When it comes to soft pastel painting, the materials matter—but not in a precious or brand-obsessed way. Over time, I’ve settled into a small mix of pastels that suit how I work, particularly for landscape studies and finished pieces. These are the ones I rely on most, and how they fit into my process.
Unison Colour & Jackson’s Art Soft Pastels
Unison Colour and Jackson’s Art soft pastels form the core of my palette. They’re fully mixed together in my palette box, so most of the time I don’t even know which brand I’m grabbing—and that’s intentional.
Both brands are soft, richly pigmented, and ideal for layering and subtle colour transitions. Unison tends to be a bit softer, while Jackson’s are just firm enough to be useful for blocking in larger shapes. In practice, though, I’m thinking about colour and value, not brand names. Keeping them mixed helps me work more intuitively and respond to the painting rather than overthinking materials.
Rembrandt Soft Pastels (Underpainting Stage)
I use Rembrandt soft pastels mainly in the early stages. They’re firmer than my main palette pastels, which makes them well-suited for underpainting, rough value mapping, and getting the composition established without filling the tooth of the paper too quickly.
Once that structure is in place, I switch to the softer Unison and Jackson’s pastels for refinement and colour depth.
Faber-Castell Rectangular Soft Pastels (Early Block-In)
I also keep a small set of Faber-Castell soft pastels. They’re quite hard compared to the others and have a rectangular shape, which makes them especially useful during the rough block-in stage.
The harder texture and sharp edges let me lay in large shapes cleanly and establish more precise edges early on—things like tree lines, bridge structures, or strong shadow shapes—before switching to softer pastels later in the process.
Why This Setup Works for Me
This combination keeps my process simple and flexible: harder pastels for structure and control, softer pastels for colour, atmosphere, and finish. Mixing the Unison and Jackson’s together removes friction and helps me focus on composition, values, and light—where the real decisions happen.
As always, this isn’t about finding the “best” materials—just the ones that support how I like to work right now.