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| − | The topic of this tutorial is working with soft pastels.
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| − | The subject is Italian soccer player Allesandro del
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| − | Piero, the captain of Sydney FC soccer club. You
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| − | know, one of those players who continue their career in
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| − | another country and dazzle the local fans, such as David
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| − | Beckham did with LA Galaxy.
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| − | Materials list
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| − | * Watercolor paper
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| − | * Tortillion or paper stumps
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| − | * Soft pastels
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| − | * Pastel pencils – Conte or Pitt Pastel
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| − | * HB pencil
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| − | * Gesso (transparent)
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| − | * Acrylic to mix
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| − | * Brush/sponge
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| − | * Putty or kneaded eraser
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| − | * Spray fixative
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| − |
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| − | start with the right reference material: a good, clear head shot and action
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| − | shot, showing the uniform and sponsors’ logos. Del Piero is often sporting
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| − | a smile, so I want my painting to express his love for the world game.
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| − | When working with pastels, it is important to choose the right support. I
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| − | usually use rough cold-pressed watercolor paper (referred to as ‘not’) from
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| − | my local supplier – Saunders Waterford or Artico Fabriano. Another fine
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| − | paper is Mi-Tentes, popular with many pastel artists. This paper ‘takes’ the
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| − | pastel quite well and blends really well with a tortillion (paper stump) or
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| − | with your fingers. Smooth or hot-pressed watercolor paper will not accept
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| − | the pastels.
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| − | I like to use soft pastels rather than oil pastels as the blending is easier and
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| − | doesn’t require white spirits or turpentine. Soft pastels contain very little
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| − | binder and they transfer color to the support easily, showing their brilliance
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| − | and rich texture of color. Hard pastels, or pastel pencils, are good for adding
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| − | the line detail or making preliminary sketches.
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| − | In this example I’ve used Artico Fabriano paper (30 x 23.5 inches), but have
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| − | added a coat of transparent gesso, a readymade formula for that extra
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| − | tooth, mixed with acrylic paint. Underpainting is another option to create
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| − | a richer background and serve to enhance the vibrant colors in your final
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| − | picture. You can also make your own by mixing a teaspoon of ground
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| − | pumice powder into acrylic gesso and adding a neutral acrylic paint. This is
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| − | applied to both sides of the paper to ensure the
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| − | paper doesn’t buckle and gives added support.
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| − | The colored background of the paper
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| − | sets a tonal value to your painting – dark,
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| − | medium or light. For instance, you may
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| − | choose a warm color paper with a cool color
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| − | palette which provides a contrast. Because del
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| − | Piero’s Sydney soccer team is blue, I have mixed
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| − | blue acrylic paint to the gesso. I’ve applied this
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| − | in cross-hatching motion with a sponge brush on
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| − | the paper.
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| − | When the paper has dried, it’s time
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| − | to make a light sketch of the subject.
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| − | I’ve used a 2B pencil and blocked in
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| − | the basic shapes quickly, any stray
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| − | lines rubbed out with a putty rubber.
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| − | In this case, I find del Piero’s head
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| − | larger in proportion (anatomically)
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| − | so it helps me greatly as a ‘big head,
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| − | small body’ caricature artist.
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| − | The challenge of working on
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| − | a mid blue background is the
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| − | show-through of color, and the
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| − | fact that it gives the piece a tonal
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| − | value. I like to play with various
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| − | backgrounds to accentuate the portrait,
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| − | and that’s where dry media such
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| − | as pastels work well. In the Iggy Pop
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| − | portrait, I utilized a traditional stain
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| − | method of applying—or dabbing—a
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| − | damp tea bag on the same weighted
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| − | watercolor paper used with del Piero.
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| − | I wanted to create a portrait of similar
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| − | tonal value where the subject appears
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| − | to merge, yet come out of the
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| − | background at the same time, thus
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| − | creating a ghostly mood.
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| − | The palette used in the featured portrait is white, flesh tint, light orange, burnt
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| − | umber, mauve, and ultramarine, black. I start with the flesh tones, mapping out
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| − | the skin tone areas, and then add outlines for the eyes, mouth. When doing a
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| − | portrait, I usually begin with the eyes, so I can capture the subject’s essence at
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| − | the get-go. Next I’ve blocked in the main shapes and flat colors to ensure the
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| − | positioning and composition are correct.
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| − | I continue to use pastels to build up color effects
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| − | by blending and overlaying. Finally the details
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| − | are added by using a tortillian to blend the portions
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| − | around the eyes, highlights in the hair.
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| − | Pastels allow for intricate and versatile blending.
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| − | As we know, skin tones vary enormously, also
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| − | dependent on lighting conditions. Pastels allow
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| − | many color variations for various complexions
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| − | where you may invent your own. In the subject’s
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| − | beard, I’ve used cadmium red, white and blue
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| − | and finished with a prussian and white pencils
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| − | for whiskers, using a thin paper stump to blend.
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| − | To fix, I use spray fixative to fix the pastel to the support. Some
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| − | artists prefer not to use it, but I use a light spray when each
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| − | section is completed or when I want to add more layers of color.
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| − | Pastel can be built up and applied impasto, just like oils. I use a
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| − | light spray of fixative when building up the surface, always making
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| − | sure I use it in a well-ventilated area. Before I fix I make sure
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| − | any smudge areas are lightly erased with a putty eraser.
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| − | In the final composition, details continue to be added with a pastel
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| − | pencil to the ball, hair, hands, and boots and also a little more
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| − | weight to the chin without ruining the balance of the figure.
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| − |
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| − | -----
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| − | ''Mark lives in Sydney, Australia. He has been a member of ISCA since 2010 and enjoys working at live gigs around town and doing caricature portraits. Mark likes to actively promote caricature, which he considers a “form of social commentary.” He is also a qualified trainer and teaches the odd art/cartooning class to kids and teenagers.''
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