Soft Pastels & Pastel Pencil Reviews & Articles
Click on any of the images below to view the article of interest to you. We add new articles to the website every three months. We also like to keep current articles updated, sometimes changing the format of the page entirely to add more information or make it more aesthetically pleasing, so please do visit often. You can SUBSCRIBE to our quarterly newsletter if you want the latest articles sent straight to your email as soon as they are available. Not all articles below are currently available to view. A few may be in progress right now or will be added soon. I hope you find these articles very informative and should you wish to request a specific article, get in touch via our contact page.
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Pastel brands
SOFT PASTELS | A GUIDE FOR BEGINNERS
Have you always wanted to give the soft pastels a go but unsure what you will need to start out, this helpful article offers you lots of information. UPDATED SUMMER 2021 |
UNISON PASTELS
Why are these pastels so popular with many pastellists? Find out in this article that gives background information on the family run company in Northumberland, UK ARTICLE CURRENTLY BEING UPDATED |
FABER CASTELL PITT PASTEL PENCILS
Looking for information on the Faber Castell PITT pastel pencils, find out about their abilities & lightfast qualities suited to all pastel artists, particularly pet portrait artists. |
STABILO CARBOTHELLO PASTEL PENCILS
These pastel pencils offer 60 vibrant colours and would make a great addition to the colour palette of any pastellist. Find out more about this range. |
PRISMACOLOR NUPASTELS
These pastels feature rich, creamy pigments that allow for easy blending and shading. Perfect for creating illustrations or drawings, these pastels can be sharpened to a fine point for detailed work or dulled for full coverage. |
DERWENT PASTEL PENCILS
These pencils have a unique highly pigmented fine chalk texture which creates a beautiful laydown of soft colour and are easy to blend. These pencils can be used dry or with water to create light washes. Find out more about these pencils. |
Papers & canvas boards for pastels
ART SPECTRUM COLOURFIX
Art Spectrum® Colourfix™ Papers are sheets of acid-free, 300gsm hot pressed watercolour paper with a fine, deep tooth. It is a superb surface for pastels, oils, acrylics, inks, oil pastels, gouache, watercolours and dry media such as charcoal and pencils. Available in 20 lightfast colours. |
ART SPECTRUM COLOURFIX SMOOTH
For anyone who is a fan of the Colourfix paper, did you know that Art Spectrum also offer a smooth surface version too? Find out more about the Colourfix Smooth, compare between other surfaces and see where you can buy yours. |
AMPERSAND PASTELBORD
Are you a pastel artist looking for a top quality, rigid board for your pastel work? The Ampersand Pastelbord might pique your interest. Find out more about this product in our article. |
CANSON MI-TIENTES 'TOUCH' PAPER
A highly innovative and unique surface - this versatile, finely textured paper is perfect for pastel, charcoal, pencil, & acrylic artists and suitable for both dry and wet media techniques. |
CLAIRFONTAINE PASTELMAT
This paper is one of the most popular, especially amongst pastel artists. You can use it with other mediums too, not just pastels. Our article explores the characteristics and abilities of this paper in depth. ARTICLE CURRENTLY BEING UPDATED |
UART DARK SANDED PAPER
This dark sanded paper by UArt is ideal for soft pastels and other mediums such as pencil. In this article we review the paper using coloured pencils. We will extend this article soon. |
Tim Fisher | Fisher 400ARTICLE TO FOLLOW.
NOT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE |
Accessories for pastel artists
GHIANT TRANSFER SPRAY
The perfect way to transfer outlines with less mess and wastage than carbon sheets. A popular product among artists. Find out how it compares. |
SHARPENING PENCILS
This article gives lots of information about different types of sharpeners as well as explanations on how they can play a huge part in your art techniques too. |
PENCIL STORAGE CHEST
Finding suitable storage for your pencils and pens can be difficult, so when we came across this pencil chest made by 'Creations by Rod', we wrote an article about it. They make 24 unique designs including the pencil chest, which are aimed at the creative market. |
LOXLEY FIXATIVE
Read our blog for some hints and tips on when to use a fixative, how to apply and why you should never use hairspray as a cheap alternative. Pencil artist Karen M Berisford also explains how fixative plays an important part in her own pencil work. |
LUMI LED TASK LIGHT
In our latest blog post, artist Karen M Berisford discusses her search for a new studio light that provides bright, natural light for close-up work and balanced coverage when working on larger portraits. She turns to The Daylight Company to find the ideal light. |
BLENDING PRODUCTS FOR PASTELS
Article to follow. |
Why not try one of our tutorials for soft pastels
If you are completely new to soft pastels, why not try one of our tutorials which will show you, in great detail and explanation, how to create any of the subjects below by following the directions beneath each progress image, you will learn how to to build up your base layers and create fine details to aid realism in your work. If you are new to acrylics, you may wish to start with the 'Beginners' tutorials, work through the 'All artists' ones and then go on to the 'Intermediate' tutorials which are more challenging.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
