MATERIALS AND
PROCESS
PASTEL PENCIL DRAWINGS
Due to personal health reasons, I am no longer accepting pastel commissions
Materials
My pastel drawings are created using Pitt, CarboOthello, and Caran dAche soft pastel pencils. I've chosen these three brands of pencils because of their superb quality and lightfastness (meaning they will not fade over time). I find my Pitt pencils are slightly harder and are best for detail work. Caran dAche has beautiful colours and a bright white, but the core is relative large in diameter making them great for adding larger blocks of colour. And lastely CarbOthello which are the softest of the three brands of pastel pencils. These are wonderful for adding softer details or blending in layers of colour.
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In addition, I also use PanPastels. These are applied using a sponge applicator and are great for adding large blocks of colour and placing my base layers. I love PanPastels, they are incredibly soft and blend together beautifully.
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I blend my pastels using a silicone shaper which creates the softer look that I love.
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The paper I use is Mi-Teintes Touch paper. This is a high quality, sanded paper that I find easily takes multiple layers of pastel without complaint. I have it to be consistent and a great selection of neutral colours. As you can see, I have not jumped on the Pastelmat bandwagon. Personally, I think Mi-Teintes touch is incredible to work with and has consistent texture between the different paper colours.
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My Process
I always start by choosing a perfect paper colour that best compliments your pet's colour. All of my paper are neutral colours so various shades of grey, tan, brown, black, and white. I will let the client know what colour paper I will be using before I start the drawing. I then begin with the basic outline. I work in sections - because pastels are very soft and easily smudged, I like to work left to right and keep my drawings clean using wax paper to cover the areas I haven't yet worked on. I add my base layer for the section I'm working on then I add the finer details. As I work, I blend using my silicone shaper.
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I don't add a background to my pastel drawings. I enjoy choosing a paper colour that works beautifully with the colours of the animal I'm drawing. I personally find that vibrant background colours are distracting from the beauty of the animal and personally love a beautiful brown, grey, black, or white background.
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I do not spray my final work with fixative. Instead, as soon as the drawing is finished and approved, I mount the drawing to the double mat and backing, then protect it in a plastic sleeve.