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Draw Art Supplies
P O Box 24022
5 Mahunga Drive
Mangere Bridge, Auckland
NEW ZEALAND

Phone 09 636 4989
Fax 09 636 5162
Free Fax (NZ) 
0800 506 406

pastels & crayons

Draw Art Supplies offer a good selection of artist pastels and crayons. There are five types of pastels available: soft and hard pastels, pastel pencils, watersoluble pastels and oil pastels. The Crayons are available from a child's colouring quality to artist quality.

Soft Pastels
The most widely used of the various pastel types, because they produce the wonderful velvety bloom. They contain proportionally more pigment and less binder, so colour is rich and vibrant. They are easy to apply and requiring little pressure to make a mark, they can be smudged and blended with a finger, a rag or paper stump. Soft pastels are normally very fragile because they contain little binder so are prone to crumble or break easily. It is recommended that you purchase or keep your soft pastels in a tin or strong container. Also recommended is that you spray each stage of your work with a fixative to prevent smudging.

Hard Pastels
These contain less pigment and more binder than soft pastels. This offers the artist a firmer pastel to work with but the colours are not brilliant. They can be sharpened to a point to produce crisp clear lines and details. Hard pastels are often used for outlining, or to add details and accents or used in combination with other drawing and painting media.

Water-soluble Pastels
These offer all the advantages of the soft pastels but include a water-soluble ingredient, so that it is possible to thin out their colour into a transparent wash. This opens the door to a variety of techniques (See Caran d'Ache Neocolour Watersoluble Pastels). Water-soluble pastels are relatively new to the world of pastel art. 

Pastel Pencils
These are just as it implies a pencil with a pastel centre. They offer the artist good control, easy handling and are very clean to work with. Best suited for small scale or fine detail work and can be used in conjunction with both hard and soft pastels.

Oil Pastels
Oil Pastels offer thick buttery strokes with a very intense pallet of colours. They are stronger, harder and less crumbly than soft pastels; since they tend not to smudge, they require little or no fixative but are more difficult to blend.

Crayons
Caran d'Ache Neocolour I Wax Crayons.
Jovi, Plastic Crayons
Jovi, Wax Crayons
Spectrum, Wax Crayons Medium & Jumbo Size

Soft Pastels
Daler-Rowney, Artist Soft Pastels (Square & Round)
Mungyo, Soft Chalk Pastels
Mungyo, Charcoal Pastels
Venus, Artist Soft Pastels

Oil Pastels
Caran d'Ache, Neo Pastels (Oil)
Dreamland, Oil Pastels
Mungyo Gallery, Oil Pastels
Guitar, Oil Pastels

Water-soluble Pastels
Caran d'Ache, Neocolour II Aquarelle Pastels
Mungyo Gallery, Aquarelle Pastels