What is art pastel?

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Everyone who paints knows what art pastel is. But in recent years, these pencils have become very popular among non-professionals, for example, among mothers with young children. Many teachers recommend using pastels for drawing with kids. After all, these crayons are very soft, create rich colors and blend well.

In addition, they contain fairly safe substances: pigment, clay, chalk and glue.

Using pastels

Artistic pastel has been known in painting since the 16th century. At that time, the artists themselves made it, rubbing chalk with a coloring pigment and adding a binder. To form the shape of the crayons, a little water was added to the mixture. Then the composition was dried and cut into bars. Many famous artists painted in the pastel technique: Chardin, Renoir, Vrubel, Serov and others. This waywas used both in educational drawings, and as an addition to the main paints, and as an independent technique.

To draw with pastels, you need a rough surface, because it is very free-flowing and contains little binder pigment. But the drawings made in this technique look unusual. The light, reflected from the particles of the pigment, gives the painting a matte, velvety and a special pastel softness. Best of all, such drawings look on special paper, cardboard, canvas or sheets treated with a special primer.

How pastels are made

Pastel art consists of pigment, water and a binder, most often it is clay, gum arabic or gypsum. Everything is well mixed to a doughy state. The very name "pastel" comes from the Italian word meaning "dough". To obtain different shades, chalk or talc is added. Tubes are filled with this mass and dried in heat.

The quality of the pastel depends on the thoroughness of the grinding of the pigment. The better you manage to mix all the components, the better the crayons are obtained. In modern production, this is done by special machines, and the process is repeated 5-6 times. The best for many years is considered to be an artistic pastel from St. Petersburg. It is soft, has a huge number of shades, blends well and does not crumble.

Advantages and disadvantages of pastels

Pastel crayons are the best drawing material, especially for children. They are soft and lay down on any paper. Existsmany shades that are easy to mix with each other. Drawing mistakes are easy to fix right away, because

next layer closes the previous one without problems. Pastel drawing does not require any additional equipment.

But the drawings made using this technique are very fragile, they are afraid of shaking, mechanical damage and moisture. Many people do not like the fact that these crayons are quite expensive. But if we compare the advantages, then the artistic pastel wins. Its price is higher than that of colored pencils, but drawing with it is much more convenient and easier. A set of 12 colors costs from 100 to 500 rubles, depending on the manufacturer.

If you want to teach your child to draw, then art pastel is the best way to do this. The child will love its soft shades, the fact that it is easy to blend with your finger. The drawings are bright and unusual.