What does pastel look like for drawing? Oil pastel tutorial

Pastel for drawing is an artistic material that was born much earlier than oil paints. Such great artists as Leonardo da Vinci, Degas, Renoir painted their masterpieces not only with oils, but with pastels.

Artistic pastel (from the Latin “dough”) is a soft and pleasant material to work with. Usually comes in the form of crayons and pencils.

The composition of pastels is quite simple - pigment plus a binder. Adhesives such as wax, mineral oils or gum arabic can be used as a binder.

Pastels for drawing can be of four types:

• dry pastel (hard, soft, ultra-soft (soft))

Let us dwell briefly on each of the listed types of pastel.

Dry pastel

This pastel lays on paper easily and softly. Gives a stroke size from 2 to 5 mm. It can be shaded with your finger, turning the strokes into an even tone.

By overlapping each other, the colors are easily mixed and at the same time allow you to create new shades. Thus, even a small set of crayons will allow you to create a picture rich in color.

A good pastel should not scratch the paper, crumble or break during use.

Depending on the ratio of pigment and binder, dry pastel is divided into:

• hard
• soft soft
• super soft extra soft

The higher the binder content in the pastel, the harder it is. However, some types of pastels, the softest, can consist only of pigment. H They are often easy to distinguish by the shape of the crayons - soft pastels are most often made with round crayons, and hard pastels - with rectangular blocks.

Hard pastel for drawing it gives clearer and thinner strokes than soft. She is comfortable drawing the details of the picture. It crumbles less from the surface of the paper.

Soft pastel for drawing contains more pigment. It allows you to fill large surfaces with color and is easy to shade.

It is more pleasant to use, gives a beautiful velvety texture to the drawing, and makes it easy to create bright strokes.

However, it is not easy for novice artists to control this material - crayons break easily, the previously applied layer is smeared and crumbles. Drawing with soft pastels requires special care.

Therefore, when working, it makes sense to start a picture with a soft pastel in order to clog the pores of the paper, and finish it with a harder one.

Pan pastel (“ultra-soft” pastel) comes in special jars that are very similar to eyeshadow palettes. Each jar contains 35% more pastel than a regular pastel stick.

Pan pastel mixes well and gives the most accurate color rendition. Therefore, artists usually work with it using the technique of realism.

They draw with pastels using special foam sponges, mixing colors directly on paper.

This pastel is not yet very common and is rarely sold in Russia.

The most famous imported pastel manufacturers:

• French company Sennelier(produces a palette of 525 colors from high-quality pigment - this pastel is quite expensive).
• Good quality pastels are produced by companies such as
• Rembrandt,
• Schminke,
• Faber-Castell
• Talles(Holland)
• Korean-made pastels are no less attractive in quality. Mungyo, with a good palette of shades. Very reasonable in price, it is half the price of Faber-Castell, but no worse in quality.

More foreign brands producing pastels:

Koh-I-Noor (Austria, Czech Republic), Conte (France), Lyra (Germany), Caran d'Ache (Switzerland), Stabilo (Germany), Cretacolor (TM Koh-I-Noor Hardtmuth, Austria), Derwent (England ), LeFranc&Bourgeois (France), Adel (Turkey), Jolly (Austria), Sakura, Daler Rowney (England), Maimeri (Italy), Bruynzeel (Holland), Apa-Ferrario (Italy), Bosung (China), Pentel (Japan) ), Titi (Korea), Crayon.

Common Russian brands of pastels:

• Podolsk-Art-Center
• Sonnet
• Aqua-Color
• Range

Pastel pencils

This is a type of dry hard pastel in the form of ordinary pencils. Such pencils have a number of advantages:

• convenient to use,
• Allows for more precise strokes
• don't get your hands dirty.

Indispensable when drawing small details and creating, for example, smooth textured transitions when colors are mixed with pencils directly on paper. They are best used for depicting animals and portraits of people, because you can draw hairs and feathers to make them more similar to the original.

Pencil Manufacturers:

• Faber Castell
• Derwent
• Cretacolor
• Stabilo

All of them also differ in hardness, for example, the softest pencils are Conte. The hardest ones are from Faber Castell.

Oil pastel

Despite the fact that these crayons are also called pastel, this pastel has completely different qualities and, accordingly, methods of drawing.

Oil pastels are made from pigment with linseed oil by pressing. Her crayons are hard and kind of greasy to the touch. Over time, greasy stains may even appear on works done with oil pastels.

Oil pastel chalks leave bright, crisp strokes. The colors don't mix well with each other. Pastel strokes are almost impossible to shade with your finger.

The colors in oil pastels are not as matte as those in dry pastels. Also, oil pastels differ from dry pastels in that they practically do not get dirty, finished drawings are more difficult to smear and they do not require fixation.

You can draw with oil pastels on any surface. It does not require special paper like dry paper.

In addition, oil pastels can be washed out. Blur and shade the oil pastel with a solvent (special or for oil paints). To do this, use a brush or shading (a special stick made of pressed paper) dipped in a solvent.

As a result, the result of the drawing will look like a painting with oil paints, and not like working with dry pastels.

Manufacturers are basically the same as for dry pastels. The company is considered the best Sennelier.

Wax pastel

Wax pastels are created on the basis of wax (most often polymer) in combination with natural fillers.

Drawings made with wax crayons turn out juicy and bright.

Wax crayons can be used to draw on paper, cardboard and even glass. Wax pastels can be used in mixed media - painting on watercolors or gouache. Since water does not adhere to such pastels, using such crayons you can draw in the techniques of sgraffito, stained glass enamel, encaustic and frottage.

Wax crayons are similar in appearance to oil crayons. What's the difference?

Most often, wax crayons are a cheap material for children. They are harder than oil pastels, so they don't stain your hands. In the professional field, oil pastels are mainly used.

Watercolor pastel

Watercolor pastels also have a waxy, wet texture.

But this is a unique material. It combines all the advantages of pastel, and at the same time it contains water-soluble components.

A drawing made with such pastel is similar to an oil pastel drawing. However, it can be washed out and turned into watercolor!

If you have worked with watercolor pencils, you will understand how watercolor crayons work. Unlike pencils, crayons are softer and brighter, easier to paint over large surfaces and blurred.

Thus, the same word, , can mean completely different crayons.

I hope that after this article you will no longer be mistaken in choosing the pastel you need!

I will be glad to see your comments and will be very grateful for your reposts!

Italian drawing technique: watch the free video!

Have you heard about the magical technique of painting with pastels? For beginners and experienced artists, this is a real pleasure. You don't need to spend years studying. In just a few lessons you can learn step by step how to draw with oil pastels for beginners. The simplest techniques will help you create landscapes, still lifes and portraits. We offer several secrets that will significantly speed up the learning of pastel drawing for beginners. After all, it is not only simple, but also extremely interesting.

The nuances of drawing with pastels for beginners (dry, oil, wax)

Often a novice artist cannot decide for a long time which basis to use for work, oil or watercolor? There is another category of art materials, classified as “soft”. This is a simple and pleasant pastel to work with. It is presented in the form of ordinary crayons. During work, there is very close contact of hands with paper.

We will look at drawing with dry pastels for beginners step by step a little later. But you must understand that the desired shade and texture can be achieved through strokes and shading. This allows the artist to feel his work. The technique of drawing with pastels has a magical property of transforming simplicity and primitiveness into a worthy drawing.

Soft pastel sticks need a rough, fleecy base. It holds the paint powder. Previously, artists even used suede for painting. Today, special paper is produced in the form of rough cardboard or canvas glued to cardboard. You can not only draw with pastels, but also write. Some artists prepare the base themselves. The transfer of form is done by lines, strokes, contours. Later, tinting is done in various tones.

Pastel is pressed paint with chalk. It has a high color density and makes it possible to create velvety strokes, soft and loose edges. Working with pastels is something between painting and drawing.

What is so attractive about pastel sticks? They make painting noble, clean and fresh. With their help, artists create a world that captivates with the spontaneity of creativity. Often shading is done with your fingertips. This brings the artist even closer to his painting.

Pastel paintings require good lighting. It serves as an excellent base for the manifestation of all shades and the play of multi-layering. They are best viewed in tangential daylight.

From the history of the material

Back in the 15th century, people used pastels. The theoretical works of Leonardo da Vinci contain references to this material. The word "pastel" first spread in France. It has Latin roots, meaning "paste".

The dark pigment is ground with chalk and a lighter shade is obtained. You've probably heard the word "pastel". The range of these tones can vary from translucent to extremely saturated. A pastel shade is one that is obtained by diluting some tone with white. It goes well with related neighboring tones in the color palette. Pastel is quite natural and neutral.

Many Renaissance artists used this material. In modern art, pastels were preferred by masters such as John Russell, Maurice de La Tour, Ingres, and Jean Etienne Lyotard. The classic portrait genre could not do without the use of pastels. It was used in its pure form and also combined with gouache. The famous James Whistler used this technique in atmospheric landscapes. Many artists of the 19th and 20th centuries used pastels. It was popular with impressionist artists from the Nabi group. Alfred Sisley, Pierre Bonnard, Jean-Edouard Vuillard, Edgar Degas, and Edouard Manet worked with pastels.

In one of the alleys of Paris, there is still a shop called La Maison du Pastel, where they sell the crayons that Degas once used. With them he wrote his famous series with ballerinas. Sisley also used them in his works.

The production technology belongs to Henri Roch. His work was continued by his heirs. Pastels are still made by hand, even the ancient tools have been preserved. The full color range includes 567 colors. One such chalk costs 12 - 17 euros.

Four types of pastels for drawing

Modern experts have developed four types of crayons:

1. Dry. They are most often used by beginners; they are easily shaded, erased with an eraser, or covered with a different tone.
2. Oily. Drawing requires certain skills. They are difficult to display and the strokes cannot be corrected.
3. Wax. They don't fade. They apply very beautifully, in the form of a glossy layer. These crayons work well and are great for drawing on wax paper.
4. Watercolor.

Only one type of pastel is used in one drawing. Drawing with pastels for beginners involves the use of dry crayons.

Careful handling of pastel works

Delicate and fragile pastels need to be handled with care. You need to protect not only the work, but also the crayons themselves. It is better to do quick sketches and sketches with dry crayons. They also make it possible to bring the work to a photographic form. Pastels are often used for drawing from life. It is used by lovers of expression and supporters of painstaking drawing out of details.

Pastels are convenient for drawing outdoors. Many people take it for a walk in the park or on a trip. It is suitable for conveying the play of light, conveying the texture of clouds and the rhythm of waves. This material allows you to do everything simply and quickly.

The only drawback of pastel pencils is compliance with certain storage conditions:

1. Be sure to use a fixative at the end of the work so that the drawing does not fall off.
2. Place pastel paintings under plastic or glass and keep them away from direct sunlight.
3. Create a folder to store your paintings. Translate each drawing in it with sheets of tracing paper. You can purchase a special album for pastels.

An artist needs to work with pastel very carefully, otherwise all its advantages will disappear. These crayons require precision, a special sense of color. The best pastel work has many layers of color, clean but slightly translucent. It attracts with its velvety and depth.

Buy a tablet or easel

To work with pastel sticks, you need to place the paper vertically or at a slight angle. This makes it easier to evaluate the overall picture and easier to transfer the lines of still lifes or portraits onto paper. For convenience, purchase an easel or tablet. These devices can be rested on the back of a chair or table.

Proper use of crayons

High-quality pastel sticks are not cheap material. Rational use of one set will allow you to use them for a long time. If you are a beginner artist, start by purchasing 10 - 15 basic shades. When choosing crayons in a store, ask to try them out. High-quality sticks create a velvety layer, without crumbs. The pastel should be shaded well.

Special corrugated paper

In addition to pastel pencils, buy tinted corrugated paper. It maximizes all the possibilities of pressed sticks. There are ready-made albums for such pencils with sheets of different shades on sale. Most often they offer gray, light brown, terracotta sheets. They are transferred with a special tracing paper. Sometimes the color of the paper may match one of the depicted shades of the object.

Shading of works

You can stretch the design using flat brushes or pieces of sponge. The initial stage of work involves shading with your fingertips. This will give you a better feel for the material. By blending you can achieve soft and feathery effects.

Paper shading is available for sale. They come in different sizes and are made from soft, wound paper. You can also use microporous sponge applicators. They come in different forms. Soft brushes made from natural pony hair are also suitable for shading. Some people use cotton swabs, discs, and makeup sponges. It is also important to purchase a pastel eraser.

Opening with varnish

They require mandatory opening with a special varnish. Do this with a spray bottle. It is quite possible to fix it with hairspray. Spray the product at a distance of 30 cm from the design. Art stores sell special spray cans for fixing.

Step-by-step work for beginners

Sometimes pastel works are classified as graphics, but they can also be paintings. Before you paint with pastels, learn how to identify shades. It is very important here to smoothly transition from one tone to another, as well as to see shadows.

It is better for a beginning artist to take dry pastels. Start your work with a preliminary drawing. Do this with a light chalk, just a little darker than the paper. You can then easily wipe it off with a cloth. The famous artist Levitan used coal for this. Just don't use graphite pencils, they won't work.

After the preliminary drawing, proceed to applying the main tone with pastel. It is more convenient to do this with a small piece of chalk, breaking it off from the main pencil. Then start working out the volume of items. Do it with strokes, dots, lines, strokes. After this, do the shading.

At the end, use a special spray varnish to fix the design.

Book by Margaret Evans "Pastel Techniques for Beginners"

Step by step understanding the secrets of using pastel pencils is useful not only for beginners, but also for experienced artists. Margaret Evans' work will help many to master this type of material. After all, some people consider pastels to be frivolous, multi-colored crayons.

Margaret Evans is not only an artist, but also an art teacher in Denmark. In her book, she reveals all the intricacies of working with pastel sticks. Working with this material is not easy, but very exciting. The author characterizes in detail all types of pastels, explains why they are needed, and how to use them. From the book you can learn how to properly apply color layers. To help beginning artists, various explanations and step-by-step instructions with photos for work are given. Margaret offers several workshops on painting landscapes. Various corners of the globe are depicted on them. The book consists of the following sections:

• Color selection.
• Subtleties of composition and perspective.
• Drawings from life.
• Quick sketches and use of photos.
• Image of plants in pots.
• Let's draw a garden.
• Image of bouquets.

Evans' book relies on pastel drawings of various flowers and bouquets.

Features of working with oil pastel pencils

Oil crayons are different from dry crayons. They are somewhat reminiscent of wax sticks, because they contain linseed oil. Beginning artists are advised to use dry pastels. But if you purchased oil, it is useful to know some points about its step-by-step use.

Oil pastels have a brighter color, so many people want to buy them. For drawing with oil crayons, not only special paper is suitable, but also sandpaper, wood, metal, glass, hardboard, and canvas.

There are four main stages in working with oil pastels:

1. First, underpainting is done, the free zone and the zone of local tones are highlighted.
2. Multi-level layers are applied to create depth and brightness.
3. The final strokes are slowly added.
4. The edges of the background, depicted objects, and background are cleared.

Oil pastels do not crumble, but harden over time.

Oil pastels are very different from dry pastels. In fact, these are wax crayons familiar to many - linseed oil acts as a binder for the pigment. People who don’t know about pastels in general often come to the store and buy oil pastels because of their bright colors and beautiful crayons.
I bought myself a box to experiment with. It turned out that there are a lot of ways to use these beautiful colorful crayons. I have Mungyo pastels in 36 colors, great shades from acidic to natural. This is what they look like. It’s good for testing, but if you want something even better, you can look at Van Gogh and Sennelier.

Drawing on regular pastel paper

Drawing on sandpaper

Painting with solvent

Sgrafitto

Encaustic

Finally, a few features of oil pastels.
Over time, the oil is absorbed into the base and the pattern becomes a little darker. If the design was based on white paper, yellowish oil stains may appear on it, so it is better to use colored paper or cover the entire surface of the design. There are also cases when, over time, oil appears in droplets across the picture; you just need to carefully remove them with a solvent.
Oil pastels, unlike dry pastels, do not require fixing. Sometimes oil pastels are varnished, but I find this unnecessary. Pastels should be stored in a folder carefully so that they do not stick to anything. It is best to keep the drawing under glass. The glass should not touch the work.

In general, oil pastels seem to me to be a very bright and lively material. It is suitable for “careless”, generalized in style, paintings. For those who like to tinker with details and smooth halftones, oil pastels will most likely not be suitable.

Among the many techniques and tools used by modern artists, pastel stands out for its unusual texture and brightness of color. It’s not easy to draw a portrait in pastels, but if you become interested in this direction, improve your own skills and make efforts to obtain the desired result, you can achieve what you want. Moreover, the process itself brings pleasure and draws you into the work headlong.

Before you start drawing with pastels, it is important to understand the features of this technique, as well as acquire the necessary materials for the creative process. The same set of tools is not suitable for beginners and professionals, so preparation for the creative process will be different. Only after this can you begin to figure out how to draw a portrait with pastels.

Benefits of painting with pastels

Many artists of different levels of professionalism prefer pastel painting to all other techniques. A portrait using this technique looks unusual and allows you to convey the slightest features of the artist’s mood. Other benefits of pastels include:

• simplicity of the process - pastel lays down easily, especially if you select all the materials and tools correctly;
• variety of colors - pastel is known for its soft transitions and combination of different shades;
• light fastness - unlike many other paints, it does not fade in the sun;
• velvety surface.

These advantages contribute to the popularity and love among artists who happily use pastels: the portrait technique with this tool allows you to make a beautiful and unusual image of a person. Although it is not as easy as novice artists would like.

Drawing tools for beginners

Drawing with pastels must begin with the preparation of materials and a place for future creativity. This artist's tool comes in several types: dry, oil and wax pastels. Dry, in turn, can be soft and hard.

In addition, you will need:

• special paper;
• brushes;
• a drawing board or any other flat surface on which you can attach a drawing sheet;
• an eraser that can be used to carefully remove excess lines;
• regular sandpaper, with which you can sharpen the chalk if necessary.

These tools are essential for drawing pastel portraits for beginners. To learn and comprehend the wisdom of this technique, such a set will be enough. And in the future you will have to expand your arsenal of materials and tools.

Tools for professionals

Simple and accessible materials are used by beginners, but as they learn and develop professionalism, their range will grow and expand. In the future you can also use:

• fixatives - substances that are sprayed onto a sheet of paper before starting work to fix the future drawing;
• turpentine or other pastel thinner, which will allow you to even out and generalize the layers of paint;
• work mask to minimize the entry of chalk dust into the respiratory tract;
• canvas - used instead of paper.

Careful preparation and selection of all materials will make the process more comfortable and easier. In the process of work, each artist will be able to evaluate the usefulness and appropriateness of each tool.

Features of choosing pastels

For beginning artists, dry pastels in the form of crayons are best. It can be soft or hard, you need to purchase both types and try to draw with both. When choosing paints, you must initially understand what will be painted and what color scheme will be needed for this.

When purchasing pastels, you need to pay attention to the quality of the paints and the manufacturer. It’s better to initially pay a little more, but buy suitable materials that will be comfortable for drawing. Having mastered the subtleties and nuances of drawing with pastels and honing your skills, you can try painting with oil and wax pastels. They differ in application technique, but with some effort they are not particularly difficult.

What paper do you need for pastels?

You cannot paint with such paints on regular paper, because a portrait with pastels will blur, saturate the thin sheet and be smeared. Therefore, it is better to take special paper. The following varieties are suitable for pastels:

• paper with a coarse surface that comes in a variety of colors;
• cold pressed watercolor paper;
• charcoal pencil paper - can withstand pastels, but is more suitable for rough sketches and short-term sketches;
• paper with an “emery” coating - has a fine abrasive coating, so it holds pastels well.

Choosing paper is an important stage in preparing for drawing, since not only the comfort of the process, but also the final result will depend on it.

Rules for drawing with pastels

In order for a pastel portrait to turn out beautiful and authentic, it is important to follow some rules for its depiction. And even if the first time the result is not what you would like, as you gain skill and professionalism it will turn out to be realistic.

When creating a portrait using pastels, you need to remember the following recommendations:

1. To begin with, it is important to imagine the general image of the upcoming drawing and highlight the main features that will distinguish this person from all others. Each person's face has something unique, different from others.
2. Before you start drawing, you need to determine the color scheme of the upcoming image. What shades predominate in a person’s face and image, how do they combine with each other?
3. When starting to draw, you first need to make weak sketches and an outline, on which the entire portrait will then lie.
4. Despite the fact that the human face, as a rule, appears warm and requires appropriate colors, it will also contain cold shades.
5. For layered drawings, it is better to choose soft pastels, then the layers will easily lay on top of each other.

There are many more rules for drawing with pastels, but you can start learning with these simple recommendations, and understand and apply the remaining nuances in the process of practice.

Sequence of drawing a portrait

To draw a beautiful and believable portrait, you need to follow a certain sequence of drawing lines and layers of pastel.

Image stages include:

1. Representation of the overall image of the face, separating light and dark areas.
2. Light drawing of lines, sketch of the general concept of the drawing.
3. Detailing the contour, drawing eyes, nose, lips according to the proportions of the human face.
4. Applying layers of nude pastels with a combination of warm and cool shades.
5. Guiding the main parts of the face, detailing.
6. Final touches, giving the face a natural expression, drawing small elements.

Drawing a portrait is not an easy process, and at first it may seem to the artist that there are too many mistakes and flaws. But diligence and the desire to learn how to draw with pastels are worth the result that you get in the end. It is important to enjoy the drawing process and not despair after the first unsuccessful attempt.

Pastels are a cross between colored pencils and crayons. It consists of colored pigments with chalk and binding elements. The technique of drawing with pastels originated from drawing with soft materials, such as charcoal pencils, charcoal, and sepia. Pastel pencils have many shades, most of them are delicate, like milk, giving a special grace to the drawings.

If you want to learn the technique of drawing with pastels, you should know that this technique is more suitable for drawings where the atmosphere, color mood, background play the main role, since drawing small details with pastels is inconvenient, these pencils are not intended for drawing details.

Drawing with pastels: preparation

Before we tell you how to draw with pastels (especially important for beginners), we will look at what is generally necessary for drawing, because pastel is not the most common material.

Pastel selection

There are three types of pastels: dry, wax, oil.

Dry, in turn, is divided into hard and soft.

Each type of pastel has its own characteristics and its own possibilities for working with drawings. Choose at your own discretion. We will talk about how to draw with dry pastels (below).

Paper for drawing with pastels

Yes, it must be special paper with a textured surface, because it is necessary for the pigment to be retained. Most often, pastels are used to draw on colored paper; it allows you to fully convey the saturation of colors. The choice of color is individual, depending on the nature of the pattern.

Pastel Paper Types:

1. sandpaper (usually large format; for artistic purposes);
2. velvet paper;
3. pastel board (made from tiny particles of cork).

Other

In addition, the following may be useful: a blade, bristle brushes, rags, an eraser, a cotton pad - to correct the pattern; hairspray or special fixative.

How to draw with dry pastels

1. The preliminary drawing is applied with chalk pastel, slightly different from the tone of the paper. The lines are thin, applied lightly so that you can only see the contours. Use adjustment materials (see above) if necessary. Don't use a graphite pencil as it will look bad to draw with pastels on top.
2. Next is the background. We apply the main tones by placing the chalk flat. If the length of the chalk is large, do not be afraid, break off the desired size (conveniently, 2-3 cm). If the paper is colored, apply the main tones only where necessary. There should be no gaps on the white paper (use white chalk where necessary).
3. Outline the main objects, proceed to refine the drawing. Use lines, dots, strokes. It’s good to use pastels for shadows and color transitions. Use a shading tool (rag, cotton wool, brush or your own finger) and rub the desired areas of the design. In pastels you can layer colors on top of each other, experiment.
4. What else you need to know about how to draw with pastels. For beginners, it is often difficult to maintain tonality. Decide in advance what will be the lightest in the drawing, what will be a little darker, and what will be the darkest. Remember - each item has its own tone.
5. Some disadvantage of dry pastel is that it is difficult to convey the richness of the shadows. But this can be improved by adding color. Draw a shadow with a gray or black chalk, and add a color (of the object or area where the shadow is) on top. Blend.
6. View the drawing from the side. Highlight the main details with clearer lines, shade the secondary or too contrasting areas.
7. Fixing the drawing. Use sandpaper or velvet paper, this will preserve the design longer. You can use special aerosols to fix pastels. Hairspray will also work, but remember that the design will darken. You can also place the drawing under glass.

Oil pastel

And a few words about how to draw with oil pastels.

1. It is better to use light paper.
2. Thinner for oil paints (for example, pinene) is used as shading.
3. The preliminary drawing is applied with oil chalk or charcoal. In this case, the coal is brushed off before applying the pastel so that barely noticeable strokes remain.
4. Having applied the drawing with hatching, flat, we move on to working with a brush. Use a brush dipped in thinner to blur the drawing.
5. We draw the details, clarify the shapes, texture. We complete the drawing.

Oil pastels are very different from dry pastels. In fact, these are wax crayons familiar to many - linseed oil acts as a binder for the pigment. People who don’t know about pastels in general often come to the store and buy oil pastels because of their bright colors and beautiful crayons.
I bought myself a box to experiment with. It turned out that there are a lot of ways to use these beautiful colorful crayons. I have Mungyo pastels in 36 colors, great shades from acidic to natural. This is what they look like. It’s good for testing, but if you want something even better, you can look at Van Gogh and Sennelier.

Drawing on regular pastel paper

Drawing on sandpaper

Painting with solvent

Sgrafitto

Encaustic

Finally, a few features of oil pastels.
Over time, the oil is absorbed into the base and the pattern becomes a little darker. If the design was based on white paper, yellowish oil stains may appear on it, so it is better to use colored paper or cover the entire surface of the design. There are also cases when, over time, oil appears in droplets across the picture; you just need to carefully remove them with a solvent.
Oil pastels, unlike dry pastels, do not require fixing. Sometimes oil pastels are varnished, but I find this unnecessary. Pastels should be stored in a folder carefully so that they do not stick to anything. It is best to keep the drawing under glass. The glass should not touch the work.

In general, oil pastels seem to me to be a very bright and lively material. It is suitable for “careless”, generalized in style, paintings. For those who like to tinker with details and smooth halftones, oil pastels will most likely not be suitable.

Yes, I finished it!! And now I can present this course to your attention! Hooray:) So, first things first!

So, this is a pastel drawing training course, which consists of 10 lessons, each of which is in PDF format, that is, it actually consists of text and photographs, of which there will be a lot! Moreover, in each lesson we will draw in stages, which simplifies the whole task!

I structured the topics so that they go in such a way that subsequent lessons use knowledge from previous ones.

The course is designed to teach you the basic rules for conveying a convincing drawing, as well as improve and train your hand, learn to see more colors and simply get inspiration and pleasure from the drawing process itself, and therefore I tried to make it very bright and cheerful, which By the way, in the middle of autumn it’s not at all out of place!

The entire course contains over 400 photos!

The course is designed for your self-study. C ena course 3500 rub.You can pay it here

After payment, you will receive a download link, you will need to download and unpack it: place the cursor on the received file (zip archive), right-click and in the window that appears, click on “Extract to Pastel Drawing Course, 10 lessons.”

More detailed payment instructions are available here.

For all questions, write to email

Yes, it is better to prepare drawing materials in advance. In order not to overload this post, I wrote a separate post about the materials you will need for drawing

At the end of the course, you will not only have more experience in drawing, but also 10 pastel drawings with which you can decorate your home and give them to your loved ones.

A little about the structure of each lesson. Depending on the topic of the lesson, first there will be a little theory, and then the main part - drawing a plot with detailed photos of the drawing stages, my explanations of what, how and why we draw. In all the lessons, I paid special attention to the selection of colors, so that it would be easier for you to understand the colors; the lessons have a lot of color rulers that make it easy to select crayons. Some lessons have diagrams and sketches :) Each lesson comes with an additional example, which you don’t have to draw (if you really want to, then of course you can :), this example is also quite detailed and also contains many photos of the drawing stages. It is needed in order to better understand the topic :)

Here are the topics themselves:

1).General questions about drawing with pastels. We draw fish.

This is one of the simplest lessons, which is logical since it is the first :)

It will deal with the main issues that arise when drawing with pastels: how to apply and how to shade. We will also begin to study the basic principles of drawing and, in order to “paint ourselves”, we will draw a simple picture with fish.

2 ).Learning to convey volume. Drawing a rosehip berry with pastel.

This lesson is challenging, with a lot of information! But don't be afraid :) firstly, there are a lot of explanations and photos of stages in the lesson, so we will do everything gradually. And, secondly, drawing detailed and quite complex drawings gives you a lot of experience at once, even if it seems that nothing is working out. In general, we are not afraid of anything, but sit down and draw! :) Yes, and one more thing - your attentiveness will be required here, although it is needed everywhere :)

In this lesson we will learn to draw a three-dimensional object that is part of a complex background. In fact, the lesson contains three drawings, but from them you will need to draw a rosehip berry:

3).Draw a blooming rosehip in pastel.

The main purpose of this o lesson - learn to convey the volume of uneven planes (petals). Let's learn how to use a beautiful gray-pink-green color scheme, and also apply the knowledge from lesson No. 2.

4).Drawing a landscape with pastels .

This lesson is dedicated to a very pleasant topic - landscape. We will consider the basic rules for constructing it and applying color, and also learn how to compose your own, “profitable” landscape from several photographs. We will also learn to quickly draw a large number of similar details (for example, Christmas trees on mountain slopes), and convey them with general lines and spots.

5).Draw a bunch of berries with pastels.

In this lesson we will draw a juicy bunch of berries. The purpose of this lesson is to show you how to draw several volumetric objects of the same type, as well as how to draw a complex motley background with pastels. Well, knowledge of the scope of the subject from lesson No. 2 will come in handy again.

6).Draw a still life with pastels.

The still life will be with a saucepan, tomatoes and peppers. We will touch on the basic issues of constructing a still life, deal with the horizon line and step by step draw a glossy shiny pan with vegetables and a beautiful background.

You can hang this drawing in your kitchen, as it is very kitchen-friendly.

7).Sketching flowers on craft paper.

I find this lesson easy. But it is very important to draw it as intended, and the idea is to draw it very quickly on large format kraft paper - A2. Kraft paper can be replaced with pastel paper, but the format must be large. This lesson is designed to improve the speed of your drawing and practice clear and confident strokes. I know that many people miss this :) We will draw forget-me-nots in the grass.

8).Draw a flamingo in the water with pastels.

In this lesson I will show how to draw ripples on water, what colors to use. But the main part of the lesson is devoted to flamingos. Many people perceive colors and objects in a simplified way. For example, at first glance, flamingos are white and pink. But if we paint it only with white and pink, it will turn out flat. In this lesson we will learn to draw the volume of complex shapes and look for their true colors.

9).Draw a cow with pastels.

Here again we will solve issues of volume, folds, colors, perspective.

Using a black and white sketch, we will determine the tonality. Orange pastel paper is perfect for this theme.

In this post I show a piece of a cow - this is a nose that is not completely painted over :)

10).Draw a night city landscape with reflections in pastels.

This is one of the most difficult lessons, if only because it contains a large number of small details. Therefore, using this example, it is good to learn to abstract from details and see the main thing, to combine details into general areas . We will learn how to construct objects correctly, as well as work with tones. A separate pleasant topic is the topic of reflections in water. Here is a sketch of the picture we will draw.

The tone of the picture will be like this:

That's all. If you don’t understand anything, write and ask!

Let's look at a clear example of the pastel drawing technique from a photograph. For this we use a photo of the Taos Mountains in the early evening from El Prado, a suburb of northern Taos, New Mexico.

When creating this pastel, I worked directly on white grainy paper. I used a charcoal pencil to draw the main outlines loosely but precisely, creating the most important shapes, main lines and relationships of light and shadow.

As always, at the very beginning of the work I determined the center of the composition and then acted so that each element of the picture supported it. For example, from the moment the white adobe building was identified as the center of the composition, I began to draw it against a dark background, and against the backdrop of a bright array of trees, thereby enhancing the contrast and uniting the two opposite principles of the landscape. This stage of work took approximately 30 minutes.
When I paint or teach, I attach great importance to systematizing the process of working on a painting. I believe that first of all, the order of the stages of work on the painting must be correctly determined. By following these rules, I can be sure of the success of the painting at the very beginning of the work and really achieve acuity of perception by the end of the painting. In my art workshop, I help students overcome the discouragement and frustration in the initial stages of painting by teaching them how to plan and how to proceed step by step through the painting process. I approach each student individually, in accordance with their level of artistic skill. Beginners and young inexperienced artists can avoid many failures if they build their work in stages.
When I paint in pastels or oils, I usually work on a surface that is exactly 50% neutral gray.
So, I quickly cover the surface of the drawing with paints that are close in tone to the final color scheme of the painting, but still somewhat darker. From the point of view of drawing, composition and color scheme, this is a complete pastel, but it is still rough, sharp, and somewhat unpleasant to the eye.

Then we pass over the work with a brush moistened with a solvent (without the smell of turpentine). It is interesting that for many it is this part of the work that is most enjoyable, and the result is enjoyable. Starting to blur the pastel from lighter tones, using wide, free strokes, I create a working surface that is correct in tone, fairly neutral, with well-established images.

It should be noted that depending on the subject of the painting and the impression that the artist wants to make on the viewer, some of the paintings at this stage of work can be exhibited as finished works. The described method makes it possible to use one of the features and advantages of pastel - the amazing variety of techniques used in it. At this stage the painting has the appearance and impression of watercolor, but this should not confuse the artist, because in the next stage of work the opaque pastel will cover everything in the best possible way. We will leave the “washed” painting layer unwritten only in those places of the picture where the “transparency” effect is required. This step takes approximately 20 or 30 minutes.
When this stage is completed, an amazing thing happens: by stepping back from the painting a few steps, I can get an idea of ​​what the finished painting will look like. In future work I will have to strictly follow the drawing already existing at this stage, although I will still be adding additional layers of pastel. Upon completion of this layer of “sub-painting” there is also an already established full color scheme and the ratio of light and shadow in the work.
Now I can go to the center of the composition and bring it to a real conclusion. It is very important. The center of the composition should work. If the center of the composition is unsuccessful, then no matter how well the rest of its parts are executed, the picture will not be successful. Working in concentric circles around the center of the composition and moving further and further away from it, I bring the painting to full completion.

Even though I move back and forth across the entire surface as I work, I always make sure that the surface is painted evenly, without large jumps. The edge of the painting, which gives a certain image, must be connected in color and combination of light and shadow with a part that has already been created correctly. This helps keep the light-shadow and color relationships consistent. This can be compared to building a bridge, which begins on one side of the river and continues step by step (across) to the other side. This bridge is more likely to hold firmly than if it were built starting on both sides of the river and building until the builders met presumably in the middle. The final stage of this painting takes about 1.5 hours.

Pastel is line and color at the same time. It has a soft and velvety texture and a subtle shine of silky material. It allows for speed of writing, instant transmission of ideas and emotions, ease of correction, and complete spontaneity of work.

Pastel as an artistic material is colored blocks of compressed pigment. Available in the form of crayons or pencils.

There are three types: dry, wax and oil. All these different types of pastels cannot be used in one piece.

"Pros" of pastels:

• Ease of operation. Basically, all you need is paper and crayons. There are no specific technologies or rules for working with this material. You can easily apply color, blend and remove.
• Light fastness. Unlike other materials, pastel does not fade in the sun, does not fade or change color over time.
• Color nuances. Pastel gives soft transitions from color to color; it is easy to depict portraits with subtle color nuances.
• Velvety. A layer of pastel gives a beautiful velvety surface.

"Minuses":

Or rather, there is one minus - loose pastel crumbles or smudges. It must either be drawn on a rough surface, or immediately framed under glass. Fixing the surface of the pastel with varnish leads to a color change.

Masterpieces of artists made in pastels (J. Lyotard, E. Degas, Z. Serebryakova)

Pastel for beginners: material technology

Aids

Most artists do not use any auxiliary means in pastel: this is one of its advantages. True, sometimes, especially in complex, multi-layered works, some of the so-called mediums are simply necessary.

• Water, turpentine

In multi-session sketches to create a kind of underpainting, artists spray a certain volume of water, turpentine or other thinner onto the initial layers of pastel, which evens them out, generalizes them and makes it possible for further work, refinements, and avoidance of natural color losses in this case.

• Fixatives

In long-term works, to fix the pastel particles before applying subsequent layers, artists spray a thin layer of fixative onto the sheet. They also coat the finished piece with a fixative to prevent the pastels from fraying and peeling during framing and transportation.

But there are masters who are fundamentally opposed to fixatives, since the latter “mute” the color values ​​of the painting. The consumer is given a choice of two types of fixatives in aerosol cans – matte and glossy.

If you decide to use them, try to do it very carefully. Excessive fixative will irreparably ruin the work.

Pastels for beginners: about again for pastels

Although pastels can be painted on any surface, they usually work on paper, cardboard, and sometimes on canvas. In addition to strength, the base for pastels requires a certain texture.

• Special paper for pastels.

For pastels, paper with a coarse-grained texture is selected, which promotes better adhesion of its layers. In addition to white, there are many colored papers - ivory, tan, gray, blue, green, purple and so on. The color of the paper is as important as the shade of the underpainting in other painting techniques. Remember that this choice is quite large and it is necessary to gradually try out as many varieties of base as possible.

• Watercolor paper.

Any watercolor paper will work for pastels, but cold pressed paper is best. If underpainting with watercolor or acrylic paint is needed, this base is the best choice, since not all paper reacts equally well to water-based soils - water causes deformation of their surface.

• Charcoal pencil paper.

Some types (as well as inexpensive types of pastel paper) are quite friable, which makes them an unreliable material. Charcoal pencil paper usually lacks significant texture, which weakens its ability to hold pastel particles. Used for short-term sketches.

• "Sandpaper.

This paper is coated with small particles of abrasive material (like regular sandpaper), due to which it holds a significant amount of pastel. Although it contains acids, it is very popular among artists.

Making sandpaper

1. 1. 1. Use high-quality, acid-free paper (including watercolor paper), or cardstock.
      2. Lightly wet the back side. This is necessary to prevent deformation when you apply the aqueous composition to the front side of the sheet.
      3. Now, using a flute, generously moisten the front side of the paper (or cardboard) with the previously prepared composition:

         – 4 parts acrylic gel.

         – 2 parts of a composition to create a granular structure (flint, marble dust or pumice).

         – 1 part water (volume may vary).

      4. Let it dry. If you are not happy with the results, repeat steps 2 and 3. If the paper does become warped, place the paper face down on a clean, flat surface and wet the concave areas. Then press the edges of the paper and let it dry. If the sheet does not straighten, repeat the entire process using less water.

There is another way - use the recipe given in the insert, replacing the acrylic gel with an acrylic primer. Using a palette knife or sponge, apply the mixture onto the paper. The result is a superb textured surface that can react with pastels in a new, unexpected way.

• Graphic paper

You should familiarize yourself with other types of paper. There are many varieties available in art salons. The best way to determine whether the proposed option is suitable is to feel the texture by touch. Paper weight varies between 120 – 360 grams/sq. meter.

• Fabrics

Pastels can be used on fabrics, such as canvas. Many artists stretch fabric onto a regular stretcher. Some people stretch the fabric onto stiff cardboard using acrylic gel as an adhesive.

You can write directly on the fabric or cover it with a layer of acrylic primer. If you want to do an oil underpainting, a primer is required, since oil paint can damage (“burn”) the fabric.

Pastels for Beginners: Tools and Accessories

With the possible exception of a vacuum cleaner, pastel tools are simple and inexpensive.

• Drawing board, adhesive tape and buttons

Pastel paper should be firmly secured to a solid surface, such as a drawing board, to which the paper is attached with adhesive tape or thumbtacks. Sometimes they use soft cardboard (like Homosote), which fits the buttons well.

• Brushes

Brushes can also be useful when working with pastels. For example, an elastic bristle brush can easily remove an unnecessary fragment of a sketch (if it is not fixed). A watercolor brush is suitable for mixing paints and creating a smooth transition from one color to another. If necessary, use a brush to moisten areas of the paper.

To remove paint and correct mistakes in pastels, pieces of soft fabric are used: it can be suede, pieces of velvet, but cotton rags are perfect for this; they should always be at hand.

• Sandpaper

Attach a piece of sandpaper next to your work to sharpen a crayon or pencil from time to time (it’s better to put it in a glass so that the sawdust falls to the bottom). If you use pastel pencils, you will need a sharpener. You can take a knife or razor, but a sharpener is more convenient; Just be careful not to break the fragile core of the pastel.

• Shading, eraser

A shading stick is a tightly rolled paper cylinder, pointed at both ends, necessary to create a smooth transition from one color to another. To remove pastels, artists use an eraser, lightly pressing and tapping it on the surface of the paper (rubbing with an eraser, as when correcting mistakes in a pencil, is not advisable!).

• Vacuum cleaner, masks

Do your best to prevent pastel dust from entering your respiratory tract and lungs. Artists who constantly work with pastels usually install special filter hood systems in their studio.

At the very least, you can use a vacuum cleaner by placing the hose at the bottom of the sketchbook; to do this, take a very long hose, placing the vacuum cleaner in another room so as not to hear the sound of the running motor. Authors who work with pastels only from time to time will be quite happy with a portable hand-held vacuum cleaner.

Sometimes they use a mask, which can be purchased in pharmacies and art salons. It is a paper filter secured to the head with an elastic band. Masks are very effective, although they take some getting used to.

• Sketchbook

Almost any sketchbook will do, provided that it is possible to tilt the work towards you - in this case, pastel particles will fall off onto the floor or into the tray. You can strengthen the paper in a horizontal position, but do not forget to vacuum up pastel dust from time to time, which can contaminate the colors of the sketch.

• Transport box

To work plein air, you will need a special box with many compartments for storing pastels. Artbin pastel boxes can hold anywhere from two dozen to over 100 pastel crayons. In addition, they are quite lightweight, have locks and a handle. If you purchase boxes with compartments for pastel crayons, pay attention to the size of the compartments.

Some types of pastel crayons, such as Schmincke, are thicker than others. Make sure that the box has a good lock, otherwise the pastel may simply fall apart. Although the huge selection of pastels is tempting, I recommend starting with a small selection of basic crayons colors.

After doing a few sketches, you will have an instinct for the missing color shades of the pastel (and stamp).

So, let's summarize.

The most complete list of materials for drawing with pastels!

1. Soft pastel – set of 25 – 30 crayons.
2. Hard pastel – set of 24 crayons.
3. Pastel pencils – set of 12 pieces.
4. Paper: 45 x 60 cm sanded, 30 * 45 cm colored pastel paper in the set.
5. A drawing board large enough to accommodate the largest sheet of paper.
6. Adhesive tape.
7. Cloth, paper towels.
8. Brushes – a pair of bristle or elastic synthetic brushes for removing pastels.
9. Stew sticks, tortillons.
10. Eraser eraser.
11. Sandpaper.
12. Sharpener.
13. Mask-bandage. Vacuum cleaner.

Materials at your discretion:

1. Soft pastels - one or two crayons of each brand - to compare manufacturers' products.
2. A can of matte fixative in an aerosol.
3. Soft brushes – for moistening pastels.
4. Sketchbook (for work outside the workshop)
5. Latex gloves.

However, before you go to the art store, remember that to begin with, you can get by with just one set of pastels, paper and... the desire to draw :)

I will be grateful to you behind questions and responses to the article. Leave your suggestions for the topics of future pastel master classes in the comments!

More interesting and useful information about drawing
from the artist Marina Trushnikova
You will find it in the electronic magazine “Life in Art”.

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