The Secrets to Drawing: Oil Pastels
Lesson Description
Lesson Nineteen of The Secrets to Drawing Course introduces students to the rich, vibrant medium of oil pastels. Known for their creamy texture and bold, saturated colors, oil pastels allow artists to create expressive, textured, and colorful drawings. In this lesson, students explore the unique qualities of oil pastels, learn techniques for layering and blending, and apply these skills to create a landscape drawing on gray drawing paper.
Introduction to Oil Pastels
The lesson begins by examining the properties that make oil pastels a dynamic medium. Oil pastels consist of pigment mixed with a non-drying oil and wax binder, resulting in a smooth, buttery consistency. This makes them ideal for blending colors directly on the paper, building texture, and creating rich, luminous tones. Matt Fussell explains that oil pastels are versatile, suitable for both bold, expressive work and detailed, refined drawings.
Students are encouraged to explore the medium’s flexibility, experimenting with both heavy, opaque application and lighter, layered strokes. By understanding the characteristics of oil pastels, artists can create drawings that are visually striking and full of energy.
Working on Gray Paper
Gray drawing paper is recommended for this lesson because it provides a neutral mid-tone background that enhances the vibrancy of the oil pastels. Dark colors appear deep and intense, while lighter colors, including whites and yellows, stand out and create highlights. Matt demonstrates how using a mid-tone paper allows for more immediate and effective contrast, making it easier to establish light, shadow, and depth within the composition.
Working on gray paper also helps students think in terms of values, building the drawing around mid-tones first, and then adding highlights and dark shadows to create a sense of three-dimensionality.
Techniques for Layering and Blending
A major focus of this lesson is layering and blending oil pastels to create depth and richness of color. Students learn to apply light base layers first, gradually adding additional layers to intensify color and develop tonal variation. By layering complementary or analogous colors, students can achieve nuanced shades and realistic effects in their drawings.
Creating Texture and Detail
Oil pastels are excellent for creating texture, which is especially important when drawing natural subjects such as landscapes. Students learn how to use directional strokes to mimic the textures of trees, grass, and other landscape features. By varying the pressure, angle, and layering of pastels, students can create intricate details while maintaining a sense of depth and volume.
Matt also emphasizes using contrasts of light and dark to enhance the three-dimensionality of objects. Highlights can be added with lighter colors, while shadows are deepened with darker hues. Combining layering, blending, and directional marks results in a dynamic, visually engaging drawing.
Drawing Exercise: Landscape with Oil Pastels
The primary exercise in this lesson involves creating a landscape drawing with oil pastels on gray paper.
Students layer and blend colors to develop depth, texture, and form. Trees and sky are rendered using a combination of smooth blending and textured marks to capture the natural variety of the scene. Highlights and shadows are added strategically to create contrast and guide the viewer’s eye through the composition. By the end of the exercise, students produce a landscape that demonstrates both technical skill and expressive use of color.
Benefits of Drawing with Oil Pastels
Drawing with oil pastels teaches students to think about color, layering, and texture in new ways. It encourages experimentation, observation, and expressive mark-making. The medium provides immediate, vibrant results while allowing artists to refine and manipulate colors directly on the paper. Learning to work with oil pastels also strengthens understanding of light, shadow, and color interaction, skills that are transferable to other media.
Conclusion: Mastery of Oil Pastels
By the end of Lesson Nineteen, students have a thorough understanding of how to use oil pastels effectively. They have learned to layer and blend colors, create texture, and render depth on gray paper. The landscape drawing serves as a practical application of these skills, demonstrating how observation, color theory, and technique combine to produce a dynamic, expressive composition. Mastery of oil pastels equips students with a versatile and powerful tool for creating vibrant, textured, and visually compelling artwork in their artistic journey.
Lesson Materials
Oil pastels, toned drawing paper, drafting brush.
Lesson Resources
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Founder of The Virtual Instructor, artist and teacher. Matt makes learning art easy to understand and enjoyable.
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Hi Matt!
Really liked this video :), I just have a problem: after like more or less 3 layers of oil pastels my paper just seems not to be able to hold more.
But I can see in your video that this does not seem to be a problem for you. Do you have any trick?Any paper you advice for oil pastels?I was using mi-teintes canson with van gogh pastels.
Actually the same also applies for soft pastels, so I’m probably doing something wrong also there….
Hope you see my comment and thanks for the awesome videos!
Hi Joana,
That is curious for sure. There’s not necessarily a trick. Here are a couple of things you can try though…
1. Try layering lightly at first. That way you’ll get some of the color within the layer without much of the binder.
2. Try using a different brand of oil pastels. I’ve never used the Van Gogh brand, but a different brand may produce different results.
I hope this helps.
Hi Matt – Could you please include the brand of oil pastels and paper? And please do the same for each lesson that requires something other than a pencil. I get to a new lesson and can’t continue until I order the materials as I don’t have a local art store. It would be very helpful if you listed all the materials you use at the very beginning of the course. Thank you! Jane
Hi Matt,
I am using Mi-teintes Canson paper. I started with the rough side but i really had to press hard in order to fill the gaps of the paper. So I started using the light texture side and I still have the same problem.
You recommend Joana to start layering lightly but if i do so, in the back of the oil, the paper still shows. In your video it seams that your first layer covers completely as if it was a pencil colour not showing any spaces of the paper. If i cover it completely in the first layer, i find it hard to barnish. How can I solve this problem?
thank you!
Hi Matt,
Sorry for answering so late to the comment, but I didn’t receive any warning of the comments (so I actually though no one had actually had answered). I did a few things that worked for me:
1. I started to use Canson Mi-teints Touch (looks a bit more like sand paper), I think it’s a lot better then the normal one.
2. I warm up a bit my oil pastels before using them (usually I put them close to the heating)
3. While using Canson mi-teints I try to use the smooth side instead of the rough side and use a light hand (indeed helps).
This helped me out and I hope it helps someone else too.
Thanks!
This is the most information I have been able to find on oil pastel sticks. I have made several drawings of landscapes with the medium but they didn’t turn out like the one in the video. They were great, but I smudged with my fingers and others means to mix the colors. The effect is totally different but nice. This video showed me the classic way to use them and I learned a lot!
Aria
Thanks Aria!
Hi Matt is there a reference photo for this so I can follow on
Doreen
Hi Doreen,
Photo references are provided for many of the lessons, but not all of them include a reference. This one unfortunately is unavailable.
Hi Matt,
Have just finished your Oil Pastel Landscape and I really enjoyed it and have learnt a lot about Oil Pastel and am now feeling a lot more confident with the medium, can’t wait to find one of my own photos to have a go at. Thankyou very much
Doreen
I’m a beginner in painting and I have been learning so much from The Master Series. This was a great video,like all the videos. My question is, How do i protect the painting after i finish it? and because its an oil pastel, how long does it take to dry?
Hi Matt, this is a good tutorial. I could evacuate some doubts. Thank you!.
Hi, this is a good tutorial. I could evacuate some doubts. Thank you!.
Thanks for the video. I purchased cheap oil pastels and they are terrible. The white doesn’t mix at all. I’m going to make sure I invest in decent drawing materials from now on. 🙂
Just started my first oil pastel landscape after watching this vid… Something about this medium is strangely amusing and fun to play with. How ‘mushy’ and ‘creamy’ the pastels get when you layer them is very fun and allows for so many possibilities. I will post the picture in the forum when I am done! Patience is definitely important here like you mentioned.
I actually got a pack a small boards for this lesson, I’ve not done this lesson yet.
Its a pack of five 9×6 inch oil pastel board by Reeves and I bought set of Faber Castell oil pastels.
When I’ve done this lesson, I’ll post feedback on what I thought of both the boards and oil pastels 🙂
That is a beautiful drawing. I am unfamiliar with pastels, and do not do as well as with graphite and colored pencil. I do have oil and chalk pastels. Not my favorite medium. Do not like the dust. But i do want to try to get better and really give them a try because I like your finished result!
Wish you could do more oil pastels demos. Just started using them this week after watching your series on soft pastels. I have used soft for many years, and have learned a great deal from tutorials! I did a bunch of small landscapes this week in the oil pastels, and I really like it. Most of my work has been portraits for the last 10 years.
Hi Matt! I just started your video courses this year and It has helped me improve my work a lot! Thank you so much!!!!! I was wondering with the oil pastels, does the type of paper or the brand of oil pastels have a different effect on the drawing? I used a Pro Art drawing pad and some of the colors did not want to blend well.
I am really enjoying the lessons. Having the photo reference you are using would be a big help. I like the detailed drawing tutorials you send out. I was expecting more of that in this course.
I’d love to get the reference too.
Hi Matt,
Not sure if you are still monitoring comments but it would be helpful on the tutorial to know what size the drawing is, especially when the photo reference is no longer available. The ebook frames appear to have a 1:2 ratio but the finished drawing looks more like a 4:5. Not knowing, I am going with an 8 x 10 & hope the proportions work out.
Thanks for another great tutorial.
Hi Julie,
The finished work is approximately 8″ by 6″. It is a fairly small drawing. I hope this helps.
Hi Matt,
this is really great!
I would love to try some oil pastels.
Can I draw first with the pencil and then on top of that with the oil pastels?
Hi Matt,
Can you please advise what kind of paper is suitable for oil pastel. I have attempted with sketch paper and water colour paper and they don’t work. Perhaps the oil pastel I have is a cheap one, my kids’, any recommendation? Thanks.
Hi Faith,
Any pastel papers will work just fine. Cold press watercolor paper should also be more than acceptable. I like Canson Mi-Teintes pastel paper for oil pastels.
Can I use the Caran D’ache Neocolour 2 (water soluable) instead of oil pastels?