When i first started with coloured pencils some years ago I had only used watercolour paints so was confused with what I needed. I searched youtube for artists who did wildlife art who I liked & one of them listed the only colours & brand you will need. I bought all those pencils open stock & began. It was the best thing I could have done. I now use pastels so found this site & have learnt alot. I dont use the same as other artists now as I have my own style but I highly recommend Jasons choice of supplies if you are new to pastel work, its a great way to start.
I bought a cheaper pastelmat.It was a waste of money. The pastels literally fell off the paper.I just ordered clairefontaine pastelmat.It's much more worth it. It is a great paper.Thankful ,Jason.
Thank you for such a comprehensive overview. I haven't used pastels for years, but I have always loved them. I was using stick pastel of several brands to have a variety of both soft and harder sticks on Canson paper. I used them for portaiture, animals and fantasy art. Now I see the fabulous newer things out there in the world of pastel, like patel pencils, PanPastel and Pastelmat paper, and I can't wait to try them.
WOW, never even considered using pastels in any form, but trust, believe, and hang onto every word of yours. Going to the site now, as well as Patreon. Extraordinary demonstration and explanation. I get it now and appreciate you so much. Thanks, Jason! Subscriber from Florida USA
Can someone answer this question please? When I put white pan pastel and then I want to use Pitt Faber Castell over white, the color does not stick to the layer. The pencil moves the pan pastel instead of attaching to it. And it only happens with the white pan pastel. Thanks
What is the difference from the Polychromos hard pastels, to the Faber Castell goldfaber pastels that are thicker. Are the poly ones a higher quality, as they are more expensive? Thank you for any input.
Hi Jason, I am wanting to try a different medium for a change. I am new to pastels. My question is paper size and color. I don’t want to be overwhelmed with the 24x 30 or 30x 40 size paper just yet. Also, how do you select your paper color for your next picture and what other smaller size pastel pads do you recommend that I start with? Thank you for sharing your amazing talent.
I was once very excited about the Jackson's pastels, but found that many many of their pastels are just not lightfast. Which is probably why they are so affordable. I was shocked to find that even earth tones, where they could have used time-tested pigments that are almost always lightfast, they went with alternative formulas that have seriously poor lightfast results.
@@wildlifeartjm I'm sorry I can't agree. I just pulled the chart up to make sure I wasn't being harsh, and just counting the number of pastels in their set that get fair to poor lightfastness, there are more than 55--and that's from a chart that Jackson's created. Even so, just looking at pigment choices, I question some of the claims they are making (since they aren't tested by blue wool or astm standards, but are done independent), because the pigments are noted to have bad lightfastness as a general rule. In my book, when your line of pastels has only 200 choices, that's really unacceptable. Most of their reds, almost every single violet, several of their light tints, and oddly a few earth colors that have no reason to have poor lightfastness except that they are trying to save money with bad pigments.
I believe that the Jackson pastels are actually Mungyo Gallery soft pastels that have been rebranded......some of the colour names have been changed but the numbers are the same......GreatArt sell Gallery pastels for around 40 pence each cheaper than the Jackson's