "PITT®." You can buy them separately or an entire set of colors. I also use these pencils for color drawings.
Faber-Castell PITT® Pastel Pencils are suitable for lines, shading, delicate color transitions, and extended areas. They can be used for sketches, studies, portraits, still-life, and landscape drawings. They give a smooth flow of color without being used up too rapidly. The colors are rich in pigment, which allows dense shading. They do not change when fixed or exposed to light. Wood-cased PITT® Pastel Pencils do not dirty the fingers; the leads are free of oils. They can easily be wiped or use a brush to merge areas of color.
What are Soft Pastels?
Soft pastels are sticks available in various sizes, shapes, and degrees of softness. They are easy to blend, layer colors on top of one another, and cover larger areas quickly.
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| Henri Roche's handmade pastels |
Brands
- Art Spectrum (Australia)
- BlockX (Belgium)
- Blue Earth (USA)
- Diane Townsend Soft (USA)
- Diane Townsend Terrages (USA)
- Great American (USA)
- Girault (France)
- Henri Roche (France)
- Jack Rickheson (USA)
- Mount Vision (USA)
- Rembrandt (Holland)
- Sennelier (France)
- Schmincke (Germany)
- Terry Ludwig (USA)
- Unison (England)
What are Pan Pastels?
PanPastels® are genuine artists' quality pastels uniquely packed in a pan format but not in pure powder pigment form. They were developed so artists could easily lift, apply, control, blend, or mix the colors.
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| PanPastels® |
These professional-quality, highly pigmented colors have excellent lightfastness, are fully erasable, and are compatible with traditional pastel sticks, pastel surfaces, conventional fixatives, and other artists' colors.
What Are Oil Pastels?
Oil pastels or oil sticks are considered a different medium than soft pastels because they use a "wet" or non-drying oil or wax binder instead of the gum binder used in soft pastels. For this reason, artwork done in oil pastels is generally excluded from "pastel" art competitions and exhibitions.
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| Oil Pastels |
It is not possible to mix oil pastels in their manufactured state. Odorless mineral spirits would be needed to soften or liquify their state.
Pastel Surfaces
Pastels may be applied to many surfaces, including various paper, cloth, and canvas types. Two popular surfaces are sanded paper and rough-surface rag paper, which may come in multiple colors to augment or contrast with the painted image.
Some surfaces are undercoated with gesso, marble dust, or pumice. The artist may create an "under-painting" with acrylic, oil, or watercolor, then use "broken color," which can be achieved by layering or hatching pastels over one another.
For more information on choosing a paper, click here.
Drawing Surfaces
Surface Protection
Techniques or Tutorials
Includes the following.
How to Use Pastels
Pastel can be blended or used with visible strokes, and techniques may vary with each artist. They may also be layered over each other for optical mixing (or blending).
Create a Flat Tone
Smoothing or removing the texture of any hatching creates a nice, even flat tone. Lay down some hatching with the pencil, then use a Q-tip, finger, or cotton stump to smooth the pigment into the paper. Smudging or smearing is a pastel technique that can also create a receptive area for the application of more pigment.
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Chamois cloths, paper towels, foam packing peanuts, and small strips of foam padding—all are potential tools for rubbing the pastel pigment around.
Tip: For larger areas, wear nitrate or surgical gloves and rub the pigment into the paper with the palm of your hand. Also, note that pastel dulls when blended, crushing the pigment further.
Creating a Wash
A wash is a technique where isopropyl alcohol is applied with a slightly wet brush. The alcohol dissolves the binder in the pigment and turns it into a wash. When dry, the pastel is permanently bonded to the paper. Brushstrokes may be left visible or blended to flat tones.
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Tip: Use a Hake brush for backgrounds or flat tones.
Using a Razor Blade
Depending on the paper or ground you’re using, a gentle scraping can create a receptive surface for reworking. A flat-edged oil painter’s palette knife and a straight-edge utility razor blade both work well.
Make sure the painting is in an upright or slightly forward-leaning position so that the dust falls into a trough below and not down the front of the painting, leaving a trail of pigment.
Holding the edge of the blade lightly against the surface at a 45-degree angle, use a gentle downward stroke. The image remains as a ghost of its former self. By removing the thicker layer, more pigment can be applied.
Brushing
Similar to scraping, a stiff, dry brush can be used to remove much of the outer layer of soft pastel. Unlike scraping, however, the brush will blend the pastel and create a soft outer layer.
One negative is the airborne dust created by the brushing action. Be sure to do this in a well-ventilated area and wear a mask, if possible.
Tinting
A tint is any color mixed with white. Pastel tints are similar to blending. However, you combine white with a single tone to lighten the value. You may also sketch lightly, allowing the paper's white to show through.
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Tip: Use a clean Q-Tip so you do not contaminate the color.
Shading
A shade is any color mixed with black. Shading is similar to blending; however, you combine black to darken the value.
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Tip: A little black goes a long way, so you must practice the pressure when adding in the black.
Multiple Colors
Blending results from mixing one hue or color family with a different hue or color family. They combine together to create a new color. Lay down one color on top of another, then rub them together using a Q-Tip, stump, or burnishing tool.
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Tip: The pencils' degree of softness (dustiness) makes them easier to blend. If you love to blend, you should look for softer pastel pencils. Conté pastels are harder than soft pastels, but their pencils are softer than most other brands.
Broken Color or Optical Blending
Broken color or optical blending refers to a painting technique 'invented' by the Impressionists. In this technique, one color is laid down, and another is layered over it. No blending occurs; the colors are mixed optically by the viewer. This technique can also unify an image if the strokes are similar.
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Tip: This is an advanced skill and takes some pre-planning. Otherwise, you may end up just blending the colors together.
Scoring
Scoring is the act of creating a line or depression on a piece of paper, affecting the marks made over it. For example, using a paperclip to score the paper, we can put down thin lines, and then when a flat tone is layered over, the original paper shows through without any pigment.
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Tip: Any tool, such as a knitting needle or embossing tool, can be used.
Frottage
Frottage is a technique where making tones on paper over an uneven surface creates designs and marks that may or may not be organic. The marks may be left or used as a basis for further refinement.
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Tip: You will create a frottage from the surface you are drawing on top of. If this is not the desired effect, ensure extra sheets of paper underneath the surface you are working on.
Pastel Resources
Click the tabs below for resources.
How to Ship Pastels?
Artists use plexiglass on pastels shipped over long distances or on larger works of art because it is lighter. If using plexiglass, it's suggested that you first treat it with Sprayon or a similar anti-static spray to neutralize the static electricity and prevent pieces of pastel from clinging to the plastic.
"How to Ship Paintings" - A Step-by-Step Guide for Artists and Galleries
Pastel Societies
- International Association of Pastel Socieities was founded in 1994 as a non-profit organization representing pastel societies worldwide uniting in the common cause to demonstrate the validity and quality of pastel fine art.
Instructor-Recommended
- Click here for a list of books in order by rating.
