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Whiskers! How the hell do you draw/paint in pastels?
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Message
Posted
Yes I know it's been discussed before. Please forgive me. But I am confused. I have recently pastel painted a series of dogs and cats, but when they have dark coats I cannot draw the whiskers because of the several dark layers underneath. I have tried pastel pencils, conte pastels and white charcoal but never get the clarity of the whiskers because the under layer always contaminates the pastel point. I have also tried scraping the layers but still no joy. Can anyone please explain to me how to achieve light pastel whiskers on dark animals. I shall be eternally grateful. Thank you.
Posted
Hold it there! I think I have discovered a source of all my answers. I found this video and it is instructive and very helpful. I would still be interested in what you think however.
There a slight ad intro on YouTube - please be advised.
Edited
by Roger Green
Posted
1. Drawing on top of a thick layer of soft pastel doesn’t work - the pencil or pastel stick “ drags” and disturbs the lower layer.
2. The area where you want the whiskers…is there too much pastel there already? ( see above)
My method is to press a dot of soft pastel on to the area and lightly use a shaper ( rubber ended tool ) to lightly pull it out as the whisker. Or…sharpen the side of your soft pastel stick to a point, press it on to the black and, again, carefully pull out the whisker. You are “ laying it on” rather than drawing. You can also neaten the whisker afterwards with a black pastel pencil or similar. I just watched the video you mentioned. All sound advice. However, I don’t use pencils much, I prefer the end result to be more like a painting rather than a drawing so my pastels are mainly Unison or Sennelier ( I rub in the early layers to keep them thin). Forgot to say, if the pastel is too thick because the paper hasn’t taken it you can also “tonk” it ( press on top with kitchen roll ) to take off some pastel, just as you can with oils.
Edited
by Marjorie Firth
Posted
They are a rather good pair of cat pastels, very good in fact!
Marjorie has identified the problem here, too thick with too many layers, a no win situation! You’re never going to achieve fine lines… or whiskers or whatever else you want to add over the top.
Pretty obvious when you think about it!
Solution: keep the layers of pastel thin, blow off any surface dust that will inevitably be present.
Then use one of those Conte square sticks, snap off a clean break, and you’ve got all the sharp, crisp edges at your disposal to enable you to draw a single stroke fine line - or use a pastel pencil with a sharp point!
Posted
Thanks for all the advice. Very helpful. But for me not so simple and obvious! Hence the question. I guess my problem is applying too much pastel in the preceding layers and not rubbing it in enough. The video link was included as I thought it was helpful. Regarding no profile or gallery, as a new member of this fraternaty just allow me some time.
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