Sennelier Soft Pastels
Since Sennelier pastels are naturally soft, they are known for having a bit of an irregular shape to them. You may experience some difficulty using them on the broad side of the pastel. This is due to the points on them. This can be fixed by filing them down in some instances.
The difference in sennelier pastels
Here is something to note in the world of soft pastels. There is a wide range of brands and some lean harder while some are very soft. Sennelier pastels are typically known for being very buttery and soft. Working with these soft pastels requires the user to have a very light touch as to be sure you don’t lay down too much pigment on the surface you are working on.
As you advance in your soft pastel usage, you will begin to want to include pastels in a range of hardness levels for different techniques and reasons. Think of pastels as your brushes if you were a painter. Each color will lay down pigment a bit differently and allow you to make different marks so it’s important to practice and use several techniques depending on the art you’re hoping to achieve.
Expensive vs inexpensive
Understandably, there are artists that wish to try pastels but are not committed to the medium entirely. Sennelier pastels can range in price. Is more expensive always better? Not quite.
Find a set in a price range that you are comfortable with and start experimenting. Working with inexpensive pastels is made better when you invest in higher quality sanded paper. The sanded paper will help drastically, even though the pigments or the cheaper pastels are not as saturated.
Part of the fun of being a pastel artist is building a pastel collection. It’s okay to grow your collection slowly and you’ll probably have more fun doing it this way. You don’t need to go crazy with the best quality products in order to achieve beautiful one-of-kind paintings. It is best to determine the colours you like and add those of high quality to your collection.
Is it a painting or a drawing?
Since Sennelier soft pastels are so versatile to work with, they can be used as either a paint-like consistency or drawing and illustrating as well. For painting, the entire surface of your paper is usually covered with pastel and the pigment is layered using various mark-marking technics. A benefit of using pastels is the fact that you can layer them. Laying creates an enhanced luminous effect to any piece of art. And when you use sanded paper, the pastel pigments hold better in place to the grit of the paper whereas unsanded paper is a little more difficult with a slippery surface. Laying is often vastly diminished on unsanded paper.
Trying something new can be intimidating and it’s easy to get discouraged. Try to enjoy the process instead of focusing on the end result. This helps alleviate some of the stress when trying something new for the first time. Practice makes perfect so don’t be afraid to keep going until you get your perfect technique down.