Tips for Using Oil Pastels.
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That works!
If you're using colored paper, just using a strong white for your base layer will protect the area, too.Remember that you always have that option, of using any color for a base layer. It will generally serve to protect the paper from stain or bleed by another color. Say you want a moon in a dark blue sky: better to scribble in some white in the general area you plan to put the moon, then build your sky colors around it. You can easily add soft yellow, gray or any other color to your white moon later on - easier to do that than try to get a strong white over a layer of dark blue.
Even if you decide not to have a moon later, white is more easily covered.
A base color can be covered, too, then revealed later by scratching off the added layers with a scraping tool. You learn which brands play well together for techniques like that.
kenny91
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Use paper towels to keep your oil pastel sticks clean and free of other colors. Oil pastels are a very vibrant medium. Try to keep the individual sticks clean as you work. Moreover, there is a tip for you that you can blend the oil pastels by pre-blending in a palette or directly on the paper of canvas. Apply colors next to each other on the canvas, and then take a brush or cotton tip and dip it into some oil in order to blend the colors
sundiver
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To add to Terri's great advice, with oil paints and soft pastels, a common method is to start with darks and add lights later, but that's very difficult with oil pastels and often results in chalky, muddy color. With textured paper, like sanded paper, you can sometimes get away with it by rubbing the dark into the paper so you'll have something to grip the lighter colors. Or, if you want to put in darks first you can use a medium like watercolor that won't fill in the tooth. (Again, that works more easily with textured surfaces)
robertsbuford
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Oil pastels are a very unique painting medium. One thing you need to make sure when you use oil pastels is to keep them clean. So clean your debris. You can do it with tissue paper of the same pastel color.
laika
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Very good advice. I get it in my head that i'm wasting my oil pastels if I clean them, so I try to find a clean area of the tip to use and invariably get unintended colors on my painting.
Welcome, btw
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I waste a lot because I like to keep one side of the OP flat, so I can use it on its side for a thin line. The only way to "sharpen" for a flat end that I'm aware of is to simply rub it multiple times over some slightly textured scrap paper. Works great! - but it does leave a lot of OP on the paper.Very good advice. I get it in my head that i'm wasting my oil pastels if I clean them, so I try to find a clean area of the tip to use and invariably get unintended colors on my painting.
Welcome, btw
robertsbuford
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I found a list of best oil pastels for those who need it: https://www.artnyfair.com/best-oil-pastels/
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Nice enough article, though badly in need of a proof reader: "Oil pastels are less messy to use compared to oil pastels."
But I do appreciate that it's directed towards beginners and those on a budget, as OPs can be a difficult medium to approach.
My tips:
1) Play -- err, experiment -- with them. See what other people do, and try it for yourself.
2) Get a color pusher – handy to move the OP into that tight spot.
3) If a fine line is really needed, flatten the other (non-working) end of the pastel, and use the edge, rolling the pastel to get the line.
--Rich
1) Play -- err, experiment -- with them. See what other people do, and try it for yourself.
2) Get a color pusher – handy to move the OP into that tight spot.
3) If a fine line is really needed, flatten the other (non-working) end of the pastel, and use the edge, rolling the pastel to get the line.
--Rich
Thanks, Rich, good tips!
My tips:
1) Play -- err, experiment -- with them. See what other people do, and try it for yourself.
I'm still working at learning to do that. I get way too involved: Can't just dash something off- have to have it RIGHT
I have a ton of colors (and even oil bars) so only my need to finish, to take something as far as I can, gets in my way...
I ought to do some timed pieces --a few minutes, not a few hours--to help me get into it.
2) Get a color pusher – handy to move the OP into that tight spot.
Color pushers are really helpful. I use one in oil painting, too.
3) If a fine line is really needed, flatten the other (non-working) end of the pastel, and use the edge, rolling the pastel to get the line. --Rich
Good idea.
I also work to keep one end flat to use for broad strokes.
My tips:
1) Play -- err, experiment -- with them. See what other people do, and try it for yourself.
I'm still working at learning to do that. I get way too involved: Can't just dash something off- have to have it RIGHT
I have a ton of colors (and even oil bars) so only my need to finish, to take something as far as I can, gets in my way...
I ought to do some timed pieces --a few minutes, not a few hours--to help me get into it.
2) Get a color pusher – handy to move the OP into that tight spot.
Color pushers are really helpful. I use one in oil painting, too.
3) If a fine line is really needed, flatten the other (non-working) end of the pastel, and use the edge, rolling the pastel to get the line. --Rich
Good idea.
I also work to keep one end flat to use for broad strokes.
My sympathy. My wife and I would play Pictionary with friends. I'd scribble something to communicate the idea. DW would still be working on the details in the upper corner, with nothing else done!
She's better at the details than I, however. Timed sketches should help, so should large pastels - can't get too detailed with them! The other thing may be to tell yourself that it's just preliminary work, that you'll do the details later.
Let us know how these methods work out.
--Rich
gleichnertheodo
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Oil pastels are a very unique painting medium. You can paint as you would with regular pastels, but you can also do things like use solvents and blend colors with a brush. You can mix oil paint with oil pastels, but the oil paint must be painted first. You can draw on different types of paper such as colored or toned paper, Canvas, Pastelbord Wood Hardboard, and Mixed Paper. Plus, there's a tip that I really like: having tissues on hand can help keep things clean. This also helps avoid unwanted smudges on the artwork caused by messy hands. And paper towels can also be used to wipe oil crayon tips if they are cross-contaminated with other colors during storage and use.
Welcome, GL! I hope it's okay to call you that! Thanks for your input! I don't use solvents, but do use walnut oil with them at times. The walnut oil will dry, even as the ops don't.
I haven't been doing any painting for a while., esp with the oil pastels. I find that somehow I manage to get it on the floors, and as I can't get it up, I will have to use them outside, I think. I haven't used my oil bars for the same reason.
I haven't been doing any painting for a while., esp with the oil pastels. I find that somehow I manage to get it on the floors, and as I can't get it up, I will have to use them outside, I think. I haven't used my oil bars for the same reason.
gleichnertheodo
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