Everyone who is engaged in painting knows what an artistic pastel is. But in recent years, these pencils have become very popular among non-professionals, for example, mothers with small children. Many teachers recommend using pastel for drawing classes with kids. After all, these crayons are very soft, create rich tones and blend well.
In addition, they contain fairly safe substances: pigment, clay, chalk and glue.
Pastel application
Art pastel is known in painting from the 16th century. At that time, the artists themselves did it, rubbing chalk with a coloring pigment and adding a binder. A little water was added to the mixture to form a crayon. Then the composition was dried and cut into bars. Many famous artists painted the pastel technique: Chardin, Renoir, Vrubel, Serov and others. This method was used in educational drawings, and as an addition to the main colors, and as an independent technique.
To draw with pastel, you need a rough surface, because it is very loose and contains little bonding pigment. But the drawings made in this technique look unusual. The light, reflected from the particles of pigment, gives the painting a dull, velvety and special pastel softness. These drawings look best on special paper, cardboard, canvas or sheets treated with special soil.
How is pastel made
Artistic pastel consists of pigment, water and a binder, most often it is clay, gum arabic or gypsum. Everything is well mixed until a doughy state. The name "pastel" itself comes from the Italian word meaning "dough." To obtain different shades, chalk or talc is added . The tubes are filled with this mass and dried in heat.
The quality of the pastel depends on the thoroughness of grinding the pigment. The better you can mix all the components, the better the crayons. In modern production, this is done by special machines, and the process is repeated 5-6 times. For the past many years St. Petersburg art pastel has been considered the best. It is soft, has a huge number of shades, shades well and does not crumble.
Advantages and disadvantages of pastels
Pastel crayons are the best material for drawing, especially for children. They are soft and lay on any paper. There are many shades that mix easily with each other. Errors in drawing are immediately easy to fix, as
the next layer closes the previous one without any problems. For pastel painting does not require any additional devices.
But the drawings made in this technique are very fragile, they are afraid of shaking, mechanical damage and moisture. Many do not like the fact that these crayons are quite expensive. But if you compare the advantages, the artistic pastel wins. Its price is higher than that of colored pencils, but it is much more convenient and easier to draw with it. A set of 12 colors costs from 100 to 500 rubles, depending on the manufacturer.
If you want to teach your child to draw, then art pastel is the best tool for this. The child will like its soft shades, the fact that it is easy to shade with your finger. The drawings are bright and unusual.