Creating a Portrait with Oil Pastels

Oil pastels are a unique medium that bridges the gap between drawing and painting. Their solid stick form makes it easy to draw clear lines, while the creamy texture lets you fill in shapes, blend colors, and build up rich layers.
This combination allows for both precision and painterly expression.

This material is suitable for a wide range of genres-from landscapes to abstract art. In this tutorial, however, we'll focus on creating a portrait.

Materials:

•Mungyo Gallery Soft Oil Pastels
•Fabriano Tiziano Pastel Paper

Notes on Materials:

•Oil Pastels
Different brands vary in softness and pigment load. Mungyo Gallery offers a great balance of both: soft enough for rich, vibrant color, yet firm enough to keep your strokes clean and controlled-especially useful for portrait work.

•Paper
When working with oil pastels, it's important to use thick, textured paper-at least 140 gsm -to ensure smooth application and prevent pigment from soaking through. I personally recommend Fabriano Tiziano 160 gsm, which holds the pigment well and provides a pleasant surface to work on.

Oil pastels combine the qualities of both drawing and painting tools. On one hand, they function like a graphic medium, allowing you to create lines of varying thickness and intensity by adjusting pressure. On the other, their softness and rich pigmentation make them ideal for quickly filling large areas with color, giving your work a painterly feel.

In this tutorial, we'll focus on these two essential qualities: line and color area. Line helps define the structure of the portrait, while blocks of color convey volume and light without relying on fine detail. This approach makes the drawing process fast, expressive, and intuitive.

2.1 Seeing the Volume
(How to simplify the face into basic 3D forms)

Before adding details, it's important to understand the face as a structure in space.
We begin by identifying its largest volumes-the shape of the skull, the masses around the eyes and mouth, the cheekbones and chin.
These are the "building blocks" of the head.

To make these volumes readable, we block in simple areas of light and shadow. At this stage, we're not thinking about fine details-we're just showing which parts of the head stick out toward the light, and which fall into shadow. This gives our portrait a strong, solid foundation.

2.2 Adding Tonal Value
(How tone helps describe form)

Once we've defined the basic structure, we can make it feel more real by adding tonal variation. This is where value comes in-the lightness or darkness of a color. Even in lit areas, some parts catch more light than others. Shadows can include darker cores, soft edges, and lighter reflections from nearby surfaces.

By slowly introducing different values-from lightest to darkest-we add depth and realism. We move from simple shapes to subtle transitions, using tone to describe the form more clearly and naturally.

Color in oil pastel isn't just about visual appeal– it's a tool for expressing form, depth, and atmosphere. Even the most vivid palette should still follow the logic of light and shadow, helping to reveal the structure of the face and create a sense of space.

3.1. Color and Value
There are two main ways to create tone using color:
•Use one hue in different values - for example, from light violet to dark violet.

•Or use different hues with similar value - like orange and lavender, which may appear the same when seen in grayscale.

In this tutorial, we focus on the second method. It allows for expressive color choices while maintaining a clear structure and readable form.

3.2. Color Scheme
We'll use complementary colors - hues that sit opposite each other on the color wheel to create contrast and visual energy.
For example: orange and purple.
Organized by value, the palette can look like this:
Lightest - pale orange
Mid-light - saturated orange
Mid-dark - lavender
Darkest - deep purple

With this approach, your drawing will stay clear and readable, even with bold and unusual colors.

Now that we have all the key expressive tools -line, shape, pastel techniques, an understanding of volume and tonal relationships, and knowledge of how to select colors according to tone-we can begin creating the portrait.

Using light lines, outline the main shapes of the head, eyes, nose, and mouth. Focus on proportions without diving into details too early.

Block in the main shadow areas with a dark color. At this stage, think in terms of large shadow masses rather than individual details.

Add the midtones to reveal the value structure, gradually transitioning from light to dark. This step helps establish the overall balance of tones, adding depth and refining the volume of the face.

Use the lightest colors to define highlights and illuminated areas.

Refine textures, sharpen key edges, and add expressive strokes—these final touches bring everything together and complete the portrait.

In this tutorial, we created a stylized portrait using oil pastels, focusing on essential concepts such as color, tone, volume, and structure. By understanding the unique qualities of the medium and working with fundamental forms, you can develop expressive, intuitive drawings that reflect your personal visual language.

There is no one right way to approach portraiture-use this process as a foundation for your own experimentation and creative growth.

Good luck with your artistic journey!