Oil pastels blend well and create bright colors for your drawings.
Oil pastels can create beautiful paintings that mimic real oil paintings. With the right techniques, it's hard to tell the difference between the two. A combination of blending and detailing creates depth, while certain colors and backgrounds create a focal point and add intensity to the painting. Find out which tips you can incorporate into your own works and use them most effectively. With a little practice you can perfect the techniques and alter them to fit your subject matter.
Blending
Starting with the basic tones and building up layers on top of them creates depth and realism in your pastel paintings. A clean, white sheet of thick paper creates texture and holds the pastel markings well, creating contrast between the white paper and the colorful picture. Add the basic, large colored areas first. For example, in painting a kitten you would start with the basic shade of the kitten, possibly gray. Smooth the base colors out slightly with your fingers or a pastel sponge. Then add the highlights and shadows and blend the edges into your basic gray tone. After blending you can move on to adding detail. This creates the general outline of your drawing and is a quick way to apply backgrounds.
Detailing
The disadvantage of the smooth texture of pastels is how easily they blend. While it's useful at times, it is harder to create details with. To create detail when drawing fur or hair, it's best to blend pastels in the direction the hair of the figure you're painting is moving naturally, according to PetsinPastel.com. Add in details such as curves and small swirls to enhance texture. Shorter strokes make stubbier marks, while longer strokes are smoother. Create very fine, thin marks using a pastel blender with a dab of pastel on the end.
Black and White
For drawings that are high in interest, PetsoftheRealm.com suggests using white pastel on black paper. This only requires one pastel, the white one, yet you can still create captivating pictures. Draw the object, animal or person first by shading in the highlighted areas and letting the black paper function as the shadows. Create half tones by applying thinner lines or dots that are further apart. Over exaggerate the brightest highlight by using thick white marks close together to create a focal point for the drawing.
