For beginners: how to draw with pastels

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

Pastel is called "dry" or "dry" painting, applied to paper with special crayons of different colors. They are made of chalk, pigments and binders, soft to the touch. In another way, pastel pencils are also called dough for their soft texture. Each color in the set has many shades, gentle and smooth transitions from one tone to another. Therefore, pastel painting is more used where the mood of the picture and the reflection of a certain atmosphere, the transfer of rich colors are important.

Details of drawing

How to draw with pastels, is it difficult to learn this? Yes and no. On the one hand, everything is quite simple: I put a few strokes on canvas or paper, quite bold or, conversely, weak, light, and rubbed them with a finger or a piece of blotting paper. Rub, combining, you can shades of the same color or different, and until the complete disappearance of the boundaries between the tones. On the other hand, the technique of drawing with pastel is such that the general background of the picture is first made, volume is achieved.by mixing colors and tones. And then, on top of this layer, with a pencil with a finely sharpened rod, individual details are drawn, more accurate, thanks to which the elements of the picture acquire texture, visibility. Those. when you undertake to draw with pastels, you need to think over the plot of the work, the composition in advance, both in general terms and in the smallest “gadgets” and “cogs”.

Tips & Tricks

• In addition to the usual pencil, small details and objects in the picture are also outlined with the so-called pastel sticks.



• If you need to make a sketch, a sketch, on which a pastel image is then applied, a colored pencil is also taken for this. With a dark base, light color is used - white, pale yellow, etc. With light - exactly the opposite. This is a kind of secret of how to draw with pastels. As the artist works, the entire pencil will then gradually disappear, leaving only what the artist needs to be visible. This is convenient because pastels and pencils complement each other, go well together.
• Pastel is not only dry, but also oily. Their main difference is that when dry, it is easier to create a variety of color transitions. Oily is not suitable for this. Retouching with it is also inconvenient.
• When learning how to draw with pastel, you should pay attention to the nature of the strokes and lines. They should be torn, but light, thin enough not to be pressed into the paper, so that they can be erased with an eraser if necessary.



• It is necessary to choose an appropriate basis for creating a picture. Fine-grained sandpaper is suitable for it, if the drawing is supposed to be made in a small format. Before drawing with pastel, you need to choose a material whose texture would be quite pronounced. This is suede, and cardboard, and watercolor paper, and canvas. Texture is needed in order to hold pastel particles well: on a completely smooth surface, they will crumble.
• Another secret: when the picture is finished, the image should be fixed either with a special tool or with regular hairspray. You need to spray it in small portions, carefully, from a distance of 25-30 cm.

There are many more tips and tricks on mastering the technique of pastel drawings. If you work hard on yourself, you can soon achieve positive results.