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