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Oil pastels are fun and easy to use. You can blend them, layer colors and use scratching techniques, or mix them with oil to paint with them. They have bright and vibrant colors that you can use on many different surfaces. They're great for landscapes, flowers, or portraits, and are wonderful if you like a looser style that's more playful.
To help you get started practicing and learning more about oil pastels, we did our research and put together a list of the 10 best oil pastels for beginners. Right on top of our list is Pentel's Oil Pastel Set. We love that it comes with 16 colors that are smooth and easy to use. We also created a buying guide with oversight from an artist to give you more details on selecting the perfect set of oil pastels.
Susan has a Master of Fine Arts in Oil Painting, has been a glassblower since 1998, and is a former drawing professor. Her "painted drawings" are oil on paper and employ cartoon imagery to explore issues, ironies, and paradoxes in modern societies, often inspired by urban life in Tokyo. She has participated in juried exhibitions in the US and Japan.
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There are several factors to consider when selecting the perfect oil pastels. Keep in mind the quality, the number of colors in each set, the opacity, and the texture of the pastels.
Oil pastels generally come in two different qualities: student and professional grades. You should pick the quality based on your skill level. For beginners, we highly recommend student-grade oil pastels.
Although student-grade oil pastels usually contain less pigment and more fillers and binders, they have more structure and won’t crumble as easily as professional-grade options. Student-grade pastels are enough for beginners to experiment with and feel out the medium.
Once you’ve got the hang of working with oil pastels, you can start investing in professional ones that have better pigments and have higher permanence ratings. They usually have a buttery and smooth consistency, giving them a softer body. They are easy to blend, but can also crumble when used with a lot of force.
If you're buying for young children, look for student-grade options certified as non-toxic by The Art and Creative Materials Institute (ACMI). This means that the oil pastels have been checked by a medical expert and found to be free of toxic substances.
Oil pastels are only harmful if you ingest certain colors made with toxic pigments, like cadmium or cobalt. So, you don't have to worry too much about safety! All oil pastels are safe to hold; it's just a concern if your child tends to put things in their mouth.
I personally think everyone except kids or those who need a lot of pastels for some huge project should look for professional-quality ones. They'll provide you with a reliable result and be more enjoyable to work with.
But, you can also consider buying more budget-friendly ones just for the color variety, and supplementing with professional-quality individual sticks for some colors. It's perfectly fine to mix brands of oil pastels.
Oil pastels come individually or as a set. As a beginner, we recommend going for a set with 10 to 12 colors. This will allow you to work on your skills and play around with different shades.
Some sets can also offer extensive color selections with up to 200 to 400 colors. These might be better if you have more experience with oil pastels. Having a wide range of colors can be challenging to work with as a beginner but helpful once you know how to use and work with more shades.
Some sets may have colors chosen for a certain subject, like landscapes, with more greens, or portrait sets with more browns, reds and yellows. These can be convenient to quickly get most of the colors you might need for your drawing.
With individually-sold pastels, you can build your own set or purchase multiple sticks of a color you need for a project to supplement your existing set.
Buying individual pastels is perfect if you have a certain image that you want to create. For instance, if you want to draw still lifes of flowers, you may want more purples than most sets have. You can consider getting a set plus individual sticks of colors you think you'll need more of.
You can easily layer oil pastels to achieve vibrant colors, but some are more opaque than others. While the description might state their opacity, we recommend checking the reviewer comments to check just how opaque they are.
You should also look for oil pastels that are easy to blend. These will allow you to play around with color, intensity, and shading. Oil pastels are made with wax and oil that make them water-resistant once they set. However, some are also water-soluble, allowing you to create a watercolor-like design.
Water-soluble oil pastels can be great to experiment with. You can lay down color and then brush water on top for a transparent watercolor effect. You can try acrylic medium for a more dense wash. You can also dip the oil pastel right in water or medium, and then draw. Prepare to get your hands dirty in a satisfying, fun way!
When buying oil pastels, you can opt between two textures: soft or rigid. Oil pastels with a soft, buttery texture are great if you want something easy to blend. These pastels tend to have fewer binders and a higher concentration of pigment.
Try using harder pastels if you need to draw details or outlines. They will have more binders and less pigment, making the color less vibrant. Consider what you want to draw before purchasing the pastels so that you can plan accordingly.
Don't expect to be able to get super-fine details with oil pastels, no matter their texture! Even the stiffest ones can't be sharpened to a point like a pencil. They're best for achieving a more Expressionist or painterly style.
You can, however, dissolve your oil pastel in either oil or solvent, and dip a brush into the goopy end. Then you can paint some finer lines as you like.
Products | Image | Click to purchase | Price | Key features | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Pentel Oil Pastel Set | $2.03 Low | Best for a Standard Set of Colors | ||
2 | Sakura 50-Piece Cray-Pas Expressionist | $21.19 Mid | Best for Color Variety | ||
3 | Paul Rubens | $25.48 High Mid | Best Professional Quality Beginner Set | ||
4 | Doms Oil Pastels | $11.42 Mid | Best for Trying Sgraffito Scratch-Through Techniques | ||
5 | Crayola Oil Pastels | $5.50 Low Mid | Best Oil Pastels for Kids | ||
6 | Mungyo Gallery Soft Oil Pastels | $19.90 Mid | Best Soft Oil Pastels for Expressionist Styles | ||
7 | Faber-Castell | $8.99 Low Mid | Best for the Travel-Friendly Case | ||
8 | Sennelier Oil Pastel Set | $45.34 High | Best Pastels for Portraits | ||
9 | Crayola Portfolio Series Watersoluble Oil Pastels | $6.97 Low Mid | Best for Blending With Water | ||
10 | Caran d'Ache Neopastels and Sets | $30.27 High Mid | Best Pastels Sold as Sets or Individual Sticks |
Pros:
Cons:
These oil pastels from Pentel are perfect for beginners. The set has 16 basic colors. They are also acid-free, making them long-lasting and resistant to fading over time. These are certified as nontoxic by ACMI, so they're safe for children.
A couple of reviewers said these oil pastels were not so easy to blend because they're waxy. Still, most of the reviews praise this set for the selection of colors. They also appreciate that these pastels are kid- and beginner-friendly.
Pros:
Cons:
If you want to practice with a large selection of colors, go for this set of pastels from Sakura. It includes 48 colors and two extender sticks for spreading color. They are highly pigmented and can be used on a lot of surfaces. Plus, they are certified nontoxic by ACMI.
A few reviewers say some of the colors are difficult to blend. However, the majority love the color selection and how the pastels are richly pigmented. They also comment on how great this set is for beginners and art students.
Pros:
Cons:
This set of oil pastels from Paul Rubens has a large selection of colors at 49. It includes two white pastels to add more softness to the vibrant shades. They also come with one gold and one silver.
Some reviewers report an inconsistency between the qualities of colors. On the other hand, buyers praise how the pastels are soft and easy to blend. They are also satisfied with the vibrant color selection.
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Cons:
This big set of 50 vibrant and highly pigmented oil pastels has everything you need to start creating art as it comes with a scraping tool that will allow you to try scratching techniques like sgraffito. The set comes in compact plastic packaging to keep your pastels organized and protected.
A few buyers have issues blending some of the colors. However, other reviewers praise the variety of highly pigmented colors. They say the pastels feel smooth and easy to use.
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Cons:
Crayola's oil pastels are great for kids, students, and even adult beginners. They have a hexagonal shape that makes them easier to grip, and they won't roll away while you draw.
A handful of reviewers say these oil pastels have a weird smell. Regardless, many like that they had vivid and pigmented colors. Buyers assert that while this product is marketed toward kids, it is great for all age groups. They especially love how the pastels are large and easy to hold.
Pros:
Cons:
These professional-grade oil pastels are great if you want to experiment with a high-quality product, or if you want to have a professional set as you advance your skills. They have a soft and smooth consistency that you can use for different techniques like scraping, blending, stippling, and layering.
Some reviewers say they had issues blending the colors because theirs were too dry. On the other hand, the vast majority of buyers rave about the creamy texture and the vivid color output. They ensure the pastels are great for beginners.
Pros:
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This set of pastels is perfect for keeping a clean and organized workspace. It comes with 24 vibrant colors and a clear plastic case with a handle. The hexagonal shape and large size makes them easy for kids to use.
A few buyers are disappointed because the pastels broke quite easily. However, reviewers love the vibrancy of the colors. They also rave about the sturdy carrying case; some use it for other pastels they already had in their collection.
Pros:
Cons:
This high-quality professional-grade set of 24 oil pastels is made specifically for portraits. Not only that, but these pastels are long-lasting, have excellent lightfastness, and are acid-free.
A handful of reviewers want more variety in skin tones, considering these pastels are meant for portraits. But, buyers appreciate how the pastels are creamy and smooth. They also mention how the colors have high opacity.
Pros:
Cons:
These student-grade oil pastels allow you to get a watercolor-like effect. You can go over them using a wet brush after drawing. They have 24 vibrant colors and a soft, creamy consistency that is easy to blend. The pastels also come with a sharpened tip, allowing you to draw in detail.
A few reviewers mention the pastels are a bit flaky and leave some residue behind. However, buyers love adding water to the colors and mixing them; they say they blend easily. They also mention how the pastels are smooth and easy to use.
Pros:
Cons:
These professional-grade oil pastels are great if you have a particular image you want to create and need many pastels in a certain color, as all of them are available to purchase individually. They are incredibly smooth, blendable, and highly pigmented.
Some reviewers caution the quality between the various colors can be inconsistent. However, most love the rich pigment of the pastels. They find them very easy to layer and blend.
In addition to reviewing our buying guide, Susan has also answered some commonly asked questions about watercolors.
"Oil pastels are made using oil and wax, while soft pastels are more similar to chalk (hence their other name.)," Susan says. "Soft pastels will behave a lot like chalk, which most of us are familiar with from using on blackboards and sidewalks. They can be smudged easily with your fingers and are rather dusty and crumbly, although high-quality ones are much nicer to work with than kids' or school chalk.
Oil pastels are sometimes compared to crayons, and other times, to oil paints. They're pretty unique. You can layer them and blend them, but the techniques for doing these are not immediately intuitive. They take a bit more experimentation to avoid getting muddy colors. But they can be incredibly vibrant and dimensional with some practice."
"If you've never used oil pastels before, or even if you just switched brands, I recommend doing some tests to see how each color behaves. Try just making swatches, using really light pressure and layering colors over each other. Then do the same with strong pressure, and see how the layers build and how the colors interact.
Once you have a feel for each stick, you can try a drawing. Many oil pastel artists like to use a style called stippling, where you use short strokes or almost dots to apply the pastels. This can give you an effect similar to a Monet painting.
Other fun things to experiment with are using oil to blend the colors. Dip a cotton swab or brush in linseed oil. Turpentine or odorless solvent can be used to dissolve the oil pastel a bit; like drawing with a melted crayon! Sgraffito is a technique like using a scratchboard; you layer colors and then scratch through to reveal the layers underneath."
Are you a beginner and interested in other forms of art? If you’re looking for more mediums you can use easily, here are some products to try.
If you'd like to read more user reviews or see which products are popular with shoppers, check out Amazon's best-selling drawing pastels, but note that some of these are soft pastels and not oils.
This expert reviewed the contents of the buying guide for accuracy and provided factual corrections when necessary, as well as extra tips and advice. They did not participate in the product selection process, nor are they affiliated with any of our choices unless explicitly stated so.
No. 1: Pentel|Oil Pastel Set
No. 2: Sakura|50-Piece Cray-Pas Expressionist
No. 3: Paul Rubens|
No. 4: Doms|Oil Pastels
No. 5: Crayola|Oil Pastels
View Full RankingThe descriptions of each product are referenced from content available on manufacturer, brand, and e-commerce sites.
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