Pastel Painting Techniques

More than meets the eye

There are a number of pastel painting techniques you can use to get the most out of your pastels. Once you master them, you can work the medium with perfect confidence and very good results. Given below are some of the pastel painting techniques that seasoned artists use in their interesting work.

Pressure is the primary technique while doing a pastel painting. The depth and richness of your painting are decided by the volume of pressure you make on the pastel. Experiment on various kinds of supports and paper till you can understand how pastel adheres to the surface under different circumstances. You have to really spend a lot of time with the medium to get yourself acquainted with it.

Begin a painting with light strokes first because in a pastel painting the stroke is of paramount importance. The end result depends on the manner in which an artist makes strokes on the surface of the picture.

As a beginning you can experiment with two basic drawing techniques. Firstly, experiment with both with line as well as degrees of line thickness. Secondly apply short pointed marks with the sides of the pastel.

The technique known as hatching is a set of parallel lines, preferably fine lines drawn closely together on your pastel paper. To enhance on this you have cross-hatching which is drawing a second set of lines at an angle normally at right angles to the first set.

In the technique of layering, this is applying pastels one upon the other in layers. This gives a depth and richness to the painting. This is where the fixative can be used. Before adding another layer to a previous layer you spray the fixative over the lower layer. You can repeat this with each layer. Pastel strokes make powdery layers which might get disturbed unless the fixative is used.

Another pastel painting technique is under-painting. You can freely combine pastel with water color in a painting. By making an underlining to your painting with a wash of color, you make a painting really stand out.

One good way to make such an underlining is by crushing a little soft pastel into powder and mixing it with water. Using a large brush you can spread the watercolor wash onto the surface of the painting. The more important areas of the subject are indicated by either flat or subtly graded washes. You must select the color of this wash care for this color will hold the various factors of the painting together. For instance, you can impart a warm mood and tone to the whole painting by using a warm color like orange. This under-painting shows through the finished painting, giving it a touch of unity to the composition.

Now let’s turn to the technique of blending. It is a technique in which a painting can be rendered more beautiful. You can blend colors using fingers or any blending tool of which there are a wide variety for example paper tools such as the tortillon, and paper stump; putty (or kneaded) rubbers, cloths, and cotton wool (balls or buds) and any other tool which can come from using your imagination.

When an artist blends side strokes along an existing background it is called scumbling.
This is achieved after a layer of pastel has been applied and fixed, then lightly dragging a soft pastel on its side across the top. The effect is a broken covering of the new color over the top.

Scraping the pastel over a painted surface is known as dusting the color. These flecks are then pressed to the paper surface.

Making small dots all about the surface of the painting is the fine but difficult technique of pointillism.

These are the more important pastel painting techniques. Master the art of applying pastels and you are on the way to painting that masterpiece you have always dreamed of.

For more techniques and other indepth information check out my book Pastel Painting Secrets