Pastel Paper Comparison - 15 Different Papers!

An in depth experiment to show the differences between 15 different pastel surfaces. To see my full length version and access all my tutorials visit my Patreon channel at / emmacolbertart .
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If you simply want to make a one time donation to help me fund these videos you can Paypal me at www.paypal.me/emmacolbertart
Thank you!
Links to where you can purchase any of these papers:
Use my affiliate link on Jacksons Art to support me in making more videos. All the papers shown are available in their shop at
www.jacksonsart.com/?acc=0874...
For the Pastel Paper Comparison Packs I've mentioned in the video:
Sanded Papers
www.jacksonsart.com/sanded-pa...
Non Sanded Papers
www.jacksonsart.com/non-sande...
A link to my written notes download on Patreon / paper-comparison-53803549

[@lynetteclauser3551]

My hats off to you for 15 studies. I have found when I have tried to do a comparison of working surfaces, each one after the original took longer and longer to complete. By the time I got to number 4, it took 8 hours for a 5x7 profile of my cat. I only completed 4 out of 10. I can’t imagine 15. So congratulations to you on your perseverance. An excellent video chock full of usable information. Thank you.

[@EmmaColbertArt]

Thanks Lynette, I've been meaning to do it for years. Only because of financial support through Patreon am I able to take so much time off from my paintings and do something like this. That helped me to know I didn't have to rush. And because lots of my paintings take 15 hours or more, it felt nice to finish something every hour or so. Very different to working for ages on one piece. I wouldn't want to repeat it, but it wasn't as bad as expected!

[@LinguiniRocks]

I'm over a year late, but thanks a million for taking the time to document this for us learners.

[@kerry5586]

The main thing this has taught me is that when you have talent you can paint wonderful paintings on any surface! It was a great experiment and wonderful to see all the different papers. I liked the finished Sennelier best.

[@richardharker2775]

Huge effort. I'm new to sketching and bewildered with the amount of choice of materials that are suitable for different avenues of art. Thank you for your work and evaluating how the different papers perform.

[@EmmaColbertArt]

Thank you for the comment and glad you found it helpful. Art materials are a long dark rabbit hole to go down haha

[@Nadoor1980]

What a monumental undertaking this is! Thank you for taking the time and effort to put all this out for us.

[@EmmaColbertArt]

Thank you! It makes me shudder just thinking about it now haha!

[@jameskeen593]

thank you this is really helpful for a beginner

[@MT-bc6xf]

Fantastic info! Thank you

[@SmillyDonut]

Incredible dedication. Thank you so much for sharing.

[@fotolookconde]

Very useful video! Thanks Emma!

[@mommyzethartcorner7685]

This is the most informative vid so far for pastel paper. those efforts! thanks so much! you are a good teacher.

[@travellerontheway]

Really did find this useful. Thanks for all your work on it.

[@sandrapinto534]

Thank you Emma! You've done a huge work very useful for all of us!!

[@sinydedeugd6989]

Thank you so much Emma!

[@sabinelloyd8532]

Thank you so much for the huge amount of work you have done for this video. Much appreciated.

[@lta2356]

Thank you so much! Appreciate your generosity.

[@katrikinnunen8969]

This was a solid way to show us (and yourself) which is the best paper and how they behave. I hope artists out there will see this and use this method in this scale also. This was so helpful! Thank you for your effort. :)

[@katezale]

Emma, thank you so much! The amount of work is incredible..

[@alexklette1138]

Wow! What a dedicated video!! Thank you so much for your hard work! Very helpful!

[@triciab8751]

Great video, thanks for sharing.

[@KathyBrooksArt]

Wow, this was so very helpful. Thank you Emma for taking the time to make this and sharing your findings.

[@annabirds3939]

Amazing informing video!!! Thank you!!!

[@maria-luisatrinidad2694]

Thank you Emma very much appreciated

[@leighadams9002]

First class advice per usual excellent! Thank you!

[@jillmccoy8974]

Love your shirt!!!! And of course your videos.

[@Nicawe]

Wow, such a huge project. Thank you so much for taking this on and sharing your findings with us. This is incredible! I'll be back on your Patreon very soon.

[@GetOutAndLive]

Thank you so much! you have helped me a lot!

[@leoniegreenwold8822]

Thanks so much Emma. Your video was extremely helpful.

[@nellyfromscotland8129]

than you Emma - such a wonderful video - everything is clear and easy to understand. Thank you very much

[@DeanMarsh1962]

Excellent video! I really appreciate your hard work in this video, helped me very much. Thank you!

[@beckymadrid5894]

Awesome video. Informative. Thnx

[@PassionForLifeGallery]

Thanks for your exhaustive research!

[@wendyshoults7355]

Thank you for sharing your talents and for this review. This has been very informative.

[@geertjanjanssen5983]

Hi Emma thanks so much for sharing your ART and thoughts it’s helping us with our own things 🙏🏻

[@allisonlist4177]

Thank u so much Emma, real dedication to your art and talent x so appreciate the time and consistent effort through all 15 eyes x bless u for sharing with us all x love Alli xxx

[@williamjames5033]

Well done, so good to watch a straight to the point review, thanks for your hard work.

[@daisydog8127]

Thank you! This was amazing. All of them look lovely. You are a fantastic artist 🧑‍🎨

[@mobilhome1824]

Amazing, the video I was looking for.

[@davehoque5050]

Awesome demo Emma. Thank you for your selflessness and dedication to the pastel medium! Great info...very grateful Ma'am!

[@jamescarpenter6585]

Bless you!…I love your work ethic. You look after your subscribers x

[@nevremoon3089]

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this testing and share with us!

[@EmmaColbertArt]

Thank you! Appreciate the feedback :-)

[@suzannemcg1]

Thanks you so much Emma 🙏. You have saved me much time, energy and expense in my future endeavours. Very much appreciated!

[@astoria791]

Wow. Thank you for all your hard work. It's appreciated. and admired. :)

[@ryannightingale2457]

Very helpful. Thank you.

[@mebharris]

Well done Emma. A wonderful experiment. And I'm happy to say my two favs are also velour and PastelMat. But now I'm looking forward to trying a couple that you've shown. Thank you for doing this.

[@mjpete27]

You are truly inspirational and so delightful to watch! I and I am sure all the rest of your viewers really appreciate your diligence! This is just another reason to support you and your artworks on Patreon! Your testing methods are amazing! You give us an amazing overview and options to consider when we go shopping for pastel surfaces! I have also tried the clear gesso with pumice too! You make it look so easy, I found it not so easy. Thank you for sharing your expertise and including your KZbin subscribers in this amazing video series.

[@claritzairosario68]

Thank you very much Emma!! It's very interesting, because you show how the painting looks, in each of those papers, the truth is that I am going to save this video, because I am already testing some of them, but, the others, I will test them thanks to your video! Thank you very much for your effort!

[@bajiron]

Thank you for all the work you did on this video. I am a beginner and this was very informative.

[@1gabhriel]

Excellent information as a beginner its good to see the different papers being worked on and the results. Thank you for doing this.

[@Erica-xd1fj]

Wow! So thorough! Thank you for this very informative video. Looking forward to more videos from you. Also I love your outfit !

[@nicolejulien4545]

FANTASTIC

[@francoisdubuc1460]

bonjour !! et merci Emma pour cette très intéressante vidéo!!

[@sujanithtottempudi2991]

Wow! Excellent

[@markjayne935]

Hi Emma Mark here, this has been so helpful. Many thanks for spending so much time and trouble on this. - Mark.

[@michelegrolla5809]

Great and tiring work! Well done. I'm a new subscriber to your Patreon channel and find all your tutorials really great and helpful. Thank you Emma! Michele from Italy

[@acerobst1147]

Wow! The amount of work that you put into your videos, especially this one, is amazing. Thank you for creating this, and sharing it. 🙂🎨

[@EmmaColbertArt]

Glad you liked this one Ace :-)

[@nattyw495]

Thank you so much enjoyed this video it gave me so much information and insight into pastel paper just learning about art supplies to see one if id like to try two if i can afford to just experiment to see if i like supplies..thanks again interesting and informative very very helpful...

[@lindaclark918]

The best pastel paper comparison I’ve watched. Thank you so much!!

[@EmmaColbertArt]

Thank you!

[@Rjbcrone]

I agree, pastelmat and H. velour are in a class by themselves! ❤️ Thank you for your sacrifice 🥂

[@pallavichandra8281]

Kudos!! That needs some amount of patience!!

[@bluelight017]

I really liked the finished look of the painting on the non sanded Hahnemuhle Lana 160 Such patience and dedication 🤗

[@benlin1526]

I have to tell you, now that I am trying hard at doing pastels, I didn't think it would be this much work, and it really is if I want to do something good. Thank you for helping me realize that, and the patience you have shown, that is now helping me keep going.

[@418SurferGirl]

I agree with you Emma. Because of you I mastered Velour, (I have also used Suedeboard!) and Pastelmat is my other favorite. I do like Lux Archival, though I'm not a fan of sanded papers. Thank you so much for this video, since I do have these sample packs to try.

[@deangaryjames]

Thank you, i have the same 2 favs but will try others occasionally, worst for me is the inges that i used when i first started pastel

[@Ravyne]

Thank you so much for this video, Emma. I am new at pastels, so I've only been using very cheap pastel paper to experiment on, but now that I've been using them for about 6 months, I am ready to venture forth and do something large scale. I just didn't know which paper to invest in as most are quite expensive. You've given me a lot of food for thought here on the different types of paper. I will rewatch this when I finally get brave and invest. Thank you!

[@EmmaColbertArt]

Just go for a small quantity to begin so you're not committed to one. I can highly recommend the sample packs too, they're not expensive. Links in the description :-)

[@Victory-Aleksa]

Wow, good video. Спасибо ❤

[@flyinghaggertys9362]

Amazing comparison! Thank you so much! I’ve been working on landscape impressions lately and i discovered that I really really don’t like art spectrum’s Colourfix paper for this style. After I put 2 layers on it starts falling off with the third layer. I’m going to try doing a realism piece on it because I want to use it up. I love painting on uart, velour, pastel premier, amd pastel Mat. I want to try out luck archival next .

[@Raeburnsart]

this was a crazy endeavour!!! wow... i couldnt be so determined and courageous!.. Thank you for doing this video though... was keen to hear and see how each paper did when tested like this...

[@EmmaColbertArt]

I'm glad it's done! Wouldn't like to repeat it haha

[@michaelr4848]

Great Video; I hadn't been willing to pay for the more expensive papers but this video has showed the worth of stepping up.

[@acatinthecradle]

Emma you have outdone yourself. This is the best review on youtube!

[@EmmaColbertArt]

Thank you! I only planned to do this the once, so I tried to make it as full as possible. Glad you found it helpful!

[@farleyfishman8355]

Thanks Emma for all your effort and great work into this video. I love my Pastelmat as you saw of my still life ( thanks for your wonderful comment) also I use Uart 400 but for softer can go to 600 or 800. My teacher uses Sennelier cart which I agree and noticed a very soft texture look when she painted on it. I tempted to try a watercolor undercoating on the Pastelmat but at $ 15. a sheet here......I'm hesitating ....again I appreciate all your work.. thanks

[@user-kv4ed4ds8l]

Thank you so very much for this enormous exercise. It has been so helpful to me as a beginner in pastel painting! You are incredibly talented, and a great teacher/instructor.

[@EmmaColbertArt]

Thank you for taking time to comment!

[@deniseanzaldi5316]

You are an excellent artist I’ve been watching you for yrs. wish I could be as good as you!! ❤️❤️

[@EmmaColbertArt]

Thanks Denise! Glad to hear you keep coming back :-D

[@michaelmadrid]

Thanks so much for enduring the repetition and providing your valuable input. You are my favorite pastel artist and you’d opinion is important to me. Gracias por todo. 😀

[@EmmaColbertArt]

Gracias Michael! What a lovely thing to say!

[@miateglia]

Oh, wau! You did hughe work! Thank you for it :)

[@sterlingsiam]

Amazing test. I would not have done this test myself! Thank you so much for reviewing these. I feel your pain - 15 identical studies - wow. I would have given up after the second one. I am a beginner in pastels. I have used Canson Mi-Teintes (not Touch) and UART 600 to date. I absolutely love the sanded surface. I ordered the same sample packs that you reviewed and will see how I fare. Thanks again.

[@christineschafer1484]

Thanks for this great tutorial, I would be very interested in this home made gesso pumice board

[@EmmaColbertArt]

Will perhaps make another video about it :-)

[@Fandechichounette]

Thank you very much, Emma. You’re the best ! Ready for Olympic games of papers. The first time I used the Clairefontaine Ingres, I was also very disappointed. For advanced work : Pastelmat ! As I wrote below, Hahnemüehle Velour is also very good to paint with oil pastels. (Sorry for my english...)

[@EmmaColbertArt]

Your English is great! And thank you...if I was competing in the Paper Olympics I would be a paperweight then? Have not tried oil pastels in years, but interesting to know it works on velour also.

[@olenapustovit1874]

Thank you, Emma! Really great review! I still can’t find my favorite one and tried almost all of them. This review pushed me to give another chance to pastelmat , but still have problems with thin lines above the main layers of pastels, all pencils just slip and down leave any traces

[@bohochic1000]

Glad I'm not alone re Pastelmat. I draw for my own pleasure and tho not archival I can't find a surface I like more than wet/dry 1500 grit sandpaper. It grabs the pastel but doesn't show the grain up. I don't always want to lay down many layers , especially since I seldom do backgrounds and if eg. I want delicate wisps of fur or feathers as an outline I find it difficult.

[@SnowS162]

Wow Thank you for doing this comparison. I have been trying to research types of pastel paper because pastelmat is not readily available and if it is, it is white and one size and too expensive for a beginner. I have not tried pastels yet. I have subscribed and hope to watch more tutorials from you. 😊

[@helgavanzaane3911]

Thank you Emma for sharing this all with us. What a big job for you and totally appreciated. Hahnemulle is still my favourite, but I will explore a few more of the surfaces. Hope you and family are very well and the pooches and felines too. Greetings from Oz, Helga

[@EmmaColbertArt]

Thanks Helga! It felt like a big task. Glad you found it helpful!

[@joyceblanckaert552]

I've started pastels some months before but I've been using the canson mi-teintes and it actually put me of working with pastels. It was such a struggle to work with it that I unconsciously left my pastels aside. Thank you for sparking the motivation of trying pastel again but with a different paper!

[@EmmaColbertArt]

Paper makes a huge difference! I was struggling for years on the wrong paper for me and it changed everything to find a better paper!

[@bobmcbride4974]

Try using the non-textured side of the paper. I have been using it for the last 12 years and have gotten good results. The textured side doesn't work for me either.

[@joyceblanckaert552]

@@bobmcbride4974 Thanks! I will try that first before I invest in another stack of paper

[@tashain]

Thank you very much Emma - you have help confirm some future choices. As paper is very expensive for someone learning, I started with a more affordable non-sanded famous pastel paper. I would start my work and get to a good point but then my layers would start to lift and details in shade etc would be lost or I realised I could not add more. Bum. So I ventured out to an affordable sanded paper (Colourfix smooth - quite cheap in Australia) and discovered a much broader scope for my work and learning. Pastels are a great medium, but costly when you are starting out and testing the waters. Your clips regarding options and outcomes help both save money and dodge missteps.

[@EmmaColbertArt]

Thanks for commenting! All mediums are expensive if you're trying to get good quality materials. I think any review videos these days are saving people a lot of money :-)

[@ElizabethBattle]

Bless you for this Herculean effort, dear Emma! I am just learning soft pastel, and I am definitely a fan of Pastelmat. I did paint a very detailed duckling painting on cheap Canson Mi Tientes (not Touch) that turned out very well. I am going to check out your video on mounting papers, because I find Psstelmat very prone to warping. Thanks again!!

[@EmmaColbertArt]

You're welcome! I'm glad it's helped a few!

[@lyndakowalke8858]

Wow! that was some test - I got dizzy watching. That was huge! I'm glad I don't have to try on so many papers lol. Your a darlin, taking that strain from us - greatly appreciated! That eye still looks difficult lol - nothing more beautiful than a huge horse, cows or a doe's eye!

[@moonmagnolia7]

I like the Ampersand pastel board. Granted, I’m new to pastels but I was able to get some decent detail and full coverage using PanPastel. Actually I painted the entire thing in pan pastels. I had to use tiny brushes to get the detail until I orders some pastel pencils.

[@joannschoenleber813]

Thank you 🙏 Very impressed with the depth you achieved on Sennelier card! I just hope it is archival. I also love pastelmat but boy does it grab the marks, not as easy to blend until heavy build up…. I will try lux archival. Emma you are just amazing 🤩!!! Thanks again🙏

[@EmmaColbertArt]

Thanks Joann, yes the Sennelier is archival but beware, it hates moisture! Don't let anything wet or even damp near it!

[@joannschoenleber813]

🙏 Yes thank you for that!! Alain Picard said the same. You rock, Emma!!

[@CAZZIEK321]

You deserve a medal 🏅

[@marionwigzell7334]

Thank you Emma, that was really amazing. I wish I had seen this before ordering a heap of the Mi Teintes Touch lol (-: Marion X

[@EmmaColbertArt]

It's still a nice paper, just did look significantly less vibrant than the other sanded papers. Still not a bad surface to work on though :-)

[@brianparnell2256]

Thanks for your video. When I started using Fisher 400 for the first week after I couldn’t open my iPad as it didn’t recognise my finger print and had to use my passcode lol.

[@EmmaColbertArt]

Haha! Some pastel artists could make wonderful burglars!

[@choochoochooseyou]

Thank you so much for your efforts here, Emma. Really helpful. There's definitely a couple you mentioned I will be trying.

[@pastels-painting]

I would love to see some flowers. Great video

[@DiRidpath]

I love all this work you did. As far as uArt 400, try uArt 600 and uArt 800. They are both more similar to Pastelmat in texture. I use uArt 600 all the time.

[@jenniefrench1338]

Huge project. My favorites were the Fishers 400, velour, Art Spectrum, the and Pastelmat, my least were the ones that had the obvious grain like mi teintes and others. The texture and flimsiness of those kind to me was a turn off. But you made them all look great. I use the Art Spectrum pastel primer on hot press watercolor paper and it makes into Art Spectrum paper and you don’t have to mix pumice, etc and it comes in colors or one can squirt a little color in the mix. Jackson’s sells it. The other thing is that the paper I use is 140lb hp and with an application of the primer with a cheap sponge paint brush it dries quickly and it lays perfectly flat and has a bit of weight to it. I find it completely comparable to Luxarchival but far less expensive. Awesome paintings!

[@EmmaColbertArt]

Yes those were my favourites too, some really didn't appeal to me. But then I know of many other artists who produce their amazing work on the papers I don't like! Good to try many and determine your favs!

[@zhongdayang1580]

super useful video! another two papers you could try is bfk rives that andy espinoza uses to great effect on ig and legion lenox 100 by zaria lynn. they creat superb works w those!

[@EmmaColbertArt]

Will look them up. Definitely not a complete list of all the pastel surfaces available but as many as I could find for now!

[@zhongdayang1580]

@@EmmaColbertArt i acutally tried velour because of you and now they have become my second favourite, the first being still pastelmat🥰 your channel is really helpful for people learning pastels esp when it comes to the sticks. thanks a ton!

[@beckyquick4025]

great job !!!! I didn't hear you do the Fabiano Tiziano? If you had to choose the one that gave you the most layers between Tiziano or canson mi teintes as I have a lot of these papers , which gave the most layers? also the Rembrandt and Winsor and Newton pastel pads that came out have you tried? love your opinion on these. I am a novice they all looked good to me.

[@EvilMP5]

Thank you so much for doing this comparison. I have been wanting to get away from pastelmat because the prices in the U.S. are way too expensive. $68 bucks for 10 sheets of 11.8 x 15.7 inches (30cm x 40 cm) is just nuts.

[@EmmaColbertArt]

Yep it's pricey stuff! But it's also weirdly like nothing else out there.

[@bhivalnishad5916]

Ur efforts 🙇🙇🙇🙇🙇🙇🙇

[@kcartisanship]

Nice 👍

[@markyteo]

Pure madness! Great comparison. Do you have a video on pastel papers to avoid?

[@EmmaColbertArt]

Haha thanks! I think for everyone that's different. Some peoples favourite paper can be one I dislike. In this video I just tried to show what they're like and then it's up to the individual and their taste.

[@ArtsiRosi]

I absolutely love this video. Thank you so much for sharing this experiment! What kind of tape do you use to tape your papers to the board? The tapes I have used don't seem to be strong enough to hold down such thick papers and they pop off.

[@EmmaColbertArt]

I just use a clear strong parcel tape. Some boards are a little warped and are harder to keep flat at first. But mostly it works fine.