Often, I have heard students complaining about the type of pastel crayons that they use for their drawing and colouring. Most parents are also unaware of the types of pastel crayons that are available in the market.

First a fall, pastel media is easy to learn as compared to other media like oil and acrylic. The advantage that pastels have over other medium is that it has direct application of pastel colours on the canvas. There are types and categories of pastels depending upon their composition and use. The Dry pastel medium, which is the common medium of art, is categorized as under:

Hard dry pastels – these pastels have a higher portion of binder and less pigment they produce a sharp drawing. Hence this is used for drawing fine details in a picture. Most students use these pastels. Soft pastels are the preferred choice of people who love to use pastels. These colours have a higher portion of pigment and less proportion of gum binder. This results in soft pastels being brighter than the hard ones. These pastels can be easily smudged and blended and give a great effect. Pastel pencils have a pastel lead to it and are used to add fine details to a picture. Apart from these, oil pastels are also available that have a soft and smooth consistency. These pastels are intense colours but are slightly more difficult to blend than soft pastels.