I've been feeling the urge to play with color a bit. I'd like to stick to one medium because of cost/space and not wanting to spread myself to thin. I also kinda wanna stick to dry medium.. I'm really torn between playing around with Soft Pastels or Color Pencils..

My feeling is color pencil would be more precise and uumm well "tight" I guess is the word that comes to mind.. While Pastels seem a bit loose and free form.. now I don't know... my perception could be totally wrong! lol

Anyway.. anyone have any insights or experiences to share that might help me make up my mind?

I think in the long run it will just depend on what you would like to draw.

Colored pencil is generally lighter in overall value than pastels. Pastels can have a very strong saturation if desired although they can also be used in a light manner.

Colored pencil can be very tight as far as clean, hard edges but similar results can be achieved with soft pastel pencils.

Pastels blend very easily. Colored pencil does blend but in a much different way.

Pastels are generally considered a drawing medium when used in a linear or what you probably think of as tight technique and a painting medium when used to obtain a more painterly effect such as watercolor or an impressionistic style, etc.

Hope this helps some.

That certainly does help.. my thanks for your time..

I really don't have any experience in either.. never touched a pastel before.. so any information that helps me get a feel for the mediums is much appreciated..

I tried both pastels and pencils some time ago.
It depends on what you want to do. But if you have a clean and tidy house DON'T go pastels. They're very, very messy (at least in my experience). Even oil paints were much cleaner.

Thanks for the topic and the info... I have been thinking about trying one of these mediums... I think I'll try pastels though... I like the painterly effect! I saw a still life that someone did recently in a drawing challenge...it was wonderful!

Think I'm kinda leaning towards Pastels as well.. not to say I won't ever try color pencils..

Since I'm already working with graphite I think the Pastels will be a nice change up.. something I can just kinda bust out on, if that makes sense..

just a suggestion, go to the degas society web page. it will list members web pages and then you can go to their individual sites and see what amazing things are possible, both tight and loose, with pastels. steven

As somebody who has worked for the past year with colored pencils, oil pastels, tempera, watercolor I would say that deciding beforehand which medium is for you is not possible if you take yourself seriously as an artist.
One cannot judge by the mess or cleaness of a medium which medium is for him/her for the simple reason that we tend to have different abilities, likes and dislikes in working with media once we experience that media for a significant period of time.Only the result of our work can decide which is that color medium in which you excell or have better chances of artistic expression.
Every medium has its beauty and to discover this one needs to work with it and learn how to control it.Colored pencils are very precise and can take you to painting like results but is known to be the most difficult of dry media.Oil pastels are messy but the beauty and satisfaction they produce in working with them and the final results are a pro, at least for me.
They are also different worlds of expressing yourself as an artist and practice with both can tell you what skills you really have or need to develop.

Here as an example is a rose i did in Colored pencils, oil pastels and watercolor.
colored pencils


oil pastels


watercolor


Each work was a different experience and it's hard to say which one is the one. At least for me.

Hi Elena, you bring up some very good points... i am sure that dlewis was wondering which to try next... as I am! I hope to try all kinds of mediums... but I've seen some lovely pastels lately! Right now I am learning charcoal techniques, so I assuming, maybe incorrectly that the techniques will be similar?
I get so excited seeing all the medias to try...I have so many half baked creative ideas to express myself with that I wish I had all the time in the world( and money!) to play!
Thanks for sharing your roses... all three styles are lovely!

I checked out the degas society webpage as per your suggestion... thanks for that... great site!

I scored a set of 30 rembrandt pastels on ebay for $16.. so looks like the pastels get the first go around..

thanks for sharing your roses... a good demonstration of each medium..

the images on Degas are truly inspiring... and breathtaking..

tannis and dlewis, thanks.Tannis the charcoal is only similar in feel with conte, sepia and sanguine pencils but as technique I guess it is unique. Most of all because you don't go from white page to dark but from dark(charcoal covered page to shades, light and shadow).For charcoal work and topic see this thread charcoal drawing

The rembrandt pastels are a good buy. I guess that i am also interested to try art with pastel pencils, this time. I saw some awesome pet portraits done in pastel pencils.

Hi, as a beginner myself I won´t do any suggestion. I also think that every one has its own preferences after trying different mediums. But I can just share with you my own experience. And that is that I prefer the soft pastels. I find that, for me, the colored pencils are too hard, to difficult to blend and you really have to me very patient... As for the pastels, although they are indeed very messy, I love the smoothness, the way they easily blend, the vibrant colors, all the defined or blurred effects they can create! And it feels so good to get all your fingers dirty!! It´s a wonderful experience!...
I want to tell you also that to create pastel works you can use not only the pastel sticks but also pastel pencils for a more precise and detailed work (I did not know that when I first tried soft pastels!). I am still waiting for my first set of pastel pencils to have a try on it... Meanwhile, you can also check some tutorials in soft pastels on YouTube! You have plenty to choose from!

Regards,
Sonia.

Hi,

I have been drawing with coloured pencils quite a lot and I like the way you can make very realistic drawings with that wedia.

I have only tested pastel media but I really think pastel drawings are wunderful and special. I chosed not to continue because I often have an apple or something to chew on while drawing. I also draw in the same room where I sleep. The pastels are very poisonous and you must wash your hands, and everything that has pastel dust on it, very carefully. And since the pastel dust moves everwhere some artists wear a protective mask to cover mouth and nose. So be extra careful with it. And don't let children and pets be around.

AnnKristin

Wow! I did not know we had to be that careful with pastels!
Great to read you post! Thanks!

I did a bit of research regarding pastels and Sonia it sounds like the soft pastels are probably the way to go.. lots of colors to choose from, but I think you could add a bit of pencil for detail work. There are a multitude of techniques... and grounds to experiment with. I was also reading about oil pastels and that you can blend with a cotton bud and turpentine... seemed pretty cool. I think that the type of pastel and the techniques you use should really be determined by the subject you are drawing and the mood or feeling that you are trying to express...

Yes, dear Tannis! That´s what I like mostly about pastels. Their amazing colors and the flexibility of the medium. You can have a variety of techniques with it... But of course I have to learn them first!

HERE is a tip a local artist passed onto to me as to how she works with pastels. She said to tip your board forward slightly and then she makes a trough with paper taped to the bottom of the board.

Tannis,
Another alternative might be watercolour pencils - then you can blend with pure water and you get (apparently) something that looks very like a watercolour painting. not that I've tried it.
D

Oh, I have also ordered watercolor pencils, besides the pastel pencils. I want to try everything! ;p

I bought on a Swiss flight in Europe a set of 35 watercolor pencils Caran d'ache and here is the work i did, first example dry, then wet.





From the second example you notice the vividness of the watercolor version, simply by adding water with a brush.

I like both... they look like they blend nicely dry as well!

actually the brand is one of the best in colored pencils. The Swiss are famous for top quality art supplies.

Your examples are great, Elena! Such vivid and vibrant colors and it´s amazing the effect after adding the water!
I don´t know anything about brands yet, so I just ordered "Marino Watercolor Pencils" and "Cretacolor Pastel Pencils". I hope they´re ok for my first experience!

Sonia, they say that colored pencils should be of the best quality possible as the cheap ones have lots of wax that makes blending difficult.Maybe it's true but i saw more experienced artists than me creating awesome art with cheap supplies.So the answer is also the artist's hand and techique.
Even if i worked relatetively little with colored pencils this past year(I used to love this medium in my school years and worked in it a lot between 6-15 years old) I could reach a decent level of depth in this tomato with Roseart colored pencils which are famous for being waxy and cheap quality, 72 pieces for 10 dollars. here is my tomato in which I invested about 4 hours of work and more than 7 layers of pigment.



Another 4 hours work also in Roseart, this time a portrait.



Once you learn how to control colored pencils is so simple to create very sharp looking painting-like art. The thing I don't like about them is the patience you need to invest and the amount of time. So this could be another factor in deciding the medium of choice.

Pastels are quicker and smoother .

Truly stunning!! The tomato looks real! Well, if you say you did this with cheap colored pencils, than I will be more confident trying the ones I ordered! And I totally agree with you about patience, when we´re dealing with pencils!!

Ok, so I finally bought some pastels, I bought a set of 15 colors-Rembrandt... and also some pastel pencils. Here is my very first attempt at using them. This is the vase that I drew from real life in Unit 5 perspective week 4. The idea was to use a sighting technique to get the proportions of a simple object.

Go Tannis!

You're a regular little art machine!

Nice work... what size is this?

Thank you.. it's an 8.5 x 11

I have been playing with my pastels, yes they are a bit messy, but not nearly as bad as I expected. I have been using a drop cloth, so that helps a bit. I really like working with soft pastels, so expressive, no erasing, just creating, building up layers and trying to provide as much detail and texture as I can. Here is the latest. It is a drawing of the area that my husband and I go to quite often. It is a backcountry lodge at the base of Mt Assiniboine in Alberta. We fly in by helicopter, stay a couple of days in a cabin , then hike out. I did this one as a Christmas gift for my husband.

Nice work!
What a great sounding vacation!

wow - tannis, that`s a wonderful masterpiece

I think hubby is going to be very happy

great work

Thanks everyone... I think he'll like it