Essential Supplies for Oil Pastel Beginners

What Types of Oil Pastels Are There?

Regular Oil Pastels

• Features: Bright colors, soft texture, and smooth application.
• Advantages: Easy to blend, ideal for beginners to learn color layering and mixing.
• Disadvantages: Greasy surface, easily smudged; lacks durability, requiring a fixative to protect the artwork.

Water-Soluble Oil Pastels

• Features: When water is applied, the pastel dissolves like watercolor, creating a watercolor effect.
• Advantages: Water can be used to adjust the texture of the painting, allowing the heavy look of oil pastels or the softer transitions of watercolor.
• Disadvantages: Relatively expensive and requires water for use, adding extra steps to the process.

Professional Oil Pastels / Extra Soft Oil Pastels

• Features: Higher color saturation and pigment quality, with strong durability and coverage.
• Advantages: High performance, suitable for professional artists; rich color layers and excellent blending effects, with long-lasting results.
• Disadvantages: More expensive, not very suitable for beginners.

Children’s Oil Pastels

• Features: Designed specifically for children, non-toxic, and softer in texture.
• Advantages: Bright colors, easy to apply, simple to use, making them great for kids who are just starting.
• Disadvantages: Colors may not be as fine, lower durability, and insufficient for complex artwork.

Thick and Thin Oil Pastels

• Features: Categorized by the thickness of the oil pastels.
• Thick Oil Pastels: Suitable for covering large areas and creating blocky effects.
• Thin Oil Pastels: Ideal for drawing details and lines, allowing more precise control over finer elements.

Different types of oil pastels can be chosen based on personal preferences and needs. Beginners typically start with regular or children’s oil pastels and gradually experiment with professional or water-soluble oil pastels to experience various effects and techniques.

Here are some oil pastel recommendations for you:

Extra Soft Oil Pastels : Learn more

For beginners in oil pastels, you will need the following basic materials:

• Oil Pastels: Choose a set of oil pastels suitable for beginners, with a wide range of colors and a soft, mixable texture.
• Please see the link above for recommendations on various oil pastels.
• Drawing Paper or Oil Pastel Paper: Oil pastels require thick, textured paper that can handle their weight and oiliness without tearing. Common drawing paper or oil pastel-specific paper works well.

Drawing Paper or Oil Pastel Paper : Learn more

• Eraser: Select an oil pastel-specific eraser or a soft eraser for gently modifying or adjusting your artwork.
• A normal eraser will do.
• Tools or Tissue: A blending tool can be used to mix oil pastel colors or create special effects. Tissue can also be used to soften edges or achieve simple color transitions.

Recommended Blending Tools：

Smudge Rubbing Pen : Learn more

• Smudge Rubbing Pen: Used for blending oil pastels and filling in areas.

Recommended Smudge Rubbing Pen : Learn more

• Fixative (Optional): After finishing your artwork, you can spray a fixative to help set the colors and prevent fading or smudging.
• Drawing Board or Easel (Optional): If you prefer a more comfortable painting position, you can use a drawing board or easel to support your paper.