[Sea-to-sky]

12 hours ago, Everstorm said:

Unfortunately for my budget, that is often the case

Yeah, same. Good quality art supplies are so nice, but very pricey. I have been buying my brushpen feltips one or two at a time for months now. 

[Harriet]

13 hours ago, Everstorm said:

 

Unfortunately for my budget, that is often the case.

 

Pastels are expensive because they're hard to mix so one has to buy a wider range of colours than with paint. You could also start with a loose watercolour painting and do pastel pencils and ink over that.

[Everstorm]

3 hours ago, Sea-to-sky said:

Yeah, same. Good quality art supplies are so nice, but very pricey. I have been buying my brushpen feltips one or two at a time for months now. 

 

That's what I was doing with colored pencils, too.

 

2 hours ago, Harriet said:

 

Pastels are expensive because they're hard to mix so one has to buy a wider range of colours than with paint. You could also start with a loose watercolour painting and do pastel pencils and ink over that.

 

That's also the issue with colored pencil.  I have heard that pan pastels (also called painting pastels) can be mixed and are more cost effective that way, but you apply them with a sponge or sponge-covered palette knife and it's definitely more like painting than drawing.  Or most like applying makeup ? 

 

 

Ooh, maybe I just need pan pastels under my colored pencils ?  But not sure how I feel about painting.  I have a harder time controlling the strokes that way.  

[Sovalis]

I have pan pastels and they are really interesting to work with, but yes, much more like painting than drawing. Worth an experiment though, you might love them?

[Sea-to-sky]

3 hours ago, Everstorm said:

That's also the issue with colored pencil.  I have heard that pan pastels (also called painting pastels) can be mixed and are more cost effective that way, but you apply them with a sponge or sponge-covered palette knife and it's definitely more like painting than drawing.  Or most like applying makeup ?

Oh wow, those are weird looking. Not sure i could get into using the palette knife

[Harriet]

3 hours ago, Everstorm said:

That's also the issue with colored pencil.  I have heard that pan pastels (also called painting pastels) can be mixed and are more cost effective that way, but you apply them with a sponge or sponge-covered palette knife and it's definitely more like painting than drawing.  Or most like applying makeup ? 

 

Ooh, maybe I just need pan pastels under my colored pencils ?  But not sure how I feel about painting.  I have a harder time controlling the strokes that way.  

 

I have used pan pastels. They're hard to control, worse than painting, because you use sponges, which are less precise. And I don't think they mix super well. Pastel paper cannot hold many layers of pastel, so you cannot layer or blend indefinitely. You can, however, use pastel first, then use alcohol and brushes to create a watercolour look, and restore some of the paper's ability to hold pastel on top. But then it's not clear why you wouldn't use watercolour instead. Anyway, if you want to paint, then you can learn. But if you don't want to paint, then you don't have to obviously. It's just that you said you wanted big loose layers underneath your pastel pencils. Big loose layers by definition don't need to be well controlled.

[Everstorm]

2 hours ago, Sovalis said:

I have pan pastels and they are really interesting to work with, but yes, much more like painting than drawing. Worth an experiment though, you might love them?

 

Sounds like a Christmas wish list sort of item ??

 

1 hour ago, Sea-to-sky said:

Oh wow, those are weird looking. Not sure i could get into using the palette knife

 

You could use just a sponge, too, but I would imagine getting neater edges is easier with the tool.  I have also heard that the sponges kind of wear out quickly if you use the better pastel papers, which are sort of like sandpaper.  Lots to consider.

 

1 hour ago, Harriet said:

It's just that you said you wanted big loose layers underneath your pastel pencils. Big loose layers by definition don't need to be well controlled.

 

Good point.  Mostly I just worry about going "outside the lines" and getting something dark on an area meant to be light or whatever.  I think pastels are slightly more forgiving than colored pencils in that regard, though.

 

1 hour ago, Harriet said:

You can, however, use pastel first, then use alcohol and brushes to create a watercolour look, and restore some of the paper's ability to hold pastel on top. But then it's not clear why you wouldn't use watercolour instead.

 

Agreed, not a fan of painting after I have already laid it down.  Watercolor would be better in that case.  Or gouache.  

[Everstorm]

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