As a kid we all have used this medium regardless of any skills or formal training. Oil pastels are a very quick and handy medium used by artists of all ages around the world. Many well-known artists have used them to produce vivid and intensely colorful artworks.



Oil pastels are my favorite and I love using them in combination with watercolor. For demonstration purposes, I am using Faber Castle oil pastels- 50 assorted colors set, Mungyo watercolor crayons- 12 assorted colors set and Camel watercolor cakes- 18 shades.

I am using same characters as soft pastels for illustration so you can figure out differences and similarities between outputs using both mediums.

Start with drawing rough outline of the sketch using simple graphite pencil on cream-tinted paper.



Oil pastels are water resistant and one cannot draw over them using any kind of pen. So I am drawing bold outlines first using a graphic liner pen.

Erase the rough line if you want clean lines but I am retaining few sketchy lines for my reference.



As I always starting with the face first, carefully coloring the eyes nose and cheeks.
 

Then blend with paper stumps. Use different paper stump for blending each color to avoid unnecessary mixing of hues.
 

For coloring of the pyjama suit I am using same technique as soft pastels. Using feathered strokes and leaving blacks for addition of highlights.
 

In case of pastels you can easily overlay totally different colors but always apply lighter color first and overlay with darker. Here I am overlaying sky blue with Persian blue and white with some pink.
 

Oil pastels are very versatile when it comes to texture. It can be used for rough grainy texture, impasto or very smooth and silky texture as well depending on paper texture and pressure applied.



Here it looks very grainy, rough and messy but once I start blending it becomes more smooth, shiny and neat.



Drawing hair is the most easy using oil pastels. You can draw as many lines as you want to show the hairy texture!

First I had applied light brown and then overlayed with dark brown and black. I usually use two techniques for drawing hairs the one which I am using here is drawing and blending.

Sometimes I also like to use scratching technique in which I apply colors in layers and scratch outlines using toothpick or comb.
 

Now add shades using darker colors to enhance the body curvature.



Once the main character is completed, color secondary object and props. This gives you option to make changes to balance the color and composition of the drawing.
 

As I have mentioned before, scratching technique is best to draw hair and fur.
 

 

Here I am starting with dark brown overlaying light brown and lifting the upper layer-using toothpick for Teddy’s fur.



Completing the details.



Here I would like to mention that oil pastel has no erase option and can’t lift much of color or undo the actions. One has to be careful while deciding and applying the colors. But you can correct minor mistakes and color spills using sharp tip objects like needle or blade.
 

For the larger background that is bed spread, I am using water resistance technique. Draw tiny leaf shape motifs using oil pastel and then apply thin watercolor wash. Due to water resistant nature of oil pastels only the area not covered with oil pastel will get colored.

This can be used in many ways to achieve different and interesting textures.
 

For the background wall, I am using water-soluble crayons that dissolve and give watercolor like effect. Fill up the wall using different shades of green and apply water using flat brush.
 

 

When planning to use watercolor washes use thicker paper or else it will give wrinkles after drying. This is how the drawing looks when the wash is still wet.



Oil pastel artwork does not need application of fixative and can be directly mounted on board or framed for display.
 

‘Fun time’_A3_oil pastels on tinted paper