Illusion_6
Hey all. Today I am going to give you some basic tips on how to use hard pastel. Here’s the painting I recently made on Brustro’s Artists Pastel Paper 160GSM. Unlike soft pastels, hard pastel doesn’t create any powder dust. But still always hold your pastel upright just as pencil to allow the flat sides to make broader strokes. This will also allow the little colour dust to fall off easily from surface. Now talking about the surface it is always better to use a smoother one to ensure proper blending of colours. Next, try to hold the pastel softly while making the shades and strokes so that you can easily put the second colour on it,and the third one, and so on…to properly mixed it up. The blending although varies as per the requirement. Too much blending causes the characters and textures to lose. On contrary, a proper blending creates amazing soft effects! And lastly always put the black colour in the end either using a Steadtler, glass marking pencil, charcoal or the pastel itself. You definitely don’t want your painting to have a ghostly effect! Do you? ??
Hard pastels are one of the easiest medium in painting. You just need to sit with them. No prior colour preparation, no drying, no brushes. So if you are confused how to start with I am pretty sure my suggestions can help you out. You actually need to play around with them to see what these little sticks can do for you.
Never hesitate to make your first stroke. Make mistakes but keep going until you understand how beautifully messy they are.