NuPastel - a quick approach to starting and finishing

The drawings in this post are all from life and are completed within 20-45 minutes.

NuPastel is a dry pastel product that was originally made by Eberhard-Faber, the company has traded hands several times over the past 30 years and is presently manufactured by Berol/Prismacolor. NuPastel is harder than most chalk pastels but also is quite easy to rub into the paper or smear around on the surface. It may also be manipulated with paint brushes, ground to a fine powder with a sanding block and erases quite easily with a kneaded eraser.

I tend to draw with the long edge of a stick broken in half, not only to mass in large areas but also to put down line. I advise drawing with straight lines particularly when one is struggling with defining shape. Converting curves to angles is fairly simple when you draw with the awkard long edge of a straight block of pastel.