Try Mount Vision. Firm, without being hard. Good color distribution and consistent texture across the spectrum. And good value.

It’s funny. I have been hearing such great comments about the Terry Ludwigs, (and they colors are very good), I have been thinking about trying more of them again. But I don’t like the softness either. I am not able to control them well at the stage I am at right now.

Hello all,

If you are looking for something a little harder than the TL pastels but not as hard as Rembrandts, don’t forget the Unison/Jack Richeson Hand Rolled pastels too. I lump them together here because I think they are similar enough in size and shape and performance. I love them because they are firm and yet lay down nice and soft and opaque. If you want more control or detail, I find that if you sharpen them a little that can be achieved, but I hate to actually “sharpen” them (like on sandpaper) because of the waste. But if you use the colors for wide areas like sky and ground, and use them on the end instead of laying them down on the side for that, you will quickly have a point on the end you can use for more detail. Just a thought.

Hi there:

Don’t abandon your Ludwigs! Although I prefer the harder pastels, I use my Ludwig True Lights and Basic Landscape all the time. Love ’em!

I would also recommend Mount Visions. They are one of the firmer of the softies, and have a slightly gritty feel (but with a nice smooth lay-down).

You get a lot of pastel for a relatively low cost. Also, you can break off very small pieces for details and they hold together well.

If you go with these, the dark blues and greens are outstanding! Happy hunting!
Kris

Thank you got the suggestion, I was looking at these on Blick but this stuck out – “A pastel fixative is recommended to prevent colors from fading”

I don’t see this warning on other pastels, is there something different about Holbeins?

I have no idea why it would say that. They are like any other pastel and I’ve never used fixative.

I agree with “LuckyLaura” regarding the Unison pastels; they are a superb brand of pastels with a huge variety of clear, uniform colors. I also like Girault, but compared to Unison they are very expensive. I’ve compared the Unison brand to Richeson’s Unison knock-off hand rolled, and find the colors of the Unison to be superior; you get what you pay for in these two brands.

I also agree about the Mungyo brand. They are very affordable from Jerry’s Artarama. Well actually in the U.S. Jerry’s is the only direct source for Mungyo. You can order them from Amazon, but they are shipped to you from Jerry’s and they are higher priced. Through Jerry’s you can buy them by the individual stick or in sets; Amazon offers only a limited number of sets. I’ve compared the Mungyo “extra soft” to the Dick Blick brand, and although similar in hardness I found for the most part the Mungyo colors to be more pure. The Mungyo hand rolled line is similar in size to Unison and Richeson, and is their top of the brand line.

Personally I’d avoid any brand that a company recommends using fixatives to secure. The use of fixatives should be strictly a personal choice based upon true need. The paper you use, the heaviness of application, and what you want the final painting to look like will dictate “need”.