PITT Pastel pencils article | Faber Castell's pastel pencil - STEP BY STEP ART

Faber Castell Pitt Pastel Pencils

" Pitt artists' pastel pencils, with their oil-free pastel leads, are used by artists not only as the perfect complement to pastel crayons for elaborating fine details, but also on their own. Many artists who enjoy pastel techniques and their versatility, but not the dirty hands and coloured dust that accompany them, have opted to use these special pencils. Pitt pastel pencils have a very compact lead which is economical to use. The lead contains a high level of pigment, making the pencils ideally suited both to drawing lines and shading, as well as blending and merging into delicate colour transitions. The colour selection in this range places a particular emphasis on the muted shades and earth tones that are especially important for pastel drawing. "

Taken from the Faber Castell website

Varied size selections

Colours Available: 60

Sets Available:
Open stock (Individually) In a tin 12, 24, 36 & 60

Costs: RRP £1.80 Each (Ave)

The PITT pastel pencils contain a high level of pigment, but are wax and oil free, and are perfectly suited for fine details in pastels. Just like the Polychromos pastel crayons they can be easily smudged to create fine colour transitions and perfectly complement the pastel crayons. Only minimal fixing is required, ensuring that the pastel drawings retain their vividness of colour.

ADVANTAGES
* Supreme quality Artists pencils
* Excellent light resistance and vibrancy of colour
* Grease and Oil free
* ideal for fine and elaborate details
* Non Toxic and safe

DISADVANTAGES
* Small range of colours
* Most of the Green tones are only Fair/Moderate in the lightfast grading
* Colour palette tends to be more muted & earthy tones with few bright colours

Pitt Pastels for Professional work

Pitt artists' pastel pencils, with their oil-free pastel leads, are used by artists not only as the perfect complement to pastel crayons for elaborating fine details, but also on their own. Many artists who enjoy pastel techniques and their versatility, but not the dirty hands and coloured dust that accompany them, have opted to use these special pencils. Pitt pastel pencils have a very compact lead which is economical to use. The lead contains a high level of pigment, making the pencils ideally suited both to drawing lines and shading, as well as blending and merging into delicate colour transitions. The colour selection in this range places a particular emphasis on the muted shades and earth tones that are especially important for pastel drawing.
Taken from the Faber Castell website

Vibrant pigments

Achieve fine detail

applying fur detail on a pastel pencil terrier dog

Muted colours ideal for Pet portrait Artists

If you're wondering where the name PITT comes from, here is a explanation taken from the Faber Castell website:
The name "Pitt" derives from the English word "clay pit", meaning earth colors mined from the earth. The range is used for working in contrast areas: light-dark or Black-white. (Contrast artwork is created generally with 1 color (black) and shading it or leaving spaces empty)
Pitt is a registered trademark of Faber-Castell.

My personal thoughts on these Pastel Pencils

When I first started out with Pastel Pencils, I bought a tin of Derwent Pastel pencils so I could achieve much finer details in my work - I liked the detail I could achieve with them but I found the colours were very much 'Pastel' tones - that is, rather pale, not quite as bold as the pigments in coloured pencils and then I was introduced to the Faber Castell PITT pastels by one of my art students during one of my Workshops and thought I would buy a set. I found that the pigments were really strong and the colours were much brighter that the Derwent Pastel pencils and it felt more like I was using Coloured Pencils, which helped immensely. I don't work with Pastels anymore but my partner John Graham does. He uses these alongside the Derwent & the CarbOthello Pastel pencils, which allows him more freedom with the colour choices.

The Colour Chart

Each pencil is marked with it's star rating found beside of the pencil number at the end of the pencil. The colour chart below offers you all the star ratings in one place. Note that many of the greens and the reds/pinks tend to be the least lightfast, however just over 50% (35) pencils are classed as Excellent and 11 in the Good, Very Good category - there are only 11 classed as Fair/moderate.

Faber Castell Pitt Pastels official colour chart and lightfast codes

Lightfast information

Faber castell uses the Blue Wool standard to evaluate lightfastness in their pencils including their PITT pastel pencils. The Blue Wool test standard is comparable to ASTM D 5383-02 and ASTM D5383-97. The Blue Wool standard relates to their star icons for these pastel pencils as follows:

*** = 7, 8 Blue Wool Scale (Excellent)
** = 5, 6 Blue Wool Scale (Good, Very Good)
* = 3, 4 Blue Wool Scale (Fair, Moderate)
Any result above Blue Wool 6 (ASTM II) is considered to be Very Good and will not fade for over 100 years in gallery conditions.

SAFETY WITH PASTELS

Pastels create dust which can be dangerous to health over a period of time. For protection, ensure you are in a well ventilated area when using Pastels. You may prefer to wear a face mask to avoid breathing in the dust and/or purchase an air purifier. If you have any breathing problems such as asthma, pastels may not be the medium for you, or you could opt to work with Pastel pencils which creates far less dust.