Pastel is a combination between drawing and paint read here. It offers painters and viewers an experience that’s unique. Vivid colors and varied textures make this art timeless and appealing. He Xie fen Cai starts by recognizing the unique features of pastels.

Pastel paintings are made with a stick of powdered, pure pigment that is bound together by just enough binder. Pastel paints are unique in their richness, intensity and vibrancy. Soft, oil, and hard pastels each serve a different artistic purpose. Soft pastels have a higher pigmentation and are therefore ideal for expressive, colorful works. However, they should be handled with care. For drawing and details, use hard pastels that are more firm. Oil pastels are creamy and allow you to layer and add impasto just like oil paints.

Pastel painting beginners must choose ingredients. High-quality pastel paper and soft pastels are the foundation. Pastel paper’s texture and color can affect the result. Mid-tone papers are a great choice for beginners because they provide a tolerant backdrop for both light and darker tones.

Pastel art comes alive when you use the right technique. Pastel painters use their fingertips instead of traditional painters to blend the colors on paper. This tactile approach is liberating and intuitive. It allows an immediate connection with artwork. Pastels are all about blending colors to create subtle nuances and gradients. Pastels allow artists to easily correct mistakes by simply adding more pastels or scraping the surface.

Pastel color use fascinates. Their brilliance and pureness make pastels ideal for color theory. Pastel artist are very passionate about color, complementing hues and warm and cold tones. It is worth experimenting with color combinations and contrasts to see what results you get.

Pastel painters learn advanced techniques to increase their artistic vocabulary. Sgraffito – where pastels are scraped back to reveal color – and solvent wash – like watercolor painting – give pastel artworks depth. A vibrant underpainting of watercolor is a great way to create a base for pastels.

Pastel art has no particular style or subject. It can be used for landscapes or portraits. Still lifes and abstract art are also good choices. Each subject is unique and offers artists the opportunity to experiment. Pastel colours can be used to express the subtleties of light, such as in a landscape or the richness of skin tone in portraits.