Jessica Crabtree

Blending, layering, & texture

When it comes to pastel on suede, there’s one thing I’d emphasize more than any other – BASE COAT. It’s the one technique that exploits all the potential and flexibility that pastels have to offer.

Base coating, as I mentioned before, accomplishes three things:
a) it primes the surface of the suede, making the chalk easier to blend
b) it keeps the suede from showing through
c) it adds rich undertones that enhance the coloring

Think of your picture as a landscape laid out in three parts – shadow, highlight, and undertones (dividing it mentally this way makes it easier to map out your project). We work from darkest to lightest using the base coat technique:

1. Find the darkest areas – the areas with deepest shadows and strongest contrasts. The base coat in these places will be black. (Don’t worry if black is not meant to be the final color – it can be covered later.)
2. Find the main colored areas (e.g., the flesh in a portrait, or the fur of an animal) and choose a couple of base colors – no more than two or three at the most – to serve as a foundation. It’s good to choose a soft pastel with heavy pigment, because it will lose some of intensity when worked into the suede, and once again you’ll want to use the richness of tone to your advantage.

   For portraits, I base coat most of the face with brilliant red ochre. The subject starts out looking a little like a jack-o’-lantern, but it works!

Left: Comanche Boy in the awkward half-way stage.


3. Find the brightest areas – the most intense highlights and the places with lightest pigment. Leave these blank at first. Bright whites and similar colors are most radiant the less you fuss with them – and the lighter the chalk, the harder it is to blend. Besides, saving the light areas for last ensures that they won’t collect other pigments while you work. (For more tips on working with light chalks, see my other posts in the Artist’s Tip Bag category.)

Depending on the subject, you may need to add a second coat when you first blend the base layer into the pile. I use my fingers for this except where the small space requires a smaller tool, like a favorite paper tortillion. These are great for smoothing in a nice clean edge or corner.

When it comes time to blend your layers, you can opt for a smooth finish or a “blended look.” For a fine texture, use a paintbrush with the bristles clipped short to loosen the chalk gently, then smooth it out again for an airbrushed look. (This is a great method to combine pastels for that hard-to-match color.) Otherwise, keep your layers distinct to let the nuances of your layers show through and the strokes give an impression of texture.

Below: Combination smooth & textured finish in Mexican Wolf

More: Tips on texture – gradient, contrast, and pattern

So, last post was all about introductions…now I’m ready to start a painting. I get out my matboard and my pastels, but I’m not ready yet – I need a LINE DRAWING. Matboard is not paper; you don’t want to erase any more than you have to, so unless you plan to outline your painting all in one shot, it’s a good idea to have a line drawing to start it off right.

Being the methodical type, I’d rather do the planning and measuring up front so I can proceed with a better sense of direction. (Of course, if you’re more spontaneous and would rather plunge right in with chalk on canvas, be my guest!)

I use a simple system for transferring my finished line drawings to the suede.

I’ve described it previously in this illustrated FAQ post, but in summary it involves cutting a piece of tracing paper or vellum to fit your matboard; making a line drawing of your subject; fixing the drawing to your matboard at the edges using painter’s tape; and tracing over the drawing so that the impression created on the suede serves as a guide for your painting.

This can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be, the main principle being that all the erasing and adjusting is done on the paper, before you mess with the suede. Once you have the drawing lightly “embossed” into the suede, you can pull out the pastels.

FAQ’s: “What pastels do you use?”

Where you go from here of course depends largely on your subject; for me, whether I’m doing a portrait or a wildlife painting, I always start off with good base coat to prime the surface for blending and to keep the suede from showing through.

FAQ’s: Top Chalks for Portraits

I’ve used my painting Mexican Wolf as a signature demonstration piece, with lots of close-ups and step-by-step photos to give a visual of the process I use. You can follow the links below to see it in stages:

Painting a Wolf in Pastels, Day 1
Part 2: Mexican Wolf
Part 3: Mexican Wolf
Part 4: Mexican Wolf (Completed)

Scuff marks on suede matboard?

Got a piece of suede you want to use as a canvas, but worried about some unsightly scratches or impressions? No problem. Damp a piece of fabric – preferably something with a little texture, like a dishcloth – and gently work the marks out with a random circular motion. The moisture will discolor the suede slightly at first, but as soon as it dries back to its normal color, the marks will be gone.

A few words of caution:

• If you use paper towels or tissue, bits and pieces will rub off into the pile.
• If you use so much water so that the paper backing gets wet, it will warp and compromise the integrity of the canvas. Just moisten it.
• If you rub too hard, you will abrade the surface. Removing the pile means that it will no longer hold chalk.
• If you rub in a straight line or any obvious pattern, it will stand out. Blend your repair into the surrounding suede.
• Make sure you let the matboard dry out completely before you try to work on it. If you’re in a hurry, you can always speed up the process using a blowdryer.

I learned this method from an art teacher, and have found it to be successful in removing all but the deepest scratches. In this way, I can salvage pieces that would have otherwise been condemned to the scrap pile.

A word on finishing

If you tend to be a perfectionist (like me), it can be hard not to get hung up with the tiny details and lose focus. I usually face this toward the finish of a painting, when last-ditch efforts to “get it just right” leave me with a potentially never-ending project. This is the point where I tell myself, “It’s almost done – just focus on the essentials and only fix what’s needed in order to have it ready for framing.” Sometimes it’s helpful to set yourself a deadline in order to avoid this kind of dilemma.

As artists, it’s our nature to keep challenging ourselves to do even better things, yet we also have to learn to work within self-imposed limits and move on, or we’ll never truly accomplish anything. It’s a hard line to straddle, but a lesson well worth the learning.

Painting a Wolf in Pastels, Part 2

(To catch up on the project from the beginning, check out this post:
Sneak Peek: Mexican Wolf – Day 1)

Now let me show you how we got this far – lots more in-progress photos below (click any of the pictures to enlarge)

I left off work last time with a good start on the head, so I’m moving on to the rest of the body.

Just like I did before, I start out with black, shading in the darkest areas. (More on the advantages of this later.) When this done I can come in with a base color, in this case one of my primary browns. I go over lightly and blend this first layer in with my fingers.

For each color that appears in the fur, I apply another full layer so it doesn’t show up in isolated patches. Blending together the browns, reddish-browns, yellows, grays, and beiges (like the ones you can see laid out in the photos) makes it much easier to recreate the texture and color diversity of real fur. I can just draw out whichever tones I need to emphasize in a particular area.

Notice again, I’m working from dark to light, as I mentioned before. Only later, after the other colors are blended in, do I apply anything like white or beige, because I find it really hard to work with. If used correctly it can come across looking soft and fluffy, the way I’ve tried to show here.

You can see the layers really starting to come together in the following pictures. I’ve added Nupastels 253 (cocoa brown) and 223 (burnt umber) to my palette for undertones; 233 (raw sienna) for golden highlights; charcoal gray; and 276 (buff beige) as the brightest layer. This project has a fairly limited color range – in all I won’t need more than a dozen or so chalks.

Right: The blunt edge of a Nupastel is perfect for making the short, choppy strokes that imitate layers of thick fur.

Another advantage to this kind of layering is that with the darks underneath, anytime you mess with the chalk you’ll get some nice rich undertones showing through (that’s why you’ll want to choose your base coat carefully).

One of my favorite techniques – particularly when doing hair or fur – is using a tortillion, or paper stump, to pull the darker layers out between the lighter hairs. This is much easier than trying to add dark chalk between the light areas to make them stand out, and running the risk of blurring the edges.

Think of it as a kind of “reverse pencil.” In general, I like to use tortillions in lieu of my fingers in any places too small for me to work.

Left: A well-loved paper tortillion.

Next up: A little closer to the finish – finishing the fur, paws, and small details.

Painting a Wolf in Pastels

By popular demand, I’m finally doing a wolf on suede. It took me quite a while to find just the right shot (thanks to April King for a gorgeous photo of a Mexican wolf – read more here).

My matboard is 16×24 black suede and I’m using mostly Nupastels. This is what it looks like after the first day’s work.

(Click on any of the pictures to see them larger.)

I’m taking a lot of stage shots of this one (compared to the usual 3-step photos) so I can use it as a kind of demonstration piece for my pastel series. So many people are interested in the pastel blending process that I thought this particular project would serve as a good illustrated tutorial. (continue reading…)

This is the first installment of my new series filed under the Artist’s Tip Bag category. You can keep posted with the latest updates by using this post’s RSS feed, or by subscribing to my free monthly e-newsletter.

> When you say “pastel on suede” exactly what do you mean? What materials are involved?

I use mostly soft pastel sticks – brands like Sennelier and Prismacolor, occasionally a few pencils.

Instead of paper I use suede matboard as a painting surface. It’s a heavy paper board just like regular picture frame mat, but on the top surface is a thin, carpet-like layer of velvety suede. It’s this fine layer of pile that enables you to “rub” the chalk down into the suede, instead of just sitting on the surface as it would with paper.

(Product photos from DickBlick.com.)

> How is the suede different from paper?

Using chalk on paper with a heavy tooth gives you a more textured feel; suede on the other hand lets you blend in a color – even several colors – and have a very smooth, even finish that almost resembles airbrush. But there are still plenty of ways you can add variety to the texture. It’s very versatile. And unlike paper, it can hold quite a bit of chalk – and the more chalk you’re able to use, the more realism you can achieve.

> Where can I get suede matboard?

This can be obtained from a local picture framer or ordered through an art supply store. I get mine through Dick Blick. It comes in many colors; my preference is black. Whatever color you pick, it has the advantage of a naturally mottled texture which is a great backdrop in itself.

It comes in large sheets measuring 32″ by 40″ – you can use the entire canvas if you paint big. If you have the tools you can cut it into any number of smaller pieces, or have a local framer cut it down to size.

An important thing to remember is that you can’t store unused pieces by standing them upright or leaning them against a wall. They will warp and bend under their own weight, creating major complications in painting. A warped matboard is pretty much unusable.

> How does pastel on suede compare to other mediums?

I would say it compares very favorably. Not being an expert with paints (my previous background is mainly graphite/charcoal pencil) I can’t elaborate on the finer details. But on the whole I find it to be a very forgiving and versatile medium with enormous potential, and one that requires relatively few supplies. (continue reading…)

Using white chalk on suede

White chalk is very difficult to work with on suede because it has such low binder and pigment content. White pastels of both hard and soft varieties are essentially just chalk – and consequently they look and feel chalky. Compared to other colors they almost never layer or blend well.

Your best bet is to start off with a base coat of a color other than white – for instance a rich dark gray – depending on what undertones you want. The base layer of pastel will act as a primer to make blending and molding on the suede possible.

Using this technique, you can develop your painting without losing the pastels’ flexibility. Use the base coat to your advantage to help with the shading, and just add the white tints as a final top coat. They will show up much brighter and the suede mat won’t peek through.