All My soft (chalky) Pastels: Stick, Pans & Pencils (A Shameful Amount Folks) 

Why do you need to explain yourself? Just be you, you are good at what you do, just because you got a lot of stuff doesn't mean you are bragging, just means everything sparks joy which is a good thing. And that's something to keep in mind it sparks joy and you love them. Never explain yourself or down grade what you have. Just be thankful and humble and honest. You are an amazing teacher and you deserve the large amount. Just be you. Thanks for everything.

Chalk pastels are one of those things that just look beautiful sitting there! Like you don't even have to use them, just stick them in a container and they are pretty! LOL

I'm amazed at the different sounds the pastels made as you used them. "I'm a bit of an art supply hoarder." Slight understatement, but good for us as you have a breadth of knowledge about the different companies that most of us will never have. It's part of what makes you such a treasure; your experience with a multitude of different brands of the same products. No need to apologize about the background noises; you are in a basement after all. Thanks for another wonderful video. I learn so much from watching you Lindsay!

This is such a great video series! My heart is super happy getting to watch and learn about all the different products out there, and how they perform. Keep them coming!!

For a beginner I can really recommend the Faber Castell 24 Mini Sticks from their Creative Studio line. They aren’t artist quality but I really like that their colour numbers match the other Faber Castell lines, like their artist grade PITT Pastel Pencils and Polychromos Pastel Sticks.

"Soft pastels brings out the beauty of the artist's imagination." Lynn🌹

Yep, the Faber Castell pastels have also reminded me of the Mungyo ones, and they are actually made in South Korea, so it could be. Several of their less expensive supplies are made outside of Germany, and it seems that out of their less expensive selection, it's only the pencils that are made in Germany. And I agree with you that Mungyo products are really pretty good for what you pay. Nice pastels, *really* nice oil pastels, and their watercolors are kinda weird but lot's of fun. I don't know what else they make, but if I find out, I will totally try it. Having looked a this, I really should get out my pastels again one of these days. I really like what pastels can do, so I used to work with them quite a bit, but I hate that powdery feel on my hands so much that I ended up putting them away one day and did not get them out again since. Probably time to check out some pan pastels.

I've always been a bit intimidated by pastels.... now I feel inspired to have a go. Thank you

A thought crossed my mind…you must have a really large basement Lindsay!! Watching your videos over the years I would have never guessed you had that many art supplies squirreled away! But I suspect you organize like my mom did.. she could put so much stuff in any given space in a very organized matter 👍 I have discovered she had very many oil pastel sets. I’ve not had a desire to try any pastel work UNTIL you made those little swipes of Pan Pastels. The stones you did had caught my eye, but this video really made me go “hmmmmm”. I’m going to try to resist though…I have SO MUCH watercolor paint and multiple wc pencils and crayons. And oh the colored pencil sets!!! Color gets me every time! Super enjoyed this comparison video!

I just bought a few different pastel products to try. This was a timely video for me! Thank you for sharing all the different ones, it’s good to have choices and you share what you have with us on your videos.

Fun to see all your pastels and get your recommendations on them, thanks Lindsay!

Clearly, you just need to start using your pastels more often, lol! I know I would enjoy seeing that! Seriously, thanks for sharing and comparing and your tidbits of info! Another joyful art supply share!

I’ve been thinking about soft pastels lately Lindsay so this was very timely. Thank you.

Such fun!!! I inherited a Bunch of pastels from my Mom. Including a set of Grumbacher dating back to her high school days. Also a set of Nu-Pastels, round, and labeled by Eberhard - Faber. And a tin of Conte pastel pencils. Of course I had already purchased a set of the Faber-Castel half sticks for myself. (FYI, got mine at Michaels with coupon for under $20). I've also acquired some Pan pastels. I'd gotten the metallics at a craft outlet store. They came with some of those soft tips but no handles. Had a chance to visit the Dick Block store in the Chicago Loop (kid in a candy store LOL). Right next to the handles, were several smaller sets on sale. So I bought the landscape set. It seemed the most useful. I've found your pastel tutorials very helpful since I don't know much. I only saw my Mom use her pastels twice. Mostly she painted. Yes. The Dick Blick on line is fine. But getting to play with things is more fun!!

Thank you so much it has made things a lot clearer. I have the creata colour pencils and a few sticks but I have been wondering about the pans. X

I just love your videos and your personality! Thank you for sharing them.

This is SO enjoyable to watch! If I can sneak in a recommendation,especially for any Europeans around here, koh-i-noor has a Toison d'or line of round pastels that I'm really enjoying (did my first painting in your soft pastel class with them) . They also have harder square pastels (Gioconda I think) but I haven't tried them personally, however, I've never been disappointed by a koh-i-noor product so far :)

I was so happy to see you had W&N pastels. My dad gave me a box of 72. A neighbor gave it to him. I really like them.

Another great video! I love looking through your crafty stash! So exciting and rewarding. Tfs.

Love you lindsay. It's so satisfying to see so many colorful pastels!

Thank you for this comparison, Lindsay! It was so interesting and thorough, as usual. I have some some soft pastels but I rarely use them. By looking at this video, I really want to play with them 😍

This was so full of eye candy!!! I only have the Faber Castell hard sticks, Carbothello pastel pencils and the Jane Davenportport Palette Pastels. Love all three!! I can use the JD palette pastels in the house, since there is little dust. The others I like to use outside on my picnic table in the nice weather because my area gets messy - but that makes them fun! I’d love to get Pan Pastels some day and I like your idea of using the JD ones to see what colors you use the most. Thanks for sharing. I may just watch this again for the eye candy colors!! Lol

I'm so glad that you mentioned your lessons site! Thank you! I will definitely be enrolling as soon as I get a little "extra" cash. So glad I got your channel recommended by RU-vid

The pan pastels are so vibrant. Thanks Lindsay for sharing your knowledge.

hmmmm, you truly are an artist who uses their supplies, plus you have a channel, plus you've been making art and videos about making art, for years. YOU get to have all the art supplies you want!! 💖 And if someone who doesn't really use what they purchase but they're not breaking the bank, then who cares, they too can do what they want.

Poppin pastels is the very first technique I learned as a card maker. It is still one of my favorites. Masculine, feminine, teen, elegant, western, baby, etc. This technique works for everything

Have loved pastels since my brother bought me a box at Christmas when I was 12. That was 47 years ago. Recently I’m enjoying pan pastels on Claire Fontaine pastelmat. The paper has a cellulose fiber that holds the powder I’d love to see you give it a try .I used to love a sanded paper with the pastel sticks but now prefer the pans and pastelmat. The funny thing is I got greedy and saw Holbeins “ pastel pencils” on eBay and the colors were gorgeous! I bought them and imagine my surprise when I opened them and they were colored pencils in pastel shades NOT pastel pencils. 🤦🏼‍♀️ oh well they’re still beautiful.

Very useful and informative 😊 it’s lovely seeing all the colors

Thank you Lindsey. I just started using pastels and your lesson was very helpful. Im a person crazy about rich colors and they fit the bill!

Loved this video! Thank you Lindsay 😊

You give us the best overviews. Thoughtful comparison. Thanks

I've been watching videos on miniatures and keep seeing your pastel storage boxes as dollhouse bookcases with books sorted by color.

I am setting up a studio in a new house soon, and might get some of those drawers. However, I got (on Amazon) a hardware storage set of drawers that you can singly pull out, close and have a handle on the front so you can carry them. I tend to keep my hard and soft ones in separate drawers. Blick makes a similar cheap, square pastels. Usually my better ones are Rembrandts which are really nice. I highly recommend Cretacolor’s colored charcoal. They are really like highly pigmented colored chalk but since they are huge they are great for big drawings or putting down the first layers. When I do my warm-up figure drawings on newsprint, they are ideal because they’re big & juicy. The Nupastels are what I was trained with, in art school - they can be sharpened to make incredibly detailed paintings.

I thoroughly enjoyed this video! Thank you!

I needed this! 😊

Thank you for a great review I don't have any of these. It was very helpful.

Yup, a shameful amount😱 so much fun! Thanks for all of the information.

I am a huge fan of yours, and I absolutely love this series. I am trying not to buy every new art supply that I see on RU-vid, and instead use what I have to create. These videos of you going through all the brands you have of a particular supply helps me evaluate what I already have to see what medium would be best for what I want to do. Thank you - I appreciate you.

I want the pan pastels because that chalk on my fingers would make me nutty. The 1st time I saw you use the pan pastels I was so excited because I never thought I could use pastels. Haven't bought any yet maybe one-day.

Confession. I'm an art supply horder too. 😄 Thank you for this pastel video.

These videos are very informative. Thanks!

Love this!

Love the comparison series can you please do acrylic paint, gouache paint and watercolour paints collections comparisons unsure of which ones to invest in ty for all the time and energy you put into your videos

Carbothello are the best pastel pencil!

I just got a set of 20 today in the UK of Panpastels Painting set . thank you for sharing

Pastels give me joy - I don't use them as often as I should, given how many sets I own, but I just love the colors and the feel of them. I recently purchased the Dawn Emerson set of PanPastels and so far have only swatched them out but I can't wait. What I find most interesting with PanPastels is that they are transparent, unlike stick pastels. Makes me think about trying to achieve something akin to watercolor using them. Maybe I'll experiment with that in a bit. Thanks for sharing!

Love your pastel tutorials! Hint hint :)

Lindsay, I was just having a conversation with someone about supplies that multiply like bunnies. 🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰. Seriously. I had been a craft hoarder who tried to save the best for special projects that never seemed to surface. I was always in practice mode...using the not do good stuff. One day I had that epiphany and realized that I could open a store. So I began the purge and only keeping and using the stuff that I loved the most. But that is when the “bunnies” began to multiply. The more that I gave away...the more that was gifted to me.....give it away again....gifted again...by total strangers too. I made things to sell for charity and the word got out as much as I had tried to keep it my own secret. So, I say all of this only to let you know that the more that you donate and offer your free services....those bunnies just keep going at it in your supply closet.🥴😳🙄😆

Thanks Lindsay. High on my wish list are pan pastels because less dust. When I switch mediums it takes me a bit to remember to reverse light to dark thinking to dark to light. I did get a 24 set of Cabothello stabilo pastel pencils then supplement with open stock derwent.😁👍💜

OMGee…I have a set of those Pebbles chalks too. I haven’t used them in a long time. They’re very pretty and stencil nicely.

I think for you to feel total atonement, you must relieve yourself of these burdens. I will email you my address. 🤣🤣🤣💕 P.S. My favorite medium is watercolor if you have any shame there as well.

LOL! I posted my comment right before you pulled out the Master's Touch. :)

Wonderful pastel tour. I randomly had an old Conte pencil in my art supplies and it felt SO BAD to use it, so scratchy, even after sharpening, I chucked it out. I wondered if it was dried out from being old. Great to know it's just how they are made and I wasn't the only one who disliked it!

Hi Lindsay….2023 comment here…as I’m interested in pastels now…. I bought that same set of Charvin a few months ago on Amazon. I was attracted to them bc they were so cheap…like $15? but didn’t look like it. (And I thought the box was so pretty.😌) I thought they were scratchy too…actually very scratchy and not near the quality of NuPastel, especially in the pigment load…although maybe a “cheap version” of NuPastels, like you say, but just barely IMHO. I did think the colors, thin pigment loads and all, were very pretty, though and then they were water-soluble, so that’s nice. But when I added water, I still wasn’t impressed. I’m gonna give them a few more go rounds on different papers and see what they’ll do. Thanks! 👍

Hi Lindsay. I love when you make videos like these. They are so helpful. Regarding the General's Pastel Pencils, do you know if they are lightfast or not, as that is my main unknown with regards to possibly buying a set?

OMG! I am over here, stuck in lockdown and can't get to my local art store and you are hoarding all those --- for the most part, UNUSED!!!! pastels. LOL! I am jealous. Wish your Mom would adopt me. ;)

Great video!! Thank you!!

I got the Royal Langnickel pastels from 5 Below in Augusta. Pretty good pastels for that price! I'm currently using them while watching this.

Great info! Thanks.

Can you do a review of the Master Touch Pastel Colored Pencil. My husband got them for me as a Christmas present. Please add thank you.

I've recently taken up the hobby of repainting plastic and fiberglass mannequin heads. I use soft pastels to mimic makeup, but I have a very hard time getting color to stick. (I prep the surface with Mr. Super Clear.) Very interesting video.

That was fun! I'd like to find that smaller tan box set (has the pretty picture), I think you said it was only $14, or maybe any cheap but good deal, Korean made. Of course, the pans would be great too but I don't have much room to store all those sets - so I guess a boxed set would be better for me. Thanks for all the info! Enjoyed!

Loved that you found a royal pastel pencil because I have some (they do sell them in sets). I'm hoping when Michaels comes to your area that you will review their $5 sets. We have limited access here so a lot of my first sets have been from that line. I do like their shimmery watercolors (had them long enough that I can't remember what they are called exactly). I, also, have their soft pastels. Would be nice to have a comparison so I can start to understand what is like what so I am not buying the same product under another name.

I have my colored pencils in that same 3 drawer unit. I have 2 of them and love them. I’ve never used pastels 😦

I have some really old pastels from almos 20 years ago that feel more like chalk than pastels (they even do that thing when they'll start scratching and there's something shiny there like metal or something like some chalk does) so I bought a 12 half set of rembrandts for 10€ to try them out and oh wow the difference. I also got a 24 set of fabercastell pastel pencils which are very nice. I find very interesting that you don't have those two brands since they are very popular

Oh.my.gosh. I have pan pastels-much smaller, but includes tints and shades, carbothello pencils (recommended by Jason Morgan), sennelier half sticks (high price, great color), Conte full set, circa 1996, and small Derwent pastel pencils, but Lindsay, I feel like a piker next to you 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣, no more guilting on myself when i visit the Blick store/site.👍👍👍 I bow to thee!!! What an impressive collection-the Windsor Newton is truly a collector's piece. Loved the vid, renewed my interest-now i have to go make something. BtW, thanks for the pastel stamping tip. Never knew that one. Got a vid on that technique ? Or a short? ❤❤

I love using pastels and don't do it often enough. I received some Royal Langnickel pastels a few years ago as a gift. They were labeled as color sticks and this was before I really got into pastels. They were super hard though. As in, they wouldn't actually "draw" on the paper. So I resorted to scraping them with a blade and using the dust and various applicators to make my art. I'm still not sure they're actually pastels. 😆

The fabercastell 72 half sticks in the eu currently run for like around 25 euro. I personally prefer the pencils ( I have the carbothello set ) and am doubting for some soft pastel sets by rembrandt just for background use bc pencils wear to fast for that :P

I had gotten the tester tin of the sennelier pastels and was very surprised how hard and scratchy they were. You could tell they were extruded and dried because they had a tonne of voids left behind (reasons they felt very light, they were mostly air!) Has me very curious that you say they're softer than most, since they were harder than most the cheap soft ones I had gotten! The Conte do come in a larger set, I have a 18 set in a nice cute box I got for cheap. And Royal does have small sets. I haven't gotten them, but I always see these small tins of them around when looking for supplies.

Pastels in wooden boxes, too precious to use. Pastels in wooden drawers, though, doesn't matter if they're the fanciest pastels on earth, just fine to use. Funny how that psychology works but I know the feeling. Maybe you should have Jason turn the boxes into drawers ;-)..... Thought I'd mention, I don't know about anyone else, but I can't hear the household sounds much if any at all....They really don't bother me. I bought some Master's Touch neutral pastels because they looked chocolatey and I was hungry. LOL. I thought they were fun, just playing around. Slightly scratchy, but not bad, kind of what I'd expect from the neutral Conte crayons.. Might use them if I do the tiger from your Teachable drawing class. Do the pan pastels color-mix well? e.g. can you make greens from blue and yellow, etc? They are so tempting but so expensive. In reality, a small selection of the Faber Castells would be all I could justify....Thanks for the class.

I started to love pastel. I have Rembrandt soft pastel crayons (i'm Dutch, Rembrandt is the local Royal Talens company stuff that make a lot of good stuff, from top cheap to good budget to professional stuff, basically no crap whatsoever), a base set, Derwent Pastel Pencils, full set, and started on my PanPastel collection, have 3 of the 10 hole palettes (overpriced plastic bits, but, super handy, so yeah), with i think 1 spot left open, mostly greys, blues, some reds and skincolors. I LOVE PanPastel. It applies and blends easily, covers really well but as much as you want to basically. That said, i have also been looking at those drawers for the pastels and when i get some more i am definitely getting those as well. I am still looking for some better way to move my Pastel Pencils, because i take my stuff everywhere, and while the wooden case is good, it is also bulky. And yes, i HATE the tins. Don't want to use a standard roll because they are just fragile. Did also get the Derwent Pastel pencil sharpener because all the other ones just wanted the make the tips too long, even if i were to stop early, they broke off too many tips, the cheap plastic sharpener does a great job on them. The biggest flaw Derwent Pencils have besides the standard sharpening issues is that a few of them are noticably harder and give off color a little more difficult, that you have to apply too much pressure causing you to flatten the paper and basically render it unusbale after. Some Dark Blues have a lot of those issues. They leave quite a bit of dust crap, but you can still use that a bit of just blow it off. I also use 2 of those really super cheap crap AliExpress electric erasers, one with small tip, one with big tip, and they work like a charm though. I know some brands have their own, but come on, they're probably not much betterd but cost a LOT more, for like €8 including shipping i have 2 of them with a box of replacement nibs that will last me years. If one stops working, which i have not have happen after 2 years, i'll just buy like 2-3 more.

I wonder if you can mix some clear mod podge with the general's pastel pencil and then paint a strip of it on the barrel. Or would that make the pastel look darker than they are?

I just saw a video, it was made a few years ago, but she used oil pastels (RF brand), a magazine, and a gelli plate. I would love to see your take on this, as it was cool, but those pastels are super expensive.

Lindsay i have oil pastels ... i was hoping you would show those oils you have... I have yet to use them..Do they behave differently than these? Enjoyed this comparison.. Should you spray a fixative on top of the pastels when your done? Do you need a special paper?

Great comparison Lindsay, I'm really considering purchasing some pastels, think it might have to be pan pastels because of the dust issue ( I'm asthmatic) but would you recommend some pencils for small detail? And which paper is best? Thanks Julie 😁

Now I don't feel so bad about having several brands of watercolour pencils. At the moment I am trying to use up my chameleon colour tones pencils so I try to do an hour or so colouring in my adult colouring book. This kind of frictionless crafting seems to be working. I put my parchment craft stuff near to hand but I haven't touched that in ages :-/

I bought pan pastels 50% off at Spellbinders. I also bought metallics, and the set with the blender, and glittery ones. Do you use your pan pastels on your gel plate? Mine have just about permanently stained my gel plate, but I'm okay with that. I would LOVE to see you use yours with your gel plate.

What I am looking to do is just a pastel as a thin base layer under colored pencil, applied with a make brush or even an old tee shirt. What would be your recommendation? Hard or soft, pan, on a budget.

Could you show a video with stamping and pastels? Thanks Ange

I bought the Faber Castell blue set because you recommended them! I have the van gogh as well.. which where my first! But later in invested in the pitt pastel pencils and I hated them.. because they are harder.. so I sold them and bought the carbothello's and loved them..this year I have invested in panpastels! You must think I love pastels.. i do but I have to wear a 😷 and still 🤧.. because I can't stand FINE dust, my throat shuts down and I get really itchy..

Nu pastels are water soluble. I use them like paint with a brush all the time.

QUESTION: I have the general pencil pastels and I was thrilled when I found them as I didn't know pastels came in pencil form. I haven't fallen in love with the Prisma Nupastels yet (Do you think I got a bad batch), they are too hard for me but I like the Charvin Paris brand to me they are softer and I love coloring with them ha, works well with the finger not as dusty as Prisma Nupastels. I have all of Jane's pastels and they are great to work with too. I colored a coloring page with my Charvin Paris pastels as you demonstrated and I was so happy to see them in your review. Thank you!

HL has a a nice hard pastel (which I like), that is, alas, misnamed. They have a set of 48 "Pastel Colored Pencils". Huh? These are pastel sicks that really are woodless pastel sticks (if that makes sense). They really need to rename these because many have complained about the quality of these "colored pencils" because they bought what they thought were colored pencils.

Never used pastels. Do you need special paper? Do you set the finished artwork?

Lindsay, have you tried the Blick brand soft pastels?

Are pastels what I know as oil crayons? Same thing? Also, what is ty he very least dusty product in this video?

I like the pan pastels I have almost the whole set, , and the sennelier which I have all the micro sets I got most of those I think off art snacks web site, at 1/2 price it was one of the subscription box sites maybe not artsnacks and a couple from jerry’s, plus a bunch, small faber castell set, 5-6 sets Asian brands really budget sets lol

Hi Lindsay! Thank you for sharing this review. Have you ever tried Rembrandt Pastels? They are by Royal Talens and they are a very good pastel stick (available in full and half). FYI. Winsor Newton seems to be offering their soft pastels again (small sets of 15 and 30 and available in Oil and Soft Pastels). They are available here in Canada and at Dick Blick. As for the Van Gogh (also made by Royal Talens) they don't seem to exist anymore.👍

Hi. I’m new to soft pastels and I’m a little worried about if I should use gloves or not due to the cancer warnings. What are your thoughts? I really like the feeling of contact with the stick to the paper but the lingering worry is in the background. Thank you!

I have pan pastels and some cheap sticks... sooo messy! Any plans to do a tutorial or video with pastels? Actually...I prefer your reviews honestly. I like watching you swatch. Go figure right.

I have a set of 12 generals pastel pencils and the name is on the pencil.

So, I’ve never used soft pastels before but I’ve heard that they are water soluble. Are the pencils also?.

I have a variety of pastels which I have yet to use. I was disappointed to see that many of the NUPastels (which I bought decades ago because I thought they were pretty) are not lightfast. Bummer.

I got my drawer from Jerry's and it has been 6 months and they stink!!!! I had to take the foam out to help on the smell. I got the 4 drawer recently still airing smell out . Did yours stink ? have you used the Mungyo artist gallery semi hard pastels? The conte crayons comes in a 48 set sold at Dickblick. Cretacolor( $76 ) is a semi hard pastel set of 72 that is lightfast sold at Jerry's and Blick's. Dick's is cheaper on cretacolor. Faber castell 72 set is on super sale at Jerry's for 23.86 normal price 26.99. Dick has general's 36 for 36.54,set 24 is 32.33 . Jerry's 20 pan pastel set super sale 79.99 out of stock. loved the information.

Use Pan Pastels like dry airbrushing then add colored pencil.

I wanted to buy pan pastels but a set of 5 primary colors + a couple of tools were already like 50€ and oh my god that's expensive and I don't know If I'm going to use it that much

Those Masters Pastels that were 11 or 14 dollars, (now in 2024) are 25.99 on Amazon. 😢

I have some Inscribe pastels which are the same as Mungyo. And some Derwent pastel pencils. Beautiful vibrant colours. But spray them with fixative and they lose all their vibrancy and opacity and become dark and transparent. So I never use them. Sadface.

May I have some ? May I buy some ?

You made one mistake. A cloth for cleaning your fingers! Lol