How to use Oil Pastels for Beginners | Find Your Art Medium Ep. 8

In the 8th video of Find your art medium we answer many beginner's questions about oil pastels and the basics of how to use them!

0:00 In this video
I quickly tell you what you can expect from this video.

0:49 What are Oil Pastels?
First off I talk about what oil pastel and how to spot if something is oil pastel or soft pastel.

1:58 Supplies: Oil Pastel Sticks
We also look into what art supplies you need to get started. I talk especially about the different brands and their prices, the color variety of each brand and I'll give you my recommendations for oil pastels for beginners.

4:06 Supplies: Painting Surface
Then we talk about the painting surface and you will find out if oil pastels can be used on canvas, wood, glass or paper. (Spoiler alert: It's all of the above!)

5:08 Techniques: Blending
We continue with the most common techniques when working with oil pastels and I show you three different ways they can be blended on paper.

5:50 Techniques: Impasto
6:03 Techniques: Layer & Scratch

6:34 Advantages of Oil Pastels
While we discuss advantages and disadvantages of oil pastel as an art medium you can see me paint a church in the woods in the background and I give you tutorial like tips with written notes.
The list of advantages also anwers questions like:
Are they good for landscape painting? Are they difficult to clean? How exact do I have to be when working with them? Can oil pastels dry out?

9:41 Disadvantages of Oil Pastels
We look at the things that are not so great about this art medium and all the while try to answer the question 'Would you like Oil Pastels?'
I also give you tips on how to counter these disadvantages.

13:08 Final Review: Oil Pastels
Let's have a summary of Oil Pastels as an art medium. We answer the questions 'are oil pastels fun to work with?' 'how expensive are they?' 'how much know-how do you need for oil pastels?' and 'is it a hassle to work with them?'

I hope this guide is helpful to you and gives you some valuable information.

Some of the links below are affiliate links. At no cost to you will a small comission be paid to me if you purchase something through them. Thank you for your support of the channel!

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Thank you for watching :)

[kjeldversleijen]

One of the best feelings is seeing someone else be really enthousiastic and passionate about something I hold so dear myself. I am a total nerd about this stuff, so seeing someone spend their free time exactly how I would, makes me smile ear to ear

[taatortot]

I love that you put the "Artist Type" in the video. I'm definitely impatient and spontaneous when it comes to art mediums so I'm excited to give this a try

[andrewfuller]

I would add that I found the sculpture silicone tools to both rub the pastel where I want it like using a brush, and to mix small amounts to the color I want to use, and you can remove a little with the spoon shaper one if it’s gotten too heavy.

[miklosnemeth]

9:08 that little house look awesome. I cannot live without hairspray, it is fantastic and beautiful scented fixative, a joy to use and makes oil pastel drawing dry in 5 minutes.

[miklosnemeth]

One more thing, oil pastels work excellently with soft color pencils like Prismacolor, Derwent Drawing, or Derwent Coloursoft.

[terrenceconnolly]

Excellent video thank you. I have only recently discovered oil pastels and I really like them. The biggest tip I would add is that Sennelier makes an oil pastel fixative spray that will fix the paint so you won't be able to change it but you can be sure it won't smudge.

[Mommaoftwokiddos]

I got a 120 color set of oil pastels from Monte Mart for $40. They are incredibly vibrant, very soft, and have no smell.

[rosanesilva]

I didn't want to admit it, but this artistic medium was made for me. you described all the advantages and all the disadvantages, and I loved both sides! I will devote myself to learning more and more.Your art with sticks was beautiful!

[heatherhancheruk]

very helpful, I think my high school students would benefit from seeing/listening to this video, as they often think they have oil pastels covered! The comment about the first grade painting made me smile!

[tinykitchenbigflavor]

Love this tutorial, I have never used oil pastels before! I am researching the pros and cons of using these.
I am truly happy I came across your channel…easy to understand and you have a soothing voice. I find some videos are way too fast and not clear.
I thank you for sharing the uses of this product.

[heyhun]

I love the artist personality fit discussion. Haha! Thank you so much for making this video!

[Cyrilmc]

Thank you so much Francis, I really really enjoyed watching you demonstrate the oil pastels, and I found it very helpful and informative too. ❤❤

[charofheart]

Enjoyed the tips and reminder that you just need a blender or finger and paper along with your pastels. No need for a wide space to work in because of the little equipment needed to use oil pastels. Much appreciated, thank you for sharing! 🤗❤️👍🏾💯

[thDimensionFriends]

The wax in oil pastels is non-drying. The oil WILL eventually dry out and you should use your Oil pastels within 3 years of opening them.

[susangerber]

Thank you! Well done. You are the first reviewer I have found to discuss toxicity….I was put off of soft pastels because of the dust. Now I have been playing with mixed media and have been interested in using the oil pastels, as well.

[maankawas]

Great video! I love oil pastel, and I use them on canvas panel, and protect them using oil pastel varnish.

[vicmurai]

Thanks for this great video. After watching this video, I would imagine that oil pastels would be wonderful to paint in the impressionism style.

[miklosnemeth]

12:58 your video is fantastic but since you don't use hairspray you are missing a brutally important tool to control oil pastels. Firstly, hairspray is cost effective human friendly to give protective final finish layer. Secondly, a gentle thin spray is enough to fixate the bottom layers and you can paint immediately a second layer on top without messing around with the bottom layers.
That church looks gorgeous:D

[mattherman]

Love this, thanks! Just a note - I just scanned a bunch of my beginning oil pastels, and it seemed to be ok... But yes, you need to be carful to avoid smudges, crumbs, etc. on both artwork and glass of scanner... OP's are great as both underlays and overlays, both dark and light, also apply and then remove with cloth for a stained effect. It's a wash much quicker than water color! Both dark and light, sgraffito fun. Use a cheaper brand to achieve a harder edge, or to block in? Pencil graphite turns to liquid when it hits that oil... it flows like paint! Try a 3B or so... Also, embrace the smudge, try op *over pencil for a dreamy mess*

[barbh]

That is a beautiful painting of the cottage.