Pastel is considered one of the oldest materials used for creativity. Degas, Renoir, Leonardo da Vinci and other artists wrote their works with it. Pastel can be used as an independent means of depiction or as an auxiliary material in other techniques. The latter includes modeling from polymer clay and decoupage. Pastel stands out alive, bright colors, as well as a velvety structure. 
Pastel is made from a coloring pigment and a special binder. The latter can be wax, mineral oils or gum arabic. In stores you can buy pastels in the form of rimless pencils or colored crayons. There are currently three types of pastels: dry, watercolor and oil. We will look in more detail at oil pastels, as well as ways to use them in drawing. 
Oil pastels are similar to wax crayons, which are quite soft. In addition, the colors are highly saturated. Pastel crayons today are produced in the form of small bars with a round or square section. They differ from wax ones by the presence of many pigments, high elasticity and resilience. It is worth noting that oil pastels hardly get dirty; after applying it to the surface of the sheet, there is no need for auxiliary fixation in the form of varnish.
If you know how to paint with oil pastels for beginners, then you know that almost any surface is suitable for painting with such paint. The main advantages of this product include its good ability to blur. To do this, the artist needs to have a special solvent for oil paints, as well as a shading tool - a special stick made of pressed paper. The latter is dipped in a solvent and then washed out to obtain the desired shade. Painting with solvent must be done in a room that is properly ventilated. 
The texture of oil pastels makes it possible to create effects that are simply impossible to achieve with other drawing techniques. Oil pastels are often used for various decorative paintings. The technique of its application allows you to convey the deep and rich tones of the depicted object. It is recommended to store various artistic drawings made in this way in frames and under glass, and there must be a small gap between the drawing and the glass. This is necessary to preserve the image, since drawings made in pastels are highly susceptible to minor damage, shedding, and are easily erased.
Oil pastels require a rough base, as they do not adhere well to the surface. This technique requires special paper, for example, sandpaper, suede, canvas, loose fleecy cardboard, parchment or torchon paper. The advantages of the material in question include the ability to remove and cover several layers at the same time.
Oil pastels today are represented by many shades, of which there are over one and a half thousand. Such diversity makes it possible to implement virtually any creative ideas V different genres. The pastel technique has done quite a job long haul from the usual three-color drawing to real painting, which became especially popular during the Baroque period, and is now preferred by the impressionists. 
Among the most popular types pastels - oil and dry. What are the features of its corresponding types?
What is oil pastel?
This type Pastels contain a binder based on mineral oil. The paint on the surface after it dries is quite smooth, that is, matteness is not typical for drawings based on oil pastels. However, as drawing enthusiasts note, pictures using the corresponding substance usually turn out very bright.
The type of paint in question is convenient because its particles do not stick to the artist’s hands or surrounding objects, and allow the room to remain clean when painting.
Oil pastel- universal material. It is suitable for painting on a wide variety of surfaces and can be used to create designs on the exterior of buildings. This type of pastel must be shaded, as a rule, using solvents, as well as a special brush.
What is dry pastel?
Dry pastel- a type of corresponding paint that contains a solid binder. For example, dextrin. Dry pastels are most often produced in the form of special pencils or crayons. Depending on the percentage of binder, it can be classified as soft or hard. Some varieties of pastel contain an extremely small amount of binder: this type of paint is characterized by the most high degree softness.
Dry pastel, a soft variety, allows you to paint with fairly thick strokes. The paint on the surface often has a matte appearance, which is due to the inclusion of chalk in many types of pastels. Using soft pastels, you can form an elegant image structure. It can be quickly shaded and diluted with other colors, usually without the use of solvents or other additional substances.
Hard, dry pastels allow you to apply significantly clearer strokes to the surface during the drawing process. However, as some drawing enthusiasts note, the coloring matter in question is not characterized by too high brightness.
Comparison
The main difference between oil pastels and dry pastels is that in the first type of paints mineral oil is used as a binder, in the second - a solid component (while in soft types of pastels its amount is relatively small).
Oil pastels allow you to create smooth, vibrant drawings. Dry, in turn, is matte and not too bright (especially when it comes to solid types of paint). To shade drawings created using oil pastels, a solvent is usually needed. In the case of dry pastels, the use of such a substance is usually not required.
Having determined what the difference is between oil and dry pastels, we will record the conclusions in the table.
One of the oldest materials used for creativity is pastel. They wrote their own with it magnificent works Renoir, Leonardo da Vinci, Degas and other artists. Pastel can be used both as an independent means of depiction and as an auxiliary material in other techniques, which include modeling from polymer clay, as well as decoupage. Pastels stand out with their bright, vibrant colors and velvety texture.
Pastels are made from a coloring pigment and a binder, which can be wax, gum arabic or mineral oils. In stores you can buy pastels in the form of rimless pencils or colored crayons. There are three types of pastels: watercolor, oil and dry. Let's take a closer look at oil pastels and how to use them in drawing.
Oil pastels are very similar to wax crayons and are quite soft. In addition, the colors are very saturated. are produced in the form of small bars with a square or round cross-section. They differ from wax ones in the presence of a larger number of pigments, high elasticity and elasticity. It should be noted that oil pastels practically do not get dirty, and after applying it to the surface of the sheet, no additional fixation in the form of varnish is required.
Any surface is suitable for painting with oil pastels. The advantages of this product include the ability to blur it. To do this, the artist needs to have a special shading tool - a stick made of pressed paper. It is dipped in a solvent and washed out to obtain the desired shade. Painting with solvent should be done in a well-ventilated room.
The texture of oil pastels allows you to create effects that are impossible to achieve with other painting techniques. For decorative paintings, oil pastels are often used, the application technique of which allows one to convey the rich and deep tones of the depicted object. Artistic drawings It is advisable to store images made using this method in frames and under glass, and there must be a gap between the glass and the design. This is necessary to preserve the image, since drawings made with pastels are very susceptible to minor damage, shedding, and are also easily erased.
Oil pastels require a rough base because they do not adhere well to the surface. This technique requires special paper, such as sandpaper, loose fleecy cardboard, suede, canvas, parchment or torchon paper. The advantages of the material in question include the ability to remove and cover several layers at once.
Oil pastels presented a huge amount shades, of which there are more than one and a half thousand. Such diversity allows you to bring any creative ideas to life various genres. The pastel technique has come a long way from a simple three-color drawing to a full-fledged painting, which became especially popular during the Baroque period, and is now preferred by the impressionists.
Some artists recommend using oil pastels when painting their textile toys. In several stores I asked what kind of animal this was, and could not find out. Today, in one store I came across several boxes of this pastel, and asked the seller to look. On appearance it looked like wax crayons. I just have them. I prime my dolls' eyes with them before painting them. I decided to look on the Internet to see what the difference is, here’s the article I found:
"Pencil and Brush". Oil pastels and wax pencils. Compare and draw.
Hello, dear mothers. The May holidays have passed. We returned from Yekaterinburg, where we relaxed, walked, and enjoyed the beautiful weather. The little boys played with their cousins, of whom they have many. Everyone just had a great time. Now you can work with new strength.
Today I will talk about wonderful materials: oil pastels and wax crayons. What is this? Above is the work of my eldest son, made as a gift to his beloved aunt, it was her birthday yesterday. The drawing was made with Indian oil pastels.
You may have read my previous articles on art materials: “Buy for children good watercolor", "Watercolor and Gouache - comparing. How to work" And “About pastels, or “dry painting” with soft colored chalks”. And now it's the wax's turn.
I think everyone is familiar with wax pencils (crayons). We drew with them more than once with the children. But what is oil pastel, how are they similar, and how does it differ from dry (soft) pastel, do you know? Why didn’t I write about her next to dry pastels?
1.Pastel- these are multi-colored crayons, composition: colored pigments, chalk and binders. The word pastel ( pastello) from Italian pasta- dough or paste.
Pastel is a drawing material and technique. Pastel combines the possibilities of painting and drawing.
Let's compare what these different pastels represent.
Types of pastels:That is, you already understand that oil and wax pastels differ from dry pastels in composition - the presence of wax.
- Dry pastel(soft pastel) - has a fairly wide range of colors, consisting of approximately 110 shades, mixes well with each other. Has a velvety effect.
- Oil pastel- made from wax and mineral oil with the addition of pigments. Unlike dry pastels, traces from oil pastels are more intense and bright.
- Wax pastel- the main component is wax with the addition of the same pigments, it has good color fastness, the strokes are bright and intense
Wax, particularly colored beeswax, has been used as a painting medium since ancient times. Subsequently, the Romans adopted it from the Greeks for portraiture.
2.Wax pencils (crayons)- composition: natural or synthetic wax + colored pigments
Wax pencils leave bright strokes and are suitable for working in various techniques.
What is the difference between oil pastels and wax crayons? By the way, I'm talking about good crayons. It seems to contain wax everywhere. Here is a photo for comparison. You see that visually there is no difference. But if you rub it with your finger, wax crayons do not get dirty, but oil pastels do. Moreover, the softer it is, the more dirty it gets. But soft ones are much more interesting to draw, write and create effects.
Oil pastels are soft and bright. Although good wax crayons are also quite soft. And recently we were given Indian oil pastels. I really liked her. It is even softer and brighter, but gets even more dirty. The box of this pastel is in the photo. Highly recommend. And there are cheap wax crayons lying around - they are of poor quality and scratch.
Difference between wax materials:Properties of oil pastels and wax crayons:
- Wax crayons are harder and hardly smear.
- Oil pastels can be rubbed (smeared) with your finger or something else.
- And Indian oil pastels are generally very soft, very similar to dry pastels, only much greasier - they smear and rub well, and of course, get dirty more.
As you understand all this - greasy wax crayons that do not wash off leave a rather thick mark. At the same time bright, juicy. Of course, this is an excellent material for creativity. From the “easy” series. The child and mother take pencils and immediately draw. It turns out bright and beautiful. Any paper is suitable: smooth and rough, thin and thick, cardboard - whatever. It is also great for painting on walls and various objects and surfaces.
- Fast and easy to use
- Rich, bright, ragged trace
- Almost does not get dirty, compared to dry pastel
- It smears less too
- Failure to fix
- Doesn't wash well
- Cannot be washed off with water
It seems that everything is known, buy, take and draw. But... often the result is not very good, although this is not due to the creator of the picture, but because of the quality of the materials. We have a set of cheap wax crayons at home - they scratch, scratch - not work, but torture. Therefore, when buying wax crayons for your child, pay attention to the quality, try to draw on some piece of paper. Does it write smoothly or get stuck? Vivid color or barely visible? Well, so far I’ve only come across good oil pastels. But it doesn’t hurt to check before purchasing.
How to paint with wax materials? And also like dry pastel: you can work with the tip, end or side of the chalk - you get different marks. Wax strokes are rubbed with fingers and soft swabs. You can use it to draw and write, to work with strokes or a painterly spot.
Wax pencil and oil pastel - cool and very painting material for quick sketches and sketches.
Interesting effect It will work if you go over the wax with watercolors or gouache - only those places where there is no wax trace on the paper will be painted. It will already be mixed media. It is often used in children's works.
Tip #1. To sharpen a wax pencil, dip it in hot water, then roll it between your fingers. Or sharpen with a paring knife.
What else can you do with wax materials:You ask, Is it possible to mix dry pastels, regular (slate) pencils and oil pastels or wax crayons in one drawing? After all, sometimes you want to. Opinions vary, it's up to you to choose. They don't seem to suit each other at all. But... in creativity everything is possible and has the right to be realized. Therefore...
- You can make a two-color wax pencil by removing the paper wrappings from two pencils, melting one side of each over a candle flame, and molding them together. And if you want a multi-lead pencil, secure three or four pencils with an elastic band.
- You can melt the old ones wax crayons and pour into molds - you get pencils for kids.
Tip #2. If you decide to mix these materials in one work, then the order is as follows: this is important! First pastel, then regular pencils, and on top of everything wax or oil pastels. Since working with ordinary pencils or pastels on top of wax ones will not work physically (you can try :)) Firstly, they don’t draw on top of wax, and secondly, if you fill the lead or pastel with wax, you won’t be able to write. By the way, ordinary lead pencils also leave a fairly smooth mark, so they draw with dry pastels first. Otherwise, the pencil mark will show through the pastel.
Tip #3. How to erase wax crayons from wallpaper?! - Finally, advice from moms. I haven’t tried it; my son hasn’t decorated new wallpaper with wax pencils yet. Although, of course, on the wallpaper - this is creativity that has a right to exist.
Moms advise how to erase wax crayons from wallpaper:Melamine sponge is a white sponge, it is certain type soft plastic. Like an eraser for dirt. They say it's a magical remedy. Just lightly moisten a sponge from a spray bottle and rub it over the dirt and it will be erased. Removes marks from markers, felt-tip pens, pens; black marks from shoes and bicycle tires on the linoleum; limescale, yellow deposits in the refrigerator; a plastic window sill from old brown stains of dried water from under bowls with flowers; tiles, bath, sink and this without other means - just a sponge; stainless steel hood, microwave to new condition. However, you should not touch polished surfaces with it. Try it on an inconspicuous area first. It quickly wears out and crumbles. It is advised to divide it in half, and for a small area just tear off a piece.
- eraser from a piece white bread
- try softening the pattern with a hair dryer and then erase with toilet paper
- cover the design with paper and run an iron over it
- cover the place blank slate paper and roll with something hard (a rolling pin)
- melamine sponge
Perhaps I’ll buy us such a sponge, it will come in handy. This eldest son is quiet and calm with us, and the youngest, it seems, will be a storm of wallpaper and everything that his paws can reach. Such a smart guy. We need to prepare in advance.
This is what I wanted to tell you about wax materials: pastels and pencils. Of course, children really like these crayons. They are very convenient, easy and practical to use. I recommend!
Pastel for drawing – art material, born much earlier than oil paints. Such great artists as Leonardo da Vinci, Degas, Renoir painted their masterpieces not only with oils, but with pastels.
Artistic pastel (from the Latin “dough”) is a soft and pleasant material to work with. Usually comes in the form of crayons and pencils.
The composition of pastels is quite simple - pigment plus a binder. Adhesives such as wax, mineral oils or gum arabic can be used as a binder.
Pastels for drawing can be of four types:
- dry pastel (hard, soft, ultra-soft (soft))
Let's look briefly at each of listed types pastels.
Dry pastel
This pastel lays on paper easily and softly. Gives a stroke size from 2 to 5 mm. It can be shaded with your finger, turning the strokes into an even tone.
By overlapping each other, the colors are easily mixed and at the same time allow you to create new shades. Thus, even a small set of crayons will allow you to create a picture rich in color.
A good pastel should not scratch the paper, crumble or break during use.
Depending on the ratio of pigment and binder, dry pastel is divided into:
- hard
- soft soft
- super soft extra soft
The higher the binder content in the pastel, the harder it is. Moreover, some types of pastels, the softest, can consist only of pigment. H They are often easy to distinguish by the shape of the crayons - soft pastels are most often made with round crayons, and hard pastels - with rectangular blocks.
Hard pastel for drawing it gives clearer and thinner strokes than soft. She is comfortable drawing the details of the picture. It crumbles less from the surface of the paper.
Soft pastel for drawing contains more pigment. It allows you to fill with color large surfaces, easily shaded.
It is more pleasant to use, gives a beautiful velvety texture to the drawing, and makes it easy to create bright strokes.
However, it is not easy for novice artists to control this material - crayons break easily, the previously applied layer is smeared and crumbles. Drawing with soft pastels requires special care.
Therefore, when working, it makes sense to start a picture with a soft pastel in order to clog the pores of the paper, and finish it with a harder one.
Pan pastel (“ultra-soft” pastel) comes in special jars that are very similar to eyeshadow palettes. Each jar contains 35% more pastel than a regular pastel stick.
Pan pastel mixes well and gives the most accurate color rendition. Therefore, artists usually work with it using the technique of realism.
They draw with pastels using special foam sponges, mixing colors directly on paper.
This pastel is not yet very common and is rarely sold in Russia.
The most famous imported pastel manufacturers:
- French company Sennelier(produces a palette of 525 colors from high-quality pigment - this pastel is quite expensive).
- Good quality pastels are produced by companies such as
- Rembrandt,
- Schminke,
- Faber-Castell
- Talles(Holland)
- Korean-made pastels are no less attractive in quality. Mungyo, with a good palette of shades. Very reasonable in price, it is half the price of Faber-Castell, but no worse in quality.
More foreign brands producing pastels:
Koh-I-Noor (Austria, Czech Republic), Conte (France), Lyra (Germany), Caran d'Ache (Switzerland), Stabilo (Germany), Cretacolor (TM Koh-I-Noor Hardtmuth, Austria), Derwent (England ), LeFranc&Bourgeois (France), Adel (Turkey), Jolly (Austria), Sakura, Daler Rowney (England), Maimeri (Italy), Bruynzeel (Holland), Apa-Ferrario (Italy), Bosung (China), Pentel (Japan) ), Titi (Korea), Crayon.
Common Russian brands of pastels:
- Podolsk-Art-Center
- Sonnet
- Aqua-Color
- Range
Pastel pencils
This is a type of dry hard pastel in the form of ordinary pencils. Such pencils have a number of advantages:
- convenient to use,
- Allows for more precise strokes
- don't get your hands dirty.
Indispensable when drawing small details and creating, for example, smooth textured transitions when colors are mixed with pencils directly on paper. They are best used for depicting animals and portraits of people, because you can draw hairs and feathers to make them more similar to the original.
Pencil Manufacturers:
- Faber Castell
- Derwent
- Cretacolor
- Stabilo
All of them also differ in hardness, for example, the softest pencils are Conte. The hardest ones are from Faber Castell.
Oil pastel
Despite the fact that these crayons are also called pastel, this pastel has completely different qualities and, accordingly, methods of drawing.
Oil pastels are made from pigment with linseed oil by pressing. Her crayons are hard and kind of greasy to the touch. Over time, grease stains may even appear on works done with oil pastels.
Oil pastel chalks leave bright, crisp strokes. The colors don't mix well with each other. Pastel strokes are almost impossible to shade with your finger.
The colors in oil pastels are not as matte as those in dry pastels. Also, oil pastels differ from dry pastels in that they practically do not get dirty, finished drawings are more difficult to smear and they do not require fixation.
You can draw with oil pastels on any surface. It does not require special paper like dry paper.
In addition, oil pastels can be washed out. Blur and shade the oil pastel with a solvent (special or for oil paints). To do this, use a brush or shading (a special stick made of pressed paper) dipped in a solvent.
As a result, the drawing result will look like a painting oil paints, and not to work with dry pastels.
Manufacturers are basically the same as for dry pastels. The company is considered the best Sennelier.
Wax pastel
Wax pastels are created on the basis of wax (most often polymer) in combination with natural fillers.
Drawings made with wax crayons turn out juicy and bright.
Wax crayons can be used to draw on paper, cardboard and even glass. Wax pastels can be used in mixed media- Draw using watercolors or gouache. Since water does not adhere to such pastels, using such crayons you can draw in the techniques of sgraffito, stained glass enamel, encaustic and frottage.
Wax crayons are similar in appearance to oil crayons. What's the difference?
Most often, wax crayons are a cheap material for children. They are harder than oil pastels, so they don't stain your hands. In the professional field, oil pastels are mainly used.
Watercolor pastel
Watercolor pastels also have a waxy, wet texture.
But this is a unique material. It combines all the advantages of pastel, and at the same time it contains water-soluble components.
A drawing made with such pastel is similar to an oil pastel drawing. However, it can be washed out and turned into watercolor!
If you have dealt with watercolor pencils, you will understand the principle of operation of watercolor crayons. Unlike pencils, crayons are softer and brighter, they cover large surfaces more easily and blur.
Thus, the same word, , can mean completely different crayons.
I hope that after this article you will no longer be mistaken in choosing the pastel you need!
I will be glad to see your comments and will be very grateful for your reposts!
Italian drawing technique: watch the free video!