PASTEL DRAWING: WHICH PENCILS AND TECHNIQUES?

As someone who loves art, how would you like to master pastel drawing and learn the artistic techniques that come with using a pastel pencil? A noble art instrument, pastels are renowned for their high concentration of pigments and versatility when it comes to the wide array of styles and techniques they can be used with.

How do you get the most out of your pastel pencil? Which techniques should you focus on to get the full potential out of your pastel pencils? Follow our advice for choosing the best pastel pencils and master the best methods to enhance your drawings and paintings.

The Swiss Made pastels by Caran d’Ache come in a pencil form and several ranges of pastel pencils are available, each characterised by different textures, properties and handling:

● Dry pastel pencils: dry pastel pencils are easy to use and perfect for layering colours. The high concentration of pigments in dry pastel pencils makes it easy to blend colours and create gradients.

● Oil pastel pencils: this type of oil pastel comes in rounded sticks and is perfect for mixing colours, gradients and blending. You can even easily blend with your fingers on your chosen surface.

● Permanent wax pastel pencils: these come in stick form and allow you to work with very bright colours on a wide range of surfaces.

● Water-soluble wax pastel pencil: unlike other pastel pencils, the water-soluble pastel pencil can be used wet on all types of surfaces (paper, glass, cardboard, cloth…)

 

---

---

Which pastel pencils for a “watercolour” effect?

 

---

---

Start your drawings by lightly sketching with a dry pastel pencil with a resistant tip. Apply the pastel lightly to preserve the texture of the paper and then spread the pigment with your finger, blending the colours on your surface. As you progress with your drawing, you can start layering colours.

If you use your pastel pencil as you would use paint, dip tip of the pencil’s lead in a small amount of water. You can then mix the colours using a small watercolour palette.

---

4 drawing techniques to try with pastel pencils

1. Vary the intensity of the colours: depending on the amount of pressure applied to the pastel pencil, the artist can change the intensity of the colours. This makes it possible to experiment a wider range of colours with only a few pastel pencils.

2. Mix your colours: to mix your pastel pencils’ colours, trace faint lines of colour over a darker hue. Faint lines will appear between the two and you can then spread the colours with your finger.

3. Give depth to your colour blocks: to enrich your art with areas of colour that convey an impression of depth, you can blot the pastel areas by using the palm of your hand to spread the pigments.

4. Create gradients: to create colour gradients between the colour blocks, gently spread the pastels’ pigments with your finger. If you’ve layered your colours, they will be all the more intense.

The choice of supplies will depend on the type of pastel you’re working with:

● Paper that is adapted to pastels or a sketchbook. Opt for a type of paper that the pastels’ pigments will adhere to.

● A box of pastel pencils (dry or soft pastels, oil pastels, wax pastels or water-soluble ones) that are adapted to the techniques you’d like to try.

● A paintbrush or a blending stump to moisten your pastels if you’re looking for a watercolour effect for your drawing, or to blend the colours of your dry, oil or wax pastels.

● A spray bottle to dampen your artwork and a watercolour palette to mix your colours.

● To preserve your artwork and the brightness of its colours, as well as prevent the pigments from fading apply a fixing spray on to your drawing.

---