Do you work with dry or oil pastels? There are two parameters that will guide your choice of paper for either medium, to be made on the basis of the characteristics of the work you want to create.

Somewhere between transparent and opaque and too much and too little, pastel is a subtle art. A few precautions should allow you to avoid the most classical pitfalls.

Pastel sticks offer many formal possibilities. You can enliven your material by applying color in different ways. Here are the four basic techniques.

Their brilliant colors have established their reputation. Tender and soft or, conversely, thick with a strong character, there is the right pastel for any composition. It all depends on how much of a shade is applied and the technique used.

From a quick sketch to a finished work, worked down to the very last detail, you can create any interpretation with pastels. So long as you are orderly about it.