Creating backgrounds with pastels can add depth and interest to your artwork. Whether you’re enhancing a portrait, landscape, or abstract piece, the right background can elevate your art. Here are three diverse and practical examples to inspire your pastel creations.
In this example, we’ll create a calming sunset background that can serve as a beautiful backdrop for a landscape or a silhouette.
To start, gather your materials: soft pastels in warm colors (like oranges, pinks, and yellows) and a blending tool (like a cotton swab or your fingers). Begin by lightly sketching the horizon line to define where the ground meets the sky.
Using the warm pastels, apply a gradient starting with the lightest yellow at the horizon, blending upwards into soft pinks and deeper oranges as you go higher. The key is to use gentle strokes and blend the colors seamlessly, creating a soft transition.
Once you’re satisfied with the sky, you can add darker colors at the top to represent the fading day. Use a deep blue or violet to create a contrast against the warm colors. This sunset background can perfectly complement a black silhouette of trees or mountains placed on top.
Creating a textured background can add a dynamic element to your artwork. In this example, we’ll create a forest floor background that can serve as a base for wildlife or plant subjects.
Begin by selecting earthy colors like greens, browns, and soft grays. Start at the bottom of your paper and apply a layer of dark green pastels, using short, flicking motions to mimic the texture of grass. Follow this with a lighter green, applying it in the same flicking motion to create depth.
Next, introduce browns and grays to depict soil and fallen leaves. Use a darker brown to create shadows in the crevices and add lighter browns or yellows for highlights. Blend these colors lightly with your fingers or a blending stump to create a cohesive look.
Finally, consider adding in a few pops of color, like the bright yellow of wildflowers or the soft white of mushrooms, to bring life to your forest floor background.
For those who enjoy a more modern approach, this example focuses on creating an abstract background that can be the foundation for any subject.
Choose a selection of pastels in varying colors that resonate with you—think blues, purples, and pinks for a cool vibe, or reds, oranges, and yellows for something warmer. Begin by applying broad strokes of color across your paper, allowing the colors to overlap slightly. This technique creates a layered look that’s visually engaging.
Once you have your base colors down, use a blending tool to soften the edges and merge the colors where they meet, creating a harmonious flow. You could also experiment with the amount of pressure you apply to create different intensities of color.
To finish, you might want to add some metallic or white pastels to create highlights or a sense of sparkle in your background.
By exploring these examples of creating backgrounds with pastels, you can enhance your artistic endeavors and add unique elements to your artwork. Happy drawing!