Getting Started with Pastels: Materials for Beginners

All soft pastel painters have their own ideas on beginner friendly pastel materials. Here are mine.

My first introduction into pastels was in a drawing II class in undergrad. We needed to purchase a set of 48 Nupastels by Prismacolor.?

However, I never had the chance to use them. I ended up dropping the class. It was due to my teacher having super strict attendance policies.

If you are thinking about going to school for art, there are certain attendance policies. And you will get teachers who are super cool about the attendance policy. And you will get teachers who go overboard.?

Anyways, I had this set of Nupastels that sat in a box for over five years. I picked them up at a point in my life where I wanted to figure out a more cohesive portfolio. At this time I felt lost dabbling in all kinds of mediums and subject matter. One of my mentors had told me to pick one medium and one subject matter and stick it out for 6 months at least.?

So I picked soft pastels and landscapes, and here we are.?

A couple of things before we get to the good stuff.

I chose soft pastel because I figured out that I like textures. When I look at art, I’m drawn to textures. Both implied and physical textures. I would ask myself how another artist made certain textures. It could be the textures in grasses or clouds or the hair in a portrait. If you find yourself drawn to textures, then I highly suggest you try soft pastels.

There is something so raw and intrinsic about holding a pastel stick in your hand. It’s difficult for me now to pick up a brush over a stick.?

Also, soft pastels are the most versatile medium you will ever learn. Because of this I believe they get a bad reputation as being difficult. You can wet pastels or use them dry. You can draw with them and you can paint with them. You can use them on top of other mediums. You can use soft pastels on almost any surface. And you can add almost any extender to soft pastels. If you learn soft pastels it makes learning any other medium easier in my opinion. I really don’t think pastels are difficult, they are just different and misunderstood.?

That being said, it can be overwhelming to pick up soft pastels for the first time. So here are materials that I believe make learning soft pastels easier and enjoyable.?

• Hard Pastel Sticks (Nupastel by Prismacolor set of 48)
• Soft Pastel Sticks (Sennelier Landscape Plein-Air set of 30 half sticks)
• Uart Paper pack of 10 sheets (any grit grade, but a neutral to light color like tan)?AND/OR
• Pastel Premier Paper in Italian clay color

Soft pastels are different from chalk pastels and oil pastels, so I recommend the pastels above for overall quality. You don’t want a “student” grade soft pastel or “generic” brand from Hobby Lobby. These pastel do not work well and you will have application problems and end up not enjoying the experience.?

Soft pastels come in different densities from hard to soft. However, I rarely use a medium density pastel. I mainly use hard stick pastel like Nupastel or soft pastel like Sennelier. I’m able to achieve all kinds of textures with just these two densities.?

You can purchase smaller sets of both. However, smaller sets typically lack neutral and dark colors. The sets mentioned above give you a good variety.?

Uart paper is a sanded surface. Yes, like sand paper in a hardware store. However, Uart paper comes in a variety of grit grade and is made for soft pastel. DO NOT use pastel on sand paper from the hardware store. You will eat up your pastel stick and have a dusty mess. Uart paper is versatile in that you can wet your pastel layer and it will hold up. It’s best to use this paper if you like to blend your pastels. If so you need Styrofoam (packing peanuts, pool noodle, pipe foam insulation) to blend the initial big layers. You can use your finger, but after a while the sanded surface will grind on your skin. Best to use your fingers for finer softer blending.?

Pastel Premier Paper is also a sanded surface. I like to use this paper to just build layer upon layer of pastel without blending. You can blend on the surface, but you don’t have to. I have wet my pastel on this surface, but I personally didn’t like it. But you might, so experiment. Overall, if you just want to keep things simple, with the least amount of tools or underpainting, then give this paper a try.?

You are going to want a sanded surface for painting with soft pastel, especially if your subject matter is landscapes. I first tried soft pastel on watercolor paper. It’s not bad, but you do not get many layers. The reason being is because the tooth of the paper fills up fast from the dust pigment of the pastel. You won’t be able to push yourself as far. You won’t be able to get certain textures either. And the more layers you try to add when the tooth is filled ends up muddying the colors. You can make your own sanded surface on watercolor paper, but I don’t think that is beginner friendly.?

Sanded paper makes all the difference. Plus it opens your world up to the various surfaces there are. If a painting is not turning out the way you want, 80% of the time it’s due to the surface you are using. So don’t be afraid to try an array of sanded papers and smooth papers.

You’ll notice that I didn’t add fixative to the list of pastel materials. That’s because they are not beginner friendly in my opinion. Plus, you often will not need one for a final seal. If you are painting on a sanded surface, many brands like to promote that there is no fixative required. And I have found this to be true. You will always need to put your finished pastel painting behind glass to prevent smearing. All the fixatives out there will not completely prevent smearing. Additionally, most fixatives dull and darken the colors of pastels. If you are going to use a fixative, practice on a painting that you do not care much about. I have found only one fixative that I like to use on a final piece, but I’ll explain that later.?

I tried to keep the beginner list as simple as possible. All you really need is a couple sets and quality paper to get started. Soft pastels are so fun and I hope you enjoy them.

If you do create a pastel painting I’d love to see what you are working on. Feel free to reach out anytime. Especially if you are stuck with certain pastel materials.?

Soft pastels are so fun and I hope you enjoy them.

PS...If you want pastel video lessons, feel free to check out my Buy Me A Coffee membership area

This post contains affiliate links to materials that I have tried and enjoy. If you purchase materials from these links I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.