Basic techniques for working with oil pastels. Oil pastel technique

Pastel - it is almost pure pigment. It allows you to create bright and rich images. It is used to create sketches and drawings. The advantage of pastels is that you don’t need a lot of supplies to draw. Enough paper and the pastel itself.

Dry pastel

1. It is very important to buy quality paper. Savings are inappropriate here. Otherwise, the beginner runs the risk of not making progress in learning. The pastel painting technique requires the use of special grained paper, whose surface is similar to suede and is capable of holding dye particles.

Pastel paper comes in a variety of colors. Choose the one you like, but keep in mind that the color should contrast with the depicted object. The shade should not be too dark or very light so that light and dark tones look good on paper.

Don't choose white paper, because work in color will look more impressive. A colorless sheet will require light spots to be completely filled.

2. A wide line is drawn with the end of the pastel, and a thin line with the edge. You can adjust the thickness of the stroke using the pressure and angle of the pencil. If you need to paint over a large surface, place the crayon on its side and cover and paint over the paper.

3. Pastel sets may include up to six dozen colors. But not all artists use a huge number of shades. Many people only use a few. Choose the way you like.

4. The sheet can be placed horizontally or on an easel. The vertical position allows crumbs to fall and not remain in the design.

5. Pastel allows for great variety application of techniques. There is no universal recipe and you can develop your own ways of working with it.

6. Start with a sketch using charcoal or a faint crayon that stands out against the tone of the paper. A simple pencil is not suitable because the pastel does not stick well to it.

7. On light paper, it is good to mark out the tones with gray or black pastels. To correctly determine tonal relationships, determine what should be the darkest and what should be the lightest. From basic forms, move on to refinement and work with volumes. Use strokes, lines and dots. Rub the pastel where you need to summarize the image. If you rub everything, then subsequent layers will not adhere well to the paper.

8. Secure the finished drawing with a special solution. It can be bought in a specialized store in the form of a spray. Apply the sealer carefully. A thick layer will affect the color of the design. Universal fixatives and hairspray are not very suitable. Dry pastel, due to the chalk content, is not very saturated, and after fixing it becomes more contrasting. This needs to be taken into account.

9. Finished works, especially loose ones, must be stored carefully. It is advisable to place it under glass and use a mat. If the drawings will be stored in a folder, then line them with smooth paper.

Oil pastel

1. Oil pastel It does not shade and rubs worse than dry. Therefore, it should be diluted with pinene.

2. Perform the preliminary drawing with oil pastels. If you prefer charcoal, remove almost all of it before using the pastel to avoid staining the pastel.

3. After applying the base tones, wash them out with pinene.

4. Refine the drawing and, if necessary, blur it. But don’t get carried away, because work that is too blurry will look washed out. The drawn areas, the most important in the artist’s opinion, should remain.

5. Over the course of several months, the oil pastels will dry out and darken slightly. Take this effect into account as you work.

6. There is no need to fix the work done with such pastels. But you still need to store it carefully. The paint layer may stick to the surface in contact with the design. It is best to store the work under glass, but it should not touch the drawing.

How to draw with pastels? - video

Today, oil pastels are made in stick form from pigments, a pure synthetic binder and mineral wax. The pigments are crushed with an inert binding agent, so it does not oxidize and has no effect on the stability of the painting, drawing, still life or landscape.

The oil pastel base is mixed with wax - which provides a unique oiliness and paste-like texture.

Types of pencils

Main types:

Dry

There are three main types - dry pastel, which uses gum arabic and tragacanth, water-soluble and fat and soft oil. Dry pastels include;

Soft

Soft Crayons – Sticks contain a high proportion of pigment and little binder, resulting in brighter colors. When working with a landscape or still life, mixing occurs by rubbing into the surface.

How to draw a painting by Claude Monet still life with sunflowers

Solid

Hard crayons have a significant amount of binder and little pigment, so they are used for small parts, sketches in a painting, drawing.

Leaded pastel pencils are useful for beginners in attaching small parts.
Water-soluble pastels belong to a special category, similar to the soft subtype, but contain a water-soluble component - glycol. This allows you to change color in still lifes and landscapes using water.

Properties

Oil pastels are distinguished by their soft consistency and intense oily palette. They are used in painting and graphics, where the medium has characteristics similar to pastel:

Unlike "soft" or "Japanese" pastel sticks, which are made with methylcellulose, oil crayons consist of pigment mixed with a non-drying oil and wax binder.

Paintings and drawings have a less powdery surface, but are difficult to protect with fixing agents.

Sanguina drawing with red crayons

Oil pastels provide a harder edge than "soft" or "French" crayons, are difficult to mix, but are diluted with solvents and do not require a fixative.

Wax and inert oils are used as a binder - as a result, paintings and drawings do not turn yellow and have excellent adhesion to paper, cardboard, plywood and other materials.

They are completely acid free and never harden or crack.

Oil crayons can be used on any paper, rigid support (wood, hardboard, metal, MDF, glass) or canvas - without technical restrictions, which provides the artist with complete freedom of expression while maintaining stability during storage.

How to draw correctly

In painting, oil pastels help create unique color in still lifes or landscapes. Many artists prefer to use them together with other paints. Oil chalks are similar to traditional dry chalks. Strokes can be layered, applied in stages, as with soft crayons, but only to a certain extent. If too much material is applied to a painting or drawing, the colors may become dull.

Landscape “Sunset over the sea”: painting with a palette knife without thinners

The technique for working with oil crayons is similar to colored pencils:

• Creating underpainting for beginners helps highlight the free zone and zones of local colors.
• Multi-layered layers to achieve depth and shade.
• Slowly adding strokes in stages will not spoil the shade.
• Cleaning up the edges of the background to define the edges of the imaged subject, the background.

Universal oil pastels adhere well to the surface of the painting. They respond to a wide variety of methods - from direct drawing to special painting techniques. They are rubbed in, used on a colorless base, washed with turpentine, and some areas are scraped off. They have a vegetable, mineral or synthetic base oil, rather than linseed, as in oil paints, and therefore do not require a primed painting surface.

Gouache painting technique

Combination with paint

It is easy to combine oil paints and oil pastels in one painting, still lifes, but the paint should be the first layer. This is because oil pastels never really dry and always remain pasty, so the layer oil paint over pastels will be unstable.

An exception to the rule “paint with the first layer of paint” is if a sketch is made with pastels. The colors are bright or translucent, depending on the technique used to work with them.

Drying

Do not dry out by oxidation when exposed to air. Instead, they harden over time. Thin strokes in a painting dry quickly, but for heavier layers the process takes several months.

Surfaces

Almost any surface - canvas, wood panels, sheets of metal, watercolor paper, sanded paper surfaces or any other on which you can experiment step by step.

Dry brush technique in painting

Consolidation of work

A pre-made base of vinyl resin and alcohol creates a completely clear seal layer and leaves a clear film to protect the surface from dust and smudges. Several incremental coats increase shine but require sufficient drying time to avoid stickiness. The synthetic resin starter protector is suitable as a final or working sealer and has excellent oil adhesion. Multi-layer protector maintains satin texture.

In painting

Oil pastels are relatively new technology in painting:

• It was not until 1921 that it was developed by the artist and theorist Yamamoto.
• In 1947, artists Henri Goetz and Pablo Picasso proposed the idea of ​​developing a professional version of oil pastel.
• In 1949, the first professional oil pastels appeared with a brilliant color palette.
• The unusually wide range of shades of gray were specifically chosen by Picasso.

One of the oldest materials for drawing is pastel. Oil pastel, dry pastel and wax pastel are its main types. Great artists created their masterpieces using pastels.

Lively, bright colors, soft and velvety structure - all this distinguishes pastel from other drawing materials. If you don’t yet know how different types of pastels differ, then this article is for you.

Oil pastel

Oil pastel What distinguishes it from other types of pastels is its composition, which contains a binding pigment - mineral oil. It creates a dense and buttery texture.

When it comes to color properties, oil pastels create less matte colors than dry pastels. Drawings drawn with oil pastels are easier to store because they do not smear. It is perfect for outdoor creativity, but tends to melt in the sun.

Oil pastels can be shaded using a solvent. A stick for pressed paper or a brush is intended for these purposes.

Dry pastel: soft and hard

Dry pastel is commercially available in pencil or crayon form and can be either soft or hard. What gives it hardness is the binding substance, and the higher its content, the harder it will be. The softest can contain only pigment.

Dry pastel is somewhat similar to graphite a simple pencil, the properties of which I wrote about in the article “”.

Since soft pastel contains large quantity pigment, it becomes velvety and crumbles easily, and the most ordinary white chalk will give the color a matte appearance. It creates a beautiful texture in the drawing and is easy to shade and blend. But you need to be careful, because the chalk breaks easily, and the applied drawing is smeared. This type of pastel requires extremely careful handling.

Hard pastel creates a clearer and finer stroke. Unlike soft, it is not so bright. There are both pastel pencils and crayons on sale.

A pencil is more convenient and allows you to make more accurate strokes, leaving your hands clean. Dry pastel requires rough paper, because only such paper can hold this material.

Dry pastel, or rather its powder, can be used in decoupage or other techniques.

Wax (watercolor) pastel

Wax pastel or watercolor, as it is also called, is essentially a unique material that contains a water-soluble component. After drops of water fall on a drawing created using wax pastels, it acquires all the properties watercolor drawing.

Wax (watercolor) pastel gives a greater texture to the stroke. To create the effect of a watercolor painting, it is washed out with water using a brush, and as you may have guessed, mixing colors is much easier in this case.

So we learned all the properties and features of pastels different types, and the next one, I’m sure, will seem no less interesting to you.

The technique of working with pastels appeared a very long time ago. It originates from drawing with soft materials - sepia, charcoal, sanguine, charcoal pencil. Beginners should not immediately take on this material. You should learn the basics first academic drawing and painting. Beginning artists gain valuable experience by working first with soft materials.When working with pastels, you should initially limit the number of crayons you use. For example, put the crayons of primary colors for work in a separate box. This allows for greater integrity in the work.

Artist's painting Richard Savoie

Techniques for working with dry and oil pastels will be discussed here.

Dry pastel technique Doesn't seem very difficult for beginners. But in reality, it requires experience and consistency in work. Pastel allows you to use a variety of working techniques. At the same time, there are no ready-made universal recipes for how to work with pastels. Pastel allows for great variety in technique. Each artist, working in pastels, develops his own working techniques that correspond to his creative tasks and temperament.
Preliminary drawing To work with dry pastel, you should mark lightly with any small pastel, not very different from the tone of the paper, for example, gray or coal, which can be easily wiped off with a cloth. It is better to take burnt coal (willow twigs with a diameter of 3-4 mm.).
Graphite pencil for applying a preliminary drawing unsuitable due to the fact that the pastel then does not fit well on it.
When working on light paper A good result is obtained by a preliminary tone drawing with charcoal, black and gray crayons. This method was used by the artist I. I. Levitan, who left us a legacy of many masterfully executed pastels. The artist's working method is clearly visible in unfinished work"Compressed field". As you work, try to maintain the found tonal relationships.
Then, breaking off a piece of chalk about 2-3 cm long, working it “flat”, we apply the main tones. If the paper is matched to the tone of the drawing, then leave it where necessary. Once the basic color and tone relationships have been found, you can begin to refine the drawing. At this stage, the shape is clarified and the volume of objects is worked out. At this stage, you can use the following techniques for working with pastels: stroke, line, dots, etc. In some places we place strokes flat. The technique depends on the tasks set before the painter; pastel allows one to convey the materiality of objects well. To generalize the shape, the pastel is rubbed well. You can rub it with a feather or finger. At the same time, it is worth noting that if rubbing is abused, the pores of the paper become clogged, and subsequent layers of pastel adhere worse.
When applying a stroke, it is good to combine complementary colors. For example, let’s make a green background and apply red strokes on it. In this way, you can get any shade - from green to red, and everything will look more interesting than just an evenly painted surface.
The most common mistake in beginners' work is - inability to maintain tonal relationships. In addition to sculpting a three-dimensional form, you need to remember that each object has its own tone. To correctly convey tonal relationships, it is necessary to determine what is darkest, what is lighter, and what is lightest.
The peculiarity of dry pastels is that that all crayons contain ordinary white chalk. Because of this, dry pastels do not allow you to create richly colored shadows. In shadows, preference should be given to the correct tone. I suggest using this technique: dark areas are painted over with black, dark gray, then color is introduced on top, both by shading and by shading.
After all parts of the drawing have been worked out, you should look at the drawing as a whole again. At this stage, work is underway to highlight the main thing in the drawing. Minor, excessively contrasting details in pastels are easily softened by shading. What needs to be emphasized is highlighted due to volume and better elaboration of details.
When fixing pastels black ones get especially dark and dark colors. Therefore, it is better to use charcoal for shadows. For drawing small details it is good to use soft charcoal pencil, sometimes sepia and sanguine pencils.
In dry pastels, one of the main problems is preserving the drawing. Fixing the pastel always results in a change in tone. The pastel does not need to be fixed. But in this case, you should take care of its safety in advance.
First, make the drawing on a surface from which the pastel will not fall off: it is better on sandpaper or velvet paper, or on paper with a pronounced texture, from which the pastel will certainly not fall off. You can also work on stretched canvas. The canvas is usually stretched using pegs that are driven in with a hammer. In the case of pastels, this is unacceptable. You should look for a special stretcher, invented by the artist Gilot, on which the canvas is stretched using special screws.
Secondly, the loose work is placed under glass. In this case, the glass should not touch the work. A passe-partout is used for this. A white mat is the most universal, suitable for most jobs; a colored mat, if chosen incorrectly, will only ruin the work. It is advisable that the mat sheet be thicker so that the work does not touch the glass. A thin frame is better for big works A metal frame is required. It is better to use anti-reflective glass; for large works in thin frames, plexiglass is better suited. Plexiglas is more convenient if the work needs to be transported to exhibitions. The disadvantage of plexiglass is that it scratches easily.
You can fix the pastel with hairspray, but it makes her very dark. Also, universal fixatives are not very suitable. Therefore, it is recommended to use special fixatives for dry pastels in aerosol cans. As a result of fixing, the pastel becomes darker, somewhat more contrasting, and also loses its velvety surface. Therefore, when working, it is advisable to take into account the darkening of the pastel. After fixing, I recommend, if necessary, to slightly correct the drawing with light strokes to compensate for the changes that have occurred. After this, the drawing can be fixed again, and if you plan to keep the drawing under glass, then it is better not to fix it a second time.
Fixed dry pastel still requires careful handling. It is preferable to place the drawing under glass. If the pastel is stored in a folder, then on the front side it is necessary to transfer the drawing with thin smooth paper, or even better, tracing paper. It is unacceptable to store loose pastels in a folder; they will crumble and become smeared.

Some artists recommend using oil pastels when painting their textile toys. In several stores I asked what kind of animal this was, and could not find out. Today, in one store I came across several boxes of this pastel, and asked the seller to look. On appearance it looked like wax crayons. I just have them. I prime my dolls' eyes with them before painting them. I decided to look on the Internet to see what the difference is, here’s the article I found:

"Pencil and Brush". Oil pastels and wax pencils. Compare and draw.

Hello, dear mothers. The May holidays have passed. We returned from Yekaterinburg, where we relaxed, walked, and enjoyed the beautiful weather. The little boys played with their cousins, of whom they have many. Everyone just had a great time. Now you can work with new strength.

Today I will talk about wonderful materials: oil pastels and wax crayons. What is this? Above is the work of my eldest son, made as a gift to his beloved aunt, it was her birthday yesterday. The drawing was made with Indian oil pastels.
You may have read my previous articles about art materials: “Buy for children good watercolor", "Watercolor and Gouache - comparing. How to work" And “About pastels, or “dry painting” with soft colored chalks”. And now it's the wax's turn.
I think everyone is familiar with wax pencils (crayons). We drew with them more than once with the children. But what is oil pastel, how are they similar, and how does it differ from dry (soft) pastel, do you know? Why didn’t I write about her next to dry pastels?
1.Pastel- these are multi-colored crayons, composition: colored pigments, chalk and binders. The word pastel ( pastello) from Italian pasta- dough or paste.
Pastel is a drawing material and technique. Pastel combines the possibilities of painting and drawing.
Let's compare what these different pastels represent.
Types of pastels:

• Dry pastel(soft pastel) - has a fairly extensive color scheme, consisting of approximately 110 shades, mixes well with each other. Has a velvety effect.
• Oil pastel- made from wax and mineral oil with the addition of pigments. Unlike dry pastels, traces from oil pastels are more intense and bright.
• Wax pastel- the main component is wax with the addition of the same pigments, it has good color fastness, the strokes are bright and intense

That is, you already understand that oil and wax pastels differ from dry pastels in composition - the presence of wax.
Wax, particularly colored beeswax, has been used as a painting medium since ancient times. Subsequently, the Romans adopted it from the Greeks for portraiture.
2.Wax pencils (crayons)- composition: natural or synthetic wax + colored pigments
Wax pencils leave bright strokes and are suitable for working in various techniques.

What is the difference between oil pastels and wax crayons? By the way, I'm talking about good crayons. It seems to contain wax everywhere. Here is a photo for comparison. You see that visually there is no difference. But if you rub it with your finger, wax crayons do not get dirty, but oil pastels do. Moreover, the softer it is, the more dirty it gets. But soft ones are much more interesting to draw, write and create effects.
Oil pastels are soft and bright. Although good wax crayons are also quite soft. And recently we were given Indian oil pastels. I really liked her. It is even softer and brighter, but gets even more dirty. The box of this pastel is in the photo. Highly recommend. And there are cheap wax crayons lying around - they are of poor quality and scratch.
Difference between wax materials:

• Wax crayons are harder and hardly smudge.
• Oil pastels can be rubbed (smeared) with your finger or something else.
• And Indian oil pastels are generally very soft, very similar to dry pastels, only much greasier - they smear and rub well, and of course, get dirty more.

Properties of oil pastels and wax crayons:

• Fast and easy to use
• Rich, bright, ragged trace
• Almost does not get dirty, compared to dry pastel
• It smears less too
• Failure to fix
• Doesn't wash well
• Cannot be washed off with water

As you understand all this - greasy wax crayons that do not wash off leave a rather thick mark. At the same time bright, juicy. Of course, this is an excellent material for creativity. From the “easy” series. The child and mother take pencils and immediately draw. It turns out bright and beautiful. Any paper is suitable: smooth and rough, thin and thick, cardboard - whatever. It also looks great on walls and different subjects and surfaces.
It seems that everything is known, buy, take and draw. But... often the result is not very good, although this is not due to the creator of the picture, but because of the quality of the materials. We have a set of cheap wax crayons at home - they scratch, scratch - not work, but torture. Therefore, when buying wax crayons for your child, pay attention to the quality, try to draw on some piece of paper. Does it write smoothly or get stuck? Vivid color or barely visible? Well, so far I’ve only come across good oil pastels. But it doesn’t hurt to check before purchasing.

How to paint with wax materials? And also like dry pastel: you can work with the tip, end or side of the chalk - you get different marks. Wax strokes are rubbed with fingers and soft swabs. You can use it to draw and write, to work with strokes or a painterly spot.
Wax pencil and oil pastel are cool and very picturesque materials for quick sketches and sketches.
Interesting effect It will work if you go over the wax with watercolors or gouache - only those places where there is no wax trace on the paper will be painted. It will already be mixed media. It is often used in children's works.
Tip #1. To sharpen a wax pencil, dip it in hot water, then roll between your fingers. Or sharpen with a paring knife.
What else can you do with wax materials:

• You can make a two-color wax pencil by removing the paper wrappings from two pencils, melting one side of each over a candle flame, and molding them together. And if you want a multi-lead pencil, secure three or four pencils with an elastic band.
• You can melt the old ones wax crayons and pour into molds - you get pencils for kids.

You ask, Is it possible to mix dry pastels, regular (slate) pencils and oil pastels or wax crayons in one drawing? After all, sometimes you want to. Opinions vary, it's up to you to choose. They don't seem to suit each other at all. But... in creativity everything is possible and has the right to be realized. Therefore...
Tip #2. If you decide to mix these materials in one work, then the order is as follows: this is important! First pastel, then regular pencils, and on top of everything wax or oil pastels. Since working with ordinary pencils or pastels on top of wax ones just physically won’t work (you can try :)) Firstly, they don’t draw on top of wax, and secondly, if you fill the lead or pastel with wax, you won’t be able to write. By the way, ordinary lead pencils also leave a fairly smooth mark, so they draw with dry pastels first. Otherwise, the pencil mark will show through the pastel.
Tip #3. How to erase wax crayons from wallpaper?! - Finally, advice from moms. I haven’t tried it; my son hasn’t decorated new wallpaper with wax pencils yet. Although, of course, on the wallpaper - this is creativity that has a right to exist.
Moms advise how to erase wax crayons from wallpaper:

• eraser from a piece white bread
• try softening the pattern with a hair dryer and then erase with toilet paper
• cover the design with paper and run an iron over it
• cover the place blank slate paper and roll with something hard (a rolling pin)
• melamine sponge

Melamine sponge is a white sponge, it is a certain type of soft plastic. Like an eraser for dirt. They say it's a magical remedy. Just lightly moisten a sponge from a spray bottle and rub it over the dirt and it will be erased. Removes marks from markers, felt-tip pens, pens; black marks from shoes and bicycle tires on the linoleum; limescale, yellow deposits in the refrigerator; a plastic window sill from old brown stains of dried water from under bowls with flowers; tiles, bath, sink and this without other means - just a sponge; stainless steel hood, microwave to new condition. However, you should not touch polished surfaces with it. Try it on an inconspicuous area first. It quickly wears out and crumbles. It is advised to divide it in half, and for a small area just tear off a piece.
Perhaps I’ll buy us such a sponge, it will come in handy. This eldest son is quiet and calm with us, and the youngest, it seems, will be a storm of wallpaper and everything that his paws can reach. Such a smart guy. We need to prepare in advance.
This is what I wanted to tell you about wax materials: pastels and pencils. Of course, children really like these crayons. They are very convenient, easy and practical to use. I recommend!