The Oil Pastel Course

Master oil pastel application techniques by mixing greens from blue and yellow ochre, layering to create natural transitions, blending with white and black, and using a knife for texture.

Explore oil pastel color theory, from the color wheel and Roy G. Biv to primary, secondary, and tertiary hues, plus warm and cool tones, tints, shades, and harmonies.

Create a contour line drawing of a basic still life in a blue monochromatic value study using oil pastels on gray paper, focusing on value and controlled application.

Create a monochromatic blue value study of a cube and sphere by analyzing light, highlights, shadows, reflections, and layering with oil pastels.

Master a monochromatic oil pastel still life by building a cone from core shadow to lighter tones with black, ultramarine, white, and blues, using light touch and a colorless blender.

Finish a monochromatic still life in the oil pastel course by shaping cash shadows and background with ultramarine blue, white, and gray, using colorless blender and splendor for value transitions.

Learn to plan composition and contour line drawing on black paper, then apply oil pastels to create bold black-eyed Susans with a strong focal point and harmonious eye flow.

Build a base with hard oil pastels, applying a base yellow and browns for petals and centers. Layer colors to create form, value, and texture with deliberate brush-like marks.

Continue oil pastel paintings of flowers using base yellow, burnt sienna, and cooler yellows; apply brown, lavender, and orange for highlights to create an impressionistic, space-aware scene.

Develop the background with a range of greens and blues on black paper using oil pastels, focusing on value over color to create harmony and unity around the foreground flowers.

Learn to create an impressionistic landscape with heavy oil pastel impasto on Arches cold press oil paper, layering sky, clouds, and sun using a palette knife.

Continue an impressionistic sky study with oil pastels, building value and contrast around the sun. Layer colors, use a palette knife, and respect the paper's tooth to create painterly clouds.

Master the sky with oil pastels by building contrast, color, and texture through layering, blending, and palette knife work on clouds, sun rays, and distant rain.

Layer colors in the water—red purple, light blue, yellows, and oranges—to establish a straight horizon and waves, then deepen shadows with dark blues, grays, and highlights with oil pastels.

Apply layered oil pastel strokes to create a grassy dune foreground, using yellow-green, red accents, and dark shadows to build texture and impressionistic depth, with impasto and palette knife techniques.

Apply a graphite transfer to capture accurate contour lines for a colorful oil pastel portrait, using soft 6B and hard B pencils on warm gray paper.

Apply color scheming in an oil pastel portrait by establishing light side oranges and shadow side purples, mastering value shapes, and layering for a three-dimensional look.

Develop skin tones using oil pastels with a secondary color scheme of purples for shadows and oranges for highlights, blending and layering to build value and depth.

Focus on the eyes and lips of a colorful oil pastel portrait, using yellow-green, gray, and red tones to refine highlights, shadows, and eyelashes.

Master the hair in an oil pastel portrait by building dark brown foundations, layering warmer and cooler highlights with yellows, grays, and whites to convey form and texture.

Learn to render a colorful portrait with oil pastels by building clothing with value gradations, shadows, and color mixing, then create a neutral speckled background and a crisp edge finish.