Pastel - Techniques

Techniques

Pastel techniques can be challenging since the medium is mixed and blended directly on the working surface, and unlike paint, colors cannot be tested on a palette before applying to the surface. Pastel errors cannot be covered the way a paint error can be painted out. Experimentation with the pastel medium on a small scale in order to learn various techniques gives the user a better command over a larger composition.

Pastels have some techniques in common with painting, such as blending, masking, building up layers of color, adding accents and highlighting, and shading. Some techniques are characteristic of both pastels and sketching mediums such as charcoal and lead, for example, hatching and crosshatching, and gradation. Other techniques are particular to the pastel medium.

• Colored grounds - the use of a colored working surface to produce an effect such as a softening of the pastel hues, or a contrast
• Dry Wash (art)
• Erasure
• Feathering
• Frottage (art)
• Impasto
• Pouncing
• Resist techniques
• Scraping out
• Scumbling
• Sfumato
• Sgraffito
• Stippling
• Textured grounds - the use of coarse or smooth paper texture to create an effect, a technique also often used in watercolor painting
• Wet brushing