This is a third article about sketching materials. The previous articles were about Markers for Product Sketching and Pencils for Product Sketching.
Pastel is a stick, consisting of pure powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments that are used in pastels are the same as those used to produce all colored art media. The binder has a neutral hue and low saturation.
Pastels are often used to create gradients, or covering large areas such as backgrounds. They express light reflection on shiny or transparent surfaces – glass, metal.
Pastel is perfect for imitating such materials as ceramics, wood, different metals, glass, plastic.
Basic equipment working with pastel
- Pastel basic colors – black, white, blue, green, red, yellow and brown;
- Talcum powder (baby powder);
- Cotton wool;
- White paper sheet;
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Blending Tools
- Cotton wool – create a very sweeping type blend. It blends very good and creating a fresh color look;
- Watercolor brush – it is a fluffy brush that you can buy in all art stores. It sweeps away all of the excess pigment and leaves a very thin layer of pastel creating a soft look.
- Finger – you can do soft blends with fingers or you can blend the pigment into oblivion. Fingers are also great to create transparent materials.
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Application
To achieve an evenly filled surface:
- Draw past the lines of a part, using an eraser to remove redundant pastel;
- Mask off the area before adding the pastel.
Create the impression of a lit or shiny surface:
- Erase the pastel from the area where the lit is meant to be.
- Use a white pastel to create luster.
- A white pencil creates a perfect gloss with the thin tip.
For smooth application
Scrap pastel blocks to obtain a powder, mixed with a talcum powder (baby powder) and then applied with a soft pad or cotton wool. Apply it as a gradient from bottom to left to top right in straight strokes.
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Tips:
- Pastel powders of different hues can be mixed to create the desired shade;
- When applying pastel powder, don’t try to rub it in the paper too hard because it might be difficult to erase the color later;
- Usually, markers are applied first and then pastels on top of the marker layer;
- The work with pastel powder is dusty and avoid from getting powder all over you sketch.
- A finished sketch has to be sprayed with a varnish so that pastels won’t smudge anymore.
