Pastel painting can achieve many different effects.
Pastel painting is done using chalk-like sticks. The sticks are made of powdered pigments. Pastel paint comes in many varieties, colors and brands. Pastel artists benefit from learning different techniques to help their skills advance and give their work more depth and texture. Choosing the right pastels and methods can make a big difference in a painting.
Pastel and Watercolors
Watercolor paints can be used under pastel paints.
Pastels can be used over watercolors to add depth and more color variations to a painting. The pastels are used over the watercolors once they are dry. This technique helps give immediate definition to light and shade.
Types of Pastels
Pastels come in a variety of forms and colors.
Hard pastels are used for fine lines and to add detail and highlights. Soft pastels are more common, though. There are more color variations with soft pastels, and they are easy to blend. Water-soluble pastels can be thinned out to give the paint a transparent finish. Pastel pencils are a pencil with a pastel center. They are used for more detailed work. Oil pastels are thick with bright colors. They don't smudge as much as soft pastels but are more difficult to blend.
Small Details
Fine details in pastel painting are best left to the imagination.
Pastels don't allow a lot of room for drawing small, detailed objects. Artist Marie Lydie Joffre recommends painting the background and objects around the smaller item, then using a sharp pastel stick to draw the outline. Joffre says that "such objects should be suggested by a subtle use of light and shade" rather than being painted in detail.
