I first bought some cheap soft pastels back in 2018 and did a couple of sketches. I bought a nice set of Rembrandt pastels a few months later — didn't use them. I bought some pastel pads, none if which seemed right. September 2020, I bought a couple more sets of bargain pastels and tried a couple of pieces — no good, still couldn't bring myself to use them. Jess bought me pastel pencils for Christmas — I was too scared to use them. I even bought a pad of Pastelmat which is supposed to be THE paper to use for pastel paintings in January. I was too scared to use that as well!
FINALLY, after a few unsuccessful attempts at working with watercolour (brush issues), I cast aside my fear and thought I'd mess around with pastels. Some time later, and this was the result. I've finally broken through my pastel fear-barrier.
I've got to say, I love soft pastels and I'm excited about doing more pieces in this medium.
I recently discovered oil pastels and am being amazed every day at how versatile they are. While cleaning my desk this morning I found some blank ATCs (Artist trading cards, 2.5x3.5") and wondered if I could work small with such a bulky medium. Turns out, absolutely yes.
In late 2018, after some time not doing any artwork, I really wanted to get back into it. I fancied doing something different and invested in some soft pastels. This was my first go with them and it was a hell of a learning curve about how they adhere to the paper, and how they blend. I'm not really sure the pastels I was using were soft enough for the look I wanted, but I like how loose this one turned out.
Soft pastels on pastel mat. I got a set of pastels as a birthday present, so I had to try it. It's quite different from working with ink. I like the colors but I am searching for a better way do do the eyes and the horns.
Combination of traditional and digital art. I actually hand painted this on some very textured paper with oil pastels a while back, so to 'tidy and clean' it I had to employ digital means. The background was done with alcohol inks, the 'flow' of it I was particularly proud of :).
One of the scariest characters I've ever seen. The most frightening of the vampires from the movie "Fright Night" (1985). I had to draw her as a form of therapy. Thumbs-up for the art department on that movie! If she had had white eyes instead of the red eyes in the movie, I would've been irreparably damaged! :) (Pencil on paper, size A4).
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that." - Martin Luther King Jr. #Just_a_try_at_softpastels
