Pastels for beginners: soft pastels, oil pastels, and pastel pencils explained
Pastels are one of the oldest and most immediate drawing and painting media available — pure pigment in stick or pencil form, applied directly to paper without any brush, water, or solvent. The colour sits on the surface of the paper and can be blended with a finger, a stump, or a cloth to produce soft, atmospheric transitions, or left as a direct mark with a characteristic texture and depth that no other medium quite replicates.
There are three main types of pastel in wide use — soft pastels, oil pastels, and pastel pencils — and they behave quite differently from each other. Understanding the differences is the most important step before buying, because the three types suit different approaches, different surfaces, and different finished results.
We stock all three at Craft and Canvas: soft chalk pastels from Seawhite and Toison D'Or, Caran d'Ache Neopastel professional oil pastels, Faber-Castell Pitt Pastel Pencils, Caran d'Ache Pastel Pencils, dedicated pastel papers including the exceptional Pastelmat range, paper stumps, and fixative — everything you need to start working in any of these media.
Soft pastels
Soft pastels are made from pure pigment bound with a minimal amount of gum or chalk. The binder is just enough to hold the pigment in stick form — soft pastels are almost entirely pigment, which gives them their characteristic colour intensity and generous pigment deposit.
Because the binder is so minimal, soft pastels are fragile and slightly powdery. They deposit a large amount of pigment with each stroke, which is what makes them so vivid and immediate — but it also means they need a surface with real tooth, enough texture to physically grip and hold the pigment particles through multiple layers.
Applied soft pastel sits loosely on the paper surface. It can be blended immediately with a finger, a paper stump, or a cloth — pushed across the paper to soften edges and merge adjacent colours. It can be layered — multiple colours built up for depth and complexity. It can also be partially lifted with a putty rubber, opening up subtractive working possibilities similar to charcoal.
The critical limitation of soft pastel is that it does not fix itself to the paper. The pigment remains loose and will smudge if touched. Finished work needs fixative spray to preserve it, and work in progress requires careful handling between sessions.
Seawhite Soft Chalk Pastels are available in sets of 12 at £4.99 and 24 at £8.49 — an accessible, practical introduction to the medium at a price that makes experimenting freely possible. The sets cover a well-chosen mixed colour range that allows you to explore soft pastel fundamentals without a large initial investment.
Toison D'Or Chalk Pastel Set 12 at £8.95 is a step up in quality — a slightly more substantial soft pastel produced by Koh-I-Noor, with a larger 10mm diameter and a chalk and pigment composition that produces a smooth, even deposit across most paper surfaces. A natural progression once you have tried the Seawhite set and want to experience higher quality before committing to individual artist-grade sticks.
Oil pastels: Seawhite and Caran d'Ache Neopastel
Oil pastels are made from pigment bound in a mixture of oil and wax rather than chalk or gum. This completely changes how they behave — the two types are better understood as related but distinct media rather than different grades of the same thing.
Because of the oil and wax binder, oil pastels are considerably more stable and less fragile than soft pastels. They do not crumble, do not produce loose pigment dust, and blend through the oiliness of the binder itself. Colours pushed together blend where they meet in a way that has a slightly buttery, waxy quality rather than the dry softness of soft pastel blending.
Oil pastels do not fully dry. The oil binder does not polymerise and harden the way oil paint does, so the surface remains permanently slightly tacky. Fixative is not required in the same way as for soft pastels, but finished work can smear if handled and should be framed under glass or stored carefully.
Oil pastels can be scraped back with a palette knife or sharp edge to reveal colour beneath — the sgraffito technique, which produces marks unique to the medium. They can also be thinned with a brush and solvent such as white spirit or Zest-It, producing effects that approach oil painting in character.
Seawhite Oil Pastels in sets of 16 at £4.99 and 25 at £8.49 are a bright, smooth, blendable starter oil pastel. The 25-colour set gives a broad enough range to explore the medium properly, covering primaries, secondaries, earth tones, and neutrals. An excellent first oil pastel set and well suited to expressive, gestural work.
Caran d'Ache Neopastel is the professional artist-grade oil pastel we stock — individual colours at £2.75 each from a 96-colour range, with 48 colours available at Craft and Canvas. Made in Switzerland, Neopastel uses an extra-fine pigment formulation that produces intense, saturated colour with genuine covering power. The consistency is soft enough to blend easily yet firm enough to hold detail and sharp edges — a balance that cheaper oil pastels rarely achieve. The range we stock covers the full spectrum from warm yellows through oranges and reds, an extensive blue family, a strong green range, warm earth tones, and neutrals through to black. Buying individual colours means you can build exactly the palette your work needs and replenish what you use most.
Neopastel combines naturally with Caran d'Ache's Pastel Pencils — the colour numbering system corresponds across the two ranges, making it easy to identify related shades between them for mixed media work.
Pastel pencils: Faber-Castell Pitt and Caran d'Ache
Pastel pencils are soft pastel pigment in pencil form, encased in a wood barrel. They combine the colour quality and working properties of soft pastels with the precision and control of a pencil. A sharpened pastel pencil produces fine lines, detailed mark-making, and controlled blending in small areas that stick pastels cannot approach. They are also considerably less messy — no pigment dust on the hands, and far easier to handle for anyone not yet confident with the broader immediacy of stick pastels.
Because pastel pencils are dry pastel pigment, they behave like soft pastels in terms of how they sit on paper — they require a surface with tooth, blend with a stump or finger, and need fixative for finished work.
We stock two professional pastel pencil ranges as individual colours.
Faber-Castell Pitt Pastel Pencils — £2.75 each — 60 colours
Made in Germany, wax and oil-free, high pigment load with excellent lightfastness. The Pitt Pastel Pencil is widely trusted by portrait artists, botanical illustrators, and anyone doing detailed pastel work where precision and consistent pigment delivery matter. An excellent choice for fine work on top of broader soft pastel areas, and for any drawing requiring precise pastel marks.
Caran d'Ache Pastel Pencils — £4.05 each — 37 colours from an 84-colour range
Professional quality dry pastel pencils manufactured in Caran d'Ache's Geneva studio — powdery texture, powerful coverage, and exceptional lightfastness rated on the standard Blue Wool Scale and conforming to ASTM D 4236 safety standards. At £4.05 per pencil these sit at the premium end of the pastel pencil market, and the quality reflects that. The powdery softness makes them feel closer to a soft pastel stick than most pencil-format pastels, delivering rich, immediate pigment with the control of a pencil. The 37 colours we stock range from delicate whites and warm yellows through an extensive blue family, a considered green range, and cooler violets and greys. The numbering corresponds with Neopastel, making the two natural companions for mixed media work.
Both pastel pencil ranges are excellent for working into and refining stick pastel work — adding fine detail, sharpening edges, and handling small areas where a stick would be too broad.
Paper for pastels
The surface you work on matters enormously for pastel — more so than for almost any other drawing medium. The tooth of the paper is what physically grips and holds the pigment particles, and a surface without sufficient tooth will not hold enough pigment for layered, developed work.
Seawhite Tiziano Ingres Pastel Pad — £19.99 — A3, 20 sheets in 10 mixed colours
Tiziano Ingres is a classic, widely used pastel paper — a lightly textured surface with good tooth that holds multiple layers of soft pastel without becoming saturated. The mixed colour format (ten sheets each of two colours, across a range of toned grounds) allows you to work on different coloured grounds and discover which suits your approach best. Warm buff, cool grey, dark grey, and terracotta all produce quite different results with the same pastels applied over them. A reliable, practical starting point for all soft pastel and pastel pencil work.
Pastelmat — the professional standard
Pastelmat is, as you put it, the Rolls-Royce of pastel surfaces — and among serious pastel artists, the comparison is not an exaggeration. Made by Clairefontaine in France, Pastelmat is a unique cellulose-based surface that is neither quite paper nor board. The surface is coated with a fine mineral texture that grips pastel pigment with extraordinary tenacity — far more than any conventional paper — while allowing multiple layers to be built up, blended, and even partially lifted without the surface becoming clogged or saturated.
The practical effect is transformative. On Tiziano Ingres or standard pastel paper, you can typically apply five to seven layers of soft pastel before the tooth fills and the surface will accept no more. On Pastelmat, you can build up considerably more layers — experienced pastel painters describe it as a surface that seems to never run out of tooth. This allows for the kind of developed, complex, richly layered pastel work that would be impossible on conventional paper. It also holds the pastel so firmly that a finished Pastelmat work is more stable than a work on conventional paper, and requires less fixative.
Pastelmat is the surface of choice for most professional pastel painters working in soft pastel and pastel pencil. It is also excellent with Neopastel oil pastels, which key firmly to the mineral coating and produce a particularly rich result.
We stock Pastelmat in three formats at Craft and Canvas.
Pastelmat Sheets — £11.28 per sheet — 50cm x 70cm
Individual large sheets in Dark Grey, Light Grey, and Light Blue — the most practical format for artists who want to cut their own sizes or work at a large scale. The 50 x 70cm format is generous and a single sheet gives considerable working area. Dark Grey is the most versatile ground for most pastel work — it provides a neutral mid-tone that works well with both warm and cool colour palettes.
Pastelmat No1 Pads — £25.99 (24 x 30cm) and £49.50 (30 x 40cm)
Mixed-colour pads containing sheets in a range of Pastelmat toned grounds. The pad format is convenient for studio use and the mixed grounds allow you to choose the most appropriate colour for each piece. The 24 x 30cm pad at £25.99 is the most practical starting point — a size that works well for portrait studies, landscape sketches, and detailed still life work.
Clairefontaine Pastelmat Pad No.9 Dark Grey — £18.99 — 18 x 24cm, 12 sheets
The single-colour dark grey pad — twelve sheets of the same deep, neutral grey ground in a compact 18 x 24cm format. The dark grey ground is the most widely used and versatile toned ground in pastel painting, providing a mid-dark value that allows both lighter colours and darker shadows to read clearly against it. The compact size makes this the most accessible Pastelmat entry point — twelve sheets of a genuinely professional surface at a very reasonable price.
Accessories
Paper Stumps — pack of 8 — £3.95. Essential for controlled blending with soft pastels and pastel pencils. Various sizes from fine to broad cover detailed work through larger blending passages.
Seawhite Spray Fixative — 400ml — £9.75. Essential for finished soft pastel and pastel pencil work. Apply in light, even coats from at least 30cm away, building up two to three light applications rather than a single heavy coat. Allow each coat to dry fully before applying the next. Neopastel does not require fixative but a light coat can stabilise the surface for long-term display.
How the three types work together
Many pastel artists work with more than one type in the same piece. Soft pastel sticks for covering large areas and establishing atmospheric backgrounds. Neopastel for rich colour passages and textured oil pastel marks where a different surface quality is wanted. Pastel pencils for precision — sharp edges, fine detail, refined marks in small areas.
The key practical constraint is that soft and oil pastels should not be blended directly into each other. Apply soft pastel first, fix lightly if needed, then add Neopastel for specific passages. Pastel pencils, being dry pastel, work alongside soft pastels freely but should also be applied before rather than over oil pastel areas.
Pastelmat is an excellent surface for all three types, and its exceptional holding capacity makes it the ideal choice for developed work combining multiple pastel media.
Choosing between the three
Choose soft pastels if: you want maximum colour intensity and the most vivid, immediate result. You are interested in atmospheric, blended effects. You want to lift and rework marks. You are comfortable with the fragility and dust, and with using fixative.
Choose Neopastel oil pastels if: you want a professional-grade oil pastel with real depth and covering power. You prefer a more stable, less dusty medium. You are interested in sgraffito, solvent blending, or a more painterly approach. You want to buy individual colours and build a considered professional palette.
Choose pastel pencils if: precision and control matter as much as colour. You want fine lines, precise edges, portrait detail, or botanical work. You want the quality of soft pastel in a more manageable format — or you want to use pencils alongside sticks for a full range of marks.
Frequently asked questions about pastels
What is the difference between soft pastels and oil pastels?
Soft pastels use a chalk or gum binder and are dry and powdery — they blend softly and require fixative. Oil pastels use an oil and wax binder, are more stable, less dusty, and blend with a buttery waxy quality rather than dry softness. They do not require fixative in the same way.
Can I mix soft pastels and oil pastels in the same work?
With care and in the right order. Apply soft pastel first, then add oil pastel over it if needed. Do not apply soft pastel over oil pastel — it will not adhere. Do not attempt to blend the two types directly together.
What makes Neopastel different from standard oil pastels?
The extra-fine Swiss pigment formulation gives Neopastel an intensity and consistency that cheaper oil pastels do not match. Individual colour availability also gives considerably more flexibility than set formats.
What is the difference between the Faber-Castell Pitt and Caran d'Ache pastel pencils?
Both are excellent professional dry pastel pencils. The Pitt at £2.75 is wax and oil-free with high lightfastness — clean, precise, and reliable. The Caran d'Ache at £4.05 has a notably powdery, soft texture delivering powerful coverage — preferred by many artists who want a more expressive, immediate mark. Caran d'Ache colour numbers correspond with Neopastel, making the two natural companions.
Why is Pastelmat better than regular pastel paper?
The mineral surface coating grips pastel pigment far more effectively than paper tooth, allowing considerably more layers to be built up before the surface becomes saturated. It produces richer, more developed pastel work and is more stable in the finished state. It is more expensive than conventional pastel paper — but for serious pastel work it is the surface most professionals choose.
Do pastel pencils require fixative?
Yes — they are dry pastel pigment and sit on the paper surface in the same way as soft pastel sticks. The Seawhite Spray Fixative we stock works with both pastel pencil ranges.
Shop pastel supplies at Craft and Canvas
We stock Seawhite Soft Chalk Pastels (Set 12 £4.99, Set 24 £8.49), Toison D'Or Chalk Pastel Set 12 £8.95, Seawhite Oil Pastels (Set 16 £4.99, Set 25 £8.49), Caran d'Ache Neopastel individual oil pastel colours £2.75 each, Faber-Castell Pitt Pastel Pencils £2.75 each, Caran d'Ache Pastel Pencils £4.05 each, Pastelmat Sheets £11.28 per sheet, Pastelmat No1 Pads from £25.99, Clairefontaine Pastelmat Pad No.9 Dark Grey £18.99, Seawhite Tiziano Ingres Pastel Pad A3 £19.99, Paper Stumps pack of 8 £3.95, and Seawhite Spray Fixative 400ml £9.75 at Craft and Canvas in Hebden Bridge and online at craftandcanvas.co.uk.
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