Pastel setup

Some of my pastels

Pastels are dry pigment that contains a binder (hard to soft) pumice and talc. Each company has they're own formulas for making their pastel sticks. It is good to get a variety of manufacturers.

The best place to start (although it can become expensive) would be

a complete set of;

     Nupastel sticks. It comes with 96 but a mid range set of 48 will work. 

    Sennelier Paris half sticks

I have many more pastels not shown here, but I have been collecting for 30 years. It's an investment for sure. 

Additional sticks to buy would be;

    Terry Ludwig Intense darks ll

    unison 

I would also recommend papers

    Pastelmat

    Art fix

    U art 400 or 600 the 400 has more layering capabilities.

Canson paper is inexpensive but for the beginner painter it requires a very light touch and I don't recommend it. I enjoy it as a paper for exploring ideas.

Any art related questions feel free to ask....