Q&A for How to Paint With Pastels

Try layering them and blending them with a brush that's dipped in a little bit of mineral spirits, turpentine, linseed oil, or walnut oil. You can also try to optically mix them like you would with chalk pastels by putting one color next to another or overtop.

Both soft and oil pastels are great choices--it's just a matter of personal preference. Try both to find what works best for you and your current project.

The quality of your soft pastels will determine whether they will or won't fade. And, yes, you can use hairspray to seal your work.

You can, but quality won't be as good as you would get by painting on special paper.

The brown surface you are referring to may be a sanded pastel paper, such as the U-Art Pastel paper. Or even a pastel board.

There are multiple types of fixatives: workable and final. Final completely seals the painting and should be used as advertised. Personally, what I do in such a situation is either turn the work upside down so the dust doesn't fall onto the bottom half, or lay it flat and blow away from the lighter bits.

Some artists use oil pastels to draw out their sketch or "paint" the underlayer before going over with oil paints on a piece. I don't know much about putting oil pastels over oil paints though.

Some people like to use it for blending, but it is not compulsory, as your hands or any other blending tool work just the same.

Yes, it will work. However, make sure your painting dries before applying the pastels.

Yes, just don't overdo the fixative, as it will cause the colors to bleed due to saturation and drip.

No. The pastel forms a barrier to the watercolor, which then can't soak into the paper. Watercolor needs to be able to reach the watercolor paper in order to "stick."

Yes, you can. You can draw on any kind of paper/canvas, and as long as you use fixative, it should all be fine.

You can plan your painting by working side to side or top to bottom. In other words, working across the paper in one direction. Or, you can use a sheet of glassine paper to lay on top of your work while painting different sections. Those are only two of numerous ways.

They are not. You will need to use the same mediums oil paintings use, like turpentine, linseed oil, cold wax, galkyd, and more. Apply these materials with a brush used for oil painting to the pastel. Paper won’t be sufficient to stand up to the various oils and therefore most artists will use a different mounted surface, such as canvas or prepared wood. Soft pastels can be water soluble, but not every brand has this feature and the pigment “floats” on top of the water. Stabilo CarbOthello pencil pastels, Sennelier soft pastel, Caran d’Ache Neocolour II (not technically soft pastel but more of a wax), Unison, and more.

Not at all. You can practice your skills using any medium that you’re comfortable using. The best way to learn drawing is to practice fundamental drawing skills to achieve a sense of realism and to understand the principles of design. Black and white is easier to work in because you can see all the tonal changes that make up a piece (light hi-lights; medium and mid-tones; dark shadows) and create a nice sense of balance (squinting your eyes while looking at your subject helps pick apart those values to draw). With colour you will have to think about temperature, tone, value, and shade.

Try a clear oil pastel blender; it’s an oil pastel without pigment. Sennelier and other brands make them.