Soft Pastel Painting: My simple step-by-step Process
June 7th 2026
Written by Ashley
Hey! I’m Ashley
An artist, educator, hopeful-garden-enthusiast, animal lover, people person, ally to all humans, and on a mission to spread kindness & hope through creativity.
I start a soft pastel painting with a few swipes of color, embracing the intuitive marks and laying the ground work for the composition.
Tip here is to keep your pressure super duper soft. Light as a feather touch to start. You can always press more and transfer richer pigment later, but at this block-in stage you’re about to wash it all out with alcohol in a minute anyways (see step 2), soonlylay down enough color to get your thoughts and palette on the paper and keep it simple for now. We’ll be doing plenty more layering and building up later.
“Soft pastel is absolute magic. Tiny crystals of color and the best way I know to experiment with color, fast.”
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
“Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.”
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Start simply: choose a small, harmonious palette—three to five creamy pastels in colors you love—and make clear value decisions first, mapping lights, midtones, and darks before you touch the paper. Lay in broad, confident strokes on sanded or toothy paper, then build up layers slowly, blending and reworking as each layer bites into the texture; use good-quality pastels so the colors stay rich and the surface accepts more passes. Treat each layer as a gentle refinement rather than a race—push and lift color, add highlights last, and step back often to check values rather than details. Most importantly, have fun and lean into the meditative flow: the real gift of this practice is the mental reset it provides—screen-free, quietly creative time that restores balance, sharpens creative problem-solving, and strengthens your artistic “muscle” even in ten-minute sessions. Instead of reaching for your phone, grab a set of creamy pastels and textured paper, and let the process center you.