I want to start this blog post by saying what I’m writing today is my first impression, and experience using these Paul Rubens oil pastels. I’ve used these pastels for a total of roughly 10 hours at this point. I’m going to be a neutral as possible, and give my honest opinion about these oil pastels. 

I started out drawing directly on corrugated cardboard, which I often do with my other oil pastels. I immediately noted these oil pastels act differently than other brands, and not in good ways.

Right from the start, I noticed quite a vast inconsistency between the colors. Some were slick, and too smudgy. Other colors were dry and crumbly. Some colors slid around on the cardboard, and were extremely easy to smudge. Notice I said smudge and not “blend”..there is a huge difference. Blending takes a little effort with either a tortillon or your finger. That’s not the case with these. I was concerned the whole time I was drawing that I was going to create a huge smear across my work while reaching for a different pastel.  

When I did try to blend colors, I quickly discovered how easy it was to make mud with some of these pastels. The first drawing took me forever to draw because I kept trying to layer them thickly like I do other pastels. These pastels weren’t holding layers well. They were smudging together more than layering, and the colors underneath were rubbing off on to the pastel. I saw the bare cardboard beneath at times because the layer underneath wasn’t staying put, and was smearing.

The yellow went down drier, and more crumbly. Unfortunately the yellows didn’t blend out as I would have liked with a tortillon. 

I had to be super careful after I was finished with the drawings. I didn’t want to smear them before I had a chance to take them outside to spray the fixative. I have since sprayed them all, and they are fine..holding in place on the cardboard, as my other oil pastels do. 

I realize some might say I was creating my own problems because I was using cardboard as my substrate. If that’s what you’re thinking, fair enough. I’ve thought the same myself. However, the cardboard I used wasn’t slick or shiny, as you can see in the photos. I use cardboard a lot, so I’m fairly used to how oil pastels work on it with other brands of oil pastels. Using cardboard also doesn’t explain why some pastels were slick, and others dry and crumbly.

I wanted to give these pastels the benefit of doubt, tho. So, I tried them out using the same toned drawing paper as I did with the Arrtx brand. I will post about that experience on Friday. Stay tuned for my final thoughts. 

I hope you have a lovely creative day. If you like this blog post, please share it using the buttons below.

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See my artwork in a new movie – The Whale starring Brendan Fraser, which will be released December 9th, 2022. 

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