Using pastel pencils for portraits involves layering light colors over darker underlayers on a textured paper, focusing on building form with complementary colors for shadows (like green/blue in reds) and warm tones for skin, then adding details and highlights last, often using blending tools (fingers, cotton buds) for smoothness and smaller marks for fine features like eyes and hair.
Common Mistakes using Pastel Pencils
The best coloured pencils for artists are professional-grade options like wax-based, oil-based, or water-soluble varieties. Wax-based pencils, such as Prismacolor, provide vibrant colors and smooth blending, while oil-based pencils, like Faber-Castell Polychromos, offer durability and precision.
Step-by-step guide to drawing a portrait in pencil
Portrait Drawing Don'ts
As it turns out, when you apply a ratio of 1 to 1.61 to an image, layout, or composition, it will look both natural and balanced. The Golden Rectangle is a rectangle whose sides are proportioned according to the golden ratio. Specifically, the long side is 1.618 times the size of the short side.
For the youngest artists, prefer pastels that are easy to use, sturdy and not so messy, such as wax crayons. Reserve other types of pastel (chalk, soft, hard, oil) for slightly older budding artists or teenagers.
Pastel pencils are easier to control and less messy than traditional blocks, ideal for creating detailed drawings and sketches. These pencils can be used dry or with water to create light washes, if portraiture and life studies are more your thing.
For a light pencil, I think you can't beat the 9000 range. For a lovely mid-tone range I'd recommend the Mars Lumographs. If you want a really dark and very soft pencil then the best one in my opinion is Tombow's Mono 100 range which is a pricey Japanese import and harder to find.
Derwent offers softer, blendable pencils ideal for layering (like Coloursoft, Drawing), while Faber-Castell Polychromos are firmer, oil/wax-based, excellent for sharp detail and vibrant color, often with more comprehensive ranges, but can be pricier; the best choice depends on your style—soft/blending (Derwent) or hard/detailed (Faber-Castell), though both are high-quality, professional brands.
To blend your drawing, fill the circle with a 2B pencil. Then, take a clean, white tissue and wrap it around your finger. Blend using circular motions, consistently applying equal pressure throughout. Using this technique helps to smooth out excess lines left behind.
The 80/20 rule (Pareto Principle) in art means that 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts, helping artists focus on high-impact fundamentals like composition, color, and value to improve faster, or structure work with a quiet 80% and an impactful 20% (like details or focal points). It's used to identify vital skills (anatomy, perspective) for learning, prioritize essential elements in a piece (soft vs. sharp areas), and even manage the business side of art by focusing on core marketing efforts for bigger sales.
Always blend colours from a lighter area towards a darker one. Mix soft pastels directly on the paper. Apply colours beside and over each other and blend the layers with your finger. If the blend still does not match what you want, you can further refine it with more colour layers.
One of the most common struggles for hobbyist artists is figuring out how to price their work. Many artists underprice their pieces, often out of fear that no one will buy them at a higher price or because they are unsure of their value.
Great Pastel Brands
They can be used on almost any surface as long as there is enough tooth for the pastels to grip. Textured paper is the most popular surface for pastels, but you can also use boards, canvas, and even sandpaper.
Cloth or chamois. You can use a cloth to blend pastels, but chamois are even more effective. Chamois is a type of super-soft and flexible leather that is excellent for blending colors with pastels. For large areas, you can wipe or rub the chamois across the surface of your paper.
If you are getting uneven blending or the oil pastel is clumping or streaking as you try to blend, it is generally down to a poor quality or unsuitable surface.
The 20/60/20 rule in photography, popularized by wildlife photographer Paul Nicklen, is a time/effort strategy: spend the first 20% of your time getting safe, technically sound shots; the next 60% pushing creativity with angles and light; and the final 20% taking big risks for "once-in-a-lifetime" magical shots, accepting many will fail but crucial for growth. It's a framework to balance basics with innovation, ensuring you get publishable images while also developing a unique artistic style.
Summary: The Golden Ratio is special because it perfectly balances addition and multiplication. The Golden Ratio (1.618...) is often presented with an air of mysticism as "the perfect proportion".