oil pastel help

[Anonymous No.3209494]

looking for critique, new to oil pastel. can anyone give me their opinions on this? i set up an apple as a reference. i feel like im shit and really want to improve, so dont hold back.

[Anonymous No.3209583]

Oil pastel is a shitty medium. I think this is as good as it's gonna get with it.

[Anonymous No.3209588]

It has some dimension. It's like an apple in an 80's music video.

I've wanted to make more use of biblical symbols in art.

[Anonymous No.3209595]

>>3209494
Don't ask /ic/ for help with your high school art homework.

If you're actually here for improvement and advice, though, oil pastel is difficult to do right and I wouldn't bother unless you specifically want to use it. Work on tone and shadow more before you jump onto colour, the shadow of the apple is lazy and it doesn't appear on the surface of the apple itself.

[Anonymous No.3209600]

>>3209595
Op here this isnt homework this is a study im doing to learn the medium for myself. Im figuring because its an apple you made that assumption? Why would I jump into a complicated composition at this stage?

Anyways im interested to hear you elaborate more on why you dont like oil pastels, they are a fast way to capture a subject it seems, much faster than oil paint, so its a nice change.

By tone im guessing you mean lights and darks, ive always struggled with seeing them and as a result my art tends to look flat and cartoony.

[Anonymous No.3209602]

>>3209583
instead of just saying its shit why sont you elaborate and say something more insightful? It definitely can be challenging to work with when it gets to thick but any medium has its own behavior to deal with.

[Anonymous No.3209606]

>>3209583
instead of just telling me its shit, why dont you tell me why? otherwise whats the point? im only asking for help because i want to improve.

[Anonymous No.3209625]

>>3209494
First tip - stop trying to master a new medium on the first try. Pastels take time, like anything else.

It;s a decent first attempt - the lighting is questionable, and put as much effort into the surface the apple is on, as you did the apple.

Throw some warm tones in there, it feel too cool. Orange and yellow in the highlight areas, and throw some purples and greens into the shadows, it will "pop" it off the page more, give it more dimension.

Keep in mind, that unless you're working very large, pastels are not good for detail work. They're expressive and they lend themselves to more impressionistic work - they're great for landscapes, for instance.

Keep going.

[Anonymous No.3209626]

>>3209494
One last thing - take the black pastel, and throw it out. You're using it too much. Learn to make dark colors with color, not black. That's why your stuff is flat - shadows have color.

[Anonymous No.3209640]

>>3209600
Thank you for the comprehensive writeup, I'm going to try and reply to each of the points you made. Honestly that was exactly the type of post I'd hoped for.

Firstly, I'm new to oil pastel but not brand new. I have about a month of experience, not much but I feel like I should be further which is why I came for help. Ive made maybe 15-20 drawings so far.

I'll try out what you said about the warm and cool colors, I dont have much of a grasp of that admitably. The challenge in these (Which Im assuming you know already) is you can only layer so much before the page wont take new color, so Ive been trying to take shortcuts with my color. ( using black)

As far as size goes each apple is a little smaller than a CD. Would that be working too small in your mind? I can definitely see how this would lend itself to landscapes or anything large that could take rough marks with line expression in it.

Thanks again.

[Anonymous No.3209643]

>>3209625

Thank you for the comprehensive writeup. Honestly that was exactly the type of post I'd hoped for.

Firstly, I'm new to oil pastel but not brand new. I have about a month of experience, not much but I feel like I should be further which is why I came for help. Ive made maybe 15-20 drawings so far.

I'll try out what you said about the warm and cool colors, I dont have much of a grasp of that admitably. The challenge in these (Which Im assuming you know already) is you can only layer so much before the page wont take new color, so Ive been trying to take shortcuts with my color. ( using black)

As far as size goes each apple is a little smaller than a CD. Would that be working too small in your mind? I can definitely see how this would lend itself to landscapes or anything large that could take rough marks with line expression in it.

Thanks again.

[Anonymous No.3209649]

>>3209643
Size sounds about right. Even so - pastels don't really lend themselves to precision, they're more of an expressive medium.

As for color, there's tons of info out there. You really need to learn how to handle it, especially with a medium like pastels, because, like you said, you can't build up much color.