Drawing with Dry Pastels

Today, I suggest we learn to draw with pastels. Whether you use dry or oil pastels, there are techniques to know and master in order to bring your drawings to life. In this article, we will look at the various methods I use with dry pastels.

The different pastels

Pastel comes from the Latin word "Pasta," which means "paste," because this plant was reduced to a paste before being used for dyeing. Pastel was invented in Italy around the end of the 15th century.

Pastels come in two categories: dry pastels and oil pastels. You can use pastel as a dry technique or as paint. I will briefly explain the different types of pastels.

Oil pastels

Oil pastels are made either of oil or wax. Oil pastels closely resemble oil paint. They are very creamy and very vibrant. Here is an example of an "old" drawing using oil pastels.

Wax pastels are less textured and are much more economical than oil pastels. Here is an example of an "old" drawing made with wax pastels.

Dry pastels 

Dry pastels are either hard or soft. They can come in the form of pans with PanPastels, as pencils with pastel pencils, and as sticks. For each type of pastel, there are advantages and disadvantages. Here is an "old" drawing made with PanPastels, as well as dry pastel pencils.

In the following part of this article, we will mainly explore the techniques used for drawing with dry pastels. We will also use the most common types of pastels: stick pastels and pastel pencils.

The paper 

To draw with dry pastels, you will need high-grammage paper, especially if you want to draw using several layers. You can also choose to use a more or less textured paper.

There are several types of paper suitable for dry pastels. I mainly use 3 types:

- Pastelmat paper

- Pastelgrain paper

- Pastelcard paper

The 3 types of paper are excellent and are available in several sizes. You can also choose a colored format in order to start with a colored base for your drawing. In this article, we will primarily use Paint On multi-technique paper for various tests, and Pastelcard colored paper for the final demonstration. Indeed, pastel paper is very expensive, so avoid using it for small tests and/or small drawings.

Dry pastel techniques

Layering

To draw with pastels, in 95% of cases, you draw by layering. You always mix your colors on your paper. You can blend the pigments together and soften your colors once applied.

As we can see, we can create as many color shades as we want by layering. It's interesting to always start with the darker color when layering, because the lighter color will also serve as a "blender," meaning it will help us harmonize the colors.

Blend & soften the pastels

Dry pastel fades easily with your fingers or a paper stump, which you can use to gently blend your colors.

So, you can easily degrade your colors, starting with the darkest color and ending with the lightest color.

Diluting with water

Dry pastel is water-soluble and can be used as a painting method. It can first be ground into a powder and then mixed with a little water. You can also use a water brush to soften a line in your drawing or to blend your colors directly on the paper.

That's why it's important to choose the right paper. I'll quickly show you how it looks when diluted with water. On the left is pastel without water and on the right is pastel with water.

Pastel on colored paper

I really enjoy using pastels on a colored background. It provides a base for the drawing, and can even change the mood of the artwork. If you use warm-colored paper (orange, red, yellow, ochre, etc.), you can draw a sunset, natural landscapes, lions, expressive portraits, etc.

Warm colors will bring warmth to the drawing. Here is a small sunset done with dry pastels on yellow paper.

However, if you use papers with cooler colors (blue, green, purple, gray, etc.), I recommend creating night scenes, winter landscapes, etc. We will see an example in the demonstration part of drawing on blue/gray paper.

Create areas of shadow and light

To add volume and a bit more realism to your drawings, you can play with contrasts. For example, use complementary shades to mark the shadows, and lighter colors for the illuminated areas. Also, consider your light source.

Here is the complementary color wheel. It is said that when drawing with a certain color, to make that color stand out the most, you should use the complementary color, which is the opposite color on the complementary color wheel.

Here, to create the apple, I mainly use yellow, orange, and red. So, for the shadows, to contrast the colors a bit more, I will use blue and purple. This stands out even more as my paper is also yellow.

This also helps to soften the shadows, as black is often overused in drawing, and can make it look a bit "dirty."

Fixing the drawing

It is important, once the drawing is finished, to fix it with a suitable fixative in order to prevent the drawing from getting dirty, and to allow it to be preserved in peace. To protect your drawings, you can also work on textured paper, as this will help to hold the pigment better.

For my part, I use the Lefranc Bourgeois spray. You just have to stand about ten centimeters from the drawing and spray it for a few seconds.

Creating 2 drawings with dry pastels

I suggest that we create two drawings together, one on white paper and another on colored paper.

The banana

We start with a very quick drawing, which took me barely 5 minutes. When I draw with pastels, I usually don't make a pencil sketch. Here I've outlined my banana in yellow. I've drawn a very basic shape.

Next, I take my dark gray and purple, which is the complementary color to yellow, to do some shading. I also keep it simple, scribbling a few lines here and there.

Next, I take an orange-yellow color, and I proceed to outline the banana, leaving a lighter area in the center of the two parts.

I take two yellow colors, a pale yellow and a medium yellow to finish the coloring in. I can blend all the colors together by going over the darker shades. In the space of a few minutes, we already have a pretty well-drawn banana.

 

We only need to make the shadow at the bottom to highlight the banana as much as possible. I take my dark gray and my purple and create a "small" banana in symmetry to represent the shadow. I can use my finger to slightly blur it.

And here's the final result!

Drawing a shark

We are now going to draw a slightly more complex picture, on blue/gray colored paper, but as you will see, it's not so complicated! We are going to draw a shark because the color of the paper will make it stand out more.

Like with the banana, start by sketching the outlines of the shark using a light color. The "sketch" should remain fairly simple. I've used white this time.

I'll now add the shadows with a dark gray pencil. I avoid black so that my drawing doens't look too dirty.

 

I'm adding a touch of blue. I can also add the blue directly on the dark areas, by layering, and this will both blend the two colors and also create a slightly darker blue in some places.

I complete it with gray, leaving some spaces for the white, representing the brighter areas.

I fill in all the gaps with my white, and I also mix the colors together. Within a few minutes, we already have a beautiful shark. But we still need to create the background.

 

For the background, I decided to depict the ocean, with some lighter areas at the top, as if the shark is close to the surface, or at least, more exposed to the light.

I'm shading some areas with my dark gray. You can see that, to represent water, we mainly create ovals, circles, or quite rounded shapes.

 

I add blue, a bit intuitively, as it represents the blue of the ocean and the reflections of the sky on the water.

 

I'll take a lighter blue and continue to complete the drawing. I can also start to bring out the highlights on the top and the diagonal lines.

And for the finishing touches, I add white, filling all the gaps, and also in certain places to blend the colors together. White is very prominent on the surface and represents the sunlight from above. Feel free to also smudge the pastels with your fingers if you feel it's necessary.

I also sometimes blow on my drawing to remove excess pigment, although this type of paper absorbs a lot of it.

Last step, I fix my drawing. I use a pastel fixative and let it dry.

And here is the final result! I think the drawing turned out quite well, I hope you also succeeded on your end! You can also use masking tape if you want cleaner edges. I usually do it, but I remembered it a bit late this time!

This article is now finished. I hope it has helped you learn a bit more about drawing with pastels. Feel free to test and experiment on your own!

Writer and illustrator: Elodraw