Helpful Tools

Here's a list of some helpful tools and supplies to get you started. Things vary in price and usually the more expensive items are of higher quality. But the nicest thing about Oil Pastels is that you can effectively use cheap tools found around the house.

I think first you should figure out if you prefer Pastel or Paint?

Buy some Pastels and

Paper or Boards.


Stumps are one of my personal favorites. They're cheap, precise and save my fingers from getting raw. The smaller ones allow for some great detail work and blending. The bigger ones work well for blending larger areas. I do have enough of these so that each one is dedicated to a specific colour. That way the colours stay bright, instead of getting muddy. Remember the dreaded dark comet in the bright sky spells destruction for that beautiful artwork. Unless that's what your piece is about. You can wear these down by sharpening or rubbing on a sandblock, or sandpaper. I haven't tried that yet,as with Oil Pastels, you want a build up of oil on the stump so it will blend smoothly instead of wipping away colour.








Paper Tortillions of various sizes. Used for blending and smearing colour around. Of course your finger works great too, but can't get into detail work. These are the same as stumps, but tend to unravel and lose their one point. A stump you can sharpen again, these just fall apart on me. Maybe I just don't know how to use them right? I spare myself the frustration and use stumps, I recommend you do the same.

Paper napkins or paper towels: are very helpful when working with oil pastels. They are good for cleaning your pastels as you go along, nothing is more frustrating than a streak of blue coming off your yellow pastel. Plus it keeps your colour pure. Wipe a pastel clean of other colours before putting it away. It is easier to remove other colours when the stick is slightly warm from use than it is "cold" out of the box.


Oil Pencils: I prefer to have on hand some oil based pencils for finer detail work, hard lines or texturizing while adding colour, or not removing what colour is there. These also work great for outlining. I have Walnut Hollow and Lyra. Lyras are softer and more oily, better for blending. Walnut Hollow are harder and sharper, better for removing a similar colour without alot of scraping.


Dish washing liquid: an absolute must to get off those greasy stains from fingers, table, floor, chairs and wherever else they might be. Normal soap just doesn't work as well, but it can.

A scraper: I use wood orange sticks or a rubber tipped colour shaper. Many pottery tools are usefull with oil pastels. But basically, if you don't want to spend the money to buy special tools then most things found around the house will work perfectly fine. Rubber tipped items are very useful for pushing colour.

Sandpaper: if you want to make a sharp edge or point on a pastel or pencil. You can also rub sandpaper on a matt board to produce tooth. Rub it on canvas board to smooth the surface a little.

Brushes: I'm not going to talk alot about brushes because I want to avoid their compatriate: toxic solvents. I mainly use one fluffy brush for dusting off blobs of pastel. Keep it clean by rubbing on clean paper or napkin, and washing with dish soap if it picks up too much colour. However, I will share that I found synthetic brushes work best with oil thinners. Hog hair absorbs too much oil and sable is just too soft to push the colour around. A stiff synthetic works great for scumbling.

Mineral spirits or turpentine: may be used to dilute and spread oil pastels. But the main reason I use oil pastels is for their non-toxic nature, so I do not recommend using either of these substances. But, these do have a much quicker drying time than oil thinners. They also produce more of a runny, watery thinning, while oils keep the oil pastels thicker.

Walnut or Safflower oil: If you really want to thin out or blend your pastels these two oils can safely be used without much worry. Lindseed oil can also be used, but it is flammable and seems to take forever to dry. Walnut and safflower oil have been used by professional artists for hundreds of years and it is known that these two yellow the least. I read on Blick.com "Walnut oil flows more freely, and has less tendency to crack or yellow than linseed oil. Today it is known that Renaissance masters such as Da Vinci and Durer generally favored walnut oil over linseed oil." These do take a very long time to dry, but they keep the pastel more creamy and thick.

Cotton swabs or Q-tips: not recommended for blending as either the oil or the surface texture of a board grabs the cotton and shreds the swab. This leaves small filaments of cotton thread all over. Use a napkin, scraper or stump to blend instead. Sometimes I use swabs to underpaint with an acrylic, especially when I don't want to dirty up a brush. I only use swabs on a non-grabbing surface though.

Your finger: Is an excellent tool for blending because it is slightly oily, smooth enough to blend, and is slightly warm, so it melts the pastel just a little bit.

Kitchen sponge: I cut a new one up into smaller bits and use that with an oil thinner for underpainting larger areas of colour.