Let's dig deep on what are the possibilities of pastels and its application in the classroom.
Pastels are a drawing medium that is composed of two variations: Dry pastels and Oil based. Dry pastels come in different consistencies ranging from soft (more powder), to hard (denser). The consistencies vary depending on how much binder and pigment there is in the product. Dry pastels have more pigment and less binder, making them vibrant, but fragile.
In this blog I will explore the differences between pastel brands evaluating their strengths and limitations. I will also explore the techniques that can be apply to classroom activities, focusing on age appropriateness and additional resources needed. I will also provide any information on safety concerns regarding the products.
Chalk Pastels Brands and prices
When looking at brands make sure they have a nontoxic guarantee. Some chalk pastels have cancerous components that should not be used around kids. These four brands are guaranteed to be nontoxic and under 14 dollars.
Prismacolor
This brand is available at Amazon with a cost of $13.49. It includes 12 colors and can be used wet or dry. They come in a large size and according to manufacturer are designed for all levels of expertise.
Alphacolor
This brand is available at Amazon and a cost between $12.69 for a pack of 24, and $9.46 for a pack of 12. These are nontoxic and are AP approved.
Mungyo
This brand is available through Amazon and has a price of $11.99 for a pack with 64 colors. This product has an AP nontoxic seal and it's approved to work with kids.
Ha Shi
This brand is available through Amazon and cost depends on quantity. A package of 48 colors is $9.85, and a package with 64 is $13.85. It has the AP safe seal approval to work with kids.
Surface prices and description
In order to evaluate the medium, I also compared it to different paper surfaces and brands. I will divide these into brands to then explain its properties, advantages and disadvantages regarding it use with pastels.
Strathmore
Sketch Paper
Sketch paper is usually used for quick studies with a weight of 50lb. It is thin and has a fine-tooth surface. A pad with 100 sheets 9x12in has a price of $13.22.
Drawing Paper
Drawing paper has a medium surface and a weight of 80lb. It is still thin compared to watercolor paper and pastel paper. A pad with 24 sheets 11x14in costs $13.71.
Mixed Media Paper
Mixed Media paper has a weight of 184lb making it more resistant. It has a vellum surface and can be used with wet and dry media. A pad with 15 sheets 9x12in costs $12.04.
Bristol Vellum Paper
Bristol paper has a vellum surface but stills holds some texture. It has a weight of 100lb making it thicker enough to hold water. A pad with 20 sheets 9x12in costs $9.18.
Canson
Mi-Teintes Pastel Paper
Canson's Pastel Paper is a texture paper for Pastel use. It has a weight of 98lb which is not too thin, but not too heavy. It is sale as individual 9x12in sheets at $0.94 a piece and a pad with assorted colors with 24 sheets at $9.69.
Watercolor Paper
Watercolor paper is a cold press, heavy weight and texture product. It has a weight of 140 and its resistant to water. A pad with 30 sheets 9x12in costs $9.06.
Bright White
Bright white paper is really soft and has a really good texture. This sheet was 22x30 with a weight of 250 gsm and cost $4.51.
Additional Resources
Fixatives
Pastels are a dry medium that is fragile to touch or move around. The particles of pigment can continue to come off and smudge the work or the work of others, in order to avoid messes, it is advisable to use a fixative to seal the work. Since this fixative come on spray they are not to be use in the presence of kids or be use by kids. Be sure to seal the work on an open area. You could purchase a professional fixative or a substitute like a hair spray.
Blending
Pastels can be messy at times and when it comes to blending with the finger, some kids might be skeptical or not comfortable with it due to sensory feelings. In order to accommodate them you can include some cotton swabs, Q-tips or fabric.
I had explored some of these options and found that Fingers work best to blend the materials. But you are welcome to still use some of these options if that would make a kid feel more comfortable.
Clean Up
Pastels are not as messy to compare with other mediums like acrylic paint or watercolors. Although, they do create some mess that can be easily preventable at some extend. First rule for kids should be "not blowing". Blowing the residue creates more mess that could also smudge or stain peer's work. Try giving the kids some sort of tray to tap their page into so that they don't end up with a lot of residues laying on their paper. Also prepare some wet wipes to clean tables and provide hand wipes to students. This will allow them to have clean hands while blending and avoid getting pigment residue of other colors into parts they don't want the color on.
Medium exploration
In this section I will be exploring the strength and limitations of each brand. I will also compare its effects on different papers.
Strathmore
Alphacolor Mungyo Ha Shi Prismacolor
Sketch: In general, the paper has little texture but still hold a good amount of the pigment. It is easy to use and soft as well. Some of the harder pastels made some indentures that are hard to notice but felt a little harsh on hand.
Drawing: The paper has a little more textured and the colors attach better. The paper seems to hold the fixative spray better. The paper is not as thin and allows for layering and more marks to be made.
Mix Media: The paper feels more smoother but slippery on the medium. Some brands were leaving shiny marks making then look plastic instead of softer. Although the paper was better for resistance and when water was added later on this was one of the two papers that hold the structure and didn't bend too much.
Bristol Vellum: This paper provided the best approach to texture and hold to the pigment. It doesn't bend easily and was good staying on when spray was applied.
Alphacolor: The colors are transparent and opaque. If press too hard they break easily and have quite a dust residue. The pastels feel a little hard to drag across the paper, there is a plastic feeling to them. They tend to leave more marks on paper than other brands. On Mix Media paper they left a shiny finish that ruined the soft pastel feel.
Mungyo: The colors look more vibrant and softer. The palette also includes some fluorescent colors. They come in a smaller size which allows more pressure to be made without fearing they might break. The colors stay on better even after the excess residue is tapped away. They feel soft and easy to apply.
Ha Shi: The color is vibrant and warmer. Like Mungyo, they come in shorter size which allows for the extra pressure to be made. The residue is a bit more than Mungyo, but they also feel buttery. They attach better to the paper and with a few marks the color looks solid even when only two layers were applied.
Prismacolor: The color feels warmer, it is also due to the option purchased, they also offer versions with cooler tones or fluorescent colors. They come in larger size which made most of them break easily. Although, they have a soft feeling to them, and the colors look full after residue is removed. The finish is crispy, and colors look solid.
Canson
Watercolor: The paper was resistant to multiple layers. The paper allows for some texture to show and when blended it creates a surface with a lot more texture. In the fingers it feels a bit rough.
Mi-Teintes Pastel Paper: This paper was very textured and porous. It is great for creating marks and the different colors allow for different reading of the color. The color black in particular works great with the fluorescent colors of Mungyo brand.
Bright White: This paper is an easy paper to use. It feels soft to the finger and the medium slides better on the surface. It has some texture to work as it is porous. Th color look solid and the spray stays on really good.
Prismacolor: The paper allows for this brand to feel softer. There are less traces of marks in the paper and the colors look more vibrant. The finish is crisper and solid.
Ha Shi (L&B): The colors look more defined and respond to the texture on the paper. They still feel softer than the other brands, but in textured paper, they seem to leave more residue.
Mungyo: The colors look solid and only needed two layers. They feel soft and the paper makes them look vibrant. The finish colors are solid, and the effect of the fluorescent colors is great in black paper.
Alphacolor: The colors still look transparent, but they have better vibrancy on this surface as more of the pigment stayed on. The vibrancy really comes out on the black paper since they seem to have more white pigment in the formula. The darker colors seemed to be the one that are harsh and hard to use making the more marks.
Techniques and Uses
Drawing techniques on pastels work really great and allow for more experimentation on the possibilities of the medium. I will provide a comparison of more textured pper to one that is less textured. I will provide some insight on how each brand responded to some of these techniques.
Soft Fine-tooth Surface
Strathmore Bristol Vellum: For the fine tooth and softer textures paper experimentation, I will be using Strathmore Bristol Vellum paper and try different ranges of techniques. (Slider)
Blending:
Alphacolor- For most of the finger technique worked the best, when rubbed with other material it leaves the residue of texture. This brand blended into two colors better than the rest. It has a fluffy feeling to it.
Mungyo- This brand felt really soft to blend. The residue left after pressing allow for more pigment to be blended. It feels like the blend into two color is pretty good as well.
Prismacolor- This brand has a softie feel to it. It blended easier with the finger, but it was not bad with other mediums. The blending was a bit harder to achieve since the colors are so bold.
Han Shi (L&B)- This brand also felt soft to blend, although by doing that you will pick up a lot of the pigment away from the paper.
Layering:
Alphacolor: This brand melted pretty good when layering both colors, the blend is almost unnoticeable.
Mungyo: This brand was hard to layer on this surface, although it showed different results in other surfaces.
Prismacolor: This brand showed better results when layering the colors without blending. The colors collaborated with each other and felt soft to layer.
Ha Shi (L&B): This brand felt soft to blend and the size of the product translates better to this technique wince the pressure applied is uniform along the stick.
Textured Surfaced
Canson Mi-Teintes Pastel Paper: For the textured surface I used Canson Mi-Teintes Pastel Paper since it was one of the papers that advertised its used with pastel and provides more texture on the surface. (Slider)
Blending:
Alphacolor- Due to its textured surface most of the techniques had similar results. Although using the finger provided a sensory experience of the medium and allow for more intended spreading which was harder to achieve with cotton. Again, the blending between colors looks successful since the pigments are not as bold.
Han Shi (L&B)- In this brand the Finger showed a better coverage of the porous surface and allow for the pigment to stay intact. The blending was somewhat successful, the marks made with the stick felt harder to look at and hard to blend with the paper.
Mungyo- This brand had similar results and comparison to Han Shi. The blending was easier, and the residue allows for better feeling of the material.
Prismacolor- This brand has bolder colors that can feel hard to blend, I felt I apply more pressure to the medium to blend in the paper. Although it is good that although I press a lot, not a ton of pigment was taken away from the surface.
Layering:
Due to the porous surface all the layering felt successful. I feel it is a good technique on which you can practice mixing colors without blending and practicing laying the pastel flat on the surface to pick up on the texture of the paper.
Additional Techniques
This are some additional ideas to incorporate to artmaking with pastels using techniques that could translate immediately to a lesson.
Adding Water
For this technique you will need water cups and brushes. This is a perfect activity to move from dry materials to wet materials. This technique is recommended to use for all grades, although for younger kids it is advised to try it with additional staff present or with smaller groups. There are two ways to approach this technique, to wet the pastel with brushes or add the pastel on a humid surface. By adding water to the pastel, you can achieve more control on what are the places that will look waterier are vs where are the places where you would like to leave a mark. When trying the pastel in humid surface make sure to be careful with pressure since the paper will be more delicate. Try to use watercolor paper or mix media paper, since other paper rip really easily into contact with water.
Alphacolor- This surprisingly was the best response to the wet brush. It was easy to melt with the water and provided more control on the blending of the colors.
Mungyo- This brand work well with the water, although at times it was hard to get rid of the mark made by the texture of both the pastel and the paper. It does blends pretty well with other colors and water if applied a good amount of water.
Han Shi (L&B)- This was the second brand that work best with water. The pigment was still strong even after dragging it out of the place where it was placed.
Prismacolor- I feel this brand was less successful when translating to wet medium. The marks were made more visible and the water will just pick up the residue and was unable to touch the surface of the pastel on the paper at all. Although the pigment stayed bold and was able to be more noticeable from other brands.
Stencils
Like many other dry mediums, pastels can be fun to use around stencils. They are especially good at rendering a negative image with the use of feathering, flat edge and blending. When applying colors to the stencils try to use more than blending to make marks of texture inside the stencil. Use different colors, even weird combinations of colors, that can stand out more.
Activity Exploration
I have brainstormed an activity that makes some use of these techniques and materials in terms of lessons and ideas.
Vases
In this activity you will be allowing kids to create their own shapes of vases but folding papers in half and drawing half of a form. Then we will use some of the techniques mixed together however they like. I would recommend using simpler techniques with younger students and more complicated ones as they have more experience.
Try to ask older students about what colors could be a great match? What colors show shadows and lights better? How can different mixes of colors create other colors? You may also use some of these questions with younger students about colors.
+ For younger kids preK-2 focus on creating shapes out of the stencils and the color theory. These two with one base is great to start with.
+For Older kids 3-5 try to incorporate more elements like composition and depth. How can their compositions be unique? Maybe they could also use patterns inside the base. Or maybe add other personal elements to the work like flowers or toys.
Another idea would be doing this using black paper and some vibrant colors. They could also explore the idea of negative space.
Self-Evaluation
I must admit I have not a lot of experience working with pastels, but it is a medium I always like to see. I am intrigued by the blending and how the color translates really good to black color paper. As I began to explore more about the medium, I feel more comfortable to teach it. I also feel I have some room for improvement on some of my techniques which I plan on doing more on my Sketchbook. I want to discover more techniques and add to this post as I found unique ways to use this material. I feel this learning experience has allow me to see pastels as more than a dry medium, but as an opportunity to make it wet as well. I plan on keep researching more about the medium and perhaps create artwork with it.
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