Introduction to Oil Pastels
Introduction to OIl Pastels
These are my personal experiences and opinions. Yours or other opinions may vary.
For starting in oil pastels, I would recommend using the best quality pastels you can afford.
The reason for this is, if you start with cheap pastels, they might turn you off from using oil pastels.
Cheap oil pastels tend to be hard and waxy and difficult to blend and spread.
Now just because an oil pastel is inexpensive, doesn't mean it is cheap and waxy.
Crayola makes some very inexpensive oil pastels called Portfolio which are smooth and creamy and blendable.
Mungyo also makes some oil pastels that are fantastic quality for the price. Look for the product name Mungyo artist SOFT oil pastels. The product code on the box is MOPV - that is their good quality oil pastel product line.
Oil pastels are a mixture of oil with waxes and binders to hold them together. They are smooth and creamy and can be blended to a uniform consistency and also they can be applied in thick broad strokes to give a nice effect.
Oil pastels never really fully dry, they always have a bit of a creaminess to their surface so they can always be worked on, unless you spray fixative on them. I find my oil pastel work eventually hardens over time but it is still a bit soft to the touch. It depends how thick the pastel is layed down, as to how soft and creamy the surface will remain over time.
The wonderful thing about oil pastels is it is quick and easy to get started and is a pretty forgiving medium. Mistakes are easily covered with more pastel. There is no preparation, just grab your box of oil pastels and some paper and you are good to go.
Oil pastels are great for fast coverage. If you have any experience with colored pencils, you know how slow it can be to lay down the colors!
Since oil pastels come in little blocks they aren't that easy for drawing/coloring details. I find them very well suited to doing still life paintings like fruit or vegetable which have broad simple shapes. The beauty of the "boring" fruit is in the colors and textures and blending you can achieve with the oil pastels. So you take something very basic and simple and turn into something really fascinating.
To add delicate details I use my color pencils. if you are careful and use the edge of the pastel you will probably find you can add some small details and lines.
I use my oil pastels on journal/sketchbook paper as well as multi-media paper and watercolor paper. Generally you want a paper with some texture for the oil pastels to adhere to.
Ok so you might wonder how do I spread my oil pastels around my paper?
There are several options:
Fingers - i don't like this method it is messy and I don't really care for the result. Maybe i just need more practice with this technique....but no thanks not really crazy about getting my hands all dirty. So this method though perfectly acceptable just isn't my style.
Tissues/Paper Towels - Good for blending and smoothing out large areas. T
Tortillons/Stumps - These are little sticks made up of tightly rolled up pieces of paper. These are good for spreading pastel into small areas as they have a little bit of a pointy end.
If you do use them then you will want to make sure you keep the tips clean so you don't contaminate the colors on your artwork.
You can use sandpaper or some other abrasive surface to remove the color it picks up.
When i use them for oil pastels, i usually just rub the end across some paper towel several times and it seems to get rid of the residue.
Some people buy a bunch since they are cheap, and keep their tortillons separated by the color they blend. So they have one for blues, greens, yellows etc...
Color Shaper - This is my favourite tool for pushing oil pastel around my page! These are silicone or clay chisel-tipped paintbrushes. So instead of bristles on the end you have a chiselled tip with which to push the oil pastels around. If you use a gentle touch I think you will find the pastels move around your page really easy. They are easily cleaned rubbing the color off with a paper towel. For stubborn or thick colors sometimes it helps to dip them in water first.
Paper Towels - You will need paper towels to wipe any extra colors off your pastel from blending/layering etc..
Oil pastels don't fully dry so be careful when handling your finished artwork, it is also hard to do fine details with pudgy sticks - but if you use a color shaper you can pick up some color off the stick and use the shaper to apply it.
I know i have mentioned several times that oil pastels never fully dry, but don't let that turn you off, they don't stay wet like an oil painting that may take days or months to dry. They just retain a bit of a soft sticky consistency for awhile.
Another tip - if you use oil pastels in your sketchbook, I don't draw anything on the opposite page because when I close my journal some of the oil pastel speckles the other side of the page. It does not effect the finished artwork but I don't think it would be wise to draw something on the opposite page and get bits of oil pasel color on it.
If you want to try out oil pastels in an inexpensive way - you might want to try Crayola Portfolio's. They are suprisingly good quality and insanely cheap. If you want to try an "artist grade" brand I would look into Sennelier or Holbein.
Check out some of my oil pastel reviews here.