Last year, I ordered myself a Sketchbox, but I'll admit that I didn't have the best experience with it. It contained these shimmery PanPastels, but I didn't feel like I could do much with them. I ended up giving them to my mom because she loves sparkly things, and I cancelled my subscription.
Fast forward to this year, I've thought a lot about these random art supply boxes, and have been watching a lot of Youtubers open them and make beautiful works with them, and thought maybe giving it another go would help spark some more creativity and make me think outside the box.
I was really excited when my July box arrived. I hadn't looked at social media because I wanted to be surprised! I opened the box and....
PanPastels.
I'm not going to lie, I was somewhat disheartened. However, I had made a commitment to be open minded and experiment, and I was going to stick to it. I made some color swatches in my sample sketchbook and played with some blending, and pondered what I'd make overnight.
Today, I made this little mushroom scene. I can honestly say that I thoroughly enjoyed working with these pastels. I have a texture issue with some materials (chalk, pastels, charcoal, etc) so I tend to stay away from materials like this but the Sofft tools really helped eliminate that scratchy feeling for me, and I was able to push through that feeling even though the pencils gave me that effect. I used watercolor paper, because I figured it'd have enough tooth to allow me to add layers of pastel and blend it out for a smooth look.
I'd even say that I will play with these more beyond just this piece! So overall, I had a great experience with this month's Sketchbox.
Have you used PanPastels? If so, what paper do you use with them?