Drawings with wax crayons for beginners step by step. Encaustic, an unconventional technique of drawing with wax crayons

Wax crayons are not considered a serious painting material. Most often they are bought for children because they are the most harmless. Wax pastels are suitable even for kids, of course, if they are made from high-quality vegetable wax. Inexpensive wax crayons are made on the basis of paraffin, so there is a chance you will stumble upon cheap (non-food grade) paraffin. If you care about the health of your child, then it is better to buy wax pastels from a trusted manufacturer of art materials.

Wax crayons, like regular colored pencils, are very easy to sharpen with a knife. The thickness and shape of the sharpened crayon can be varied depending on the type of strokes you need. The shavings left over from sharpening wax crayons can be put to good use. To do this, you need to collect it in different containers, selecting them by color. When a sufficient amount of wax waste has been collected, new crayons of the original color can be made.

Of course, when choosing wax crayons, it is better to choose pastels based on natural vegetable wax. Such crayons will be more flexible and opaque, which is very important for wax pastels.

When starting to work with wax pastels for the first time, it is better to try out a new material for you on different types of paper or drawing bases. This way you can evaluate all the features of wax painting in advance.

Wax pastels, in comparison with other types of pastels, have a number of features. It doesn't blend as easily as classic dry pastel. With wax pastels, you won't be able to mix two different colors directly on the paper. You can only change the tone of the base by lightening or darkening it. Wax shading is applicable only at the borders of design elements, to smooth out sharp transitions from one color to another. To smooth out these transitions, you need to make some effort, but you still shouldn’t rub the pigment into the paper with force. Let the wax thaw a little under the warmth of your fingers, this will make the wax crayons more flexible. Besides, you can’t draw with wax pastels outside when it’s cold.

For cheap wax pastels made on a paraffin basis, mixing colors on paper will be generally impossible. This pastel is very non-plastic and will roll under your fingers. For this type of wax crayons, there are other techniques, for example: encaustic or stained glass enamel.

Despite a number of differences, wax pastels have much in common with other types of pastels. In terms of drawing technique, wax is closer to oil pastel.

In order to master the wax pastel technique, you need to master the basics of pencil drawing. For any type of drawing or painting, the following concepts are relevant: perspective, proportions, composition, shadows and strokes. Without understanding the basics of drawing, you cannot master painting.

First, a sketch of the future drawing is made. The sketch can be made using a regular pencil, or you can take a wax crayon of the dominant color in the composition. In the sketch, the general composition of the drawing is outlined, the elements of the drawing are distributed in their places, the contours of objects are drawn, and the contours of white or light areas are indicated. To avoid damaging the surface of the paper, the sketch is made with light strokes.

When the sketch is ready, you need to spread the color over the surface of the future drawing. More often, special pastel paper is used for pastels. Wax pastels are no exception in this sense, although other materials may be suitable for wax crayons. It is important that the background does not discord with the overall color scheme of the picture, but complements it. If we talk about pastel paper, the warm tones of the pastel are emphasized by cool-toned paper. Warm-colored paper is suitable for cold-colored pastels.

Since wax crayons are an opaque material and have one hundred percent hiding power, the color is spread from dark to light tones. Wax pastels also allow you to blend the previous layer of color with the next one, but you need to be very careful. After all, wax crayons are closer in properties to oil crayons, and therefore can roll into dirty flakes under your fingers. There is no need to press hard on the pastel. If your pastel is made with natural wax, it should feel a little warm under your fingers. Then it will become more flexible and will smooth out the sharp color transitions of the design.

Light reflections on the wax pastel spread at the end of the work, when all that remains is to make color accents on some details that require highlighting with color. Wax pastels do not require fixation, the work is ready with the finishing touch.

Of course, you need to take into account that mixing halftones in wax pastels is difficult. Therefore, the color scheme of the work needs to be thought out in advance, choosing a dominant color that will be slightly emphasized with light highlights and contrasting lines. Works made with wax pastels do not imply a rich color palette; it is better to choose a couple of primary colors in which the drawing will be made. Drawings written with wax crayons are bright, expressive and expressive. The finished work looks more like a sculpted colored panel than a painting.

This is an absolute must have in a family with children. They draw with them, they take them with them on trips, they can be dropped in the dirt and washed under running water, they do not need to be sharpened like pencils and fear that they will dry out like felt-tip pens. So feel free to shop and create. What can you come up with?

Let us give you a few ideas for working with wax crayons:

Wax crayons and watercolors

We draw with wax crayons, and then paint on top with watercolors (we are not afraid that we will go over the edges of the drawing, the paint does not stick to the chalk) - beauty! You can draw fish and algae with crayons, and then paint everything on top with blue-green watercolors - you will get a real sea kingdom. Or we depict birds, clouds, the sun - and again paint over it with watercolors. This method helps create a background easily and quickly, teaches children not to leave white spaces - the drawing turns into a painting!

Wax crayons and sandpaper

We draw with wax crayons on fine sandpaper. Try it! The result will exceed your expectations. It is so contrasting and expressive that it will amaze anyone!

In addition to the beauty of the drawing on sandpaper, this also has its own practicality. The pattern from the sandpaper is easily transferred to the fabric. How to do? We make an image, place the design under the fabric on which we want to see the result (the front side is facing the design) and iron it from the fabric side. The design will melt and leave its imprint on the fabric - like a decal. Please note that the drawing will be mirrored, that is, if you make an inscription, it will be presented in reflected form.

Melted crayons

Melting crayons. Yes, the only disadvantage of wax crayons is that they can “float”. Therefore, you must be careful not to leave them in the sun or near a radiator. But this can also be a plus: we arrange the crayons in the order we like, take a more powerful hairdryer and begin to melt them.

Dream catcher or sun rays

Little sun, cloudy autumn and long winter? We make bright sun ray catchers and hang garlands on the windows. For this we need:
- tracing paper
- grater
- wax crayons
- iron
Crumble wax crayons onto a sheet of tracing paper; for convenience, you can use an ordinary kitchen grater. We lay it out crumbly as we like, combine colors or create contrast. Cover with a second sheet of tracing paper and iron it with an iron. The crayons will melt and the tracing paper will stick together. The sun's rays will shine through the thin ironed paper and let out colorful bunnies. Now we can cut out the shapes we need - circles, triangles, hearts.

Leftovers, fragments, small things from crayons

Remains and fragments of crayons should not be thrown away - put them in a silicone mold and put them in the oven or microwave. You can sort them by color, or you can add different colors together to create a multi-colored new crayon. Just remove all the papers and packaging first.

For creativity with

Pastel is a favorite art material for many artists, but beginners encounter certain difficulties when first using pastels. Therefore, further we will try to clearly explain what kind of pastel there is for drawing, how to work with it, and present a simple master class with photographs, where you will see an example of how to draw a beautiful still life with pastel. However, we still recommend that before you start getting acquainted with pastel techniques, you gain confidence in the basics - drawing with ordinary pencils.

Pastels are sold both in the form of bare rods, similar to crayons, and pencils. It is distinguished from other artistic materials by its softness and velvety structure, which is achieved due to its composition - a binder and coloring substance, that is, pigment. These qualities determine another feature of using pastel: it does not stick well to paper and can crumble when pushed or other physical impact on a sheet of paper.

Today in artists' shops you can find four types of art pastels: dry, oil, wax and watercolor.

Dry pastel

The most popular type of pastel, used by both beginners and professional artists. Depending on the content of the binder, it is divided into hard and soft - the less of it, the softer the rod.

You won't be able to achieve the same vibrant colors with hard pastels as you can with soft pastels. But it is easier to draw small and delicate details with it, especially if you draw with pastels in the form of pencils. It crumbles less and doesn't stain your hands as much.

With soft pastels, you can create sweeping strokes that lie smoothly on the paper and are easy to shade, but for beginners such a pliable material will not be easy to control.

Oil pastel

Oil pastels contain a mineral oil substance, which allows them to adhere well to paper and not crumble, and also not to stain your hands. True, you won’t get the same matte effect as a dry pastel, and you won’t be able to shade it as easily - you’ll have to resort to using a brush and water, or a special solvent. But it won’t be easy to smear it accidentally.

Wax pastel

Reminiscent of oil pastels in color rendition, brightness, smoothness of application and intensity of strokes. It contains a different binder: not oil, but wax. Because of this, it is more difficult to achieve color mixing, and if the crayons are cheap, where paraffin is used instead of wax, then it will not be possible to draw color transitions at all. Professional artists almost never start drawing with wax crayons.

Watercolor pastel

And this type of pastel has a more unique wet structure - all due to the content of water-soluble components in it. In its normal form it is applied to paper as a hard pastel chalk with a wet effect, and when water is added it takes on watercolor properties. It is often used to replace watercolor pencils, since such pastels can be used to draw both solid strokes and achieve translucent shades.

Additional tools

What paper is best to draw on? Since dry pastels crumble very easily, you will have to abandon ordinary, smooth A4 office paper and switch to another work surface that has a pronounced rough texture. This can be postal paper, sandpaper or pastel paper, canvas or special cardboard.

You can learn to draw with pastels even if you have nothing but pastels and paper. But with the help of additional materials and tools, the process of creating a drawing becomes much easier, faster and more convenient. This:

• Shading or brushes - there are silicone and paper. They are very convenient for shading small details of a drawing, for which shading with fingers is not enough.

• A kneaded eraser - you can use it to lighten a drawing with pastels, or gently erase excess without harming the paper.

• A mashtable is a special device in the form of a long stick with a soft fabric or suede ball at the end, which serves as a support for the artist’s leading hand and allows him to draw without touching the drawing, so as not to smear it. With the other hand, the artist supports the stick, and uses the ball to rest on the canvas or move it beyond the boundaries of the drawing.

• Fixative is a varnish designed to fix pastels, both during the work process and upon completion of the entire drawing. It is often replaced with regular hairspray, but it makes the image darker and can take away its matte finish. Therefore, many people refuse varnish fixation and place a pastel drawing in a frame under glass, so that it does not touch the paper.

Features of drawing with dry pastels

For beginners, it is better to first learn how to learn how to draw with dry pastels, as they are easier to handle compared to other types. It should be said that drawing with pastels does not imply any clear rules - the artist is free to experiment with techniques. However, there are certain nuances:

• The preliminary sketch and outline of the future drawing should be done using a piece of pastel of a not too noticeable color - it is better to match it to the tone of the paper. For white paper, use gray chalk or charcoal, which you can then simply shake off; for colored paper, use chalk of the corresponding or similar shade.

• Do not make a sketch with an ordinary graphite pencil, otherwise the pastel will fit very poorly on it.

• You need to draw with chalk “flat”, first applying the background and all the primary colors, painting over the area of ​​the paper. It is better to first apply and shade black and white colors, if present, and then move on to other shades. If the type of pastel allows it, then don’t forget about mixing - with its help you can achieve interesting gradients and colors that you don’t have in your palette.

• Having decided on a color scheme, you can finally begin to detail the drawing: the appearance of volume, clarification of silhouettes, shapes. At this stage, you can draw using shading, applying dots, individual strokes, lines, etc. - depending on what task is assigned to you and in what style the pastel drawing will be done. Don’t be afraid to leave the main details unshaded so that the drawing doesn’t look “soapy”.

How to draw with pastels: master class for beginners

Let's move on from theory to practice and learn how to draw a still life from life with pastels. Of course, you can try to draw it simply from a photograph. We will need:

• pastel paper;
• dry pastel;
• pastel pencils;
• plywood sheet;
• soft cloth.

If you have an easel, the task is easier, but its semblance can be built from a chair and a plywood sheet, resting it on the back and laying paper so that the pastel falls there, and not directly on the seat. Place the flower arrangement (or photo) nearby so that it is in front of your eyes and is easy to draw. Prepare your hands - wash them so they are free of grease and dry them.

Progress

So we learned how to draw still life with pastels! The drawing looks complete even at this stage. If you want to go further, then work on the background, details and adding shades.

The following video master class on drawing fruits will help you learn how to convey highlights, light, shadows, penumbra and reflex using dry pastels:

Wax crayons belong to the art materials united under the general name “pastel”. Pastels used in painting and graphics come in wax, oil and dry pastels. This classification is determined by the method of manufacturing the material.

It is not difficult to guess that the base for the described crayons is wax, to which colored pigments are added. These pencils of the best quality are made only from natural raw materials and vegetable dyes.

How to use wax crayons

There are several great techniques that give unique results. The classic way is drawing with a sketch. It is made with a pencil of the color that will be the main one in the range of the drawing. Then shades are applied to the sketch. Wax crayons (oil and dry pencils, by the way, are used at this stage in exactly the same way) are used in the drawing, first dark, then light. The strokes that will lie on top must be done very carefully so as not to tear off the wax already placed on the paper.

Sgraffito method

Translated from Italian it means “scratched” drawing. It is carried out using the engraving technique. You will need crayons and a knife. Pastel is thickly applied to a sheet of paper - first light, then dark. The contours are scratched with a knife.

Stained glass enamel method

You'll have to stock up on a grill stand. You need to place burning candles under it, and on it - a metal or porcelain plate on which a sheet of paper will lie (experts advise putting a newspaper under it). The meaning of the method is that during the process of drawing with wax, the surface must be constantly heated. The crayons melt into the warm paper and create a delightful enamel effect.

Encaustic

This is also a method of drawing with molten wax, but it is done differently. The image turns out three-dimensional, “alive”. The method was also used. You will need wax crayons, thick cardboard, a solid (without steam holes) iron. Multi-colored lines are applied to the sole of a slightly heated device and the iron is pressed, turning slightly, to the surface of the cardboard. The result will be beautiful patterns that can be turned into both realistic hills, mountains and rivers, and into outlandish abstract landscapes. Thinner and more precise lines can be made with the tip or edge of the iron.

Blur method

The drawing will turn out very mysterious and transparent if the image created with wax crayons is blurred with turpentine. Take a drop of solvent onto a synthetic brush and move it over the drawing with light strokes.

Wax crayons in children's creativity

Crayons of various shapes and colors bring unprecedented creative pleasure to children. The lines and strokes are colorful and embossed, and the tool itself does not require constant sharpening. Paper of different textures allows you to create unusual designs and compositions. The paintings created using watercolors and wax crayons look very picturesque. The photo on this page demonstrates a wonderful technique. First they make a “wax” image, and then paint it with paints.

The second life of wax crayons

Stubbed and broken chalk can be turned into a beautiful souvenir or a new tool for an artist. The fragments are placed in heat-resistant molds and baked in the oven for two to three minutes, allowed to cool and removed. If the colored fragments are mixed before the procedure, the new chalk will turn out unusually colorful.

I want to offer a very original drawing technique. The good thing about it is that, despite all the complexity at first glance, even a child in kindergarten can master it. Simple plots executed using this technique acquire a picturesque appearance without much work or artistic education. This technique is close to the style called pointillism, a very famous movement in painting. — The basic rules in which are to apply paint in separate strokes of the correct, identical shape. The paints were mostly not mixed with each other, all for the sake of the optical effect. – Our brain, through the eyes, itself compares pure color spots with each other in the required proportion, thereby mixing them instead of the artist and obtaining the intended shades.

As for our master class itself, we will make spots with wax crayons heated over a fire, as a candle drips when it burns out. This technique is not new and has become quite popular - the technique of drawing with molten wax crayons is called encaustic. And of course, you can also experiment with it - for example, to make pop-style pictures you need to place round spots at an equal distance from each other. Try it yourself.

Master class on encaustic painting in pointillism style

To work you will need wax pencils, a sheet of paper or, if you wish, you can take a canvas, and of course fire. You can take a candle or a special lighter for gas stoves, unlike a regular one, holding it lit for a long time will not burn your fingers.

Next, let's start drawing. First, sketch out a sketch of your future painting with a pencil. If you know how to draw, you will succeed quickly. If you don’t know how to draw, I won’t teach you that in this master class. — In the end, there are drawing courses, if you have this goal, attend them. And if you’re not sure, but want to try this technique, just draw something. When the sketch is ready, light the candle and let's get started. You need to hold the wax crayon over the candle until a drop forms, then carefully and quickly move it to the desired place above your sketch, placing the drop on the plane of the sheet.

In the case of a lighter, you can hold the chalk directly above the desired location. You can see more details in the video

Here you choose what is most convenient for you. In the case of children, it is perhaps safer to use a candle and draw under adult supervision.

Drops of wax crayons create a voluminous and smooth textured surface that looks impressive both in paintings and in graphics. What we can see from the works of the authors presented here.