Pastels are one of the most direct and flexible ways to begin working with color. Neither paint nor pencil, they offer a unique middle ground between drawing and painting. If you’re just starting out and looking for a medium that invites hands-on exploration without a steep learning curve, pastels would certainly fit the bill.

Why Pastels?

Pastels are often overlooked, but they offer several advantages:

• Immediate color: There’s no brush or palette to get in the way. You apply pigment directly to the surface.
• No drying time: What you see is what you get, instantly. No lightening or darkening.
• Layering and blending: You can work in thin layers or build bold color. You can blend with your fingers or leave visible strokes.
• Portable: No water, solvents, or elaborate setup required.

Pastels are well suited for landscapes, portraits, still life, and abstract work alike. They can be expressive or precise, depending on your approach.

What You’ll Need to Begin

You don’t need much to start. A few basics will let you experiment and learn what suits you:

A cloth or smock: Pastels are dry and dusty, so expect a bit of mess.

A small set of soft pastels: Start with 12–24 colors. Student-grade brands like Mungyo or Faber-Castell are fine for beginners. You can expand later.

Pastel paper: Regular paper won’t hold pastel well. Look for paper with a “tooth” — textured enough to grip the pigment. Canson Mi-Teintes is a common starting point.

Fixative (optional): A spray fixative can help preserve your work, but it’s not essential at first.

Getting Started

Choose a simple subject. A piece of fruit, a horizon, a single tree — anything that allows you to focus on shape, value, and color. In subsequent posts, we’ll explore a few of the best and simplest ideas to get you started, if you feel at a loss at this point.

The general way to begin is by lightly sketching your composition with a pastel pencil or a neutral stick. Then block in large areas of color. You work from general to specific, layer upon layer.

You can blend with your fingers, a tissue, or not at all. There’s no single “correct” technique, but there are plenty of craft skills in pastels for you to learn from and build upon. The goal early on is to become familiar with how the pastels behave.

A Medium Worth Exploring

Pastels reward both careful planning and spontaneous gestures. They’re suitable for quick sketches or fully developed works. You can build a surface slowly or capture an impression in minutes. This versatility is what makes them an appealing medium for beginners.

If you’re looking for a tactile, intuitive way to work with color, pastels are worth a try.