PITT PASTEL PENCILS TEST
CHARACTERISTICS
Thoughts
I’ve always been attracted by pastel drawings, especially animal portraits. It’s actually something I hadn’t done since I was about 16 years old. When I received these beautiful pencils some time ago as a gift, I tried them right away. They are very pleasant to hold, and they smell like wood! The colors are quite bright and stand out well on paper.
Their use will depend on the pastel paper used! For example, with the Canson Mi-teintes paper, they blend much more easily than on the Pastelmat paper of Clairefontaine, which is a real pastel paper. Indeed, this is a hard pastel and unlike a soft one, hard pastel is intended for finishing touches or adding details to a drawing. Nevertheless, no matter the purpose, I like the outcome obtained very much! However, keep in mind that depending on the papers you use, you might not be able to make big landscapes only with this hard pastel but by mixing in some soft pastel too.
Mi-teintes paper
Pastelmat paper
Mi-teintes paper
Pastelmat paper
Mi-teintes paper
Pastelmat paper
Some blending tools such as stumps or shapers are rather necessary to blend your work properly. I was not totally satisfied when blending with fingers. I have seen some people use makeup brushes or eyeshadow sponge and the result is really neat –to be tested!
Otherwise the colors layer really really well, and it blends together perfectly. For someone like me who loves precise work and as realistic as possible, I was sold! I think that the blend of colors shows perfectly on the head of the red panda (with modesty of course, as there is always room for improvement).
To sharpen the pencils, you absolutely need a good pencil sharpener, especially if you use it for precise work. That personally helped me a lot.
Are they worth it?
I would recommend these pencils 100%!
It doesn’t matter what the paper is, whether the surface is perfectly smooth or textured, the result is there. They are have an excellent feel in hand, the colors blend very well together and they come with beautiful, deep and powerful colors that really bring your drawings to life. I managed to add all the little details I wanted on my drawings, like the horns of the gazelle or the coat of the red panda, and those were things I initially felt uneasy about!
Of course, the color range is quite small, but with pastel, it’s also a game of mixing the colors, blending them to create new ones and adding light effects. Indeed, for the panda I took a daring bet to use pink, purple or violet pencils to achieve certain reflections, the power of colors!
The final word
I would say to not hesitate to get them! These pencils are fantastic, and despite the fact that they are hard pastels, they blend very well with each other, which is a huge plus in my opinion.
A little advice for the road: Simply try, it’s by trying that you learn!
The takeaways
Evaluation
Pros
- The price is really correct
- Blending is really easy
- Beautiful and vivid colors
- Pencils smell like quality wood
Cons
- A rather restricted color palette
0 Comments