| If you’re a determined pastel artist with | | | | and shadows cast by those elements as well. |
| some experience, isn’t it time you stepped | | | | Mark these areas when you’re sketching |
| up and produced a pastel artwork that’s | | | | out your composition, and delineate the two. |
| truly great? There’s nothing wrong with | | | | Now think about the color and value of those |
| ambition! Here are some tips on using pastels to | | | | shadows. Shadowed areas will generally be darker |
| create a masterpiece: | | | | in value than cast shadows, but observe then |
| 1. It all begins with a thumbnail | | | | carefully, as this is not always the case. Work out |
| Thumbnail sketching is simply one of the best | | | | where the darkest shadows in your composition |
| ways to begin a pastel masterpiece. And what is | | | | will be, and where the lightest shadows will be. For |
| a thumbnail sketch? It’s a tiny sketch, on a | | | | color, you’re working off the local color of |
| separate piece of paper, of the main features of | | | | the object that’s in shadow, darkened by |
| your composition. Thumbnail sketches are usually | | | | the shadow, and colored slightly by reflected light |
| about one inch square or a little larger (say around | | | | from the light source (i.e. slightly blued by light |
| the size of a credit card). You should vary the | | | | from the sky, slightly warmed by late afternoon |
| size depending on how big the full-size painting is | | | | light through a window). |
| going to be. You should spend no more than five | | | | Creating realistic shadows in your pastels |
| minutes on your thumbnail sketch. | | | | masterpieces requires, above all, careful |
| The big, big benefit of thumbnail sketches is that | | | | observation of the shadows in your scene. |
| they force you to simplify something that might | | | | 3. Highlights |
| seem overwhelmingly complex into just its main | | | | As for your shadows, highlights should be marked |
| components. Without any room for details, your | | | | during your sketching – do this with a white |
| brain won’t get sidetracked. This is | | | | pastel. You should leave the detailed work on |
| invaluable, as it reveals the fundamental nature of | | | | them until the very end though (it’s easier |
| what you’re trying to do, and you can | | | | to work from dark to light with pastels). |
| carry this through into working on your main | | | | Highlights are all about calculating where the light |
| surface. | | | | from the light source will strike the objects in |
| Note that you can (and should) also sketch out | | | | your composition in such a way that the light |
| your composition on your main surface after | | | | reflects out at the viewer. Placed correctly, they |
| you’ve completed your thumbnail sketch. | | | | will greatly add to the verisimilitude of your |
| 2. Shadows | | | | painting…and incorrectly placed they will ruin it! |
| Shadows and highlights are two key areas of any | | | | Remember when doing your highlights that, like |
| artwork, as they are the bookends of the tonal | | | | shadows, they usually have at least a touch of |
| range. Of the two, it’s shadows that are | | | | color in them. You can buy tints of white |
| the harder to get right, but as they give the | | | | specifically for highlights, or just do it yourself with |
| impression of volume (‘3-Dness’), | | | | a blending technique. |
| they’re also the more important. | | | | Using pastels in the ways outlined above will go a |
| In a pastel painting, you’re likely to have | | | | long way to helping you create your masterpiece. |
| shadowed sides of elements in your composition, | | | | |