Home › Forums › Explore Media › Pastels › Soft Pastel Studio and Gallery › Lucy
- This topic has 10 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 1 month ago by Yorky Administrator Ormskirk.
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March 16, 2018 at 8:54 am #453029
I am new to soft pastels. Always been a bit intimidated by them,particularly the papers. I thought if I could not get top quality coloured paper I could not draw anything. But I really love the look of pastels.Anyway, I found an incomplete set of Reeve pastels thrown into a draw years ago. Thought I would try to draw my old cat. Used an old, quite cheap multimedia pad. Had no black,so I used blue instead. I did not aim for realism in the colours(obviously:lol:), but hopefully in the shape. Used hairspray to fix. I enjoyed doing it (must learn to embrace the mess:lol:) and am thinking of getting a full soft pastel set.
A question-is it possible to keep soft pastel drawings in sketchbooks? Would a fixative (or hairspray) be enough? I keep most of my work in journals.
Sorry about the rambling, but learning a new medium is always exciting! Oh,C&C welcome!March 16, 2018 at 1:47 pm #585465Nice first try! “Black” isn’t an easy color to depict, and you’ve done a very good job of it. It is fortunate you were “forced” into using blue rather than black. If you can find any tutorials, you’ll see that dark blue, dark brown, dark red violets are used rather than black, and the results are much more appealing, and life like.
As for fixatives I recommend NOT using hairspray if you want to preserve the work for a long time. It will eventually yellow and destroy your paper. You don’t need to use any fixative if you’re using quality paper meant for pastels. Some pastel pads come with a protective sheet of glassine between each page. If that’s not available, you can use very slick tracing paper or better yet sheets of glassine between each page. If you still want to use fixative, be aware that the professional quality fixatives such as LasCaux or PrismaColor will least change the color. Have you tried the Canson MiTeintes paper?Peggy Braeutigam, IAPS/MC
www.peggybraeutigam.comMarch 16, 2018 at 2:06 pm #585466Thanks for replying! I have to get my art supplies from the stores (don’t go online for a lot of different reasons) and I am not sure what pastel papers are available (aside from multimedia pads). But thanks for warning me about the hairspray. I will try put tracing paper over my drawings for now.
March 16, 2018 at 2:39 pm #585463Paggy has made some good points. If this was your first try at pastels, I think you are on to something. So…welcome to the pastel forum. If you don’t have the dark value pastels you want, you could use a soft charcoal pencil, then go over it with the color you wanted to darken.
[FONT="Comic Sans MS"]Karen, IAPS/MC, PSA WC Moderator-Pastels
web site , Getting started in soft pastels., What you need to know, Critique Guide LinesMarch 16, 2018 at 3:14 pm #585467Thanks!
March 17, 2018 at 9:26 am #585462For being new to soft pastels you sure have done a great job with them – especially with a limited selection! I’m really struck by how you have captured the look of an older cat. Her head is tucked down and I’ll be she spends a good part of her day sleeping like this. My old cat assumes this same pose and I try not to notice that his belly is a little saggier than it used to be. I hope you’ll try new pastels and new papers because there are so many options for us and they are all fun to explore. I look forward to seeing more!
March 17, 2018 at 10:16 am #585468Thanks Donna!
March 17, 2018 at 12:02 pm #585461What a sweetie! I’m new to pastels too. Exciting isn’t it?
Alison:wave:
March 17, 2018 at 12:39 pm #585469Yeah, they really are!
March 17, 2018 at 8:37 pm #585464Such a great job for being new to pastels. Well done!
Facebook: www.facebook.com/kirstiepageart Instagram: www.instagram.com/kirstie.page
March 18, 2018 at 12:13 pm #585470Thanks!
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