Cool Things to Draw With Oil Pastels

Using oil pastels is fun and easy to practise, and is something that can exist washed past both the young and old, beginner and professional. However, just like everything else you lot need to learn a few techniques and practice until you can create a good art piece. Do not give up on your commencement effort! Oil pastel painting can be rewarding in one case you become the hang of it. Not only that, but the oil pastels themselves are affordable, easy to send, simple to employ, and like shooting fish in a barrel to keep clean. With a piffling do, y'all will exist producing wonderful art that has texture and cute colors.

Table of Contents

one What are Oil Pastels?
- 1.1 Why Oil Pastel Painting?
2 Guidelines When Purchasing Oil Pastels
- 2.1 Student- versus Artist-Class Oil Pastels
- 2.2 Single Oil Pastels versus Oil Pastel Sets
- ii.3 Oil Pastel Texture
- two.iv Oil Pastel Costs
- two.5 Surfaces and Oil Pastel Painting
iii Best Oil Pastels
- 3.1 Best Creative person-Grade Oil Pastels: SAVOIR-FAIRE Sennelier Oil Pastels
- 3.2 Best Student-Grade Oil Pastels: PENTEL ARTS
4 How to Color With Oil Pastels
- 4.i Oil Pastel Techniques
- 4.2 Tips and Tricks on How to Use Pastels
- 4.3 Finishing Off and Cleaning Up
five Oft Asked Questions
- 5.1 Is a Sealant Necessary for My Oil Pastel Painting?
- 5.ii What Surfaces Is Best for Oil Pastels?
- v.3 How Do I Apply Colors When Blending?
- 5.4 Can Yous Brand a Thicker Paint Blend Using Oil?
- v.5 Can You Utilise More Than Three Colors When Blending?

What are Oil Pastels?

Oil pastels come in a crayon or stick class and are made of pigments combined with a folder. The binder is a mixture of waxes and mineral oils, so you get a type of soft and slightly somewhat greasy stick that does not dry. There are other like cartoon mediums like crayons and pastel sticks. There are also dissimilar types of pastels including soft pastels (or pastel sticks), difficult pastels, pencil pastels, and pan pastels. The differences between oil pastels, wax crayons, and pastel sticks tin can be seen in the table below.

Oil Pastels	Wax Crayons	Pastel Sticks
Consists of a pigment and a non-drying wax/oil folder (Smooth consistency)	Made without the oil and only has a wax binder (Wax consistency)	Fabricated up of a pigment and gum or methylcellulose binder (Powdery consistency)
Blends well with other oil pastel colors. Good for larger work applications	Crayons are harder and practise non mix or blend well	A soft pastel's powdery texture blends well with itself and other pastel types. Good for detailed work
Realistic intense colors that add together texture	Plain colors defective in texture	Provides an intense wide range of colors
Can be practical to a variety of surfaces	Merely works on paper	Can also be used on a variety of surfaces

Why Oil Pastel Painting?

Oil painting takes a flake of preparation and requires a variety of materials to get started, whereas using oil pastels is quick and easy and does not require any brushes, solvents, or other items apart from some paper and the oil pastels themselves. Oil pastels are, therefore, great to travel with, with no mess and no fuss. Oil pastels are also more affordable than many other art mediums. Beneath are a few more advantages of using oil pastels.

You tin can apply oil pastels on sail, newspaper, and wood.
These pastels can be used for a variety of techniques
Oil pastels can be scratched off, built upwardly, composite, used to look like wet paint, or used dry.
Y'all can use the oil pastels immediately and they are easy to use.

Guidelines When Purchasing Oil Pastels

If you take but begun delving into painting with oil pastels, there might exist a few things you need to take into account if you decide to buy your own. Even though oil pastels are affordable, you nonetheless want to make the best choice, and sometimes the choices can be confusing and overwhelming. Some of the following guidelines can help with your determination.

Student- versus Creative person-Grade Oil Pastels

Student-grade oil pastels are best for beginners, as they are more affordable and tin can nonetheless offer vibrant colors and great effects. The main difference between the cheaper student-course oil pastels and the more expensive artist-grade varieties is the corporeality of paint.

The artist-grade pastels have a much higher paint load, which offers more vibrant colors. The binder is also of a higher quality and the consistency is smoother, making them perfect for professionals who want to show off their work, although it does come at a price.

The student-grade oil pastels, on the other hand, are harder and may not be as vibrant in color. They besides do not have the same smoothness when oil pastel painting as with artist-grade pastels. The cheaper, student-grade pastels are perfect for beginners and children learning to depict.

Single Oil Pastels versus Oil Pastel Sets

When purchasing oil pastels, yous can either buy them as a single color or in a set. Beginners should get for an affordable set to first, as this provides a wide variety of colors to piece of work from. Also, information technology volition assist when following oil pastels tutorials, as you can then apply more techniques.

The main event to consider hither is the brand, every bit some companies provide individual colors for purchase and others do not. If you practice need to replace an oil pastel color in your ready, this volition be difficult if the brand you bought does not sell unmarried colors. Buying some other brand might be an option, merely you lot might not get the precise color you want.

Oil Pastel Texture

When it comes to oil pastel texture or consistency, what yous programme on drawing and creating will determine what oil pastel product y'all purchase. Some pastels are soft and flossy and it is near like lipstick when using them, whereas others are harder or more rigid. The softer oil pastels tend to blend ameliorate, while the harder pastels can produce effectively lines and detail. And so, plan and understand how to apply pastels before going out and purchasing.

Oil Pastel Costs

If you are looking for artist-form pastels but practice not desire to pay the total price, y'all can always try to look for specials or discounts on products. Maybe think about purchasing a single oil pastel and trying it out first earlier committing to an expensive set up.

Ownership the well-nigh expensive oil pastel products will not make you a better artist, but many recommend that you buy the best quality you can afford. To start, rather purchase an affordable production that all the same produces skilful results. Cheap oil pastels do non blend well, and you may likewise purchase kids' crayons instead. If you are a professional artist, you will already have discovered what works for you lot and what does not.

Surfaces and Oil Pastel Painting

When painting with oil pastels, yous accept a choice in the surface or substrate you use. You tin can use oil pastels on newspaper, cardboard, and fifty-fifty on glass, plastic, and woods. Many also prefer to utilize oil pastels on canvas. Just remember to take into account that oil pastels never really dry, so smudging tin be an issue. You lot likewise go paper that is specifically for pastels, which have a fleck more molar than smoother paper. This provides a better surface for the oil pastels to grip onto.

In some cases, a surface might need to be primed before drawing on it. For example, metal is prone to oxidation and should be sealed with a primer or clear acrylic gesso before using oil pastels. The primer likewise provides a surface that the oil pastels tin stick to.

Best Oil Pastels

If you lot are a professional person artist looking for loftier-quality oil pastels, then yous can await to pay more. However, there are oil pastel products that come at a more than affordable price while all the same offer bang-up results. Students and beginners do not accept to break the banking concern to go good-quality oil pastels. Beneath are our two recommendations for both artist-grade and student-grade oil pastel sets.

Best Artist-Grade Oil Pastels: SAVOIR-FAIRE Sennelier Oil Pastels

The Sennelier oil pastel set contains 24 highly pigmented oil pastels. These oil pastels tin can be used on many surfaces including newspaper, canvas, stone, metal, glass, and wood. These pastels are too nifty to use for multi-media effects over watercolors, acrylics, oil, and other pastels.

24 highly pigmented oil pastels
Works on a diversity of surfaces
Create multi-media furnishings over oil, acrylic, pastel, or watercolor

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Pros

The set includes 24 cute, vibrant colors.
These oil pastels piece of work on different surfaces.
This is a well-known and respected brand that offers quality products.
The pastels blend well and offering adept coverage.
The oil pastels are soft and smooth when used.

Cons

The pastels tin can be messy to work with.
Some of the pastels may be toxic.
This is an expensive set.

Best Educatee-Form Oil Pastels: PENTEL ARTS

Pentel offers a pop l-color set of oil pastels that provide vibrant colors to exist used by immature and erstwhile alike. Yous can easily create blends, colour mixes, and great results at a reasonable price. These acid-gratis pastels can be used on paper, sail, and board and provide long-lasting effects.

Brilliantly colored and durable pastels
Apply smoothly and blend hands
Acid-free and ACMI-certified

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Pros

These pastels are easy to use and can employ different techniques.
This set is affordable.
The set offers a wide range of vibrant colors.
The colors are long-lasting and resistant to humidity.
The pastels are acrid-complimentary and certified by the ACMI.
This set is great for both the beginner and professional person.

Cons

The pastels can experience a bit rough to starting time with.
They may take an unpleasant odor.

How to Color With Oil Pastels

All forms of art take a learning bend, and understanding the various techniques is important. This goes for how to use oil pastels every bit well. How to color with oil pastels and how to blend oil pastels is something y'all need to practice and experiment with before you can create realistic drawings. In that location are diverse means to acquire how to color with oil pastels. A few examples of tools you tin use to blend colors include the post-obit:

Your fingers
Tortillions or stumps (tightly wound paper in the shape of a pencil)
Paintbrushes
A chamois or soft leather piece
Pliable eraser
Cotton tips
Fabric
Paper towels

Oil Pastel Techniques

In that location are quite a few oil pastel techniques, so we volition be listing only a few of the basic techniques yous tin endeavor out. To get confident in these techniques and to experiment with colors, it might be a skillful idea to first with a nevertheless life object. One time you lot have a clear thought of what you want to draw, effort using a pencil to describe a calorie-free outline your drawing. This can assistance to prevent whatever mistakes and guide yous when using the oil pastels.

Overlaying

Dissimilar color hues can be achieved by layering oil pastels. Add your showtime color layers of pastel and follow up with another layer using a unlike color. You may want to use a primary color for your start layer. Keep applying layers until you get what you are looking for. How to alloy oil pastels while overlaying? You can also consider heavy-pressure or calorie-free-pressure blending for different effects.

Scumbling

This is an easy technique where you apply controlled scribble marks beyond the surface. Choose at to the lowest degree ii unlike colors, only you can employ more. Take your offset color and draw scribble marks beyond the surface, then take your second color and follow the same process. Overlap the different colors at various points and continue until you accomplish the textured wait you want.

Blending with Oil

You can blend the oil pastels by pre-blending in a palette or directly on the paper of canvas. Apply colors adjacent to each other on the sail, and and so have a castor or cotton tip and dip it into some oil in order to alloy the colors.

Sgraffito

This is a great mode to use contrasting colors. Describe several layers of differently colored pastels, making certain that the last layer is a night color. Accept a sharp object similar a paper prune or the tip of a knife and scrape your pattern into the layers of pastels.

Masking

Another simple way to create designs is by using masking tape. Tape the areas you lot do non want to color in and employ the oil pastels in the spaces betwixt the record. Remove the tape when done and you will have a unique pattern with perfect lines and angles.

Tips and Tricks on How to Employ Pastels

When learning how to use oil pastels, it is e'er a good idea to consider looking at some oil pastel tutorials. Tutorials can teach you tips, tricks, and the basic techniques yous need to know to create practiced artwork. To help you along on your art journey, we have gathered a few tips on how to use oil pastels.

Pastel hardness tin vary betwixt brands. Thus, you should try and test out various brands to discover different furnishings.
Temperature can bear upon the hardness of oil pastels. They get softer when wam and firmer when cooled.
Practice non go discouraged; it will take time and experimentation to develop your skills.
Be creative and experiment on different surfaces.
Y'all can pre-blend oil pastels to come across the exact colour you will be using before awarding.
Use a stencil for more precise shapes.
Try not to rest your hand or palm on the paper while using the pastels so equally to avoid smudging when working in different areas. You can besides identify a piece of folded paper between your hand and the already colored areas.
Utilise a piece of chip paper to make clean off the oil pastel tips when blending colors.
Oil pastels on paper tin be placed in plastic file binder sheets to protect them from smudging. This can also be fabricated into a folder with all your artworks nicely protected.
Keep some newspaper towels or cloth nearby to wipe off your hands.
When framing, practice not push the newspaper up against the glass. Always exit a space then every bit to avoid smudging.

Finishing Off and Cleaning Up

Oil pastels are so popular because they are and then piece of cake to apply. However, they can get all over your hands. This can easily exist remedied by wiping the pastels off with wet-wipes or by using some baby oil and a paper towel. When you are finished with your oil pastel art slice, however, what is the all-time way to go on it from smudging?

Beginning, information technology is not advisable to varnish the surface. This is because pastels contain oils and waxes, which practice not work well with varnish. The best you can practise is to frame the fine art piece backside some glass.
In that location are also oil pastel fixatives. However, these can affect the colors, then information technology is best to test it out before using it on your actual fine art piece.
Do not store or display your artwork where information technology will exist exposed to loftier temperatures, as the pastels can start bleeding. So, if you lot forget your drawing in a hot machine over a long period, you might just discover a fleck of a mess when you take it out.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a Sealant Necessary for My Oil Pastel Painting?

Oil pastels never dry, so it might still experience viscous or wet over fourth dimension. Even so, you lot exercise not need to apply a sealant. To protect your work, the best manner is to frame it behind some glass.

What Surfaces Is Best for Oil Pastels?

This is governed by the artist and what they want to achieve. Y'all tin can easily experiment on diverse surfaces to discover the best one for yourself. Many do use pastel newspaper or sail as their chosen surface for oil pastels. Remember, it is best to prime certain surfaces before using oil pastels.

How Practise I Apply Colors When Blending?

In near cases, commencement apply the lighter colors and then darker colors, thereby creating a smoother transition between colors. When applying the sgraffito technique, a darker color should be applied concluding. When you scrape the darker color, the light colors volition come through and produce a design or shape.

Can You Make a Thicker Paint Alloy Using Oil?

Yes, you lot can take your chosen pastel colors and mix them on a palette, and so brand the combined colors thicker past adding some oil. By blending your colors similar this you can also see what the composite color volition be before applying it to the surface.

Tin can You Use More Three Colors When Blending?

Yeah, y'all can use as many colors equally you similar until y'all accept the result yous desire.

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Source: https://artincontext.org/how-to-use-oil-pastels/