Oil Pastels for Artists - mungyo, sennelier, caran d'ache, holbein
- megumiwat
- Nov 9
- 5 min read
In the past year or two, I have discovered oil pastels and they have become one of my favorite mediums. Here I will show my discoveries so far. This page will keep getting updated as I use this material more.
Oil pastels look like crayons, but oil pastels are made of pigments, oil, and wax, while crayons are made of pigments and wax. Oil pastels are noticeably softer / creamier and more pigmented. Both oil pastels and crayons never dry, but oil pastels are easier to smudge because they are softer.
Initially I started using oil pastels for mastercopy practices to emulate oil painting textures, as I don't have oil painting materials or equipment. I also am lazy that I will choose the easier way to get into and out of art making.
Something about working with oil pastels that are satisfying. They are ready to be used straight away, without the need to bring out brushes and cleaners. They can be used on paper. They can be smudged and scratched. And they are helpful in avoiding going into too much details and freely making marks and textures. They are not for making detailed drawings.
*Please keep in mind below are my personal opinion and feelings only. Each individual likes different products and probably lean towards one brand.
OIL PASTELS - MY FIRST SET
was Mungyo Gallery Soft Oil Pastel Set of 48 for A$47.84 ($1 per stick) after reading and watching numerous reviews. They are not the cheapest, but cheaper end of descent quality, pro accepted oil pastels. I swatched them and tried some drawings with them. Texture is great, nice and creamy but not mushy. But I noticed I did not like some colours, especially orange, greens, some of the blues... and in fact, most of the colours. It is difficult to explain with words and I am probably going to sound like a brat by saying things like... the colours are not sophisticated enough? or my initial feeling was that they made my drawing look like it was made for kids? and maybe not very natural. The Mungyo colours feel very flat to me. Like when you mix your paint with white, the colour loses its luminosity. In saying that, if I were to introduce any kids to oil pastels, I'd definitely give them Mungyo Gallery because of their quality, colour range and price.
OTHER BRANDS TRIAL
I was searching for different brand to try out, finding Sennelier and Caran D'ache Neopastel to be attractive but too expensive!. Then I came across a sale of Sennelier Oil Pastels in individual colours, for A$2.70 where they are normally $6-7. They are smaller than Mungyo, and they were still 2.7 times more expensive, but I am an art-materialholic and couldn't unsee this deal. The most popular colours were gone, but I managed to get quite a few colours in 2 separate shoppings. 1st time to try them out and 2nd time because I was happy with them. I also purchased a few of Caran D'ache Neopastels (A$4-5).
Mungyo, Sennelier, and Caran D'ache are all very different especially in texture. Sennelier is famously creamy and they can be very messy to deal with. Caran D'ache is very slightly harder than Mungyo. I like both Sennelier and Caran D'ache as almost different mediums. Sennelier's colours feel more natural than Mungyo's and they are all beautiful. They have a lot of earthy, natural muted colours which I like. The only thing is that they are smaller and they wear out quickly because they are softer. Also, their labeling of colour ID is stamped and rubs off easily, making it a pain to find the right colour. I only have a few colours of Caran D'ache, but they are highly pigmented and beautiful. They would last a long time, and for me they have the best texture out of the three brands.
About a couple of months ago, I came across Holbein Artists' oil pastels (A$5-6). I have this image of Holbein brand that their products are highly pigmented and high quality, though I have only used a few of their gouache colours. They are square sticks and probably because of their shape (maybe hard for machines to put wrappers on them?) they do not come wrapped. If you buy singles, they come in individual plastic cases. The colours, though I only have 4, are beautiful and highly pigmented. BUT I hate the fact that they come in individual plastic cases and they are not wrapped! I wrapped one with washi tape, but I wouldn't want to do that to dozens of them if I buy more. And the little plastic cases cannot be recycled here in Byron Shire Australia, as they are too small. They recycle every plastic in Japan (hence the individually wrapped little snacks). I DO love the square shape though. Oil pastels leave traces of coloured crumbs everywhere, and the round shaped ones roll! They roll in everything, transferring the colours to each other and to the storage, making even the wrappers dirty and so making my hands dirty when I pick them up. Holbein Artists' pastels of course, do not roll🙌🏼
SWATCHES
I swatch all of my art colours in Royal Talen's mini sketchbook. Some people prefer white paper, but I prefer slightly creamy colour, so this works well for me.
ACCESSORIES
I like to coat my paper with Art Spectrum Colourfix on smooth paper or board to give it slight texture for oil pastel to hold onto. I do not like cold press or rough watercolour paper, as I find it has too much texture and need a lot of pastel for proper coverage.
Oil pastels, as previously stated, never dries, so any work with oil pastel on it needs to be protected with fixative, or with glassine paper. In the past, I tried Royal Talens Varnish For Oil Pastels in my sketchbook, but in time, it stuck to the other page and started to peel. It will probably work as long as it does not come in contact with anything, but that defeats the purpose of varnishing?
Oil pastels can be used like a paint, with cold pressed walnut oil, Jackson's pencil blending medium (according to Jackson's Art https://www.jacksonsart.com/blog/2024/05/29/review-of-jacksons-pencil-blending-medium/), and Zest-it (according to Jackson's Art).
Here is me using walnut oil. I have not yet tried pencil blending medium with oil pastels.
I like to smudge oil pastels, but I want to keep my hands as clean as possible. I find the silicone tools very helpful in blending, spreading, and smudging, and oil pastel can easily be cleaned off the tools. Oil pastels can also be scratched with any tools to add some textures, and since oil repels water, they can be used under watercolour or gouache to create even more interesting textures.
Here are some of my oil pastel still life drawings.
The only thing I don't like about oil pastels are that they never dry and has to be varnished or sprayed with a fixative. I just found out R&F came out with a product between oil pastels and oil sticks, called R&F Drawing Oils, and they dry in a few weeks! I MUST get my hands on these.
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