How to Draw OIL PASTEL Portraits for Beginner Artists

See techniques for how to draw a convincing portrait using oil pastel. Watch how to build up vibrant colors and three dimensional volume with oil pastels including layering, blending, creating a diverse range of textures and marks, and more. Demo led by Art Prof Clara Lieu.

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Clara Lieu was an Adjunct Professor at the Rhode Island School of Design from 2007-2020. Her artwork has been exhibited at the International Print Center NY, the Currier Museum, Childs Gallery, the Davis Museum, and more. Lieu received an artist fellowship from the MA Cultural Council, has written for the NY Times, and lectured at Brown University, the NAEA conference, and in Vancouver & China. She has been profiled in Artsy, Hyperallergic, KPCC, & WBUR.

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[jillianjob]

"If your priority when you're drawing a portrait is accuracy, I'd just take a photo." I love this. Thank you for this. I'm making that my new mantra as I'm just taking up art stuff again after over a decade long hiatus, and obsessing over trying to get my portraits accurate. But it takes the joy out of it and makes it less unique. I'm going to move on from redoing this eye for the 5th time and just take it as it is now

[sedamcclurg]

Really big thank you - from someone trying to learn oil pastels. So many videos are "beginner" with silly colors and subjects, REALLY appreciate a formal teacher's view on this medium rather than a crafters. I'm 2 days in and in love with the smushy oily blendability.

[jeannehuman]

What a remarkable, fresh, honest, talented, experienced artist! You are very generous in the way you share your knowledge. Thank you.

[Rocketdog]

I love the tip at the start about snapping them. It's so simple, but effective in looking at your tools for what they can be and not what you 'think' they are designed for.

[fortnag]

This was great. Loved how you likened it to sculpting. That's why I love the black surface. It's like I'm carving in the colors. Great vid.

[lynneellis]

I love your portrait. I recently used Gallery oil pastels on black paper. I painted an iris. I wanted to see the strokes and make it somewhat expressionistic. I could pick it apart, but it was fun. It's the 3rd time I've used oil pastels. On another work, I added oil pastel water lilies to a watercolor.

[danielleboudreau]

got myself some Caran D'Ache oil pastels after watching this video. can't wait to play with them

[juliabroadley]

Thankyou for this I was about to give up oil pastels then saw this and was reminded I got them for loose fun kind of art I'm definitely getting some black paper that looks 👌

[nunuallen]

This is my second time, nice simple, easy to follow-not follow as in copying but in getting realistic ideas.

[norasalem]

Wow !!
I love your technique alot jus putting layers instead of blending❤❤

[deeman]

This painting was finished a long time ago in my opinion and at first I thought you were adding too much incorrect colors, but as you continued I realized just how beautiful this piece is the way you did it in oil pastel and that the realism is correct because it is the art of oil pastels. In Which I learned some things from you today

[Andrew_Georgiou]

Literally as soon as you applied the blue to the background i was its beautiful, its done! 😅🤣

[seapossumsforrest]

Love it! I love looking at that black paper as underpainting! Here is my take on some oil pastels that I have tried. The cheaper the less pigment and harder waxy binder, the more expensive the more buttery. I have Monte Mart waxy and stiff, lots of flakes/crumbles. Holbein is waxy but blends well not a lot of crumbles. Mungyo has 2 kinds a regular and a soft. I find that it reminded me of the 'fat over lean' in oil painting. The waxier pastel on the bottom, the soft buttery pastels on top will blend but it takes over on the top layers. Sennelier is buttery and acts like the Mungyo soft oil pastels. What I found is if you put on the buttery pastel and don't like it, scrape it off, then you can layer new color in. I found a Youtube channel BlackBean CMS does a lot of reviews on oil pastels. He is really a master at blending and layering. I am still learning, so open to other tips. Thank you for posting!

[mgtupload]

Another great vid! This really helped me out with oil pastels and as a semi-realism artist, I totally agree hyper realism is boring. After really exploring colour theory and ignoring just simple lazy routes (like using peach for skin), it really changed how I look and do art. Using a different medium definitely helps esp. with something like Gouache where you can freely mess up and overlap colours to “fix” compared to my fave coloured pencils.

[rachaelvtstudio]

I just started playing with Oil Pastels recently when given a set to play around with. Its on the less expensive side, but I'm still enjoying myself. It's given me an out lit for the painterly blending and strokes I've always liked with acrylic painting, but in a portable medium that easy to set up and clean up, and lots of time to work with the colours as they don't dry out.

Thank you for this tutorial. I followed along, and it got me more comfortable with the pastels and also do something with some realism, but with more fun with the colours and textures and strokes. Definitely inspirational to not worry about exact colour and shape and more about have fun.

[OKCShiningOn]

yes!! Im here with my new pastels. I bought some extra if they did break. thank you

[SolarShine]

Today I saw the announcement for the "draw along" and remembered that I still had oil pastels, so I joined in. I had a really great time, and will join in again next Sunday. Thank you Clara. :-)

[heavenread]

I am a total beginner! I really enjoyed your tutorial and how you explained everything in an engaging fun way. Thank you lots 🌻

[lesliwilliamson]

This one of my all time favorite oil pastel portraits online. Thanks so much for sharing your fabulous work. Wish you would do more of them!

[rareheartart]

Clara- love what you do, but really love your out loud stream of consciousness!