1 USE THE FULL PALETTE
Laura Hardie: “I use Unison Colour soft pastels. They are a medium, buttery-soft pastel that doesn’t crumble when used. I love their silky-smooth application, rich pigments, and vibrant colours.
“Unison’s colour range is great with more than 400 colours to choose from – my favourites, and most used in my work, are the earth colours and subtle greys, but when I need brilliance and vibrance for my flamingos, the reds and oranges never let me down.
“Other than my pastels the only tools I use are the PanPastel Sofft [sic] sponges. These are great for blending the first layers of pastel.”
2 TRY A FIRMER SUPPORT
LH: “It’s so important to have a good support to work on and like many fellow pastel artists I use Clairefontaine Pastelmat Board. I prefer using board to paper as it offers more support and won’t crease, tear or warp. Pastel is a delicate medium until framed behind glass so using sturdier supports like these boards gives me that added comfort of knowing it is less likely to be damaged in transit.”
3 FOCUS ON SHAPES
LH: “When starting a drawing, try to not think of it as a specific bird or animal, and instead focus on shape and colour. I work primarily dark to light and always block in first using soft pastels.
“Once I am happy with the base layers, I work over this with lighter shades and add details with pastel pencils. To keep my pencils sharp, I use a craft knife instead of a sharpener. I found leads continually break when sharpened with a sharpener and the pastel also quickly blunts the blade, so the craft knife is a less expensive option.”
4 DON’T RELY ON PHOTOS
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