Pastel: types and features of use. Pastel crayons for drawing: how to choose and how to use

Everyone who paints knows what artistic pastel is. But in recent years, these pencils have become very popular among non-professionals, for example, mothers with small children. Many teachers recommend using pastels for drawing lessons with children. After all, these crayons are very soft, create rich tones and shade well.

In addition, they contain fairly safe substances: pigment, clay, chalk and glue.

Application of pastels

Artistic pastel has been known in painting since the 16th century. At that time, the artists themselves made it, rubbing chalk with coloring pigment and adding a binder. To form the shape of the crayons, a little water was added to the mixture. Then the composition was dried and cut into bars. Many famous artists painted using the pastel technique: Chardin, Renoir, Vrubel, Serov and others. This method was used in educational drawings, and as an addition to basic paints, and as an independent technique.

To draw with pastels, you need a rough surface, because it is very free-flowing and contains little binding pigment. But the drawings made using this technique look unusual. Light, reflected from pigment particles, gives the work of painting a matte, velvety and special pastel softness. Such drawings look best on special paper, cardboard, canvas or sheets treated with a special primer.

How to make pastel

Artistic pastel consists of pigment, water and a binder, most often clay, gum arabic or gypsum. Everything is mixed well until dough-like. The name “pastel” itself comes from an Italian word meaning “dough”. To obtain different shades, chalk is added or the mixture is filled into tubes and dried in a warm place.

The quality of pastels depends on the thoroughness of the pigment grinding. The better you can mix all the components, the better the quality of the crayons. In modern production this is done with special machines, and the process is repeated 5-6 times. For many years pastel art from St. Petersburg has been considered the best. It is soft, has a huge number of shades, blends well and does not fall off.

Advantages and disadvantages of pastels

This is the best material for drawing, especially for children. They are soft and fit on any paper. There are many shades that can be easily mixed with each other. Errors when drawing are easy to correct immediately, since

the next layer covers the previous one without any problems. No additional equipment is required to draw with pastels.

But drawings made using this technique are very fragile, they are afraid of shocks, mechanical damage and moisture. Many people don't like the fact that these crayons are quite expensive. But if you compare the advantages, then artistic pastel wins. Its price is higher than this one, but drawing with it is much more convenient and easier. A set of 12 colors costs from 100 to 500 rubles, depending on the manufacturer.

If you want to teach your child to draw, then artistic pastels are the best tool for this. The child will love its soft shades and the fact that it is easy to shade with your finger. The drawings are bright and unusual.

Drawing has long ceased to be exclusively an art form - today it is an everyday hobby for tens of millions of people on the planet, as well as an excellent way creative development children. Absolutely every child in the world has tried to draw in one way or another, but those who got carried away and managed to find the means to give their hobby consistency and at least a slightly more complex form than drawing in the sand, managed to come up with many different ways to convey visual images .

Nowadays, children, at least in developed countries, usually draw either with pencils and felt-tip pens, or with various types of liquid paints - gouache, watercolors, and so on. At the same time, more and more specialists in issues child development indicate that one of the most suitable materials for children's fine arts could be art pastel.

What it is?

In fact, quite a few great artists of the past used this particular type of dye when creating their paintings, so the name is familiar to many, but not every person has a clear idea of ​​what it is, unless he himself is directly involved to drawing. Moreover, the adjective “pastel”, meaning a very delicate, soft shade of some color, comes precisely from the word “pastel”, since this drawing medium gives exactly such a result.

Actually, pastel looks somewhat similar to ordinary drawing chalk, and an inexperienced person cannot always tell the difference between them by appearance.

Unlike crayons, which always have approximately the same consistency, pastels can be both very hard and quite soft, which is used in various techniques drawing to achieve a special effect.

This invention appeared around the 16th century. more precisely, it was from this moment that we see pastel in the works of many artists of that time. At that time, there was no factory production method yet, and each painter created the mass himself, mixing any dyes with water and chalk to make the finished shade softer. After the mass had dried, it was cut into pieces, making a kind of “crayons”, with which, naturally, it was a little easier to draw precise details than with a brush.

True, due to the general dryness of the material, it does not adhere well to ordinary paper, so it was necessary to paint on rough surfaces, but still this did not stop such eminent masters as Renoir, Vrubel or Serov from actively using pastels. At the same time, you can find exclusively pastel paintings, but very often such dye on the canvas is combined with liquid types of paints.

Today, pastel is produced by hand only by real people of art for their own use, but for the general public it is made at special enterprises on an industrial scale. To do this, take one or more dyes necessary to obtain the exact shade, and some kind of resin base that will hold the dye in a given form - for example, gum arabic.

Generally. the dyes may be completely different, but still For a classic pastel recipe, chalk is almost mandatory as a softening component. All the necessary ingredients in the required proportions are mixed and thoroughly ground together until they reach a state where it is no longer possible to separate them from each other.

The finished mass is laid out in special templates and molds, cut, and then pressed under high pressure. After this, the already formed blocks are sent to the oven, where they are dried in a very gentle mode - at a temperature of 60-80 degrees. The exact temperature and drying time depend on the proportions of the starting materials and the desired hardness of the final result, since in no case can you rely on chance. The fact is that pastel that is too dry will crumble in your hands and will not hold onto the future painting at all, but if it is not dried enough, it can deteriorate and become moldy, which is also not conducive to the successful creation of images.

The last stage is packaging. Pastel is a rather fragile material, and also very sensitive to excessive humidity, so it is usually packed in packages made of thick and dense cardboard, and the spaces between individual sticks are also additionally filled with foam rubber or any other soft filler.

Pastels usually arrive to the consumer in the form of a set - for a child, a standard one containing about 6-12 pieces is enough, but professionals can count on an incredible number of shades (up to 268 pieces).

Less commonly, pastels are also supplied in bulk form, but such a product is of greater interest to those who have been persistently engaged in the artistic craft for a long time. For a child, this option is useful only if he has already demonstrated amazing success in this matter.

Advantages and disadvantages

If we talk about children's creativity, then pastels specially designed for this purpose undoubtedly have many more advantages than disadvantages. Let's highlight the most important advantages:

• Softness. Compared to most pencils and crayons, children's pastels require much less effort to leave a mark. If for older children this is not so important, then for the youngest it is an important factor that allows them to start learning to draw earlier.

• Possibility of drawing on paper. It was only the original examples of pastels from centuries ago that necessarily required a rough surface in order to draw, but today's soft pastels, containing a fairly large amount of moisture, cling quite well to almost any horizontal surface.
• Overlapping layers. When placed on paper, the pastel is not absorbed into it, but covers the surface with a thin layer of its components - dye, chalk and a binder. This means that if there is any mistake, there is no need to remove the incorrect image from the surface of the paper.

It is enough to simply “repaint” this area again until the new image covers the old one. At the same time, light shading with one color on top of another will leave a certain transparency effect, creating new shades.

• Simplicity artistic methods . Pastel is also good because it does not require any additional equipment. To paint with liquid paints, you need to dilute them correctly, learn how to hold a brush, mix shades, and so on, but you just need to hold a pastel chalk in your hands. Unlike the same pencil, it does not need to be sharpened - it draws from all sides. At the same time, which will especially delight the little ones, the layer of pastel on the surface of the paper is perfectly smeared with a finger, which allows you to create even more vivid, albeit not always meaningful, images.
• Brightness and unusualness. In the end, pencils and felt-tip pens are a terrible banality, and watercolor technique Only a very small percentage of people master it at a relatively decent level. Pastel is a great opportunity to bring into your own creative life something new.

However, there are also certain disadvantages, because if pastel turned out to be completely devoid of disadvantages, it would seem strange why children usually draw with something other than this amazing medium. First of all, the wider use of pastels is hampered by the unfortunate fact that pastel drawings are very susceptible to environmental influences. Due to the dry nature of the dye, the canvas with the image cannot be bent, let alone simply shaken, because the painting covering its surface with a thin layer will simply crumble, and even if this does not happen entirely, the original idea will still be hopelessly destroyed.

Besides, High humidity also poses a danger to pastel paintings, After all, not only a bar of pastel, but also an entire pastel drawing can become moldy. Consequently, storing pastel creations at home can be quite problematic, and if a child has definitely achieved success in drawing, then he obviously wants to preserve his drawings for a longer period.

Pastel is ignored by many parents also because in some cases it costs much more than the same pencils. A high-quality set with a relatively modest configuration (12 colors) can cost the family budget up to five thousand rubles, but not every parent is ready to shell out such sums so that the child receives just the first concept of drawing, albeit in the most comfortable conditions.

Perhaps in this situation you should just pay attention to cheaper products - sets with a smaller range of colors and from less well-known manufacturers can be found in the price segment up to 200 rubles.

At the very least, every child is literally obliged to try this material at least once in his life - who knows, what if this is his future?

Kinds

The choice of this material is not so simple - art pastels for drawing on paper are available in several varieties, each of which has its own purpose. Most often, based on consistency, pastels are divided into soft and hard, and which specific subspecies a substance belongs to is determined at the production stage by simply changing the proportions - either more dye and less connecting substance, or vice versa.

Due to more high humidity the soft variety adheres much more reliably to paper, so there is no need to reinvent the wheel to preserve the painting. However, this material crumbles very much, and you cannot drop it at all, otherwise you will end up with powder instead of chalk.

And here professional pastel is always solid, it is used to make both the more familiar pastel crayons and pastel pencils. This substance is much stronger - it has such a high density that the pieces can even be sharpened, which professional artists actively use when using this option for drawing small parts, shading and other similar purposes.

The chances that such a block will break on its own are much smaller, but it is always worth remembering that the mark from it does not have such an attractive brightness, and it is not worth trying to apply it to any paper.

Pastels are classified, of course, according to their configuration. Professional artists usually purchase either huge sets with dozens of different shades, or buy painting material individually, simply replenishing the supplies they already have with the right colors. Of course, you can also buy individual pastel crayons for your child, but if he is just learning to draw, and this is also his first pastel, then for starters it is better to buy a relatively small set - 10-18 colors, maximum 24.

Wider color variety for baby initial stages and there is no need - he has not yet developed his vision of colors enough, so a wide variety of shades is more likely to drive him into a dead end rather than help him choose the ideal one.

It's another matter if this hobby- seriously and for a long time: then you can take sets of 36-48 colors, and although they will cost much more, it is worth considering that they also weigh much more. You can buy such a large set one day, and then simply replenish it with individual shades as needed.

Finally, it should be borne in mind that most dyes in the world are created not only for drawing on a plane, but also for decorating any three-dimensional objects, and pastel is no exception. In particular, You can use it to color crafts made from fabric. For example, it is often used to give a finished aesthetic look to flowers made from foamiran.

If we talk specifically about this material, it has a very smooth surface, therefore, it is better to choose a soft dye for it that leaves an expressive mark. However, in this branch of art, the choice of pastel very much depends on which particular fabric was preferred, so this topic deserves separate consideration.

Compound

In addition to the classic pastel, the composition of which as a whole has already been described above, there are other modern options, the ingredients in which are slightly different from the generally accepted recipe, which allows you to get a slightly different result with the overall similarity of the substance.

If classic recipe always produces more or less dry chalk, then alternative formulations are usually aimed at a wetter composition, which combines much better with paper, and therefore allows you to draw on almost any paper surface, and even with a long shelf life of the result. Let's take a closer look at all the alternative pastel variations:

• Oily. The name corresponds to reality - linseed oil acts as a kind of adhesive substance here. However, the pigment and oil alone would not stick together, so the crayons are pressed to a solid state. At the same time, the presence of fat is very noticeable - crayons leave greasy marks on the fingers, and over time, stains may even appear with reverse side paintings. Due to the presence of liquid fat (relatively high humidity), the colors are brighter, while the shades are difficult to mix, and they do not smudge with your finger at all, since they are absorbed into the paper, but on the other hand, such a design will not get dirty, and the lines on it will not float.

There is a technique for shading pastels already applied to paper using a solvent on a brush or a special stick, resulting in paintings similar to oil painting; however, any professional will immediately see the difference and appreciate the unusualness, so it is the real artists who usually use this medium.

• Wax. In this type of pastel there is no oil, but there is polymer wax, which allows the substance to resemble oil pastel in its properties, but at the same time it costs less and gets dirty much less, which makes wax pastel crayons an ideal gift for children. Due to the specifics of the wax itself, such chalk even draws on glass, but does not leave any stains on your hands, and is generally somewhat harder. Often, wax pastels are used in combination with the usual watercolors or gouache, but only strictly on top of paint, because wax does not absorb water or allow it to pass through.
• Watercolor. This material is a cross between classic watercolors and pastels. It is also based on wax, but here this component is much inferior in percentage to dyes, so a simple drawing looks as if it was done with oil crayons, and a blurred one looks like it was made with watercolors using an unusual technique.

Watercolor pastels are almost the same as watercolor pencils, but they leave a brighter mark and are generally softer, and due to the larger contact surface, they allow you to paint over large objects faster.

Palette of shades

Another good thing about pastel is the ability to choose the desired shade as carefully as possible. Firstly, most of its varieties allow you to mix different colors, creating new shades that accurately convey the artistic intent of the author of the future painting. Secondly, for real artists industrial enterprises A huge variety of colors are produced, because in one set there can be more than two hundred different tones, the names for which are unknown to most ordinary people.

Colored pastels are sold not only in sets, but also individually, however, in order to find the right shade, you'll have to look for a really large specialized store.

You can further diversify the color palette if you consider that different types of pastels differ in greater or lesser brightness. Thanks to the combination of different recipes, you can achieve an almost unlimited number of tones that will make even an experienced artist at a loss.

At the same time, you should be careful when mixing different compounds - sometimes their properties are quite poorly compatible.

Firms

When choosing any new product for themselves, many people who do not understand the relevant industry prefer to rely on the name of a well-known famous brand - they say, since these guys have earned respect all over the world, it means that they definitely do not produce bad products, and I will certainly be satisfied . Or, at least, I’ll get an undistorted idea of ​​what I’m trying to understand. This approach is largely fair.

If we talk about fairly expensive and professional pastels, then it’s probably worth paying attention to those brands that can be called specializing in such products. These include the Dutch company Rembrandt and their compatriots Talles, as well as a French brand Sennelier, famous for its simply stunning selection of shades, numbering 525 different tones!

However, it should be taken into account that the products of all these brands, being not just foreign, but also professional, will be very expensive, so if they are bought for children's creativity, it is either very rich parents, or those families in which real young talents are growing up .

Naturally, for budget use it is best to purchase domestic products, since on average they turn out to be much cheaper than foreign ones, although the question remains open regarding their quality. Of the Russian companies involved in the production of pastels, the products of the brand have gained a certain positive reputation Olki. At least, if we have to choose from ours, then knowledgeable people usually prefer it.

It must be said, however, that this list is far from complete. The assortment of the world's leading companies changes from year to year, ranking positions change places, and in general in creativity it is better to focus on some of your own criteria, and not at all on generally accepted ideals. That's why do not be afraid to purchase those types of pastels that are not mentioned in our article. Look for yours, and perhaps you will be more satisfied with your own find than with the advice of experts.

Additional items

Pastel is such a simple drawing device that you can use nothing at all except crayons and any suitable surface, but this does not mean that preference should necessarily be given to the most primitive technique.

Even take the same paper. Although wax pastels draw on anything, other types of crayons are not so tenacious, and special albums made of corrugated paper are produced for them, where even the texture itself will contribute to the unusualness appearance masterpiece. In addition, in albums for drawing with pastels, different sheets are usually made not white, but simply in certain neutral shades, which allows you to play up the tone of the base to depict one of the details of the drawing.

Pastel differs from ordinary chalk in this way, which allows you to use additional means to make the result similar to oil painting.

Small children instinctively smear a layer of dye onto paper with their finger, which is even used professional artists and allows you to better feel the material, however, shading can be done with the help of other suitable objects. To do this, you can purchase ordinary brushes for painting of different thicknesses and hardness; you can also often use pieces of an ordinary sponge. Wherein It is worth considering the properties of not only the shading tool, but also the pastel itself, because some varieties are easier to shade, while others are harder, but even those that can be smudged can do so with different effects.

Finally, it would be strange if pastel, which easily crumbles from many surfaces, lasted for so many centuries - ancient paintings using it simply would not have survived to this day, and it, at best, would have remained an option for children's temporary creativity. To ensure that the drawn material holds and even allows the canvas to shake during transportation, a special fixative, that is, a fixative. Today, the fixative is produced industrially and sold in small jars, from where it is sprayed through a spray bottle onto the painting, which is considered finished.

Home craftsmen claim that ordinary hairspray also copes with this task quite well.

How to choose?

In most cases, pastels are bought for those children who do not yet know how to draw at all, and parents just want to pamper their children with bright colors, and, perhaps, interest them in a new hobby. Therefore, the substance should be bright, not too hard, but at the same time not stain everything around it.

It also seems quite reasonable to wish that the chalk should not be too demanding on the surfaces on which the child will draw, since a beginner, and even a small one, is unlikely to have special corrugated albums and clamps at home. So it turns out that The best choice for a child is wax pastel in the form of crayons, which has all the desired qualities. To begin with, a small palette comparable to any other type of paint will suffice.

It’s a completely different matter if the child has already mastered the technique of drawing with pastels a little and is now at the stage of improving his skills. Firstly, in this case he has probably grown up a little and has gained an idea of ​​accuracy, so the requirements for the minimum soilability of a substance are no longer so strict. Secondly, now the pastel should offer more flexible opportunities for revealing its different properties - in some places it will need to be sharpened, in others it will need to be smeared with a brush and water.

It is also possible that none of the varieties of produced pastels can provide all the necessary properties at once, therefore the most reasonable solution- combine them.

However, if all these criteria are really in demand by a child who is still making progress in drawing with pastels, it means that he already understands the topic much better than his parents, and only he knows what kind of substance he needs.

Some time ago, a doctor advised me, in order not to become like the completely blind Pugh from “Treasure Island,” to take up drawing. Since then, I have tried many techniques for applying colored spots on a plane, until I finally settled on watercolors and pastels, as my favorite materials worthy of an educated gentleman. I’ll probably tell those interested some other time about watercolors, but for now I want to talk about pastels, since the information in the Russian-language segment of the Internet about this method of drawing is very incomplete, and amateurs like me can get stuck in it for a long time.

Basic Concepts

Artistic pastels are colored crayons consisting of finely ground colored pigment, filler and glue. In a good pastel there is little filler, and there is just enough glue so that the crayon does not crumble when held in the hand; the rest is pigment or a mixture of two or three pigments (including white). Normal manufacturers, and there are only a few of them, especially on the Russian market, produce pastel crayons of the same color, but with different white contents - five, six, eight shades of white.

The pigment in good pastels is the same as in other types of artistic paints - salts of cadmium, cobalt, lead, etc. Therefore, when painting with pastels, you can eat and inhale heavy metals so much that it won’t seem like enough. Recently, manufacturers have switched to less toxic versions of pigments of the same color - dyes and powder-dyed plexiglass. Breathing it in is also not a healthy idea, but there is still a difference between a slight irritation of the larynx and throat cancer. On the other hand, “new” pigments are not permanent, and if you hang a drawing made by them in a bright place, you will get a faded picture with phenomenal speed - in two to three years. It is impossible to accidentally purchase toxic crayons - they cost 3-5-7-9 times more than similar modern ones. (The “Podolsk” pastel causes some suspicion here, more on that a little later).

The filler in most types of dry pastels is kaolin (white clay), chalk or talc. Talc by itself is not very useful when swallowed, and especially when inhaled. Again, talc is used only by certain specialists who produce expensive pastels. The adhesive binder in pastels is usually gum arabic; sometimes whey with an antifungal additive, as well as natural white honey, is used in addition to it or instead of it. These binders are water-soluble, which makes it possible to use most types of modern pastels in aqueous solutions, picking them up with a brush or washing them with water directly on the sheet. This operation produces ordinary gouache. By the way, painting with pastels over a watercolor or gouache sketch (“underpainting”) is a very elegant and interesting technique.

Hard types of pastels (see classification below) contain a wax-like substance as a binder, which prevents these crayons from being easily washed out and rubbed. It is better not to use water with them. For soft pastels and pastel crayons, strong alcohol is often used abroad instead of water. Why this tradition has not taken root here in Russia - one can only guess...

Pastel paper should be moderately thick, rough, durable and have the ability to absorb pigment particles so that it can be laid on the paper in a sufficiently thick layer. For office paper for printers. and especially on chalk, you can’t draw with pastels. There are special types of paper for pastels, usually produced in different not very bright colors - brown, gray, black, muted color shades. Colored pastel paper is made to use chalk. In addition, the color of the paper will always be the main tone in a pastel painting (this distinguishes pastel from techniques such as oil or acrylic painting, where the base color is as contrasting as possible to the painting). Pastel paper is relatively inexpensive compared to good grades of watercolor papers, and even more so to canvases.

Some paint with pastels (especially cheap ones) on fine-grit sandpaper, and achieve excellent results. Such paintings cannot be wetted with water or fixative - they darken and deteriorate irreversibly. There is also a special paper for pastels that imitates sandpaper, one side of which is covered with a layer of pumice or cork. If you already have a Ferrari and a villa in the Canary Islands (or if you are a professional), you can afford to glue 10 sheets of this paper on credit for the most important paintings in your life. Pastels are also written on fine-grained canvas (I found this perverse, since it falls off the canvas at the slightest vibration of the canvas), on velvet, satin, velor and, suddenly, on velvet paper for children's creativity. There are still those who color their own hair with pastel crayons, but we're not here to discuss kinks, right?

For techniques using water, or even just for drawing, you can use watercolor paper of any texture. Watercolor paper is always white or pale cream, so if the white color in the painting is not to dominate, the paper can be covered with a thin layer of watercolor paint of the desired color and allowed to dry. A good choice for pastels is also wrapping and packaging paper, “kraft”, however, most varieties of modern Russian craft are only suitable for wrappers - a smooth, crumpled, glued sheet will not hold pastels. Good and cheap craft paper in sheets is now sold in folders with the torso of a Roman gladiator on the cover; If you are not confused by the numerous inclusions in this woodworking product, you can safely use it, especially for sketches and sketches!

The pastel is fixed with a fixative - a special solution that makes it a little less free-flowing. The simplest fixative is water; you can add honey, PVA glue or sugar to it, as well as an antifungal agent in a very small amount. Some people use hairspray - “Pretty” or “Plot”. There are branded fixatives, they are quite expensive (the price of a bottle is around 1000 rubles), but they usually last for two to three years. The fixative is applied very sparingly, otherwise the picture will darken and become shiny. For spraying household fixatives, a regular household sprayer works well. And Degas (the one who painted many ballerinas in pastels) fixed his works with steam over a boiling pan.

Additional materials needed: a tablet for gluing paper, several wet, dirty and clean rags (napkins and non-woven towels will go great!), paper shading sticks (they can be replaced cotton swabs for the ears, with silicone brushes, or even a clean finger), a soft moldable elastic band (they are also called “kneads”), workplace, which can be wiped quickly and safely, and bright lighting with good color rendering. In the latter case, diffused light from a window, a combination of household LED color lamps /840 and /865, special studio lamps, etc. are suitable. The criterion for light quality is simple: you must distinguish the colors of all your crayons from each other by eye. The LED light power is 40 W per m², a night light is not suitable for normal operation in the evening. Advanced users also acquire an easel (an extremely convenient thing!), a box for pastels, and even a mini-vacuum cleaner (for cleaning keyboards), which is said to be very convenient for collecting dust.

Attention! Do not blow off pastel dust from the painting and adjacent surfaces with your mouth! Be sure to inhale, and dust will be everywhere.

Pastel classification

In Russian-language literature, the opinion has become stronger that pastel is divided into soft and hard. This classification, which can confuse the consumer, was introduced either by agents of world Zionism and Italian corporate fascism in order to prevent the Russian people from getting involved in pastel painting, or by marketers to increase sales. In reality, pastel is divided into:

• soft and extra-soft (soft pastels, extra soft pastels), consisting mainly of pigment;


• pastel crayons (chalk pastels, semi-hard pastels), consisting of pigment and filler diluting it (kaolin, chalk);


• hard pastels containing a lot of binder.

A variety of hard pastels are the so-called “Conté chalks”. In the original, these crayons are produced under the Conte a Paris brand, but, for example, Faber-Castell PITT Monochrome differs little from them in properties. These crayons hardly smear and certainly do not crumble, behaving in every way like a colored pencil.

We call the last two varieties “hard pastel”, but they behave completely differently. Pastel crayons are designed to create a broad, confident stroke, and tend to shed quite a bit of dust when pressed hard or when trying to fill large areas on the paper. Hard pastels are most similar in feel to colored pencil leads. It is viscous, does not crumble, is applied as a thin translucent layer on previous layers, does not break or break as easily as pastel crayons and soft pastels, and gives the least saturated tone of all three types of pastel described.

Special varieties of pastel crayons are natural charcoal, compressed charcoal, tinted charcoal, red chalk, sanguine, sepia, sauce, black chalk and chalk. It’s worth saying a few words about them separately.

Natural charcoal washes off very easily, making it great for sketching. Since pastel usually does not like a simple pencil (it does not lie on top of it), natural charcoal can be used for sketches for a future pastel painting. Natural charcoal comes in the form of charred twigs or in a pencil (black Faber Castell Charcoal, Lyra Charcoal).

Pressed coal, on the contrary, can be wiped off. But it gives very deep black tones. These are blocks or pencils, working with which is no different from pastel techniques. The properties of an Italian pencil are similar to compressed charcoal (in all countries except Russia it is called “black chalk”), but it is harder. Modern artificial sepia has the same properties - dark brown crayons based on burnt sienna or umber pigment.

Colored charcoal is not much different in properties from pastel, but has a softer structure and dull colors in shades of gray, yellow and dark, unsaturated colors. Almost the only affordable manufacturer of this joy in Russia is Derwent, which produces 21 colors of charcoal pencils in addition to black coal. It should be noted that the Generals Charcoal White pencil is the “whitest” of all pastel crayons available. (The rest of this company’s products, they say, leave much to be desired...)

Sanguine, or red chalk, is also made from artificial red-brown paint. These are crayons or pencils of a beautiful red color that erase much better than pressed charcoal or sepia, but worse than natural charcoal. They are great for both independent drawing and sketches for pastel paintings. The properties of ordinary white chalk, which is available in pieces, bars or pencils, are similar to sanguine. Chalk, unlike other materials, does not allow them to gain tone; it is always white, so it must be used carefully. The technique of simultaneously drawing with charcoal, sanguine and chalk on gray or yellow paper was at one time called “three crayons” and became the prehistory of pastel technology. These three crayons really allow you to get pretty realistic skin tones on warm gray paper without resorting to tricks.

Chalk, sanguine and sepia are available in the form of “dry” or “oil” crayons or pencils. “Oil” crayons are impregnated with oil, which prevents them from smearing and falling off on the paper. It is not advisable to use “oil” options in combination with dry pastels, since they do not bond with each other, and the pastel may crumble. The “oil” version of pressed coal is called “Negro” (Negro, Nero). These "oil" pencils have nothing in common with oil pastels except the name.

The sauce is now a purely Russian material. Sauce sticks are similar to pastels, but are very fragile and, when used dry, leave lumps on the paper. But by diluting it with water, like ink, you can get a very elegant material with amazing possibilities (for example, apply the sauce in an even layer on paper, and then rub the design on it with an eraser). Sauce created many illustrations for old Soviet books (these illustrations often look like tinted photographs). The sauce has purely formal characteristics in common with pastel.

There is also oil pastel, which we will not discuss here. The only thing it has in common with pastel as such is its form in the form of crayons braided with paper or film. In all other respects it is a thick, bold chemical pencil. The technique of oil pastel differs significantly from dry pastel.

Pastel release forms

Pastels are produced in round sticks, in square bars, in large crayons of indefinite shape, and also in the form of pencils. There is a company that produces extra-soft pastels in powder form in jars (PanPastels), which are applied to paper using cosmetic sponges. Usually, by the shape of the stick, you can guess the properties of the pastel: round - soft or extra-soft, rectangular - chalky or hard. But there are exceptions; Thus, the round pastel of Rembrandt and Van Gogh from Royal Talens in its behavior is more similar to a hard wax pastel than a soft one - it loves the stroke more than painting, it is quite durable and slightly waxy to the touch. Each hut has its own rattles.

Pencils usually contain hard pastels, less often - crayons (Koh-i-Noor, Cretacolor). Unfortunately, you can’t put soft pastels into a pencil! Chalk, sanguine, black coal and sepia pencils are produced by all major manufacturing companies. They are harder than usual pastel pencils(the exception is Cretacolor pastel, harder than which no one seems to have thought of making pencils yet), and they do not fall off the paper so easily.

Regular manufacturers place soft pastels in special boxes with foam cells so that the crayons do not break or break. Also, crayons are usually wrapped in a paper sleeve, on which is indicated the color, the level of its dilution with filler, an indication of light fastness and the number in the series. The latter is important if you want to buy the finished crayons individually. The same information is printed on good pencils. Cheap pastels intended for students do not have information about light fastness and pigments, and are always sold in sets.

Review of specific brands of pastels

Russian

1. Podolsk pastel

Sold abroad under the brand name Yarka (yarka, yarka - young sheep). IN Soviet times was of excellent quality, like most products of the Soviet art industry, but the green and blue colors were already a bit hard. Since the beginning of the market era, it has deteriorated greatly. It is hard, falls off the sheet, and often scratches the paper. Advantages - low price and the presence of a large number of shades and spaces in the sets. It irritates the respiratory tract and fingers, at least for me, from which I conclude that the pigments there may be the most poisonous. Large sets come in beautiful but impractical wooden boxes without foam compartments for individual crayons.

1a. Podolsk sanguine, sepia. sauce, pressed coal

Very good thing. Sanguine is a darker tone than most imported varieties, providing a large tonal range. Sanguine and sepia can be light and dark; To the eye in crayons the tones differ little, but on paper in a shaded state the difference becomes obvious. Crayons are very durable and inexpensive. Podolsk sauce simply has no analogues in the world.

2. OLKI

Inexpensive and non-poisonous in every sense, pastel of medium hardness, slightly crumbling, pale colors (again, it was better before). The crayons are unwrapped and coated with something like glue or varnish, which does not add convenience when working with the side of the crayons. Passes under the student category and is said to be non-toxic. It’s not difficult to work with, but you probably won’t be able to achieve thick colors, but there is a full range of whiteness for what is, in general, ridiculous money. Available in thematic sets of 16 and 48 pieces, as well as individual crayons. White and black OLKI chalks have phenomenal covering power and can be used over most other types of pastels.

3. St. Petersburg flavor

Unlike watercolor paints from the same company, their pastels are ugly. Cracked, swollen, dry and faded crayons are best for drawing on asphalt. Nibirite!

4. Spectrum

It produces “soft” pastels called “Petersburgskaya” and “hard” pastels in sticks called “Spectrum”. This is bullshit, this is bullshit, these are both bullshit that shouldn’t have been used to draw with! It’s okay for children to indulge, but that’s not a fact.

5. Sonnet (Vista Artista)

These are the same pastel, only the packaging differs. It looks solid in the photo, but in reality it is thin, like vaginal suppositories for virgins, rods of dry chalk pastel that scratch the paper. However, this property makes them a good option for creating initial sketches, a cheap and cheerful replacement for expensive pastel pencils.

5a. Pastel pencils "Sonnet"

If you sharpen such a pencil well and attach a feather to it, then an experienced saboteur, skilled in handling throwing knives, will be able to throw out such a pencil to knock out an enemy’s eye. This is the best use I have found for the pencils mentioned.

6. Aqua color

I haven't had it, but it's praised. Pastel, like “Podolskaya”, is of medium hardness, round sticks, a fairly large palette, although without whitewash. Very few red flowers, judging by the reviews. Like OLKI, it’s a good option for those who are interested in the material, but don’t want to spend money.

Chinese

7. Peroci

Beautiful soft pastel with many shades (large thematic sets - “Portrait”, “Landscape”, “Ocean”, etc., 48 pieces each, are almost never repeated in color. Very soft, but frays terribly and is fragile, stains everything around. Easy It dries out in a too dry environment, turning into a scattering of chalk. Packed in stylish and reliable boxes, unfortunately, light resistance is unknown.

7a. Skin Tones - pencils

Twelve pencils in cardboard box, for drawing portraits. I didn’t have them, but those who have used them praise me, although they mention that sometimes there are unpleasant “grains” in the leads. The price is more than reasonable, three times cheaper than a similar set from Derwent.

Pastel in rectangular bars is positioned as artistic, but is most suitable for coloring hair and writing famous words on concrete walls. They say the quality has been steadily improving recently, but I haven't checked.

Korean

9. Mungyo Gallery Soft Pastels

Very good medium hard pastel in square bars, there are 67 or 68 shades of exceptionally bright tones, including fluorescent ones. There are no gaps in the color palette. It rubs well, applies in several layers, does not irritate the hands and nasopharynx, and does not break. Pastels are wrapped in paper. Available in sets from 12 crayons in a box to 72 in wooden boxes. The packaging is reliable. Does not contain information about the light fastness of crayons.

9a. Student

The same Soft Pastels, but with a larger amount of binder, in small pieces without packaging, placed in a cardboard box with cells. The crayons come with two long crayons - white and black. Sold in sets of 12 to 64 colors for mere pennies. The best option, along with OLKI, to try your hand at pastels.

9b. Gallery Extra Soft

In fact, it’s just a soft pastel of 90 shades, about the same as the simple Soft. It fits well on paper and rubs. The size of the chalk is not compatible with the Soft, and their drawers and boxes are also different.

9th century Gallery Semi Hard

Hard pastel crayons (in general, in terms of hardness, we can assume that Mungyo’s hardness is always one unit higher than stated - Semi Hard is hard, Soft is semi-soft, Extra Soft is just soft). It has the widest color palette among Mungyo with 120 shades, gives a good touch, and rubs well. In general, it seems possible to work with her.

European

10. Koh-i-noor Toison d’Or

Soft pastel, crumbles terribly when drawing from paper. The colors are vibrant, and, like all Kohinoor, green colors are in the AdobeRGB color space (that is, nature does not know such lush shades of green). Sold in sets in inconvenient cardboard boxes, they break easily. Enclosed in a braid of adhesive tape, which you can’t tear off from a crayon. They fit perfectly on top of any other pastel. Clear signs no toxicity detected.

10a. Extra Soft

Even softer, otherwise the same as a simple soft pastel. It gets terribly dirty, but it gives a soft and bold stroke/layer on paper, for which it is appreciated.

10b. In square crayons

In theory, the same soft Toison d’Or, but in reality it is much harder. Square crayons do not contain braid. It crumbles like chalk pastel, but doesn't get dirty much. More like crayons than soft. An excellent selection of nude colors in sets of 36 and 48 pastels.

10th century Gioconda Hard Pastels

Hard blocks similar to pencil lead. The colors in the sets do not match Toison d'Or. It lays nicely on the paper with strokes, but is difficult to shade. It holds even on smooth office paper. You have to know how to work with them, but overall it’s an interesting thing!

10g. Koh-i-Noor Gioconda pencils

Quite soft chalk pastel crayons in the pencil, fray a lot, but easily lay on top of the pastel layer. The selection of colors is strange. like all Kohinoor, the maximum palette is only 48 pieces. Of course, there are no colors, only vibrantly saturated colors.

10d. Koh-i-Noor Gioconda chalk, sanguine, sepia, sauce

Perhaps the softest of pencils of this type.

11. Faber-Castell Polychromos Hard Pastels

Thin blocks of hard pastel exist in either 60 or as many as 120 variants. The colors match the Pitt Pastels pencils. The bars are numbered by color and marked with light fastness according to a system of 1 to 3 stars. Similar to Gioconda Hard Pastels and can be used in combination with them. My favorite thing for portraits and sketches, but damn, dear! (I bought it even cheaper, at “pre-Crimean” prices). You can buy additional pieces in online stores or for residents of capitals, which is very valuable.

11a. Pitt Pastels pencils

Some people scold them, others pray to them, but I didn’t find anything special. Pastel pencils in the same colors as the Polychromos bars. Thick, the wood is easy to sharpen with a utility knife, and has a medium soft feel when drawing. Easy to mix and grind. You can purchase additional items individually. PITT pencils also come in special types: natural and pressed charcoal, sanguine, etc. These are very good pencils, but they cost a lot of money.

11b. Student pastel GOFA

Small pieces of soft pastel in a cardboard box. This pastel belongs to Faber’s “blue” (student) series, and therefore has no data on its light fastness. It feels a little different from the student Mungyo, but it costs three to four times more.

12. Cretacolor Hard Pastels

Hard chalk pastel in 72 colors. Thematic sets “to try” are produced, 12 pieces each: portrait, landscape, brown colors and shades of gray. It frays a lot when pressed and gives a relatively dull tone through which the paper shines through, but is otherwise good.

12a. Cretacolor Pastel Pencils

The hardest pastel pencils available. They do not have individual data on light fastness, but the sets as a whole are marked as “increased light fastness”, which, for example, is not on the hard pastel sets from Creta. Delicate, beautiful colors, relatively little dust, easy to rub. The disadvantage is that they do not interact well with other types of pastels, as they easily detach from the paper (however, this is also their advantage - you can wipe the drawing down to the ground with a piece of nag, erasing an unsuccessful sketch or fragment).

12b. Cretacolor - sanguine, sepia, chalk

They are produced in pencils, differ little from Kokhinorov pencils, but are stronger and sharpen somewhat better. But they are also somewhat harder. Sanguine from Creta when rubbing the stroke is lighter than Kokhinorovskaya and Podolskaya.

13. Derwent Pastel Pencils

Pastel pencils from an English company, available individually and in boxes. Medium hardness, excellent for drawing on any substrate, including layers of other types of pastel and gouache. They have an amazing range of shades that have nothing in common with the names of paints and colors accepted in painting. This can be both an advantage and a disadvantage. Available in a range of 72 colors, they are easy to sharpen, but they also break frequently, so you can stumble upon a pencil with a naturally damaged core. They use a very original eight-point light fastness table, which can be found on their website. Generally. the pencils are not bad, but experts say that, as in the case of “Podolsk” pastels, it was better before (Rexel Derwent Pastels).

14. Derwent Tinted Charcoal

Colored charcoal in pencils. Previously, according to the eight-point system, colors had phenomenally low light fastness, but now for some reason it has jumped to 7-8. The yellow shades of this charcoal are indispensable for drawing red hair and red fur. Charcoal is also convenient for drawing eyes in portraits, as well as for making initial sketches. Like Derwent pastels, tsettnye charcoal pencils This company produces a strong, unpleasant whistle when moving across paper.

14a. Derwent Charcoal XL

Colored coal in six shades in large bars the size of a Soviet matchbox for 120 matches. Best suited for depicting male genitals over an election poster. IMHO, if you don't know why you need this coal, it's a pointless waste of money.

15. Sennelier a l"Ecu

Extra-soft French pastel, worth as much as a contract engine for your Mercedes. Sets start from 40 halves and end with elite selections of 200-300 colors in chic suitcases. Very soft and fragile, but not too loose (if you don’t press), it sticks perfectly to paper. A large selection of colors, shades and shades that can be purchased individually at a price of half a liter of vodka for two or three crayons.

16. Schminke

Even softer than Senelier, the ingredients are only the best of the best, which is why many crayons contain toxic salts. White chalk is often used to add highlights to finished works. Very expensive, comparable to Senelye in price.

17. Stabilo CarbOthello pencils

Very soft pastel pencils, similar in lead properties to Derwent colored charcoal. The pencils are evenly colored in the color of the lead along the entire length, and this is very convenient. Unfortunately, here (and perhaps in general) they are sold only in sets. Maximum palette of 60 colors. They go well with soft pastels, black and colored charcoal, but for some reason they don’t work well with other materials - the colors get dirty and become muted. Perhaps, however, I simply did not check them well enough on this subject.

18. Royal Talens Rembrandt

This soft pastel can be called “the hardest of the soft”, because it contains some kind of binder that makes it hard, durable and less likely to crumble. Some hate it for its hardness, others love it - usually for its hardness. You need to adapt to this material, just like any other. The crayons are wrapped in paper indicating the color number, degree of lightening and light fastness of the pigment. Sold both in sets and individually, so you can assemble your own thematic set. The manufacturer claims that the pastel does not contain toxic metals (he is generally more careful about non-toxicity and does not make any statements!).

18a. Van Gogh

Student version of Rembrandt pastels. It’s a little cheaper and is available in only 84 shades versus 200 plus, but otherwise it’s not much different, except maybe a little harder.

American, Japanese, Canadian, and in general

(Disclaimer: I have never owned this pastel or even held it in my hands, so here I am relying on data from various online reviews).

18. Prismacolor NuPastels

Hard pastels, similar in properties to Faber-Castell Polychromos or Koh-i-Noor Gioconda, are widely and inexpensively available in America, where they are loved and appreciated, used as a base for pastel pencils.

19.Holbein

The Japanese analogue of Shminke, for some reason it is produced only in the form of halves, quite expensive (but you can order it on eBay with delivery for a reasonable amount). I haven’t tried it myself, but those who have tried it say that it’s not for everyone - the softness of the crayons varies greatly. Crayons, judging by the instructions of American traders, also come with toxic content. The colors, if you look at the photos and the colors, are very beautiful and delicate - like that one, the Soviet “Podolskaya”, real pastel colors!

20. PanPastels

Pastel powder in jars. Apply to a sheet of paper using cosmetic or special sponges. For those who have tried to use it at least once, it evokes an uncontrollable need for admiration and absolute awe.

21. Sakura Nouvel Pastel Carse

I now have this pastel - I brought it from Bangkok, from a lovely shop on the second floor of the Center for Art and Culture (opposite the MBK shopping center)! Sakura products cannot be considered Japanese in the strict sense of the word: they are a division of the Dutch company Bryunzeel, which specializes mainly in student-grade materials. However, Nouvel hard pastel looks very good material for professionals; it feels like it combines best qualities hard pastels Faber-Castell, Cretacolor and soft Rembrandt. Beautiful colors, non-marking and non-flowing crayons, easy rubbing and good adhesion to paper - I have the best ones from Nouvel best impressions. The question of light fastness remains open; Sakura is not famous for this.

“Exotic” varieties: Unison, Terry Ludwig, Henri Roche, etc.

Many artists make pastels themselves, and for some it turns into a business. Such pastels are usually made individually or for small orders, but many manufacturers have outgrown their hobby and become reputable brands. The quality, as well as the price, of these branded pastels is very high. They are usually not sold in Russian art stores; they must be ordered from abroad. The same goes for pastel pencils from famous companies - Caran d’Ache, Conte a Paris and others.

A few years ago, fashionistas created unique image began to use colored chalk for hair. Dyed strands look bright and bold; it is simply impossible not to notice a multi-colored hairstyle.

For those who are not aware of how to use hair chalks, this option seems too extreme and complicated. In fact, hair chalks are a godsend for those who want to change their hair color, but without using chemical dye.

Coloring strands with pastel crayons is an opportunity to independently, easily and quickly change your image for one day.

Characteristics and types of pastel colors

What scares women about regular hair coloring? Harm from the chemical effects of the dye; fear that you won’t like the color or will soon stop liking it; the need to constantly tint the roots; Problems . These difficulties do not exist when dyeing hair with pastels.

Hair crayons are pastels pressed into cylindrical or rectangular bars (like colored children's crayons).

Pastel crayons are sold in stationery stores and specialized art stores. Such crayons are usually produced in sets of ten or twelve pieces. They vary in price, quality and manufacturer.

You need to ask art stores for high-quality dry and soft pastels. The right choice of pastel is the main rule when coloring hair. But even the right pastel is therefore not recommended to use crayons more than once a week. After applying pastels with hair balms and masks.

The color on the hair stays exactly until the girl washes her hair with shampoo. The exception is when low-quality or greasy pastels are selected.

Low-quality crayons can cause harm due to aggressive additives, and greasy pastels penetrate the hair and change its structure. Externally, hair dyed with such pastel looks dirty and sticky, and it is difficult to wash it off.

Cosmetic hair pastels come in the form of powder or shadows that look like eye shadow. It can be dry, crumbly and greasy. The best option for home use is dry cosmetic hair powder.

In addition to the same components as in artistic pastels, cosmetic pastels contain protective, nourishing and softening additives. Thanks to this, cosmetic pastels do not dry out hair much, but are more expensive.

For hair coloring, dry and soft artistic pastels or special cosmetic hair powder are suitable.

Pastel crayons are popular among young girls and young women. Hair chalks are used to create holiday and evening hairstyles, as well as to tint the hair of small children.

It should be taken into account that strands colored with chalk, when in contact with clothing, can stain it. The paint can be washed off afterwards, but stains on clothes will ruin the look and mood. Solution: wear clothes that match the color of the pastel, do a high hairstyle or one in which the dyed part of the hair does not touch the clothes.

Colored strands look spectacular in braided braids and on free-flowing curls. Both individual strands and part of the hair are dyed. Colored pastel crayons, coloring, ombre and so on. You can dye your hair any way you want, and turn your hairstyle into a work of art. It is not recommended to dye your entire hair with crayons.

Pastel hair coloring procedure

When buying art pastels, girls wonder how to use hair chalks, because such paints do not come with instructions. In addition, there is a difference in the techniques of applying pastel powder and dry pastel.

There is nothing complicated in the procedure for dyeing hair with pastel dye, but there is a sequence of actions recommended by hairdressers:

Wash and dry your hair well. Hair pastel will not color dirty strands.
Cover the area around your work area with newspaper, and cover your shoulders with an unnecessary towel (or put on an old T-shirt). Particles and dust particles of dry pastel, falling onto the floor and clothes, can stain them. You need to take care in advance so that the pastel does not stain light-colored furniture and interior items.
The hair is divided into strands, secured with hairpins and isolated one at a time for dyeing. At this stage the technical nuances begin.

If dark hair is dyed, each strand is lightly moistened or sprayed with water. Blonde hair is dyed without moisturizing.

Pastel diluted with water is a stronger dye than dry pastel. Blonde hair will dye without additional moisture; dark hair does not “accept” dye so easily.

If you use hair chalks, twist one strand into a flagellum and hold the tip in your hand. The hair is twisted so that it is evenly colored and is not damaged by the chalk. The pastel is carefully applied from top to bottom, without rubbing the hair with chalk.

When hair is dyed with special cosmetic shadows, the strands, without twisting, are pressed against them with your fingers and pulled from top to bottom.

The more pastels are applied to the hair, the brighter the color. But in this case, it is more difficult to remove the dye from your hair.

At the end of the procedure, shake the hair well, as chalk particles may get stuck in the strands. If the hair is moisturized, dry it with a hairdryer.
To consolidate the effect, thermal styling is carried out with an iron (straighten) or tongs (curled), after which the hairstyle is sprayed with hairspray. The temperature sets the dye, and thanks to the varnish, it will stay on the hair longer.

Pastel is chosen depending on color preferences or one that matches the color of the outfit or matches the color type of appearance.

The combination of dye color and natural hair tone is taken into account. Red, pink, yellow, orange are suitable for blondes; for brunettes white, blue, purple. Blue, green, and turquoise colors look good on fair-haired and brown-haired women.

Pastel for drawing – art material, born much earlier than oil paints. Such great artists as Leonardo da Vinci, Degas, Renoir painted their masterpieces not only with oils, but with pastels.

Artistic pastel (from the Latin “dough”) is a soft and pleasant material to work with. Usually comes in the form of crayons and pencils.

The composition of pastels is quite simple - pigment plus a binder. Adhesives such as wax, mineral oils or gum arabic can be used as a binder.

Pastels for drawing can be of four types:

• dry pastel (hard, soft, ultra-soft (soft))

Let us dwell briefly on each of the listed types of pastel.

Dry pastel

This pastel lays on paper easily and softly. Gives a stroke size from 2 to 5 mm. It can be shaded with your finger, turning the strokes into an even tone.

By overlapping each other, the colors are easily mixed and at the same time allow you to create new shades. Thus, even a small set of crayons will allow you to create a picture rich in color.

A good pastel should not scratch the paper, crumble or break during use.

Depending on the ratio of pigment and binder, dry pastel is divided into:

• hard
• soft soft
• super soft extra soft

The higher the binder content in the pastel, the harder it is. However, some types of pastels, the softest, can consist only of pigment. H They are often easy to distinguish by the shape of the crayons - soft pastels are most often made with round crayons, and hard pastels - with rectangular blocks.

Hard pastel for drawing it gives clearer and thinner strokes than soft. She is comfortable drawing the details of the picture. It crumbles less from the surface of the paper.

Soft pastel for drawing contains more pigment. It allows you to fill large surfaces with color and is easy to shade.

It is more pleasant to use, gives a beautiful velvety texture to the drawing, and makes it easy to create bright strokes.

However, it is not easy for novice artists to control this material - crayons break easily, the previously applied layer is smeared and crumbles. Drawing with soft pastels requires special care.

Therefore, when working, it makes sense to start a picture with a soft pastel in order to clog the pores of the paper, and finish it with a harder one.

Pan pastel (“ultra-soft” pastel) comes in special jars that are very similar to eyeshadow palettes. Each jar contains 35% more pastel than a regular pastel stick.

Pan pastel mixes well and gives the most accurate color rendition. Therefore, artists usually work with it using the technique of realism.

They draw with pastels using special foam sponges, mixing colors directly on paper.

This pastel is not yet very widespread and is rarely sold in Russia.

The most famous imported pastel manufacturers:

• French company Sennelier(produces a palette of 525 colors from high-quality pigment - this pastel is quite expensive).
• Good quality pastels are produced by companies such as
• Rembrandt,
• Schminke,
• Faber-Castell
• Talles(Holland)
• Korean-made pastels are no less attractive in quality. Mungyo, with a good palette of shades. Very reasonable in price, it is half the price of Faber-Castell, but no worse in quality.

More foreign brands producing pastels:

Koh-I-Noor (Austria, Czech Republic), Conte (France), Lyra (Germany), Caran d'Ache (Switzerland), Stabilo (Germany), Cretacolor (TM Koh-I-Noor Hardtmuth, Austria), Derwent (England ), LeFranc&Bourgeois (France), Adel (Turkey), Jolly (Austria), Sakura, Daler Rowney (England), Maimeri (Italy), Bruynzeel (Holland), Apa-Ferrario (Italy), Bosung (China), Pentel (Japan) ), Titi (Korea), Crayon.

Common Russian brands of pastels:

• Podolsk-Art-Center
• Sonnet
• Aqua-Color
• Range

Pastel pencils

This is a type of dry hard pastel in the form of ordinary pencils. Such pencils have a number of advantages:

• convenient to use,
• Allows for more precise strokes
• don't get your hands dirty.

Indispensable when drawing small details and creating, for example, smooth textured transitions when colors are mixed with pencils directly on paper. They are best used for depicting animals and portraits of people, because you can draw hairs and feathers to make them more similar to the original.

Pencil Manufacturers:

• Faber Castell
• Derwent
• Cretacolor
• Stabilo

All of them also differ in hardness, for example, the most soft pencils- Conte. The hardest ones are from Faber Castell.

Oil pastel

Despite the fact that these crayons are also called pastel, this pastel has completely different qualities and, accordingly, methods of drawing.

Oil pastels are made from pigment with linseed oil by pressing. Her crayons are hard and kind of greasy to the touch. Over time, greasy stains may even appear on works done with oil pastels.

Oil pastel chalks leave bright, crisp strokes. The colors don't mix well with each other. Pastel strokes are almost impossible to shade with your finger.

The colors in oil pastels are not as matte as those in dry pastels. Also, oil pastels differ from dry pastels in that they practically do not get dirty, finished drawings are more difficult to smear and they do not require fixation.

You can draw with oil pastels on any surface. It does not require special paper like dry paper.

In addition, oil pastels can be washed out. Blur and shade the oil pastel with a solvent (special or for oil paints). To do this, use a brush or shading (a special stick made of pressed paper) dipped in a solvent.

As a result, the result of the drawing will look like a painting with oil paints, and not like working with dry pastels.

Manufacturers are basically the same as for dry pastels. The company is considered the best Sennelier.

Wax pastel

Wax pastels are created on the basis of wax (most often polymer) in combination with natural fillers.

Drawings made with wax crayons turn out juicy and bright.

Wax crayons can be used to draw on paper, cardboard and even glass. Wax pastels can be used in mixed media - painting on watercolors or gouache. Since water does not adhere to such pastels, using such crayons you can draw in the techniques of sgraffito, stained glass enamel, encaustic and frottage.

Wax crayons are similar in appearance to oil crayons. What's the difference?

Most often, wax crayons are a cheap material for children. They are harder than oil pastels, so they don't stain your hands. In the professional field, oil pastels are mainly used.

Watercolor pastel

Watercolor pastels also have a waxy, wet texture.

But this is a unique material. It combines all the advantages of pastel, and at the same time it contains water-soluble components.

A drawing made with such pastel is similar to an oil pastel drawing. However, it can be washed out and turned into watercolor!

If you have dealt with watercolor pencils, you will understand the principle of operation of watercolor crayons. Unlike pencils, crayons are softer and brighter, easier to paint over large surfaces and blurred.

Thus, the same word, , can mean completely different crayons.

I hope that after this article you will no longer be mistaken in choosing the pastel you need!

I will be glad to see your comments and will be very grateful for your reposts!

Italian drawing technique: watch the free video!