I found a little box of oil pastels in the basement; 10 colors. Did this sketch, no reference, in about 10 minutes. I think I'm in love!
[attachmentid=9667]
(Yeah, I know it's not much to look at, but look at those colors! And in ten minutes! Sure beats the heck out of colored pencils... Now I have to buy a bigger box of these things...)

they look like they cover much smoother.. but what about drying..do you seal this kind of work? do they dry completely? i have just started experiementing with colors of different types..and they look very bright and seem to blend nicely

I love oil pastels 2
I have some questions:
- how did u manage to blend them?
- how did u obtain that color for the skin tone? (i also have a box of 10 oil pastels, but i need to mix about 3 colors to get that tone and in your drawing it doesn't look like that)




they're dry and very soft, like crayons

This was a very "hands-on" piece of work: I blended with my fingertips as I worked, and got all messy The pastels smeared very nicely on the fairly smooth drawing paper I used.

The ten colors in my box included a peachy flesh tone and a terra-cotta sort of reddish brown. The five colors that make up the skin here are those two, a little red, some black, and the white of the paper for the highlights.

My wife says this box belonged to her Mom at one time, and they're over 30 years old (which should be obvious, as the price -- 49 cents -- is printed on the box!) I went out today and bought a new set of 25 colors.

looking forward to seeing some fantastic pieces with this medium from you soon

Hey Ernest, You know they do make oil colored pencils that work the same? LOL

I have 24 oil pastels and I know two ways to blend them:
blending with fingertips,
tissue works well for light values,
using turpentine or white spirit, you can achieve effects similar to oil painting, tempera, or even watercolours.

Turpentine or white spirit worked well for me.

Tip: Scan the picture then take it away. I left one for about 10 minutes under the scanner and it smeared the glass bed

Better you than me Ernest - cannot get oil pastels to behave at all - am a dusty and will just stick with my soft pastels.

Great work though!

There are some people that use a blending medium called 'Zest-It' ( I think) and it comes from the UK - its a citrus base rather than using turps etc that can affect a lot of people. I think some pencil folk use it too.

Sue

Now I am interested too. Venus, do you mean the Derwent Colorsoft pencils? I have a box of 12, but have not used them very much. Ernest, I am so glad you are in love again!!

Judyvan

I've got a box of 51 oil pastels, but I can't seem to do much with them. They were bought in a home decoration store and they were very very cheap, 1.99€ so I'm afraid they must not have good quality, or maybe its just me. Anyway after seeing your posts I think I'l try them again and try to blend with my fingers...maybe I'l manage something. I never had used this kind of medea before, maybe I just need some lessons

Ernest, its good to be in love no matter for what...enjoy

Judy, actually no, the Derwent Colorsoft pencils are wax based. I have a set of 60 Faber-Castell Polychromos and they are oil based, and here shortly I will have a set of 72 Lyra oil based colored pencils. They are on sale through Jerry's Artarama.com for 69.99 for the whole month of April. After trying the cheap version of 24 Walnut Hollow oil pencils I became in love with them, as well as Derwents Colorsofts. They break and last longer than Prismacolors.

OK, oil pastel drawing number two. My new set of pastels, same technique. A little under an hour.
[attachmentid=9691]
Anybody know how you "sharpen" these things?

very nice job Ernest on the two drawings ... i have used pastels the soft and I love the way they lay down the color .. I did a horses eye and a purple flower and was very pleased .. nice job.