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Starting Pastels? Palette Suggestions
Hi,
I have had the good fortune in the last several years to be able to afford many of the complete pastel sets available. Of course this has deep-sixed any new car plans.
As any of you know buying pastels can be a financially daunting task.
I have full sets of Giraults, Nupastels, Unisons, Great Americans, Mt. Visions and Schminkes. Also some Rembrandts and Diane Townsends.
I hope this will help some of you who are thinking about getting into pastels.
There is no getting around the fact that you need a lot of individual pastels to make a picture.I think the best thing to do is to buy one of the larger sets and fill in with some additional colors from other sets.
I have no stock in any of these companies, but are simply observations of what I seem to reorder the most.
I would suggest getting the complete set of Great Americans. They have a large glorious color selection, 460, I believe. Their gradations of color in their skintones are nice, even and subtle.Their softness is akin to Schminkes and they are larger than the Sennieliers, making them more economical. They do not have the dreadful crumbling problem of the Senneliers. I love Unisons as well but they are expensive, a bit much for someone just getting their feet wet in the medium.
That said, there are certain workhorse colors in the Sennelier line that I could not do without.
Sennelier:
Hot Brown #190-191-192-194-195
Bistre: # 57-60-61-62-64-65
Van Dyke Brown #434-436-438-439-440
Red Ochre#67-69-70-71-73-76
Dead Leaf Green #141-143-145-146-147
Yellow Ochre # 113-115-116-117-119
Carmine # 48-49-50-52-54-56
Persian Red # 780-781-782-783-784-785
Venetian Red # 89-90-93-94-95
Van Dyke Violet # 405-406-407-408-409-411
Carmine Brown #45-46-47
Olive Green # 235-236-237-238-239-241
Mummy # 104-105-106-107-108
Some Basic useful Schminkes:
English Red #22, The whole range BDHMO
Caput Mortuum Pale #23 ditto
Caput Mortuum Deep #24 ditto
Quinachridone violet #48B
Cold Green Deep # 81B
Serious Black
Winsor @ Newton
Indian Red # 4
If you just want to buy individual colors of Great Americans, here is a list of the skintones I used the most and some additional useful colors.
Maple #155-155.5
Grumber #175-175.6
Dragons Blood #165-165.6
Macaroon #620-620.5
Bandana #655-655.6
Dead Head #120-120.6
Burnt Reynolds # 125-125.6
French Roast #130-130.6
Mocha #165-165.6
Chestnut #140-140.6
Midnight #255-255.5 (great useful blue)
Smokey Rose #265-265.5
Cinnamon #140-140.6
If I you want some greys, and lights there are none better than the Unisons.
A lot of my work is done from life, so these reflect the colors I see. Every skintone is different, lighter, darker, cooler, warmer and affected by lighting and reflections.
This is by no means a full list and will not cover everything.
If you are just getting started order a small portrait set from a manufacturer to see if you like it's texture, workability etc. Some people work very tight, in that case the Giraults and the Unisons would probably be a better choice.
I hope this list will be of some benefit.
Sincerely,
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