Pan pastels and which colours to start with

1

Good morning. I just watched Matts lovely you tube lesson of his pencil drawing of a snowy scene. He used pan pastels as an underpainting. As i cant afford to spend too much at the moment does anyone have advice with which basic colours to start with? Im guessing primary colurs plus black and white? Thank you :blush:

1 Like
2

Hi @mand Mandy -

I went and looked what I have, and it is “20 Color Set Painting Pure Colors.” I don’t even think these are available anymore.

Then I went to Blick to see what they cost - YIKES. They are really expensive. $140.39 for a set of 20.

Because of the price (I don’t remember paying that much, but I must have) I’d maybe think about buying some good quality soft pastels (like Rembrandt) instead.

I personally don’t use the pan pastels much, mainly just for backgrounds when I do use them.

At Blick, a set of Rembrandt Soft Pastel, 15 assorted colors (full sticks) are $62.21. They could do backgrounds nicely but could be used for drawing also. Much more versatile and really quality product that is nice to use.

If you need to cut the price even more, for the Rembrandt soft pastel - a set of 5 half sticks are $8.06 and you could buy the color range that best suits your specific project.

I’m interested what others here think.

Terri Robichon

3

Thank you so much for investigating prices Terri and for your advice. I do have stick pastels but they are not soft ones like Rembrant. If will look into the half sticks :slightly_smiling_face:

1 Like
4

Glad I could help.

Terri Robichon

5

The primary colors. is a go start

1 Like
6

In addition to what already has been said:

Pan pastels come in with a limited palette of main colors. Each main color is provided with lighter and darker versions.

On YouTube, I have learned and double checked myself, that to the lighter version white had been added only and black for the darker versions.

In a nutshell: middle values of your favorite colors along with white and black should do it, if you want to stick with pan pastels.

I got me a set of around 20 colors at a time, I didn’t know this fact and believed you need them all … And before I got Rembrandt soft pastels, which I started to really love. For details, I do have quite some pastel pencils.

Buddy

1 Like