Hey, I was cleaning my room today and i found a tray of near new oil pastels, but when i tried drawing/shading with them they didn’t work properly (other pastels I’ve used have been chalky, but these are waxy, almost like crayons) I tried using my finger to blend them, then using water and a brush to blemd them, but it wont work. So my question: how to i use oil pastels correctly?
any help is appreciated
thanks.
Huh. Since they’re OIL pastels you might try a brush and something in the oil family, instead of water. I don’t know if I’ve ever used them, though. If they are “hard” pastels they might not be meant to be blended as easily.
Someone that actually KNOWS something should show up soon. . . why am I here?
Just a little, little experience with “oil bars”, which IIRC re the sme (more or less) as oil pastels. They won’t do water (unless their aquarelles (sp?) or thye like, which are purpose mad for water). They will blend, but it takes working. Otherwise, wait until someone with more expertise comes along, or even better, find an art specific board. (FWIW, much as I love the SDMBs, very few art questions get answered properly here in my experience). Luck to you.
Just a little, little experience with “oil bars”, which IIRC re the sme (more or less) as oil pastels. They won’t do water (unless their aquarelles (sp?) or the like, which are purpose made for water). They will blend, but it takes working. Otherwise, wait until someone with more expertise comes along, or even better, find an art specific board. (FWIW, much as I love the SDMBs, very few art questions get answered properly here in my experience). Luck to you.
I’ve worked with oil pastels before, but I don’t know if I used them correctly… 
They are meant to be very waxy, in a creamy way (if that makes sense). I’ve found that you have to apply them rather thick and get a good solid “coat” on the surface in order to blend them. When blending, I either use my fingers or a q-tip. Try this (applying very thickly, and smearing by hand) on some spare paper, and see if this works for you. 
I received a set of oil pastels as a gift, my experience is pretty much as you described. They are like drawing with crayons. A bit softer than a regular crayon and seemingly very waxy instead of oily. I figure it has to do with the wielder, but all my attempts came out looking like coloring book prints. I’ve decided to stick with chalk. I do have a set of colored pencils that can be used with water, but I haven’t seen something similar in oil pastels. They might exist (oil pastels usable with water), but I am guessing it would say so on the package.
thanks for the help, um…i’ll stick to my pencil.
Oh, oil pastels are fabulous. I went through a whole oil pastel “phase” (I need to get back into one) and I really cranked out the artwork. Alas, I haven’t scanned any of these oil pastel works. I really ought to. They were fun to do.
You can blend them with a brush dipped in paint thinner or turpentine. I’ve done some interesting multi-media work with oil pastels and something else, by using oil pastels sparingly, and thinning them down and blending them with a paintbrush. Interesting…
Also, you just use 'em like crayons. Make loud, bold pictures with them. Build up the colors with layers and layers of crayon. Go wild! Experiment!
Oil pastels aren’t the kind of thing that you blend a lot with your fingers, or erase. They are kinda like watercolors in that respect—you have to know what you want to do before you start putting down color. But the end result can be exciting and fresh, like watercolors (but with a completely different look!) At least in my experience, anyway.