Basic techniques with Pitt Pastel Pencils

Pitt artists’ pastel pencils, with their oil-free pastel leads, are used by artists not only as the perfect complement to pastel crayons for elaborating fine details, but also on their own. Many artists who enjoy pastel techniques and their versatility, but not the dirty hands and coloured dust that accompany them, have opted to use these special pencils. Pitt pastel pencils have a very compact lead, which is economical to use. The lead contains a very high level of pigment, making the pencils ideally suited both to drawing lines and shading, as well as blending and merging into delicate colour transitions. The colour selection in this range places a particular emphasis on the muted shades and earth tones that are especially important for pastel drawing.
Pitt pastel pencils are ideal for drawing lines and shading surfaces, as well as for small pastel drawings and picture details. They perfectly complement the Polychromos artists’ pastel crayons. Pitt pastel pencils can be smudged by fingers, and thus require light fixing.

Variations in colour intensity

Variations in colour intensity The level of pressure exerted will determine the amount of pigmentation the pastel pencils deposit onto the paper. The artist has a wide range of possibilities, from delicate, fine lines through to impulsive splashes of colour.

Blending colours

This blending technique involves working the lighter colour into the darker one, thereby immediately creating a new shade. The lines merge and become very diffuse, and can disappear entirely if coloured over repeatedly.

Blending colours

Adjacent areas of colour can be transformed into powerful mixtures of colour when smudged with a finger. The lines remain visible.

Intensifying

Whole areas of colour can be created using individual dabs of colour, which can be gently merged by rubbing them softly with the palm of your hand. Different nuances of expression can be achieved in this way.

Transitions

Adjacent lines or areas of colour can easily be smudged with a finger to create a distinct block or a delicate transition of colour. The more often the area is coloured over, the greater the intensity of the colour.

Brush painting

To create even areas of colour, paint over the strokes made with Pitt pastel pencils using a bristle brush and paraffin oil (baby oil or salad oil).

Corrections

Pastel colours can be completely removed from smooth, firm types of paper using a vinyl eraser. Dabbing with an art eraser will lighten the colours.

Fixing.

Every fixing process alters the vividness of pastel colours. Pitt pastel pencils adhere well to the structure of the paper, meaning that only minimal fixing with a fixing spray is required.