SRJC Art Classes of Michael McGinnis

Soft pastel is a messy medium, but it can be controlled.

ust like charcoal, soft pastel is dusty, so it gets everywhere. Keeping the dust from affecting your drawing and environment is very important. Breathing any particulate matter is harmful, so keeping the dust out of the air is critical. Never blow hard on your drawing to remove excess dust. Instead, tip it vertical and tap the edge on the table or over a trash container and clean up any residue with a damp paper towel.

If dust is of particular danger for you, such as if you have athsma or other lung problems, then a gentle movement of air directed from behind, across the paper will prevent dust from reaching your face. You can tell if pastel dust is in the air once a drawing has been completed by blowing your nose. If a painting appears on the tissue, then dust is in the air. A serious soft pastellist should invest in a room air filter.

Thoroughly blending into the paper helps reduce dust by pushing the pastel into the paper fibers. BFK Rives paper can take a heavy layer of soft pastel before it reaches saturation. Once it gets to this point, the drawing can still be worked by doing one of two things. Erasing down to the paper opens up its fibers to accept fresh pastel. And binding the surface with a spray fix will also allow more pastel to be added. Over fixing can ruin a drawing, so care must be taken to follow the manufacturer’s directions.

Careful sketching will define areas where differing colors will be laid down. After completing the sketch, larger areas should be worked before smaller ones. If a small area is completed first, the larger area’s colors may dust the finished area, damaging your work. Another way to look at this is to work the background, or negative space, before starting the main subject. Details should be left ’till last to give them a crisp look. Otherwise, stray dust may dull these areas. Overlapping forms in your composition will inform the order in which you should draw.

Masking the perimeter of your paper with tape allows a white border to form when the work is complete. Removing this mask is like opening a present, seeing the crisp, completed drawing in a new light. This border makes matting and framing much easier because the pastel drawing will not need to be floated . The mat can lay directly on this white area. Your pastel’s delicate surface is protected.

Applying tape as a mask within the drawing area will keep the surface underneath in pristine condition. When the mask is removed, vivid colors can be laid down with great visual power. Masking is not necessary most of the time. It is reserved for fine details or when complex backgrounds must be drawn across several foreground objects.

A sheet of clean, smooth paper or glassine can act as a " bridge" to protect completed areas of your drawing. Cover an area if you need to rest your hand anywhere pastel has already been applied. Be careful to not drag this paper across your drawing.

Internal areas which are left blank will get smudged, and the transitional area between the drawn and undrawn area may become fuzzy looking. Erasing will redefine a crisp division. Also, simply drawing heavily across the fuzzy transition can visually clean up the area.

Fingers get pretty messy when using them to blend. It helps to reserve different fingers for different colors as you work various areas of your drawing. This finger dust can be useful when you want to apply only the faintest of color. For example, if you wanted a very pale red cloud, apply white to the paper first and then rub a little red onto your finger and apply that to your white. Messy fingers make a handy color palette when only subtle amounts of color are needed. You can "borrow" color from one part of a drawing to another by picking it up with your finger.

Keep a damp cloth or paper towel handy to wipe your fingers clean as needed. Your hands do not need to be completely washed to continue drawing, as long as no more pastel comes off on the wet cloth. Make sure your fingers are completely dry before continuing to blend.

Glassine or smooth paper should be taped over your drawing for safe transport. It can be hinged, if desired, by taping only across the top. Keep your drawing taped to the drawing board until complete.