Prismacolor27049 Premier NuPastel Firm Pastel Color Sticks, 24-Count

I have been participating in vote-based art contests on Facebook. I noticed that they tended to cycle through art media when I went and looked back. The first one I participated in was any medium (I used colored pencil), the next one was ink (I had some Pigma Micron pens around, luckily). The other two things they have used in contests so far were pastel and watercolor. This put me in a quandary. I asked a few other art friends if they had used some of the less expensive pastels, and no one I asked had, and one person suggested these. A few days later, Amazon notified me of a flash deal where they were a very good price. I would have liked to have a larger set to start off with (24 is better than 12 though), but am hoping I have enough to be able to create something for the next contest. Experiments with Conte crayon and Prussian blue allowed me to do a pretty good eye study.I haven't used pastels in more than 30 years, and the ones I had were chalk pastels, student grade bought for a kid in one of those Christmas artists sets. Touching pastel like that makes me cringe - the chalky sensation of it. These pastels are NOT quite like PrismaColor Premier ArtSticks - if anything, these are a little creamier. There is a little bit of dust that comes off when you stroke them across the paper, but not crumbly, etc.I was surprised to see instructions saying to use them with water. I can't wait to play with these a little more, and even maybe venture more into mixed media (I started out planning to learn colored pencil painting very well; the thing I used most when I used to create visual art was heavy-body acrylic paint with modifiers, etc.).

Got these for a great buy 2/16, don't know if I should write $8.88 or not because they are now over $24 but I would still purchase for that price. I am not a professional artist, far from it, but I love to be creative at the kitchen table and I've found these to be a great addition to my creative toolbox. The colors are vibrant I do go ahead a spray with just cheap hair spray as not to smudge them if I also add another medium to keep it that way. I think anyone professional or some one like me just a kitchen table "artist", would really enjoy these and are well worth what ever price they happen to be but follow and see if it drops as I did. Also I recieved shipped in a box full of air balloons in addition to having the actual box of pastels encased in extra bubble wrap so no breakage at all, they were well protected coming from Amazon, as usual. And no I did not recieve free or at a discount but paid filled asking price.

For the price, Prismacolor is the best quality you can get. If you're just beginning and never used pastels before, start with this brand or get a set that is comparable, such as Faber-Castell. Avoid craft store brand pastels that are tempting because they are cheaper (such as Artist Loft) as the quality is sub-par and you'll get frustrated by how they perform. I work with Prismacolor and Faber-Castell together, as both have their advantages. NuPastels are thinner, easier to break, and have a sharper edge which is convenient for thin lines or tight spaces in your artwork. I don't find them useful for covering large amounts of the paper, though, so I use my Faber-Castells to fill in my backgrounds and then use the NuPastels for foreground work and details. Pigment is rich and there is a nice variety of colors. You can start out with a smaller set, too, and get plenty of use out of the color range. This brand is worth your money and time!

really good pastels, really great for the price. got me through the end of my drawing class i needed this for. the only issue is the colours are really limited, which i mean duh, but like the two reds are almost the exact same hue. they blend pretty well and as long as you use them properly. they'll last really well for a while. i bought this instead of spending $30-$50 on a pack of pastels at my school store or michael's or blick or whatever and it worked well enough for me

These firm pastels are great!! They are highly pigmented and are great for underpainting. Let me tell you a little secret for the new pastel artist wanting to practice but find pastel papers are just too darn expensive. Purchase some Liquitex Clear Gesso (purchased here on Amazon) and you can turn anything into a drawing surface for your pastels! You can apply the Clear Gesso to cardboard scraps, watercolor paper, cut up cereal boxes, basically anything can be made into a pastel drawing surface! It must be the clear gesso and it will give the surface a tooth to hold the pastel. I have a little experience with pastels, and this tip has saved me a fortune in practice!! Practice first, then put your creations on more expensive papers and surfaces! I think you will be amazed!!

This is my second set of pastels, they perform so well from blending to how well the color will stick to the paper. Be gentle with them… I already snapped two and I thought I had a more gentle hand.

While at school, I only ever used oil based pastels. I can’t say I ever enjoyed drawing with them. I always ended up with an oily mess and they never quite blended the way I wanted them to.A few years ago I picked up a couple Prismacolor Nupastel singles from a local art store. Fantastic! While they’re technically “hard pastels”, they actually blend beautifully. The finished product has a watercolor feel, which was exactly what I was aiming for.The only downside is that they break very easily. You just have to be very careful not to drop them.

I'm new to pastels, but they are working really well for me. My instructor uses them and recommends them. You don't always have to buy the most expensive product to get great results. note that the 24 pack on sale for half off one of the colors is missing and replaced with a duplicate color, so it's 24 crayons, but only 23 colors. For the price i didn't care. just a warning to anyone that might care. Not sure if it was just my box or the whole lot of boxes.