Getting to know pastels

[dennis]

Excellent

[Happychappy]

    You are doing so well with the pastels Rebeca. Love your pears.  Carry on the good work.  Patricia.

[lynn p.]

This is a great still life.  Very well done and great color choices.

[RebecaM]

Thank you so much for your kind words, Kathy, Mea, Val, Dennis, Patricia, Lynn, your support means a lot to me!

[RebecaM]

This is the first time I draw an animal. It's done after one of Collin Bradley's pastel pencils tutorial. I was curious if you can apply pastel on canvas, so I decided to find out using a small piece of canvased cardboard I've bought some time ago. I must say I'm quite pleased about the way this surface worked - it has enough tooth to hold many layers of pastel and it also gave me an interesting texture. As usual, please let me know what you think. 

Details

[Val]

This is so cute Rebeca, I have the emails for this one saved but haven't been brave enough to take on fur yet.

You've done a lovely job on the eyes and really nicely on the colourings. I rather like the texture as well. Did you find the canvas ate up the pencils very quickly?

Very well done 

[MaryAnne Long]

Oh, Rebeca, this is precious.

All of the features look perfect.  Such a happy kitty.

The canvas seems to have worked well for you.

Wow.

aloha

mea

[Kathysutterlin]

  YOur kitty is darling, Rebeca. I love the look you created using the pastel on canvas. That was a successful experiment. 

[dennis]

Beautiful 

[Win]

Gorgeous Rebecca 

[RebecaM]

  Val, Mea, Kathy, Dennis, Win
Val, I too am a bit reserved when taking up a new subject, but this is the only way to learn and evolve, so is worth taking the risk. Yes,the canvas took many layers of pastels, especially after I blended them with a paper stump (this was a crucial step of the drawing. In the beginning it looked really strange and had a muddy look, then I used the paper stump and the pastels did their magic! It was a major change). Over all, I am quite pleased by how this surface worked, so I plan using it for less detailed projects.

[RebecaM]

I've always loved lilies, so I was very happy to find a pastel pencil tutorial on how to draw them. This time I've got more serious about drawing flowers (I still remember the scribbles I did while in primary school    ).
Did this one on purple Canson mi Teintes paper using Pitt Pastel pencils on a watercolor wash background (which is actually more violet, but this is the closest I could get to the real colors).

Details

[Val]

Lovely Rebeca, I like the background colour. 

Have you tried the Mi Teintes Touch paper? It is a 'sanded' type paper. It is supposed to be excellent for using with pastel pencils. Thought this might be of interest to you.

Content/Technical DetailsMi-Teintes Touch Paper
 

• 218 lb (353 gsm)
• 22x30"
• Innovative, sanded-type coating
• Smoother, finer tooth
• French-made 218 lb. paper or heavyweight board
• Will not warp and buckle even if a wash is applied
• Perfect surface for soft pastels
• Unique primer formulation
• Delicate tooth is gentler on pastels

[MaryAnne Long]

Oh, Rebeca, this is lovely.  Background and flowers are so well done. Great blending and shading on the petals.

I have shied away from pastels, but took the plunge and ordered the Faber Castell pastel pencils last night.  Am looking forward to giving this a go.

aloha

mea

[RebecaM]

Thank you Val, Mea. Meanwhile I took another photo (this time in the sunlight) of my lilies and edited my post. The previous image seemed to be alright on the computer screen. Then I checked it on the phone and saw that the green hue in the petals was way too saturated, giving them quite an unnatural look (I modified the color channels in Ps to be more accurate to the background, but it seemed I altered the flower colors). Now the colors are almost identical to the real drawing. The background is still a little bluish...uhh, I have a hard time photographing purple.

Thank you the info Val, until now I've seen only the simple Mi-Teintes paper in the art supplies shops. I need to buy some paper next week, so I'm going to look for Mi-Teintes Touch Paper, hope I'll find some.

Mea, I'm glad you decided to try pastel pencils, I'm sure you will have a lot of fun with them. Colin Bradley has very good tutorials on how to use them. Which pack did you order? I have the 36 one. They are great for doing detailed work and the pencils can hold quite a sharp point without breaking (I prefer using a cutter and sandpaper for this, it works  well). Faber Castell Pitt pastel pencils have more muted, earthy tones, being suitable especially for animal and landscape drawings. I intend to buy a couple more Derwent and Conte pastel pencils in order to add more vibrant colors to my palette.