When inspiration strikes, what better way to get your ideas down on paper than with charcoal and pastels? Great for blending and requiring no drying time at all, charcoal and pastels are perfect for expressive work and gestural techniques. We offer a variety of charcoal, oil pastel, and soft pastel sets to get you started!

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Buy Charcoal, Oil Pastels, and Soft Pastels Online

Perfect for preliminary sketches or finished pieces, charcoal and pastels are a popular medium for experienced and beginner artists alike. Particularly suited to gestural drawing and emotive techniques, working with charcoal and pastels can be a fun and expressive way of getting creative.

But charcoal and pastels are very different media, and choosing which materials are best for you depends on what you’re trying to do. Below, we’ve included a short guide to the properties that make charcoal unique, as well as the difference between soft and oil-based pastels. We’ll also explore some other materials you might want to stock up on before beginning your journey with dry media.

What is Charcoal?

Typically made from charred sticks of wood (traditionally willow twigs), charcoal is a dry art medium that can be applied to a variety of surfaces. It can be used to create a wide range of tonal marks, from an intense black, right down to a subtle grey, and can also be blended using a finger or blending tool. This medium is a popular option for preliminary sketches, but also makes for fabulous finished works.

Charcoal can be a little on the messy side as it tends to leave dust and loose particles over the surfaces you’re drawing on. It’s also not particularly suited to highly detailed work.

There are multiple types of charcoal, each with their own unique properties:

Willow or vine charcoal: with a typically irregular shape (as they’re made from real willow or vine twigs) these sticks are usually long, thin, and can be quite easy to break. The type of twig the charcoal is made from will determine the darkness and intensity of the line it produces.
Charcoal pencils: offering the rich and dark line-work of traditional charcoal, with a little more control (and cleaner hands), we think charcoal pencils are a must-have for all artists. Charcoal pencils are perfect for getting your ideas down on paper quickly. Just like a graphite pencil, the hardness of a charcoal pencil will determine the darkness of the line you can produce. For example, a soft charcoal pencil will produce dark, smudgy lines, while a hard charcoal pencil will create lighter and cleaner lines.
Compressed charcoal: allowing you to achieve much darker and stronger tones than willow or vine charcoal, compressed charcoal is formed using charcoal powder that’s been compressed with a binder into regular-shaped sticks.

What is Compressed Graphite?

Offering more freedom for expression than standard graphite pencils, compressed graphite often comes in the shape of a rectangular stick, or even a thick block. Allowing you to use the tip or edge of the block for greater detail, or the side for shading, compressed graphite produces bold and creative strokes.

The greatest difference you’ll notice between compressed graphite and compressed charcoal is in the finish. While graphite and charcoal are both carbon-based media, you’ll notice graphite tends to have a slightly reflective and metallic sheen, and is closer to grey than black (though you can achieve darker colours with softer grades of graphite stick). Charcoal, on other hand, produces a deeper, matte black finish.

Graphite is often less crumbly and scratchy than charcoal, and also moves more smoothly across the drawing surface.

What is the Difference Between Oil Pastels and Soft Pastels?

Oil pastels and soft pastels are both sticks of pigment held together by a binder, but there the similarities end, for these are two vastly different media. Here are some of the key differences between these two types of pastel:

Oil Pastels

Made from pigments bound together with oil and wax into a round or rectangular shape, oil pastels feel oily and greasy to the touch and typically bind firmly to the surface, making them difficult to blend and more suited to broader strokes and a more painterly or expressive style.

Oil pastels are known for their vibrant colouring and can produce a bit of an oily sheen which can make finished pieces quite brilliant to behold. Oil pastels are a particularly popular option for children just beginning to explore their artistic side.

Low-cost and featuring an array of rich and vibrant colours, Mungyo’s Oil Pastel Set is a great place for kids to start with this medium, while Eraldo di Paolo’s high-quality Oil Pastel Set is a great place for more experienced pastel artists.

Soft Pastels

Featuring pigments bound together with chalk and a type of binder (usually Gum Arabic), soft pastels feel powdery and chalky in the hand. Unlike oil pastels, soft pastel marks are easy to move around and great for blending and layering, while their high pigment content allows for incredibly vibrant colours.

Great for shading work, you can also use the edge of the pastel to create more detailed line-work.

Due to the powdery nature of this medium, it’s best to apply a fixative spray after completing your piece to prevent smudging and ensure it stays on the drawing surface.

Buying soft pastels individually can become quite a costly affair, so we recommend buying a soft pastel set to get you started. Sets are relatively inexpensive and often contain all the colours of the spectrum. Once you’ve got a soft pastel set to work from, you can always expand your collection with colour-themed packs, such as Art Spectrum’s Blues n’ Violet Pack.

Other Charcoal and Pastel Art Supplies

Due to their highly versatile nature, once you’ve got your charcoals or pastels, there isn’t much else you need beyond a surface to work on. Here are some things you may wish to buy to get the most from your charcoals or pastels:

Pastel Paper: this paper is particularly suited to dry media, such as soft pastel, oil pastel, charcoal, and pencil
Fixative spray: creates a matte barrier to protect your finished piece from smudging
Blenders: sometimes also referred to as ‘paper stumps’ these blenders are perfect for blending charcoals and soft pastels while leaving your fingers clean

Don’t Forget to Share Your Amazing Creations on Instagram

Here at Riot Art & Craft, we’re always eager to see the amazing work our customers are able to create with our range of art supplies. If you’ve got a passion for dry mediums, we’d love to see your work. Tag us @riotartandcraft on your creative Instagram posts so that we can see what you can do!

Don’t forget, Riot Art & Craft also offer free delivery on all Australian orders over $99, so it’s now even easier to stock up and get creative!