Top tips

Artists have used pastels for hundreds of years. There are two main types of pastel - oil and chalk. Chalk pastel comes in three forms: soft, hard and pencil pastel.

1. A good palette includes dark, medium and light tones of the main colour groups: reds, yellows, blues, greens and greys.

2. Choose textured paper with more 'teeth' as this can hold more layers of pastel.

3. Select paper with an opposite colour to the painted subject to enhance the colour contrast.

4. Use hard pastels or pastel pencils for preliminary drawings and detailed work; use soft pastels to cover large areas.

5. Don't use a graphite pencil for initial sketches as it has a greasy nature that repels the pastel pigment.