Soft Pastels & Pastel Pencil Reviews & Articles
We add new articles to our website every three months and make it a point to update existing ones to include more information or enhance their appearance. Remember to visit us often for the latest updates. To access articles of interest, click on any of the images below. Not all articles may be available for viewing, as some are still in progress or will be created soon. If you have any requests for specific articles, don't hesitate to contact us through our contact page.
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To support our website, which receives no funding, you can buy us a coffee for as little as £3/$3. We appreciate your support in helping us provide free content for artists worldwide.
Pastel brands
Soft pastels | A guide for beginnersHave 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.
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Unison Soft PastelsUnison pastels are one of the finest, soft pastel ranges available and they blend extremely well. There is very little binder, so the pastels are more vibrant, due to the pure pigments found in the ingredients.
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Faber Castell | PITT Pastel Pencils
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Stabilo Carbothello | Pastel PencilsThese 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.
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Prismacolor | NupastelsThese 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.
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Derwent | Pastel PencilsThese 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.
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Papers & Canvas boards for Pastels
Art Spectrum | ColourfixArt 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.
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Art Spectrum | Colourfix smoothFor 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.
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Ampersand | Pastelbord
The marble-dust tooth holds more layers than pastel paper and works well with all types of pastels, it is suitable for other mediums such as charcoal, conte crayon, coloured pencils, watercolour pencils, ink and acrylics. This article provides valuable information showcasing its remarkable adaptability and delves deep into the intricacies of this surface.
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Canson Mi-tientes | TouchA 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.
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Clairfontaine | PastelmatThis paper is held in high esteem, especially among pastel artists. In this article we analyse the performance features in depth and explore its capabilities when used with other mediums like; coloured pencils, watercolours, oil pastels, charcoal, acrylics and mixed media.
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UArt | Dark sanded paperThis 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.
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12 popular black papers for artistsDuring our search for the 12 black surfaces in this article, we found many more, with companies producing their own ranges, in varying shades of black and different textures. The following article provides you with a selection of the most popular brands, including some lesser known.
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Accessories for pastel artists
10 blending products for soft pastelsDo you work with soft pastels or relatively new to the medium and require guidance? Have you found a particularly efficient way to mix soft pastels? Did you know that there are many ways to blend pastels? In this article, we provide a list of 10 blending tools that will assist you in your work.
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Sharpening pastel pencilsThis article offers important information on various types of pencil sharpeners, and it also includes a section dedicated to optimal techniques for sharpening pastel pencils, which can significantly enhance your artistic methods.
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Loxley FixativeRead 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.
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Finding suitable storage for your pastel pencils 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.
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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 solution.
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The perfect way to transfer outlines with less mess and wastage than carbon sheets. A popular product among artists. Find out how it compares.
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Why not try one of our tutorials for soft pastel artists
If you are new to soft pastels, we encourage you to explore our tutorials. These comprehensive guides provide detailed explanations on how to create various subjects, with step-by-step directions accompanying each progress image. You will learn techniques for building up base layers and creating fine details to enhance the realism of your artwork. The tutorials are organised by difficulty level, allowing you to begin with the most accessible projects and gradually advance to more challenging ones at your own pace.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
