Katie Jeanne Wood – 9×6 Oil Pastel Portrait drawing

Katie Jeanne Wood
9×6 Oil Pastel Portrait Drawing
Woman wearing big glasses
WIP

I created this drawing with Mungyo oil pastels. This brand is what several oil pastel artists use on Youtube, and it seems to work for them. I’m going to be honest here, and say, I don’t like these oil pastels at all. Maybe it’s because it’s a new medium for me, and I’m not doing something right? Please feel free to give me advice, if you think I’m wrong. I keep thinking maybe I got a bad batch because I find them annoyingly hard to blend. They don’t layer well at all. They’re just a difficult pain in the butt, imo, and why make life harder than it already is?

I showed my husband what I meant the other night..pressing as hard as I could, I could NOT get a lighter color to highlight over a darker color I put down. This happens when I’m using Pentel & Crayola oil pastels, also. If I’m able to get any color down, it looks like a muddy mess.

Now that I’ve tried a few different brands of oil pastels, and found some I realllly like, this just isn’t acceptable. I don’t know about other artists, but I don’t like to get a workout in when I’m drawing. haha It just shouldn’t be that hard.

Then I picked up a Paul Reuben to show him the difference, and with one little light swipe I had added in the highlight. To be fair, I’ve only worked with the Paul Rueben white oil pastels so far, but they work exactly how I want them to. I will be buying a complete set within the next few weeks because I’m dying to try all the colors.

Mungyo isn’t all bad, tho..in fact, the Mungyo water soluble oil pastels are close to the top of my favorite pastels to use so far. Note the words “water soluble”. I haven’t tried them with brushes and water yet, so I don’t know how they work in that aspect, but most of the reviews are good.

It’s still very rough around the edges,
but I love the raw emotion in her eyes.

For strictly drawing, Mungyo water soluble oil pastels blend, & layer well. I can mix colors while I’m drawing. They’re much less waxy, and creamier, imo, than the regular oil pastels. I actually just ordered more of them because I’ve used up a whole box up already. However, I won’t be buying the regular Mungyo oil pastels again. Same goes for the Pentels, and Crayolas. I don’t want to deal with any of them when I’m creating portraits.

Haven’t decided yet if I want to keep them for making marks in my art journals and abstract paintings or sell them on eBay. They’re not much use to me otherwise, and hey, if another artist enjoys these brands, why not sell them? I’ll think about it, and let you know.

I hope you have a lovely creative day, and weekend. It’s going to over 100F for the next couple days, so I’m gonna try to keep cool, and hopefully get a lot of drawing done.

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