OIL PASTEL ARE MAGIC! Turn a drawing into a painting masterpiece with oil pastels 

Go to bottom of post for a FREE MONET lesson using crayons or oil pastels

My favorite art supply for elementary aged artists is oil pastels. There is nothing more vibrant or easy to use than oil pastels. I love using them on colored construction paper, the texture is perfect for capturing the vibrant color. When your background paper is a color instead of white, it adds instant dimension and a finished quality to any little masterpiece. Another reason to love oil pastels? Oil pastels are cheap! They give you the most bang for your buck. Yes, you will have to replace them,  they will break, they get on your hands… but it’s totally worth it! With a few tips, you can turn drawing with oil pastels, into “painting with oil pastels”… its like magic! 

A FEW TIPS to make oil pastels your new favorite art supply 

NO MISTAKES: There are no mistakes with oil pastels. You can color over any mistakes! No worries if you make a line you don’t love, make it into something else or color over it. I have my students choose one color to draw their entire composition with. Next, they fill in their masterpiece with any color they choose! If they need to color over a mistake, no problem. You can also use mistakes as a great problem solving tool: what can you make this line you don’t like into?

BLENDING: Oil pastels blend best when using another oil pastel on top or next to a color, not your fingers. Using one color is nice, two colors is better! Three colors is magic! Choose colors that are a lighter and darker versions of each other when you are blending like light green, yellow green, and dark green. Use the lighter color first, then the medium color and finally add the darker color. Overlap the colors as you go lighter to darker. Like magic, they blend together giving you masterpiece quality.

OUTLINE: The best finishing touch? Give your drawing a strong outline, it really makes your masterpiece POP. Going back to the color the artist used to draw their composition brings out their lines and gives definition. When you outline your masterpiece, you create impact!

POP: Adding a little bit of white for highlights and a little black for depth is always a great finishing touch. Now your drawing looks like a painting!

 

Oil pastel masterpieces by elementary aged students

Look at this masterpiece created by a fourth grade student inspired by Frida Kahlo’s ‘Me and My Parrots’. He did a great job of coloring to the edges, he used short, close together strokes, and  he outlined his initial drawing so everything stands out. MAGIC!

 

 

Here is another great masterpiece by a third grade student using oil pastels. In this masterpiece lesson we learned about Keith Haring and were inspired by his bold outlines, complimentary color choices and his use of lines to show movement.

 

Ready to try oil pastels at home? 

Are you ready to try my favorite art supply? Grab some oil pastels and  construction paper and see what magical masterpieces they can create! 

Here’s a link to my favorite oil pastels. If you want a more budget friendly option, use this link.

Looking for a FREE art lesson for your kids using oil pastels?

Click here to get our Free Monet Art Lesson where I’ll help your kids recreate an amazing version of Monet’s “Boats at Petite Gennevilliers.” Just enter your name and email and push SUBMIT! We will deliver your free lesson to you within 15 minutes 🙂

This lesson is a full sample of the Great Artist Program: Home Packages that I offer to help you find the great artist in your child.

Happy Creating friends!

Laurie