# My very first soft pastel drawing!!! (art journal)



## Equusketch (Jun 16, 2009)

Oh yeah, here is the reference photo:


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## APHA MOMMA (Jul 10, 2009)

OH WOW, You are AMAZING, you just be a natural at any drawing or painting you do!! I am so speechless and I would LOVE to see the end result!! You have talent beyond words!


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## Equusketch (Jun 16, 2009)

Well, I just started working on the horse, but I am going to give it a rest for the night. I am taking pics of this drawing with my camera and the colors are not matching the actual drawing well, but you can get an idea of where I am going with this. Any critiques?


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## Equusketch (Jun 16, 2009)

Ok, I took a couple more pictures in the bathroom where the lighting was better. Not a perfect representation, but much closer than the last pic I posted.


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## cowgirl4jesus94 (Jun 14, 2008)

wow! that is incredible. can't wait to see the finished product. you are a natural!


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## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

Love your background Liz it's excellent! Much better than mine, I don't even bother with realistic backgrounds with my pastel, hence why when I finish my last 3 commissions I have at the moment I'm going to spend a couple of months on my own work doing people and backgrounds for a while!

Now onto your drawing...
What type of paper are you using? The paper type can affect how you are able to blend your pastels.
You chose a tricky one for your first pastel drawing! I still struggle with bays still, chestnuts are the easiest to do in pastel colour wise. 
You can probably see in your drawing, that you have alot of white patches coming through where the pastel is not covering? This will make your drawing look flat and a bit lifeless when you finish. To bring th horse out of the page, you will need to put a few 'base coats' before you start adding detail. Once you start to use pastel more often, you will work out what colours are best for a certain photograph, but for this one, I would have put a reasonably deep blue for around the eyes, muzzle and darker areas, then a deep red for the other bits. From that, layer a little lightish purple/red over the blue, and a darkish orange over the red. This will come through in the finished drawing and make it stand out. 
A big mistake people make with pastel is to just draw the colours straight on, so with yours you have just put brown on straight away. You'll struggle to get the coverage and life in the drawing doing that, so as I said above, always lay down a foundation colour to start with that will come through the drawing and make it stand out off the page. 

As for blending, what are you using? Some people like to blend pastels, and for backgrounds this can look good (your background looks lovely!) but if you are focussing on a person or animal don't blend! I lay down solid backgrounds until I start to get into the more detailed layers, then draw the hairs in. Not as fiddly as with graphite though, you can draw less hairs and get away with it. Just layer the strokes on top of each other until you get the coverage you want.

With layering lighter colours onto dark ones, you can do the basic fur that has slightly highlighted areas easily enough by layering light onto dark, but be carefull because it can smudge. If you want to get white whites, leave the area blank, and put down a very very light blue, then the white on top  One downfall of pastels is how hard it is to get your whites white but blue is what I've found to work best for me!

One more little tip I've learnt is to use charcoal pencils for alot of the darker areas, they give you alot finer detail than black pastel and you can control the intensity of the colour more. Also, a set of pastel pencils would be a worthwhile investment as you can work on the eyes and such with more precision- it's a ****** trying to get detail in the eyes once your pastel sticks have worn down a bit!!!!

Good luck and looking good so far, if you start off this good a few more drawings later and you'll be fantastic!!


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## Equusketch (Jun 16, 2009)

Kayty....thank you thank you thank you so much for the advice...I have since gone on to the first eye, but was struggling with the fine detail of the eye. I talked to my sister tonight who took art in high school who admitted to not knowing much about soft pastels, but advised me against combining this drawing with charcoal. I personally thought about using charcoal pencils for the fine detail in the creases of the eyelids and the nositrils. I actually trust you, and will take your advice on the charcoal pencils for the fine details. 


As far as the layering goes, I just got too anxious with this drawing and as you can see I have already gotten going on the horse without advise...bad me. Even still, the provider of the photograph has already committed to buying this drawing, even though it's my first attempt...yay. 

I will take a pic of what I did today and post it in a minute.

Again. thank you sooooo much for the advice. I am going to do a few more practice pieces in the near future following your advice. I LOVE this medium and eventually want to advertise commissions with soft pastels. I have already discovered that I can cover up areas with lighter colors to a limited degree, but not nearly as limited as with colored pencils.

Hang on...getting the camera now...


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## Equusketch (Jun 16, 2009)

Well, here is what I got done with this drawing. I did strugle with the details of the eye, but I do plan on going back later with a charcoal pencil as Kayty advised. 

as for paper, I bought a pad of pastel paper that ranged from white to black, a couple gray pieces in between. I also bought a charcoal sketch pad which I have yet to use. I may go back later and get the pastel pad that offeres different colored paper. 

Anyway, here is what I have so far


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## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

Hahaha no worries at all more than happy to help you out!!
As for using charcoal with pastel, some people do it some people dont, it depends what works for you and I find that the charcoal works well with pastel for highlighting the darker areas and getting some finer detail in the fur. Only draw back is that it's a bit trickier to cover with pastel, so only use it on the final layers 

You've done a fantastic job of the eye!! It's a difficult one to draw because there's not much detail and it's from the front so you can really mess them up and make them look kto bulgy in pastel so well done!!!! The foal's owner will most certainly be happy with this portrait you're doing a beautifull job for your first go at it, you should see some of the shockers people have brought off me for my first attempts at it! You've definately got talent there to be able to achieve this in your first attempt, very impressive, keep it up and make sure you keep overloading us with photo's of your progress!


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## midwestgirl89 (Jul 7, 2009)

I'm definitely likin' this so far Liz! I haven't dabbled in pastels much at all so anyone that can work with them is pretty much amazing =) 
But with everyone talking about working with new mediums makes me feel guilty about that saw-blade I have to paint that I've been putting off...(stomps out of the room to go get paintbrushes)...


But it looks great so far!


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## Equusketch (Jun 16, 2009)

Here is what I have done tonight. As ya;ll can see, I not only covered more surface area, but I changed the overall color and brightness quite a bit. I took Kayty's advice with the purple around the eye and even put a little purple in the mane and ears. 

Then I blended what I had already done with my finger and layed down a reddish brown color, then blended that with my finger, then went back and drew the hairs. I am still not 100% satisfied with the overal color, but I do think it "pops" more than it did earlier. I am afraid if I try to do any more layering, I am just going to screw up the color futher, so for this drawing I am just going to stick with my current formula. 

I wasn't even going to think about selling this drawing, but the girl who took the picture wants to buy the original. Still trying to decide on a price considering this "is" my first attempt. She told me she can't decide if she wants to give it to the foal's owner as a Christmas gift or keep it for herself...lol. 

My next practice piece is going to be of a gray horse on black paper, so any advice on that would be appreciated. 

Ok, now for the updated drawing.


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## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

Much much much MUCH better Liz!!!! See how it stands out so much more when you layer your colours rather than just diving straight in and putting detail straight to paper? The layers at the bottom make it easier to get the top layers of detail in because if fills in some of the little 'teeth' in the paper, making it a bit smoother for those final layers. 
The thing with pastel is that you CAN get away with making it a bit more colourfull than the original photo, I actually try to let some of the undercoat colours show through into the final layer, it makes it more interesting and stands out alot more than plain browns 

Eeek a grey on balck paper, good luck with that :S Have done one of those and HATED it. Greys are terrible to draw in pastel, because you have to be more conservative with the colours you use as a base coat. And you sure as hell can't put grey/white straight onto the black because it will look flat as a pancake if you do that! You need to use alot of the lighter more typical 'pastel colours' under the grey, so in the shadows go for a slightly darker blue/purple/green, then in the highlights put a pale yellow/pink/blue/green. It's hard on black as well because it's horrible to get smudges off of, and backgrounds don't look so great IMO. I'd be doing a chestnut on blue if i were you, just to get used to leyering colours, chestnuts are the best for learning that!


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## toadflax (Jul 14, 2009)

Pretty amazing. I never had the vision that tells me to make a chestnut horse out of purple, but I can certainly see that it works--for somebody else...this is another beautiful piece, Liz, and it's fun watching the results of Katyty's tutorial.


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## Equusketch (Jun 16, 2009)

hmmm...ok, well, I definately don't HAVE to do the gray on black paper. Actually the darkest sheet of paper is more of a very dark gray. I do have a Charcoal sketch pad with assorted colors ranging from gray to pale blue to different shades of tan. The paper seems to be a little thinner and slightly less toothy than the pastel paper. The guy at the art store told me I could get away with drawing on the charcoal paper with soft pastels. Any thoughts on this and a potential color that would best suit a gray horse (and by gray I mean anything from dappled to mostly white)?

Oh yeah, and I have no desire to draw a background on the next drawing.


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## Equusketch (Jun 16, 2009)

toadflax said:


> Pretty amazing. I never had the vision that tells me to make a chestnut horse out of purple, but I can certainly see that it works--for somebody else...this is another beautiful piece, Liz, and it's fun watching the results of Katyty's tutorial.


 
When I do colored pencil drawings, I use purple a lot for shadowing effects on chestnut horses. I use indigo blue for shadowing on bays. Sometimes I use both blue and purple at the same time...lol. I use light blue alot for highlighting around th eyes and muzzle as well. And yellow for highlighing a white horse, especially in the mane.


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## toadflax (Jul 14, 2009)

Which is all exactly why you will have to pry my nice somber grey pencils from my cold, dead hands. I can't even paint my walls a proper color.
I'll just stall here at jealous. .


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## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

Hahahaha toadflax you should have a go at it!! If you put the photo of the animal up on photoshop or similar, and enhance the colour you'll be able to see all the different colours that are in the coat  I've done so many now that I can just have a look at the photo and see what I need for the undercoats. Some bays you need to lay a bright red under, others a blue, all depends on the lighting and tone of the coat. 

Liz, as for the grey, usually I like them on a light/medium purple, or a blue of some sort. In your head a grey will look superb on black, but I've made that mistake as I said above, and it looked so flat no matter what I did to it. You want to put it on a colour that is part of the undercoat colour (sorry I'm just adding things in as I think of them haha so no particular order!!) to bring it out in the final layers. So say you're doing a chestnut, I use a HEAP of blue in the darker areas of a chestnut, so my paper colour of choice is usually a blue. Means I don't have to work as hard on the base coat too because the paper colour comes through 

You said you used alot of yellow to highlight white manes? In coloured pencil you can do that, but if you want to give a really clean crisp feel to a white mane, stick with blues and purples 

Charcoal paper you can get away with, but you might struggle to layer the pastel as the teeth on the paper won't hold as much pigment. That's why I prefer to use the thicker pastel paper with quite heavy teeth on the surface - i layer ALOT! The drawing is literally off the page, you can see a ridge on the side of it :S

Look forward to seeing the next installment


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## Equusketch (Jun 16, 2009)

Once again Kayty, thank you soooo much for the advice! I bought the multi colored charcoal paper with the intent on doing soft pastel drawings.

I may still go back and to ther gray on the darker gray pastel paper just for the challenge. I am very prepared to lay down a few colors as a foundation. Can't learn unless you think outside the box eh? I will definately keep ya'll poste as I go along.

One again, words can not describe how grateful I am that you are lending me these words of wisdome.


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## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

You never know, because the paper is a dark grey rather than straight black, it could work out really quite well, but I know that black paper and pastels aren't very good friends 

Not a problem what so ever liz, I enjoy helping people out when I can, even if they take it badly haha! Looking forward to seeing lots more pastels from you!! I better watch my back though, you're going to out do me not only in graphite but with pastel too eeeeek *runs away to start drawing again*


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## Equusketch (Jun 16, 2009)

Getting there....


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## AnnaLover (Sep 27, 2009)

Wow it looks great!


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## Equusketch (Jun 16, 2009)

Thak you...

One thing I just LOVE about the soft pastels is my ability to do quick and simple backgrounds. I hate doing backgrounds with a passion, but I like how I can be carefree with my backgrounds and then do the main subject in more detail to make it pop rather than just having it on a flat white surface.


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## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

Love it love it love it Liz!!! Well done I'm very impressed   
Only other main thing you need to learn with pastels now, is just how to get the detail of the outline of the drawing, it's a little fuzzy on the edges so to speak around near the forelock, but that will come as you use pastel more, it's hard to get fine details 
Absolutely beautifull though, the owner will be very proud to have had you draw her foal, it's just lovely!!


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## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

Oh, and please dont spray it with a fixative, it murders the colours after a few months!!!!! Just tell the girl not to touch the surface, and to mount it behind glass with a trough in the bottom of the matting to catch any particles that drop off over time


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## ponyglitterxx (Nov 13, 2009)

WOOOOOOOOWWWW!!!! You are so talented! This is amazing! :lol:


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## Equusketch (Jun 16, 2009)

Well, here it is...the finished piece!!! I think...lol. 

Any further critiques or should I just leave it as is?

Can't wait to start on the new pastel drawing!!!


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## Equusketch (Jun 16, 2009)

Oh yeah, and Kayty...I REALLY appreciate all your advice. This drawing wouldn't have been half this good had it not been for you. I still need a lot more practice, but this is DEFINATELY a medium I want to continue to work with and eventually advertise for commissions. Thank you sooo much. 

And thanks to everybody's kind comments


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## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

Gorgeous Liz really very impressive!!!! It looks much sharper now too that it is finished. Only thing I'd do to it now it see how around the chest where the neck comes down to the shoulders all your lines are very blunt? I'd just blend those in a little more, so that the neck 'flows' into the shoulders a little more, particuarly his left shoulder, you just need to get a little bit of darkish brown and 'drag' the shadow slightly more into the highlighted area, just so it dosn't finish so abruptly.
Other than that, don't touch a thing! Can't wait for you to start the next one


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## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

And so glad you're enjoying pastel, TOLD YOU SO  It's the best!


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## Equusketch (Jun 16, 2009)

ugh, so if I can't spray the drawing, what should I do about shipping it? I don't want it smudging during transportation. I was thinking about taking 2 sheets of tracing paper and putting paper clips in the far corners to keep the surfaces rom rubbing against the drawing and then shipping it out in a cardboard envelope. 

Any thoughts on this?


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## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

Spraying won't stop the smudging much at all with pastel. Been there done that, touch it and a chunk will come off and the colours also fade over time. 
This is the one big drawback of pastel- shipping is **** hard and costly!
I am lucky working in a radiology department, so have a plentifull supply of different sized xray films boxes which are the perfect size for shipping drawings in!
What I do is lay the drawing in the box, and put triangles of foam in the corners of the box so that they hold the edges of the drawing down. Then on top of that I put a sheet of 'plastic cardboard' resting on the foam so it doesn't touch the drawing. Then wrap the box in bubble wrap, put it into a padded postage bag and send it registed mail. It usually costs me about AUD$15-$20 to send it this way but I've never had a problem with drawings getting damaged in transit.


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## Equusketch (Jun 16, 2009)

I did notice in doing some research that artists do generally charge quite a bit more for soft pastel drawings than for graphite or colored pencil. I know now why that is...more expensive materials and apparently more expensive shipping. 

Well, this person got a heck of a deal on this drawing. Between shipping and my 50% donation to the horse resuce, my net profit will probably be pretty close to 0...lol. 

Lesson learned.


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## Equusketch (Jun 16, 2009)

Oh yeah, and here is the second pastel drawing I did of the gray horse. I took your advice with the blues and purples and even added a little yellow in the mane. Not quite a "realistic" drawing, but I am sure refining my color combinations will all come with practice. 

This drawing was a real rush job. I only whipped this out today. Just wanted to get a feel for the colors, blending options, etc.


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## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

Haha yep Liz don't worry I did the same when I started pastels, charged next to nothing for them! Always work out how much it's going to cost you in materials, how much time you are going to spend on it and the quality of your drawing skills. Then add the shipping costs onto that. (Always mention when advertising/quoting that extra shipping cost, don't just tack it onto the total cost as they will panic and think it's going to be super expensive!!)

I am absolutely in love with your grey!!! Although it's not all that realistic as you stated, I can really see that you've been playing with those colours underneath to get some depth into it. Once you get some more experience with layering your colours, you'll be able to make them less obvious, so that someone looking at the drawing who doesn't know about how many colours go into it, wouldn't have a clue that there is a heap of green/blue/red or whatever in there, but to look closely, the majority of the drawing actually is those bright, solid colours. You judt dont know it! -hard to explain, that didn't make much sense but after doing a few pastels you'll figure it out haha!


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## Equusketch (Jun 16, 2009)

makes perfect sense!!!


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## Sixxofdiamonds (May 7, 2009)

Looks great!


I, personally, am a pastel-waster. Instead of leaving white blocks I layer in with a "base" color and then layer in and layer in in smaller colors. Usually I start with a blue or green and pastel the whole canvas, then start working up from there.


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## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

Yeah sixxofdiamonds, thats what I was saying before about layering, just blocking the initial first layers, then slowly work into getting your detail and closer to life colours


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