Oil Pastels: Bold, Buttery Color With No Learning Curve

Curated by Daria

Color You Can Push Around With Your Thumb

Oil pastels were invented in 1925, when Japan's Sakura company pressed pigment into a crayon-pastel hybrid gentle enough for schoolchildren. Twenty-four years later Picasso wanted a grown-up version he could drag across any surface, so he talked the Paris color house Sennelier into an artist-grade line that's still made today. That's the strange arc of this medium: born for classrooms, upgraded for one of the most famous painters of the twentieth century. And unlike nearly every other paint, oil pastel never fully dries — a piece from decades back can still smudge under a careless thumb. You draw like it's a crayon, but it layers and blends like paint, with nothing to rinse and no waiting between sessions.

Here's the catch nobody mentions: the pastels in most school supply aisles are hard, waxy, and stingy with color, and they've convinced plenty of people they "can't do" this medium. Soft artist-grade sticks are a different animal — they glide, they layer, they smear like lipstick. If you've browsed our soft pastels beginner setup, think of oil pastels as the sturdier sibling: no dust cloud, no sneezing, and the color stays put on the page instead of ghosting onto everything nearby.

Start smaller than you think. One soft set, one pad with a little tooth, a few paper stumps — that's honestly the whole kit. Your fingers do the rest, and they came free.

Every pick below costs less than a takeout dinner for two, chosen so that if oil pastels turn out not to be your thing, you've lost an evening, not a paycheck.

Where This Little Kit Can Take You

A few real moments and results from this hobby — made with tools no fancier than the ones below.

Duck study in golden lightLayered strokes build that backlit glow — no brush ever touches the paper.

Tulips on electric blueA scribbled cobalt background makes simple sticks look gallery-bold.

First fruit studiesEarly clipboard practice: two fruits, loose marks, zero fear.

Small hands, big colorOil pastels ask for nothing but paper and the urge to press down.

A well-loved working boxSmudged wrappers and blunted tips are what progress actually looks like.

Pick 01 of 07

Professional Soft Oil Pastel Set

Soft oil pastels are chubby sticks of pigment bound in wax and non-drying oil, creamy enough to spread and layer with light pressure. A good beginner set covers a wide range with plenty of lights and darks, because mixing happens right on the paper. Softness is the spec that matters most — a stick that fights back turns blending into a chore.

Why we picked this exact one: The Mungyo Gallery Artists' Soft Oil Pastels 48-color set pairs true artist-grade softness with a student price — about 40 cents a stick — and holds a 4.8-star rating across more than 5,300 reviews. Few art supplies at any price are this well liked.

See it on Amazon

Pick 02 of 07

Oversized Mixed Media Art Pad

A mixed-media pad sits between drawing and painting papers: heavier than a sketchbook page, with a light texture that gives pastel something to grip. For oil pastels the sheet needs to stay flat under real pressure and accept several layers without giving up. Smooth office paper does neither — the color slides instead of sticking.

Why we picked this exact one: The Canson XL Mix Media pad is a beginner-art staple for a reason — 4.8 stars from over 48,000 reviews, a per-sheet cost of pocket change, and just enough texture for pastel while staying smooth enough for the pencil sketch underneath.

See it on Amazon

Pick 03 of 07

Artist Blending Stumps and Sharpeners

Blending stumps are tightly rolled paper sticks with pointed ends; tortillons are their thinner, hollow cousins. They move and soften color in places where a fingertip is too big or too messy — edges, corners, small shapes. When a tip gets saturated, a quick rub on sandpaper cleans it for the next color.

Why we picked this exact one: The N NOROCME 12-piece stump and tortillon set costs about as much as a coffee, includes a sandpaper pad for cleaning the tips, and averages 4.7 stars across nearly 11,000 reviews. For a consumable tool, cheap and plentiful beats precious.

See it on Amazon

These three purchases will carry you through your first dozen pieces and well past them. Expect the first session to feel clumsy — the sticks are fatter than anything you've drawn with since kindergarten, and tiny details simply aren't on the menu yet. Work bigger than feels natural. Sketch shapes lightly in pencil first, then let the color do the talking. If dragging pigment around with your bare hands turns out to be the part you love, a beginner charcoal drawing setup scratches that same itch in dramatic black and white.

The Cheap Extras That Solve Real Problems

None of this is required on day one. Each tool here fixes a specific annoyance that tends to show up during the first week or two — smeared edges, stained fingertips, a botched sky you wish you could lift clean off the paper. Painters who've worked through our beginner acrylic painting setup will recognize the palette knife immediately, and yes, it's just as satisfying here. The classic mistake is buying every accessory before making a single drawing; I'd flip that and let each tool earn its spot. Waiting for a real need to appear is also the fastest lesson in which art supplies deserve real money and which don't.

Pick 04 of 07

Silicone Clay Sculpting Tool Set

Silicone shapers look like paint brushes with soft rubber tips where the bristles would be. The tips push oil pastel around like tiny squeegees — silicone absorbs nothing, so color moves exactly where the tool goes and wipes off with a paper towel. Different tip shapes handle edges, dots, and tight curves.

Why we picked this exact one: The Clatoon 10-piece silicone set covers every useful tip shape for six dollars and averages 4.5 stars across 1,700+ reviews. Nearly identical tools marketed to painters as color shapers cost several times more.

See it on Amazon

Professional Stainless Steel Palette Knives Set

Pick 05 of 07

Professional Stainless Steel Palette Knives Set

Painting knives have thin, springy metal blades on offset handles. With oil pastels they do double duty: the flat of the blade spreads and presses color, and the edge scrapes back mistakes or carves lines through layers for texture. An assortment of blade shapes covers most jobs from broad sweeps to fine ridges.

Why we picked this exact one: The Arteza Palette Knives 8-pack offers eight stainless-steel blade shapes with sturdy wooden handles and a 4.7-star average from more than 900 reviews — one purchase of scraping tools that never needs repeating.

See it on Amazon

Pick 06 of 07

Translucent Protective Paper Sheets

Glassine is a smooth, dense, semi-transparent paper that pastel pigment doesn't cling to. Slipped between finished pieces, it stops stacked work from smearing together in a drawer or portfolio. Large sheets can be trimmed to any pad size or folded around a single favorite piece.

Why we picked this exact one: The JBM Packaging 16-by-20-inch glassine pack holds 100 sheets, each big enough to cover a 9-by-12 piece with room to fold over, at a 4.7-star rating. One pack will outlast years of output.

See it on Amazon

Pick 07 of 07

Disposable Nitrile Exam Gloves

Thin nitrile gloves fit snugly enough to keep full fingertip control while blending. Latex-free, powder-free versions avoid allergy trouble and stray dust on the artwork. A box of a hundred sits happily beside any messy hobby and disappears one pair at a time.

Why we picked this exact one: The Supmedic nitrile exam gloves cost about nine dollars for a hundred, hold 4.7 stars across 28,000+ reviews, and are thin enough that the paper's texture still comes through your fingertips.

See it on Amazon

Scrape gently, blend in small passes, and save the gloves for big saturated backgrounds — bare fingertips will teach you more about pressure than any tool. There's no rush to own all of this at once. Before anything fancier joins the box, skim the art supplies beginners waste money on; oil pastel has its own shelf of skippable gadgets.

Why Did My Sunset Just Turn Brown?

Why do my colors turn muddy when I blend?

Mud is what happens when too many fresh layers get worked at once — the oil hasn't settled, so every new stroke drags up the ones underneath. The counterintuitive fix is patience: set the piece aside for a few hours or even a couple of days and let the paper absorb some oil. The surface firms up and accepts fresh color again. Fewer colors, placed deliberately, blend cleaner than a dozen swirled together.

My pastels barely smear. Am I doing something wrong?

Probably not — your sticks are. Hard budget pastels just don't move the way soft artist-grade ones do, and no finger pressure fully rescues them; people who upgrade routinely describe it as discovering a different hobby. If blending feels like dragging a crayon across cardboard, blame the stick, not your hands. This is the one place in the whole kit where quality genuinely gates what you can do.

Can I just use printer paper or a cheap sketchbook?

You can for throwaway warmups, but thin smooth paper turns slippery almost immediately — the first layer seals it, and everything after slides around like wax. A heavier sheet with a little texture grips the pigment and keeps accepting layers; a sturdy mixed-media pad or 200gsm watercolor paper is the usual budget answer. It also buckles far less when you press hard. Save the flimsy stuff for pencil.

Which colors go down first when I layer?

Think firmness, not color: harder sticks belong in the bottom layers, the softest ones on top. Soft over firm glides and blends beautifully; firm over soft just gouges tracks through what you've built. This is also why owning two sets isn't silly — a budget set as the workhorse base and a few soft premium sticks for final highlights is a combination plenty of experienced hobbyists settle on.

When does a finished piece finally dry?

It doesn't — oil pastel stays touch-soft for years, and that surprises almost everyone. Treat finished work like paint that never fully cures: slip a smooth barrier sheet over anything you keep, and frame favorites behind glass that doesn't touch the surface. Never stack bare pieces face to face unless you want accidental prints of each one on the back of the next.

Love what you see here? Save individual picks with on any item, or copy everything to a list of your own in one click — great for coming back to later, or dropping as a not-so-subtle hint.

Disclosure: Some product links may be affiliate links. If you make a purchase through one of these links, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Oil Pastels: Bold, Buttery Color With No Learning Curve

Color You Can Push Around With Your Thumb

Where This Little Kit Can Take You

Professional Soft Oil Pastel Set

Oversized Mixed Media Art Pad

Artist Blending Stumps and Sharpeners

The Cheap Extras That Solve Real Problems

Silicone Clay Sculpting Tool Set

Professional Stainless Steel Palette Knives Set

Translucent Protective Paper Sheets

Disposable Nitrile Exam Gloves

Why Did My Sunset Just Turn Brown?

Why do my colors turn muddy when I blend?

My pastels barely smear. Am I doing something wrong?

Can I just use printer paper or a cheap sketchbook?

Which colors go down first when I layer?

When does a finished piece finally dry?

A Few More Hobbies We Carefully Put Together

Work Big and Bold: Charcoal Drawing for New Artists

Blend Color With Your Hands: Soft Pastels for Beginners

Bold, Beginner-Friendly Acrylics: The Essentials to Own