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Different Kinds of Pastels

Pastels come in different colors and in different sizes, but the most common are small sticks of ground pigments that come the form of a crayon. The term "pastels" also can mean pictures that are made using pastel colors, or it can describe the use of pastels in painting or drawing a work of art. Pastel colors can be bright and distinctive or pale.

Types and Uses
- The main types of pastels used to produce pictures or drawings are hard and soft pastels. Others include oil pastels, conté sticks and pastel pencils. Stationers or art shops usually supply pastels under a number of different brands that reflect a range of quality. The pastels can be purchased individually or in sets of twelve or more and are half -or full-sized sticks. The common size of a standard stick is two and a half inches.
Hard and Soft Pastel Sticks and Pencils
- Hard and soft pastels have been used by artists since the 16th century. They have great versatility and can portray the colors of a scene or backdrop brightly and vividly, or they can show more subtlety with the use of the paler shades. One disadvantage that they have is that unlike oil colors, they cannot be mixed to produce the specific tones and tints that some artists find particularly important.
Oil Pastels
- Oil pastels are a relatively new medium in the art world. They were first developed in 1921 by the Sakura Crayon Company, which went through several improvements with a final formulation produced in 1927. Oil pastels use wax and inert oils to bind the inputs. They adhere well to canvas or other mediums, for example wood, and never crack. This means that they give the artist a wide freedom of expression, as well as give the artwork durability and longevity.
Conte Crayons
- Conte crayons have been around for about 250 years and are designed to produce a sturdier end product. They are made of Kaolin clay and pure pigments, and this creates a rich and smooth material ideal for graphics. They are harder and slimmer than traditional crayons and are ideal for artists who want to work on the finer details of their artwork. Conte crayons may be considered as an additional rather than main tool for artists. This means that it is unlikely that an artist would only or mainly use conté crayons because of their limited uses, but rather they will be used to enhance the detail in paintings composed with other pastels or paints.

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