The Underrated Art of Oil Pastels: 12 Misconceptions Debunked
If you’re reading this, you’re likely curious about oil pastels, perhaps having dabbled with them but unsure if they’re a serious artistic tool. You might’ve heard they’re limited compared to traditional art supplies, with critiques shaping your view. But oil pastels are often misunderstood, not flawed. Born in the 1920s as a vibrant alternative to crayons, they soared in 1949 when Pablo Picasso collaborated with Henri Sennelier to create professional-grade pastels for rich, versatile effects on multiple surfaces.
Today, oil pastels remain underappreciated despite their blendability, layering potential, and ability to produce striking textures and the misconceptions hold many artists back. This article challenges twelve common misconceptions about oil pastels, offering fresh insights and practical techniques that highlight their versatility. By the end, you may see them in a whole new light—and perhaps feel inspired to explore their full potential! Misconception 1: Oil Pastels? Hardly a Serious Medium
If you’ve ever heard someone say that oil pastels aren’t “real” art materials, you’re not alone. Many artists dismiss them as tools for beginners, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. If you’ve ever struggled with stiff, unresponsive mediums or wanted a way to blend and layer without waiting for drying time, oil pastels might be exactly what you need. High-quality oil pastels offer rich pigmentation, effortless blending, and a surprising level of versatility. You can go from soft, delicate shading to bold, textured impasto—all with a single stick.
This oil pastel artwork captures a black Labrador and his favourite squeaky raspberry toy, set against a backdrop of professional-grade pastels.
They work beautifully on paper, canvas, wood, and even glass, proving they’re not just for quick sketches but for professional, gallery-worthy artwork. Even Pablo Picasso used them to create pieces that now hang in museums. If they were good enough for him, they’re definitely worth considering. And if you think oil pastels can’t produce highly detailed realism, take a look at this painting of a black Labrador with his squeaky raspberry, created on Ampersand Pastelbord. The depth, texture, and refined edges prove that you can achieve precision and complexity with this medium. Whether you lean toward expressive mixed media or detailed portraiture, oil pastels can offer you freedom, vibrancy, and professional-level results.
Misconception 2: Oil Pastels Are Limited in Technique
Oil pastels often get dismissed as a simple medium, but they offer far more flexibility than many realise. Their composition allows for a range of techniques, from smooth blending to bold, textured effects. Adjusting pressure changes the intensity of colour, while layering builds depth and richness. You can blend them seamlessly using paper stumps, soft cloths, or even your fingers, allowing for precise control over transitions and shading.
A close-up view of a paper stump blending rich oil pastel layers in a vibrant strawberry painting.
Unlike some mediums that dry or set quickly, oil pastels remain workable long after application. You can scrape away layers to create highlights, smudge edges for softer transitions, or mix them with solvents for fluid, painterly blends. Their responsiveness makes it easy to refine details or introduce expressive marks at any stage, ensuring that oil pastels aren’t restrictive but highly adaptable to a variety of artistic approaches.
Misconception 3: Fine Detail Is Impossible with Oil Pastels
Oil pastels are often thought to be too thick and imprecise for detailed work, but their softness and flexibility actually allow for intricate mark-making. By using sharpened tools like a stylus or craft knife, details can be carved into layers of pastel, revealing highlights and textures beneath. Additionally, working with harder oil pastel brands or keeping the sticks chilled can help retain a firmer edge for finer strokes. Even controlled layering—starting with a light touch and gradually building up colour—allows for subtle adjustments without losing precision.
A vivid flamingo portrait on Clairfontaine Pastelmat Brown, blending Gallery student-grade and Sennelier professional oil pastels
Another effective method for achieving fine detail is the use of solvents. A touch of mineral spirits or a similar blending medium can break down oil pastel pigments, creating a paint-like consistency that enables smooth application with a brush or fine-tip tool. This technique not only helps refine edges but also allows for intricate shading and controlled transitions, with the right application, they can rival the level of detail seen in traditional oil paintings.
Misconception 4: Smooth Transitions Are Impossible with Oil Pastels
One of the biggest assumptions about oil pastels is that they lack the ability to create smooth, seamless transitions like paint. While they don’t behave exactly like oils or acrylics, several techniques allow for refined blending. Oil pastels blend best when worked into the surface properly, and the choice of tools makes a significant difference. On textured paper, a blending tool—such as a pastel brush or paper stump—helps distribute pigment smoothly, reducing uneven patches. Light circular motions encourage pigments to settle into the grain without losing vibrancy. The level of softness achieved depends on pressure control and layering techniques, ensuring colours merge seamlessly rather than appearing patchy.
In this video, artist Yolanda Blázquez creates a portrait using oil pastels, showcasing how effortlessly they blend with the right techniques. You can find her website here: YOLANDA BLAZQUEZ ART and her You Tube Channel
Heat can play a role in how oil pastels blend, with warmth from your hand softening the pastel for smoother application. Some artists use a heated drawing surface to further enhance blending, making colour transitions more fluid. Alongside temperature control, solvents help refine blends by breaking down the binder, allowing pigments to spread with ease. A soft synthetic brush provides the best control when applying solvents, preventing excessive pigment disruption. Using a minimal amount—such as odorless mineral spirits—keeps transitions smooth without thinning the pastel too much. For precision blending, a silicone-tipped tool helps guide softened pigment into subtle tonal shifts, making it particularly useful for detailed areas. Explore our Oil Pastel Tutorials
Try one of our oil pastel tutorials! Whether it’s a quick 10-minute strawberry or a detailed wildflower meadow, these guides will help you explore colour, layering, and blending.
Misconception 5: Oil Pastels Never Fully Dry
Oil pastels don’t cure like paints, so they stay soft and require careful handling to prevent smudging. Using glassine sheets is a simple yet effective way to protect the surface while working—placing one beneath your hand stops accidental smudging and prevents dust or debris from settling on the pastel layers and using glassine sheets over finished areas ensures smudges don’t undo your progress.. Fixatives also help secure the pigment; a workable fixative allows you to stabilise earlier layers before adding more colour, while a final fixative provides extra protection once the piece is complete.
An expressive oil pastel painting of a yellow Labrador on Ampersand Pastelbord, carefully protected with a sheet of glassine
Because oil pastels attract dust, framing them behind glass with a spacer is the best way to keep them safe. If you’re storing artwork, use glassine sheets between pieces to stop pigment transfer. These simple steps help preserve your work, ensuring oil pastels stay vibrant without smudging or fading. While they’ll never dry completely, the right precautions make all the difference.
Misconception 6: They’re Too Messy and Uncontrollable
Oil pastels are naturally tactile, which is part of their appeal—but that doesn’t mean they can’t be controlled. Since they stay soft, they can easily transfer onto your hands and work surface, but simple techniques like using glassine paper, can help keep things neat. Keeping the protective paper covering intact while working prevents excess pigment from rubbing off. If pastels start to build up on your fingers, a quick wipe with a cloth keeps colours from transferring where they shouldn’t. In fact, this is a medium where using tools other than pastels can provide far more control and help add interest to your work.
This miniature oil pastel painting of a fishing hut at sunset showcases the unique effects of lifting pastel pigment with a palette knife.
If you need to remove pastel, a palette knife or the edge of a credit card works well for gently scraping off fresh pigment. In this image, a palette knife scrapes away a thin layer of pastel to uncover the black surface of the paper below. For lifting colour rather than fully erasing, kneaded or hard erasers can soften areas without disrupting the entire layer. More often, though, the best approach is to cover rather than remove—applying another layer of pastel or blending in a different colour lets you work with the mistake instead of fighting against it. With the right handling, oil pastels remain expressive without feeling chaotic, giving you the freedom to work intuitively while keeping control over your artwork.
Misconception 7: Oil Pastels Lack Long-Term Durability
Some people assume oil pastels will fade over time, but their longevity depends on lightfastness and proper preservation. Like all art materials, oil pastels come in different quality levels—professional-grade brands, such as Sennelier, Neopastel, and Holbein, offer high lightfast ratings, meaning the pigments remain stable and resist fading when exposed to light. Lightfastness is determined by pigment composition rather than the oil binder—some natural pigments fade faster than others, but reputable brands carefully select stable, tested pigments to ensure artwork retains its vibrancy. Choosing artist-grade pastels over student-grade ensures better longevity, as lower-quality options often use dyes rather than pure pigments, making them more prone to fading.
A look at four oil pastel brands—Sennelier, Gallery, Haiya, and Caran d'Ache Neopastels—displayed side by side.
Even with lightfast pastels, preservation is key. Oil pastel pieces should be framed under UV-protective glass—either UV-filtering acrylic, museum glass, or conservation-grade glazing—to shield them from harmful light exposure. Keeping artwork away from direct sunlight and storing finished pieces with glassine sheets prevents dust accumulation and accidental smudging. Since oil pastels remain workable over time, proper framing with a spacer ensures the pigment doesn’t press against the glass. With the right materials and care, oil pastels can remain vibrant for decades, proving they’re just as archival as other fine art mediums.
Misconception 8: Oil Pastels are not Compatible with Other Art Mediums
It is true that oil pastels can be tricky to mix with certain materials, mainly because of their non-drying oil binder. Unlike dry pastels, which blend effortlessly with water-based media, oil pastels resist absorbing liquid, making them incompatible with watercolor, gouache, or acrylics. They don’t adhere well to surfaces prepped with acrylic gesso or mediums containing water, as the oils repel rather than bind. The soft, greasy nature of oil pastels means they don’t layer well over rigid, dry materials either—attempting to apply them over dried oil paint often results in poor adhesion.
An intricately detailed oil pastel painting, capturing the textures and design of a Mercury Montclair’s steering wheel and dashboard.
That said, some combinations work beautifully. Oil pastels and oil paints can be used together, but only in specific ways. Because oil pastels never fully dry, they should not be applied beneath oil paint, as this can prevent proper curing and lead to instability in the artwork. However, they work well as accents or finishing touches over fully dried oil paintings, which can add extra texture and depth. While not universally compatible with most mediums, oil pastels work brilliantly with coloured pencils, offering versatile effects. In this oil pastel painting of a 1956 Mercury Montclair’s dashboard and steering wheel, the Faber Castell Polychromos pencils were used to add precise dial markings, impossible with pastels alone and they remain a versatile tool when paired with materials that complement their unique properties.
Explore our Oil Pastel & Oil-based Articles
Click the links below to explore our collection of oil pastel and oil-based product articles or visit the beginner’s guide to oil pastels on the Ken Bromley Art Supplies website
Misconception 9: Oil Pastels Have a Limited Colour Range
Oil pastels might not offer the sheer volume of shades that some other mediums do, but that doesn’t mean they’re restrictive. Professional-grade brands such as Sennelier, Holbein, and Neopastel offer expansive colour selections, often ranging from 80 to 120+ shades, covering everything from subtle earth tones to bold, highly saturated pigments. Even brands with smaller sets provide a carefully curated range that allows for excellent mixing—thanks to their creamy texture, oil pastels blend effortlessly, meaning the available colour palette is essentially limitless. With layering and blending techniques, you can create smooth transitions, subtle variations, and entirely new hues by combining colours directly on the surface.
Oil pastel tribute to the felled Sycamore Gap Tree in Northumberland—painted on Fisher400 paper using Sennelier oil pastels and Caran d’Ache Neopastels.
Different brands offer varied characteristics, and mixing between them can create even more possibilities. Sennelier pastels, for example, are extremely soft and ideal for blending rich, painterly effects, while Neopastel offers a slightly firmer texture, allowing for sharper detailing. A great strategy is to use student-grade oil pastels for base layers, saving professional pastels for final details and refinement—this keeps costs down while maintaining a high-quality finish. Since oil pastels never fully dry, layering with different brands ensures depth and complexity without limiting your options. Rather than being restrictive, oil pastels offer a level of creative flexibility that allows artists to build stunning, custom colour palettes with ease.
Misconception 10: Oil Pastels Lose Their Impact on Dark Paper
Oil pastels generally have strong opacity, but certain colours—especially semi-opaque or translucent shades—may appear muted on dark surfaces. While most pastels provide full coverage, some brands include select pigments with lower opacity for glazing effects and subtle layering. Professional-grade oil pastels maintain higher pigment concentration, resulting in stronger colour payoff, whereas student-grade pastels often contain more binders and fillers, leading to weaker coverage on black paper. Using opaque colours from professional brands ensures bold results without needing excessive layering.
Gallery oil pastels on Canson Mi Tientes 'Touch' black paper. Whilst student-grade, they are still highly opaque on dark surfaces.
The paper’s texture also plays a huge role in how pastels perform. Smooth papers tend to resist heavy pastel layers, making colours look uneven, while textured or sanded surfaces grip pigments more effectively, allowing for richer blending and layering. Since oil pastels never fully dry, textured paper helps prevent smudging while building depth. Artists working on dark surfaces can combine different paper types and pastel brands to create bold, high-contrast effects that show off the medium’s vibrancy rather than dulling its intensity.
Misconception 11: Oil Pastels Are Only for Small Pieces—Or Are They?
While oil pastels are often associated with small, detailed work, many artists successfully use them for large-scale pieces. Their smooth application and blendability make them ideal for expressive, bold strokes on big canvases. Artists like Brian Owens push the boundaries of oil pastels, creating hyperrealistic floral compositions. Owens, is known for his highly detailed oil pastel drawings of flowers drenched in honey, showcasing the medium’s ability to capture intricate textures and depth. The key to working large is choosing high-quality, highly pigmented pastels that allow for broad coverage without losing vibrancy.
A bold, large-scale oil pastel painting of an orange and yellow rose with glistening water droplets, created by artist Brian Owens
See more of his work through this link: Hyperreal Oil Pastel Drawings of Flowers Drenched in Honey
Several brands offer larger-sized oil pastels specifically for this purpose. Sennelier’s large-format oil pastels provide rich pigment and creamy texture, making them perfect for covering large areas. Other brands, such as Caran d’Ache Neopastel and Holbein, offer high-opacity pastels that work well for layering and blending on big surfaces. Using textured paper or primed canvas helps grip the pastel, ensuring smooth application and preventing excessive smudging. With the right materials and techniques, oil pastels can be just as effective for large-scale artwork as any other medium.
Misconception 12: They’re Inferior to Traditional Oil Paints
Oil pastels often get dismissed as a lesser medium, especially when compared to traditional oil paints. While oil paints have been used for centuries in fine art, oil pastels offer the same rich pigments and expressive qualities without the complexities of drying time or chemical mixing. Their direct application allows for bold, textural mark-making, something that often gets lost in heavily layered oil paintings. Instead of relying on slow-drying glazes, oil pastel artists build depth through layering, blending, and precision control, achieving results that rival the richness of oils.
A highly detailed oil pastel painting of a Montclair Mercury green car, featuring a woman’s legs casually draped out of the window in bold green stilettos
Although oil pastels don’t harden like oil paints, this quality makes them highly adaptable—artists can rework and adjust areas without waiting for drying stages or risking cracking. Professional brands such as Sennelier, Neopastel, and Holbein ensure high-pigment content, lightfastness, and archival quality, meaning oil pastel artwork holds up over time when properly preserved. Many renowned artists, including Pablo Picasso and Odilon Redon, embraced oil pastels for their intensity, vibrancy, and freedom of expression—proof that they belong among fine art materials, not just as an introductory medium.
In this article, we’ve debunked 12 myths about oil pastels, revealing their true adaptability. From their versatility on dark paper to their ability to cover large-scale surfaces, they offer vibrant, opaque hues, and blend beautifully on textured paper for smooth, layered effects. High-quality oil pastels offer translucent glazing or bold coverage, proving they’re far more flexible than you might think. With the right techniques, you can unlock their full potential for stunning artwork.
Have you tried oil pastels yet, or is there something holding you back? What aspect of the medium are you most curious about? Let us know in the comments!
2 Comments
UPDATED 7th February 2025We were sent a box of HAIYA oil pastels by the Paul Rubens art company, asking if we would review them. We only agreed to do so with the understanding that we could write an honest review. After conducting our research and product testing, we present our findings and hope this review is helpful to you.  Key feature of this set:
  Ideal for the noviceIf you're a beginner, we suggest starting with a more affordable set to gain some experience. This approach can be cost-effective in the long run. You can purchase this set of 48 oil pastels on Amazon for approximately £30. They are considered to be of student-quality, which means they are priced similarly to other student-quality oil pastels and provide good coverage. If you are an amateur, this set is a great way to get a feel for the medium.  How do they compare to professional quality oil pastels?Having read numerous reviews about this product before agreeing to do our own review, we note many users comparing them to the Sennelier oil pastels. The Sennelier pastels are almost certainly the best quality oil pastel on the market and were created especially for the artist Pablo Picasso in 1949, so any comparison to this product is purely cosmetic. Paul Rubens does not market their oil pastels as artist quality, so we will briefly compare them. They are both bullet-shaped, making the application slick. They are also very creamy, so each layer is thick and opaque. Though Paul Rubens states their pastels are lightfast, we cannot find any information on the testing standards they use, so it is unlikely that they will be of the same rigorous levels that well-known brands use. Always ensure your artwork is correctly protected and avoid hanging your paintings in direct sunlight.  Our trial and findingsWe used a limited number of colours and a small sheet of Art Spectrum Colourfix black to create a drawing of a fishing shack against a pink sunset. First, we applied a light layer of colours, gently blending them. Then, we added more tones and re-blended to cover most of the paper surface. We used a palette knife to lift the pastel and expose the black surface, which helped to create the contrasts found in the shack and frame. By removing the pastel with a tool, we could achieve the fine details that are impossible with oil pastels alone. To enhance the definition, we purposely left some of the paper showing through.  Sets Available:
What do the symbols mean that are printed on the paper sleeve?The paper sleeve displays the colour name, pastel number, star rating for lightfastness, and opacity level. Additionally, it provides the pigment codes that explain which pigments were mixed together to produce each oil pastel colour. Unfortunately, these pastels are not currently available as open stock, which is a significant issue for a pliable medium like the oil pastel. The necessity of accessing additional colours is fundamental to the product's longevity. While large pastels are now available for purchase either as sets or individually, the standard sizes remain unavailable at this moment in time for individual sale.  Final thoughtsIf you're new to oil pastels, starting with a set like this would be a good option. However, it's worth noting that they are creamier than most student-quality oil pastels, which you may find awkward at first. These oil pastels are perfect for creating impasto work because they are incredibly soft and creamy, with opaque colours that are ideal for this type of application. However, if you're going to create high-quality artwork for clients, we suggest using these in conjunction with artist-quality pastels. At this price, they would make an excellent addition to your oil pastel collection, and it won't break the bank if using them to practice your techniques or create art to reproduce into prints. Additional products availablePaul Rubens has expanded their product offerings since the initial publication of this article. Previously, we noted that they did not sell pastels individually; however, they now offer boxes of standard pastels, which include sets of eight pastels of a single colour (with 10 colours available out of a total of 72). Additionally, individual large oil pastels can now be purchased, as well as sets of 12 colours. While the availability of sets is beneficial for those who frequently use specific colours, such as white and black, it may be less practical for customers who only require one shade of green or blue, leaving the remaining pastels unused in a drawer. It would be advantageous if the company offered each colour for sale individually in both standard and large sizes. About the Paul Rubens companyCOMPANY HISTORY
DISCLAIMER: It is worth noting that we do not receive a commission for any products sold through this review. In this particular case, we were fortunate enough to receive this set without charge. We are committed to providing an impartial review of the product, and our opinions are based solely on our own experiences and observations. |
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