What are soft pastels?

soft pastels are colored draw sticks, sometimes resembling crayons that contain pigment and binding agent that keep the pastel together. For soft pastels, the binding agent is minimal, so they can be mixed or blurred on the drawing. Drawings made of soft pastels do not hold well if the drawing is then covered with a fixation agent or fixation.

There are several forms of pastels. Hard pastels contain a higher amount of binding agent, which is also not mixed. They are often used in combination with soft pastels when the artist wants to draw fine details. Oil pastels are soft, with a slightly wax feeling. These are commonly used in children's works of art, because you do not have to use a fixation substance for the finished product. Children often love them because they can easily blur or mix colors and come to a wide range of colors. After using oil pastels, you must make sure that the hands are thoroughly washed or furniture surfaces.

Using pastels in art, Leonardo da Vinci discussed for the first time and is proposed that some early pastel art will not survive. For soft pastels or hard pastels to work suitably and withstand, they must be used on paper or canvas without acids. Special papers and canvases are formulated for soft pastel drawings. Some extraordinary works have been made with pastels that are particularly popular for their bright colors. The work of 1910 Mary Cassat Sleepy Baby is a beautiful example of working with soft pastels.

Edgar Degas was known for his pastel work. It should be noted that Degas and Cassat were often criticized using colors that were too clear in their work because they used soft pastels and hard pastels. Early artists who worked with pastels in the 18th century (Degas and Cassat were 19 and at the beginning of the 20th century Artists) include Rosalba Carrier, Jean Baptiste Simeon Chardin and Maurice Quentin de la Tour. James McNeillWhistler was also a fan of soft pastel media.

Many companies produce pastels, some relatively expensive for professional artists. If you are interested in examining the soft pastel form, you can buy amateur or “student class”. Student soft pastels have a slightly higher price than wax crayons, about $ 3-4 US dollars (USD) for set 12 and about $ 5-6 for a set of 32-36. Soft pastels for the quality of the artist can be slightly more daunting prices, from about $ 20-100 for full sets.