ADVICE FOR WORKING IN SOFT PASTEL
1. Pick the right surface
Your choice of paper is integral to the outcome of a drawing, influencing how much pastel can be applied to the drawing and the colour that shows through between marks. Rather than using an off-the-shelf paper for my drawing, I primed a large piece of heavy cartridge paper with a single layer of acrylic gesso to give it a fine tooth, then washed dilute watercolour over the top to tint it. I let the paper show through for the light midtones of the skin and the negative space around the figure.
2.Work from midtone, to dark, to light
Applying pastel colours in a coherent order will help you to maintain the expression of each individual colour and stop them mixing to a midtone brown. I like to add midtones first, using dark, saturated colours to create chromatic shadows, followed by the darkest darks with the lightest lights added at the very last stages. Avoid using black in your shadow shapes, saving it for the hair and the features of the face.
3.Get to know your blending tools
Pastel marks apply pigment to the surface of your paper, but the following ‘after-marks’ that move that pigment around are just as important. You can use your hand or a piece of cloth for sweeping gestures, paper tortillons and stumps for precise blending, and erasers for removing and dragging soft pastel. It is easy to become lazy with the after-marks, pushing the pigment apologetically around the page, so make sure those marks are made with as much intention, energy and focus as the pastel marks which applied the pigment to the paper in the first place.
4. Consider the purpose of each mark
Pastel translates the movement of the artist’s body into a visible mark on the page. A firm mark will manifest in the dense application of pigment, while a gentle touch will bring out the texture of a paper. As both timed life drawing and the soft pastel medium reward efficiency of mark-making, it is important to look hard at your subject and consider the purpose of each mark as you make it, angling your pastel to suit the element of the subject that it seeks to record. In the early stages of a longer drawing, that might mean making fast, light marks from the shoulder to rough out the major shapes of the body, while areas of concentrated colour might best be applied in broad strokes, using the end or side of the pastel.