Dick Blick Soft Pastels – A Short Review

they’re soft… but hard??? so is soft pastel a misnomer???

This article was originally posted on my personal art site VoteGoat.net… But, I’ve recently decided to add articles on art supplies to Pink Ink. It just seemed more appropriate content wise.

The front of Dick Blick’s 40 piece half stick soft pastel set.

The back of Dick Blick’s 40 piece half stick soft pastel set.

The back of Dick Blick’s 40 piece half stick soft pastel set.

The first set of 20 half stick soft pastels, they come in little removable foam trays.

The second set of 20 half stick soft pastels, they come in little removable foam trays.

As you can see, even just moderate pressure equals some chunks / powdery bits.

Now, if you weren’t aware, Dick Blick offers their own brand of soft pastels…

Blick Artists’ Half Stick Soft Pastel Sets

Blick Artists’ Soft Pastels Sets

Blick’s soft pastels are offered in two sizes, full stick and half stick, and are made in England.

Texture

Blick’s soft pastels straddle the line between being a firm pastel and a soft pastel. The color transfers easily, but there is still that feeling of firmness in your strokes. It’s almost like the difference between feeling hardened clay and a stick of chalk, you know? Blick being more towards the clay side…

Powdery?

Dick Blick soft pastels aren’t anywhere near as powdery as some of the other popular soft pastel brands. While you still need to take precautions so as to not inhale a bunch of dust, I feel these soft pastels have a more “controllable” powder. It’s hard to explain. It’s just not as annoying as other brands and doesn’t seem to easily float off into the air. You an see above in the pictures that went they powder up on you it’s in small chunky bits.

Quality

I personally like the feel of these pastels and think they’re about as high of quality as any soft pastels… but I’m biased against soft pastels to begin with so what do I know…

The colors are all strong and vibrant, the color transfers easily to your surface, but like I said earlier Blick’s soft pastels feel more clay-like than the more expensive and supposedly higher quality brands you might be used to.

To Sum Up

Well, I like them. Dick Blick’s soft pastels are definitely not the best thing ever but oh boy are they not even close to the worst.

These soft pastels fit firmly into the “middle quality” category.

And you know what, they’re definitely worth the cost… my set of 40 half sticks cost me $31 after a 20% off coupon.

I say give them a try, see what they’re like for you and your art!

Dick Blick Soft Pastels – A Short Review by Jordan Wunderlich is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.