There is a vast selection of colorful media for various creative projects. Professional and amateur painters choose between paints and pencils; each medium produces distinct effects. For instance, most watercolor paintings lack the delicate details of pastel or colored pencil drawings.
Suppose you are proficient with a graphite pencil and want to include color in your artwork. In this situation, you can try utilizing pastel or colored pencils in pencil form. Both are available in various brilliant hues comparable to graphite pencils, but each has advantages and disadvantages.
This article will concern the advantages and disadvantages of colored and pastel pencils so that you may choose the best for your next creative project.
What is the difference between colored and pastel pencils?
A wax or oil binder binds the pigment together in colored pencils. The ease with which colored pencils may be sharpened makes them ideal for delicate lines and intricate work.
Pure pigment is combined with a binder to generate a more brilliant hue in pastel pencils. In contrast to pastel sticks, pastel pencils are less messy, smudge, and bendable, enabling artists to create various hues and values.
The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Colored Pencils
Advantages of colored pencils:
- They have a broad selection of colors.
- The pencil’s core maintains its sharpness, enabling artists to draw precise lines.
- Permits painters to have detail control and accuracy.
- Transportable, allowing artists to sketch almost anywhere.
- Permits artists to produce a softer appearance by delicately sketching on the paper surface.
- They may create the impression of oil paintings by applying many layers
- They are available in a student grade, making them more inexpensive for amateurs.
- Professional artists have access to high-quality colored pencils.
Colored pencil disadvantages:
- Complicated to brighten colors
- Multiple layers are tough to remove
- Due to their fatty or waxy binders, they are incompatible with other media.
- Not readily smudge or bendable.
- It takes some effort to produce several color layers.
Pastel Pencils Pros And Cons
Advantages of pastel pencils:
- Less dusty than conventional pastel sticks
- A harder pastel is easier to sharpen into a point.
- Bendable
- Smudgeable
- A wide range of distinct hues
- Simple to cover a vast region. Nonetheless, a softer pastel will cover a surface more quickly.
- The wooden casing makes them simple to grasp and manipulate.
- Pastel pencils are more convenient to use than colored pencils.
- Pastel pencils are compatible with soft pastels and pan pastels, among others.
Disadvantages of pastel pencils:
- The final work must be encased in glass or glassine paper to prevent the pastel from smudging.
- Fixatives may darken the color of pastels.
- Fills in the paper’s teeth make it harder to apply numerous layers since they occur rapidly. PasteMat is the ideal paper to work with if you apply numerous layers to get various hues. On PastelMat, you may apply up to 7 to 9 layers of pastel.
- fewer hues available compared with colored pencils
- A pastel pencil’s tip breaks readily and dulls rapidly.
FAQ: Pastel Pencil vs. Colored Pencil Can colored pencils be used on pastels?
It is feasible to mix colored pencils with pastels ?
However, it is tough to blend and put pastels over colored pencils. However, using colored pencils over pastels is feasible to emphasize minute details, although this should be done only in the last stage of the drawing.
Are Prismacolor pencils pastel?
Professional colored pencil painters are well acquainted with Prismacolor colored pencils.
What use do pastel pencils serve?
Pastel pencils enable pastel painters to create finer details with more precision. They may be applied in layers and mixed similarly to hard and soft pastels. Numerous painters use pastel sticks and pencils to create portraits and animal paintings.
How do novices utilize pastel pencils?
Pastel pencils are comparable to colored pencils. The primary distinction is that pastel pencils may be mixed to create a variety of hues. Unfortunately, many novices apply too much pastel at once, which fills the paper’s teeth and prevents the addition of successive layers. Instead, to get the best effects, apply pastel in thin layers, mix it with your finger or other blending tools, then add more pastel until you are satisfied with the colors.
Can pastels be used on canvas?
As with any dry or wet media, pastels are utilized on canvas as an art medium. The issue with utilizing canvas as a drawing medium for pastels is that the canvas rapidly consumes pastel pencils, which may be rather expensive. Therefore, PastelMat is the greatest paper to use for drawing intricate details.
Conclusions Regarding Colored Pencils And Pastels
Soft pastel pencils and colored pencils both have advantages and disadvantages. What you choose for your creative work is ultimately a matter of personal choice. In addition, both media have a learning curve, and you must experiment with various drawing approaches to improve your talents. Young painters are encouraged to experiment with both media to determine which one best suits their artistic style.
