Caran d’Ache Neopastels: What They’re Really Like to Work With
An Introduction to the Mungyo Gallery Oil Pastels
Mungyo Gallery Oil Pastels, sometimes labelled as Hashi, are a popular choice among artists looking for a balance between quality and affordability. Produced by Mungyo, a South Korean company based in Gimhae-si, these oil pastels have carved out a niche in the art supply world, appealing to beginners, students, and professionals alike. This article dives into their origins, features, performance, and quirks, so you can decide if they’re right for your creative needs.
The History of the Mungyo Company
Mungyo, a Korean manufacturer with a history of producing art supplies, is behind the Gallery Oil Pastel line. Exported to over 50 countries, these pastels are often sold under different names like Hashi, likely due to regional distributors or marketing choices. The naming can be confusing, Hashi might appear on Amazon listings, alongside Mungyo packaging and Gallery. Regardless, they’re the same product: vibrant, non-toxic oil pastels made in Korea, designed for a range of artistic applications.
Who are they for?
Mungyo Gallery Oil Pastels are a great fit for artists who want vibrant, blendable pastels without breaking the bank. They’re ideal for students, hobbyists, and professionals on a budget who value versatility and don’t need guaranteed lightfastness. If you’re creating art for sale or long-term display, the lack of lightfastness data might give you pause, and you may want to explore brands like Caran d’Ache. But for sketching, experimenting, or teaching, these pastels deliver solid performance at a fraction of the cost of premium brands.
Key Characteristics
Quality: Student |
Colours: 120 |
Hard or soft: Medium-soft |
Lightfast rating: None |
Costs: ££ - £££ |
Mungyo Gallery Oil Pastels are known for their medium-soft, creamy texture, which sits between the buttery softness of high-end brands like Sennelier and the firmer, less blendable student-grade options like Sakura Cray-Pas. Available in sets from 12 to 120 colours, they come in standard, metallic, and fluorescent shades, offering a wide palette for experimentation.
Here’s a breakdown of their key traits:
- Colour and Pigmentation: The pastels deliver vivid, opaque colours thanks to high-quality pigments with minimal binders. They’re great for bold strokes or subtle gradients, though some artists note that certain shades (like darker blues) can feel less consistent in application.
- Texture and Blending: Their smooth, slightly oily consistency makes blending easy, whether with fingers, blending stumps, or solvents like mineral spirits. They’re versatile enough for techniques like layering, scraping, or impasto, but they can leave a sticky residue that requires thorough hand-washing.
- Surface Compatibility: They work well on paper, canvas, wood, or even cloth, with textured surfaces like watercolour paper providing good grip and smooth mixed media paper enhancing blendability.
- Safety: Non-toxic and AP-certified, they’re safe for artists of all ages, including kids.
- Packaging: Sets come in cardboard boxes or, for the 72 and 120-colour sets, a wooden case. Foam or plastic trays keep the sticks secure, and larger sets include a swatch card for colour planning.
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Strengths:
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Limitations:
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Sennelier oil pastel - A soft and creamy crayon
USEFUL TOOLS
For Blending
There are many tools that can be used to blend and manipulate oil pastels. Below are just 3 of them.
Silicone blenders - Soft (blue) & Firm (Grey)
Silicone blenders can be used in many types of artistic creations, with oil pastels being one. The blue tips are more pliable, whilst the grey tip are firmer. The varying heads will create diverse impressions in your work, so it may be practical to own both sets.
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Paper blenders
Paper blenders are rolls of paper, tightly packed to imitate a pencil and can be used to blend mediums like pastels. They are so cost effective that they can be bought in large packs of varying widths. Paper tortillions are thinner and smaller, suited to small areas.
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Sennelier pastel brushes
Sennelier sell brushes to blend soft pastels. Paintbrushes can also be used to mix solvent and oil pastel together, to create a more fluid wash of pigment that can be used as a ground in the initial layers or to create a more painterly effect in your portrait.
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For Manipulating
You can achieve fine detail in your pastel work with the use of certain accessories. We discuss three of them below.
Embossing tools (varying tip sizes)
Embossing tools are a hand-held tool with a little metal ball on the end, which come in a variety of sizes. This allows you to lift, scratch out and manipulate the pigment on the surface to create various markings.
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Craft knife
A craft knife is a great tool to slice extremely thinly through the pastel to create very fine detail. It will lift the pastel, so we do suggest you keep the blade clean during the process.
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Palette knife
Some artists use palette knives to break down their pastels into a more malleable form and apply to a canvas with a palette knife. Heating your palette knife first will help to soften the pastel. Encaustic irons can also be used to soften pastels.
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Other articles that may be of interest
Oil pastels | A Beginners guide
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12 Oil Pastels Misconceptions Debunked
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Try our 10-minute Strawberry oil pastel tutorial
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Health & Safety informationProducts displaying the Approved Product “AP” seal or just the statement ‘Conforms to ASTM D 4236’ are certified in a program of toxicological evaluation by a medical expert to contain no material in sufficient quantities to be toxic or injurious to humans, including children, or to cause acute or chronic health problems.
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