QOTD: What is your biggest tip for drawing with pastels?

My best tip, especially if you're using soft pastels that arent in a pencil, is to wash your hands regularly. If you smudge and blend with your fingers, like me, this is a must or else you'll transfer the colour to places you dont want. Happy little accidents are sometimes a bonus though. Secondly, pencil pastels are much harder than the non pencil versions and can be sharpened for the detail. A mix of both in a pastel painting is essential. Love this channel 👍

I'm starting to have a liking of pastels. Anyone?

This was helpful thanks! I'm only 11 but my dream is to be an artist. I don't plan to draw very realistic drawings, I think I'll maybe to cartoons. Im not very good at art right now but I have years to improve!

1-Dont apply too much pressure 2- blend your pastels with stumps 3-avoid using too many colors 4- work in layers 5-Focus on contrasts 6-prevent smudging (from top to bottom and left to right for right handed artists) 7-keep your pastels sharp 8-try to use toned paper 9-use colored pencils for details 10-for large areas use pastel blocks

This is by far the best art channel I've ever seen. I don't do pastel art but I enjoyed the video a lot.

Hi, I am a lifelong artist and my medium of choice has been oils. However, several years ago, I grew a bit weary of oil and started working in pencil and pastel drawings. I agree with all your ten tips and here are a few of my own. The smudging problem can be better managed by placing a clean flysheet under my hand. I always sharpen my pencils with a small box cutter, exposing about a half inch of color. I then sharpen on a small piece of 100grit sandpaper that I glue to cardstock. Works great on pastel sticks as well. One of the best blending techniques I've found is simple paper towels tightly rolled into a point or flat shape. It's cheap and disposable too. I typically draw large pieces , usually 18x24. So I have amassed a sizable collection of pastel sticks. I love pastels and I still work in oils or pencil when I want to change things up. Best regards, Mono D'Angelo

Hey I have just started art classes and I chose to use pastel pencils I watched this then I went back next week I drew an apple and I remembered your tips and now it looks beautiful thank you so much this is so helpful!!

I love using pastels, & I use an angled colour shaper to blend. Stumps are great too tho. Lovely to see you again......we have missed you x

When I need strong highlights, such as reflected light, I sometimes use acrylic paint applied with an appropriate sized brush to my pastel drawing. Oil pastels mixed with quicktene also can be used over pastel.

Great tips here. One I would expand on is to get a few open stock soft pastels(ie: Unison, Schmincke etc)of colours you know you will use I find the intensity of a good soft pastel really is a nice touch when done near the end of a pastel painting.

The colored paper was the most helpful to me ! I have a competition and I wanted to figure out how to use pastels for my drawing . Your tips opened my eyes and helped me a lot !!

Thank you! Your amazing... the color pencil over the pastel was my favorite tip... I’m working on a Koi drawing I’ll have to give it a try. Thanks

Your art is simply wow Kirsty and you teach it so well...thank you for this video

These tips are so helpful! I love your patreon page and I am learning so much from you. Thank you, Kirsty!

Posted four years ago and this video has just helped me get the basics. Thanks Kirsty, this was a really comprehensive and helpful video. I feel ready to tackle my first pastel piece.

This was both very well put together and inspiring. Thank you for taking the time to do this. You're great!

I really appreciated the colored pencil tip, as I have struggled with detail and didn’t know I could use them Thanks!!

Thank you for all of the amazing tips! I haven't used pastel pencils yet, but I am thinking about using them later on and I already know that all of the information on the pencils will be super useful for me! I'm especially glad that I know ahead of time that they smudge easily! Thanks again and I hope you have a great day! :)

Amazing advice and so well delivered with such skill in the examples , gifted. Well done.

Awesome tips Kirsty

Thank you for all your useful information Kirsty.

So awesome! I love artists. What a gift! Thank you for sharing this. I wish you well. Stay encouraged.

I recently got pastel color pencils and these tips were really helpful for me to create good projects

I love the way you teach , it's pretty understandable . thanks a lot

After 30 years having set aside pastels because of allergies I am going to try them again since I now have a dedicated art space I can deny access to others! Keep the allergic out! Thank you for sharing your expertise with us !

Thank you so much for this video. I'm trying to first time to do a dog using Carbothello and I already made some of the mistakes you mentioned. I'll start over, keeping them in mind and now knowing how to avoid them.

Ah! Need more pastel tutorials of your s! So relaxing!

I think your tip of using Polychromos on top of Pastels is wonderful! Thank you!

Love the tips, thank you.

I love working with pastel pencils. Mine are Faber-Castell PITT Pastel Pencils and I use sand coloured Fabriano Ingres paper, but am currently trying Clairefontaine Pastelmat sanded paper, which I find a little harder to work with. Smudging with your finger is a great way to blend your work, or use a stump, or in my case, a Colour Shaper. To avoid unnecessary smudging when working near completed work, try covering the area with spare paper. I never fix my work as it darkens and dulls the drawing/painting. I slip my finished work into a binder with polythene pockets, thus keeping fingers away from the artwork.

the smudge tip is very helpful

Thanks I'm just about to start trying pastels and this was really helpful!

Great tips... a joy to watch!

Thank you so much for this informative video, I am showing it to my students. Very helpful and well explained! :)

You have really nice and informative videos! Keep them coming!

Thank you for this video! It's very informative!

Enjoyed your tips Kirtsy....Very helpful to a newcomer Thank You

Thank you so much for this lesson

thank you so much!! i'm about to start my first pastel horse portrait and these tips will help a lot! you have a new suscriptor!!! cheers Kristy!

Great tips! Just received my first set of 36 Carbothellos! Enjoy your videos!

Thank you Kirsty for these useful tips. Greetings from Italy.

You can apply fixative part way through, which will then help if you need to go over the work more. Particularly if you have messed up.

Missed you so much!!!😃

Wow! Your work is Beautiful!

Thank you Kirsty! ❤

Thank you so much Kristi. Liked it... Kudos

Love these tips 💖💖

Even tho this video was 2 years ago, I’m only just starting with Oil pencils and this was so helpful. Also you’re extremely talented!

I really really loved the cat! And thanks for the tips😊

You are a really good artist, love your work.

Informative and creative solutions

thanks! I do with u watercolor and these pastels are chalange for me!

Great tips. Snce some time I follow you. You do an exceent work. Thanks so much for all your teaching. I love to paint with pastel pencils and blocks of dry pastel. also with poychromos. And some aquarele as weel. You teach me some good tips in your videos that help to start. Thanks so much

This was really helpful! Thank you! Cheers!

Always funny when one of the tips for a particular medium is to use a different medium lol

Yaasssss finally a pastel video!!

All tips are very useful 👍

Thank you so much for this video . And i really appreciated your hard wok that you put into this videos. And let me tell you are the best art you tuber on the planet and every digital platform and keep sharing your skills with universe and thank you for being kind to your viewers for this kind of information and knowledge and looking forward to more videos. #kirsty is a Queen of art KZfaq world.

You are a real gifted Painter!

Solid tips, thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the tips!

Thanx.becous i need this tips.thank you so much.love you

Thank you! You help me with this video. 😊🙏🏻

Useful tips, thanks a lot!!

Thanks you really do great work

Absolutely appreciated the tip about using colored pencils over pastels thxs

Wow helpful tips... Thank you so much sharing your valuable tips... Really love the way you speak and ur accent is sweet...

Thanks for the video. I learned a lot.

These are soooooo helpful!!!!

Ahoj Kristy.Video je veľmi výborné a poučné.Potešilo ma.Rada,že môžem miešať pastely s farebnými ceruzkami.

Thanks. Good tips . Good video. And great drawing ♥️

Very helpful Thank you

The glassine that comes with the Pastelmat paper is great for resting your hand on even on top of areas that already have pastel on them.

Haven't had my pastels out for a while now, but when I use them I always keep a piece of paper under my hand to prevent smudging, as well as working away from the drawing. The pencils are notorious for snapping when you sharpen, though, aren't they? Maddening! I read that if you use a manual sharpener and turn the sharpener, not the pencil, it doesn't happen so much. 🙂

Nice to see you back Kirsty, you look very lovely in this video, great video btw 😙👍

I have a tip: you can easily blend the pastels with water or rubbing alcohol to make some painterly like effects. Makes nice underpaintings as well. Be careful you test the paper as not all pastel papers can take liquid, like PastelCard. Uart pastel paper handles it very well. Thanks for the video Kirsty!

thanks

Amo tu trabajo

I hope you will do some flowers in pastels for Patren. Love your work!

Amazing tips! One question, when you finish a drawing, do you need to fix it to prevent further smudging? If so, what do you use?

My Favorite Tip: #5 Very, very important!!! My Personal Tip: Pastels love to travel; so final details can be difficult to establish. So, if all else fails, Fixate the piece, ( I use Krylon Workable Fixative spray). Then, use Acrylic Paint on the LAST layer for anything you couldn't work in!

thank you very much. your detailed pastel drawings are super amazing. Bravo. i wonder why most pastels are sold in blocks if we can hardly do any details with those. i just bought my first pastel blocks as that is all i mostly see and am directed to in shops. Now i am stuck with details but will use colored pencil as you recommended. Thanks again.

Great video!!

Great tips..thanks. I think the best tip was sharing that you can add colored pencil on top of the pastels

Love these tips!!My birthday is next week and I was planning to buy some pastel pencils as well as some other supplies...so really all your videos have been helpful❤

رسومك مذهله ..انت الافضل👍👍

Very excited to realize I can use my coloured pencils for detail work! Just wish I had known about the smudging - I lost a lot of work last night using a small soft paint brush to clear some dust off! Do you recommend any kind of fixative as you work?

I got some pastels.. thought theyd do for times i wasnt up to commit to starting a painting and that need to put in a lot of time to get it right in days ( wet on wet) and managing the mess….boy what a pandoras box!

Thanks for the video

Wow i hope i can buy pastel pencils..i love drawing too.thank you for the tips..

Very helpful. Thankyou.

Starter here, glad to hear that they mix with normal colorpencils for detailwork as well, gives a bit higher chance at succes :)

Hmm. I have never thought of using a toned paper except for light cream. Good to know. I will look into it!

Tysm Trying pastel notetaking highlight in church Also background for cheap normal exercise book or any recycle paper material at work drg lunch time

Helpful information. Someone look beautiful today. Stay like this rest of your life!

You got a new abo. You're so great

Great Tips Thanks 😊 🙏

Its weird...i just subscribed to your channel a few days ago. Been drawing for a while with charcoal, chalk pastels and ink. I just recently bought some oil pastels to test them out and see what i can do with them. Now, you just post this video?!?? Again...weird! Lol Thanks for the tips!

What about using a fixative, such as the Windsor and Newton one, to seal your finished artwork? I also use it on graphite/charcoal works. It makes them easier to store and stops the work smudging and off-setting 🤗