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I would like to show you how to use different pastels when
you're doing color drawings.
So here I have different kinds of pastels.
So let's start with chalk pastels.
Chalk pastels are very soft.
They're very easy to blend, and they are kind of similar
to charcoal.
I'm going to show you just how you can mix different colors.
The way you blend them is by pushing one
color into the next.
I'm using them on watercolor paper, which makes it harder,
because watercolor paper is textured and
has grooves in it.
So when you're smoothing them together you're going to get
these little marks.
The key with chalk pastels is not to overwork it.
Because if you keep applying more and more pastel onto the
paper, at a certain point it will just begin looking muddy.
If you're going to layer colors, start out with light
colors and then build on them with darker colors.
Some artists prefer chalk pastels due to the refined
quality of the smooth surface that you're able to achieve.
So if that's your style, you will enjoy using this
particular kind.
Also depending on the brand, your pastels might
be softer or harder.
So you can see here what happens if I put
a yellow with purple.
And then I put yellow over purple, you will start getting
that brownish, purplish undertone.
So this gives you an idea how chalk pastels work.
Here I have oil pastels.
Oil pastels are very thick.
They are very painterly, and it's a lot harder to blend
them together.
So if you are a painter and you enjoy working with your
painting knife, and you enjoy layering paint and really
building up the texture, the surface of your drawing, these
pastels are for you.
The way you blend with these is that you work in circular
directions, or up and down, and you pull one
color into the next.
And I can compare them to working with lipstick, they're
that thick.
So highlights are pretty difficult with these.
Because once you build up the surface it's very difficult to
remove anything.
I've had students scratch into the pastels, but basically
once you have something down, you can't really remove it,
especially if the area is meant to be a light.
Over here I have--
they're oil pastels but they're water soluble.
So to me they feel like crayons.
These you can dilute with water, turn into a wash.
So that might be something that you would like to try.
And you can even draw over that wash with them.
If you use a smoother paper it will be much easier for you to
blend the pastels together.
You can see how they're turning into washes.
But it's also nice to have some of the textured areas as
well in combination with the washes.
And, by the way, you cannot add water to chalk pastels.
And oil pastels can be diluted with some vegetable oil or
linseed oil.
So I had students get just a little bit of oil on their
brush and add it to the areas where they wanted the drawing
to look a little bit more refined.
So this is something that you can also try out.
But remember you don't want to erase it, and you don't want
to layer so many colors, especially dark ones where you
can't go back and undo that.
So layer your image gradually and slowly and then you will
get a really good result.