Stabilo Carbothello Pastel Pencil - Useful Tips!

I’m Kirsty Rebecca and I create easy-to-follow, realistic art tutorials so you can relax and enjoy creating professional fine art that you feel proud of!
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*These are affiliate links
▶Surface - Clairefontaine Pastelmat
AU Pads amzn.to/3rDevgo
AU Single sheets amzn.to/3MbDhOd
US Pads amzn.to/3dQVynp
US Single sheets amzn.to/3RxBYKI
UK Pads amzn.to/3rDvf7m
UK Single sheets amzn.to/3EocAE5
▶Stabilo Carbothello Pastel Pencils
AU amzn.to/3EpIYGr
US amzn.to/3rgLKpE
UK amzn.to/3CFu7qb
▶Kneaded eraser/Putty Eraser (to help lift up mistakes)
AU amzn.to/3Ceet3p
US amzn.to/3frNHwS
UK amzn.to/3e802WU
▶Masking tape/Scotch tape (taping your work down)
AU amzn.to/3CdLFZ6
US amzn.to/3Cgy6Ir
▶Craft knife/Stanley Knife/Blade (for sharpening pastel pencils)
AU amzn.to/3fSK9nm
US amzn.to/3StluV2
▶Sandpaper (for sharpening pastel pencils)
AU amzn.to/3VmdsPR
US amzn.to/3fzmhoE
UK amzn.to/3fOUQrk
▶Cotton tips/Q-tips/Earbuds (for blending)
AU amzn.to/3VaClxt
US amzn.to/3y3H3Ds
UK amzn.to/3SKzk5o
▶Pencil Extenders
AU amzn.to/3SLMWgM
US amzn.to/3y03WaH
UK amzn.to/3SHoKMA
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[@karenrudnick1439]

Thanks!

[@blueoctopus6]

Love that it looks more like art than a photo with pastels!

[@KirstyRebeccaFineArt]

Thank you 😊

[@DesignsbyCADPRO]

You explained pastel pencils perfectly! Love the frog !

[@KirstyRebeccaFineArt]

Glad it was helpful 😊

[@jenniefrench1338]

Super lovely. I enjoy the Carbothellos very much and especially with Pastelmat too. I love the intense saturated colors the pencils aren’t too hard or soft. I mix them with stick pastels too and even over watercolor. I always enjoy your videos.

[@KirstyRebeccaFineArt]

Thank you 😊 I love using them with Pan Pastels, and sometimes I also use sticks with them! They're pretty versatile!

[@Katniss_cosmos]

Just discovered your channel, i must say you're a great teacher ❤

[@KirstyRebeccaFineArt]

Thank you, I'm glad you think so 😊

[@ak_thakur_sketches1489]

A helpful tutorials kirsty, welcome back much love from India 🇮🇳

[@KirstyRebeccaFineArt]

Thank you 😊

[@MedaHalmaciu]

Lovely painting. I'll have to get myself some pastel pencils one day.

[@KirstyRebeccaFineArt]

Thank you 😊 They're amazing, you won't regret it!

[@kaboomsy]

Beautiful - and lovely strokework! Thank you for the helpful tips and process shots. I didn't know pastel pencils were a thing until I picked one up on the local art store clearance table. Such fun and quite a bit less messy than my hard pastel sticks.

[@KirstyRebeccaFineArt]

Thank you! They are one of my favourite mediums 😊

[@sandfly60]

I just bought a Carbothello sharpener and while I don’t need a real sharp point on my pencils it’s a lot quicker than my craft knife. And it works well. Even on those pencils that constantly broke before. Doing the happy dance.

[@KirstyRebeccaFineArt]

Great! I hope it stays sharp for a while! - the main problem is the blades getting blunt too quickly 😊

[@sandfly60]

@@KirstyRebeccaFineArt Yes, I can see that happening, but I'll sharpen all my favourites while it's working and hope for the best! I really enjoy your channel. Thankyou.

[@Schatzie301]

Normally work in colored pencil pencil with Pan Pastels for under painting and backgrounds but I just got my first set of CarbOthellos. Discovered that my Swordfish Curve manual pencil sharpener sharpens them to a very sharp point with no shredding or splitting -hopefully I won’t ruin my sharpener but am going to get a replacement blade assembly just in case.

[@jlm517rocks]

Ty for explaining each aspect so well. I keep the carbothello shavings as they are water soluble and a waterbrush comes in handy to add color layers in a wash. Fantastix in a brush style or bullet style are useful blenders too.

[@KirstyRebeccaFineArt]

You're welcome 😊 Great idea!

[@Katniss_cosmos]

I got my first ever stabilo carbothello pencils when i graduated from middle school in 2006 as a gift from my dad and it's been since that time and they are still with me to this day (😅 yup i neglected art while in college because i focused on getting my degree) i mainly used them for backgrounds ( that's why they lasted for a very long time) and didn't even know how to properly use them so i always would sharpen them because i was used to regular pencil colours.

[@KirstyRebeccaFineArt]

Don't worry, I had a long break from art after school as well (and I wasn't even getting a degree - life just happened!) It is a bit of a learning curve if you've come from coloured pencils, but it's easier once you get used to it! Pan Pastel and pastel pencils together are my favourite mediums 😊

[@zenfroggiedarya]

Love the layering! ❤ 🐸

[@KirstyRebeccaFineArt]

Thank you! 😊

[@mspocahontas46]

Excellent information!

[@KirstyRebeccaFineArt]

Glad it was helpful!

[@DiannaGutoski]

That is beautiful. I learned a lot, as I have just discovered pastels.

[@KirstyRebeccaFineArt]

Thank you, I'm glad it was helpful! 😊

[@rafagutierrezanguita103]

Espectacular Rebeca , increíble dominio de los lápices , asombrosa artista ,la rana plena de realismo y vida , gracias por su fantástico video

[@KirstyRebeccaFineArt]

Muchas gracias 😊

[@daphnehobson8190]

Your explanation is great!

[@KirstyRebeccaFineArt]

Glad it was helpful! 😊

[@drawwithtanvir5187]

Beautiful art

[@KirstyRebeccaFineArt]

Thank you so much 😀

[@cathycathywild5145]

merci vos tutoriels sont toujours tres utile !

[@hitendravasa8576]

Beautiful coloring👌👌

[@KirstyRebeccaFineArt]

Thank you so much 😀

[@Morticia147]

Hey, you are back - missed you :O) Lovely little frog. Now I want to paint a frog...

[@KirstyRebeccaFineArt]

Thank you 😊

[@lysancasilvestris4449]

Hi! I am working on my first pastel animal portrait with the carbothellos and I am learning a lot with your tutorials, so thank you! I am particularily experiencing the problems with working on smaller subjects, because my cat isn't so big compared to the background, so as you mentioned I am struggeling with getting a fine enough tip for the details and also mixing colours in very small sections, but I suppose it makes me learn. It is a fun technique!

[@KirstyRebeccaFineArt]

I'm glad you like the tutorials 😊 Yes, working on smaller pieces of artwork can be tricky! I try and think about it like we would see the animal in real life... for example, if you are drawing a dog on an 8" x 10" piece, it's almost like seeing the dog from across the room in real life It's too small to see every fine detail - you wouldn't see the fur detail on a dog from the other side of the room You would insticively know that it has fur, and you could defintiely work out the kind of texture the fur is (soft, long, shiny, curly etc) but you wouldn't see individual hairs from that distance It's kind of the same when you are drawing on a small piece of paper Even if you could sharpen your pencil to a super fine point, the mark that you are making on your work is still going to be too thick in comparison to an individual bit of fur on that dog (you can't use one pastel pencil stroke for one single hair) - so you have to look at the clumps and clusters of fur, where the shadows and highlights are, the direction of the fur etc - rather than adding every strand of fur If you zoomed in and just did a study of the eye of the dog on an 8" x 10" then it's going to be quite detailed - you will probably be able to see a lot of the fur strokes because of how close you are (similar to looking into your dog's face right in front of you in real life) And in this case, you pastel pencils might be sharp enough to create individual strands of hair that are in proportion to what they would look like in real life It's quite hard to explain, but in general, the smaller the subject is on your artwork, the less detail you are going to add - you will need to focus on values, proportions and colour If you work larger, or a smaller section of the animal, then you can focus more on the details 😊 I hope that helps!

[@miklosnemeth8566]

@@KirstyRebeccaFineArt fascinating how excellently detailed response you wrote here. I guess the viewing distance of the drawing is important, too.

[@KirstyRebeccaFineArt]

@@miklosnemeth8566 yes it definitely plays a part! It's also very personal as well... it's totally up to the artist how much detail they want to include 😊

[@moonmagnolia7]

I learned the hard way that painting small is really hard. I was commissioned to paint a children’s book using watercolor and ink, neither of which I’d used before. I had only just started painting in oils. Even though I had purchased full sheets of hot pressed (smooth) heavy duty Fabriano watercolor paper, I tore them either in halves or quarters such that the portrait of my client’s grandchild was ~1 inch tall. I had to be extremely careful because the slightest movement would change the shape of his eyes and eyebrows (less than a millimeter) which would change his eye shape and expression to go from looking like him to not looking like him and to go from looking happy to looking mad. I really had to have a steady hand going over those lines with permanent ink markers! Talk about nerve racking! Since then, I try to remember to paint larger, rather than smaller. Hahaha

[@marilenadalberto5204]

Sei davvero brava, nell esecuzione del lavoro e nella spiegazione , grazie

[@KirstyRebeccaFineArt]

Prego! 😊

[@josedonnelly9913]

Thank you. Great video

[@KirstyRebeccaFineArt]

You are welcome!

[@LostInTeyvat]

This video is very helpful and your drawing very beautiful. I have Koh-I-noor Gioconda pastels as I'm only a beginner and tried several papers for soft pastels but none of them feels right and on none of them I can do what you do here on pastelmat. So paper really is very important if you wanna create something 😊

[@KirstyRebeccaFineArt]

Thank you 😊 I definitely think the paper choice is the most important thing when using pastels! It makes a huge difference 😊

[@moonmagnolia7]

The first pastel paper I tried had circular lumps in it to grab the pastels, so I hated it for trying to paint realistic. So I tried a white Ampersand pastel board museum quality ~11”x14” and used Panpastels to paint a portrait. I really like that surface. But it was hard getting the detailed lines with their soft tools so I used some small brushes I had, which helped a lot. Later I bought some pastel pencils but haven’t used them yet.

[@moonmagnolia7]

I like that you mentioned using the back of a Pastelmat(?) black paper in one of your other videos. That’s a great idea.

[@zonametroteve]

great video thank you your work is great !

[@KirstyRebeccaFineArt]

Thank you 😊

[@zornitzapetrova7339]

Just orderes Carbothello, and even by a miracle, 3 boxes in the country are with 40 % off, and I got one of them :-DDD

[@KirstyRebeccaFineArt]

Have fun! They're amazing pencils 😊

[@Yolanda_draws]

Beautiful art and good lesson! I just got these stabilo pastel pencils, and I noticed they had an odd smell, a distinct smell. Is this normal? I am new to these as I work with colored pencils.

[@laylaflame]

Hi! Fellow Aussie artist here, will you be attending the Pastel Expo later this year?

[@KirstyRebeccaFineArt]

Hi Layla, I haven't got any plans to attend at this point! But who knows, things can change 😊

[@aurotirannos]

Wow!!!

[@louiecanaria9960]

Have you tried using it with vellum paper? I was wondering if i could use both graphite(or charcoal) and pastel pencils on the same paper.

[@henricustandiary]

Perfect 👍

[@KirstyRebeccaFineArt]

Thanks 👍

[@NovariannaParadiso]

I wonder, is it possible to use color pencils (polycromos or prisma) on top of de pastel to do those tiny details??

[@Anoek66]

Amazing! I love your content😍 how long did this take? You inspired me to start another pastel piece✏️

[@KirstyRebeccaFineArt]

Thank you 😊 The actual drawing took about 2.5 hours (not including preparing references/outline/filming process/editing videos etc)

[@shreepadkadam8768]

Amazing Work 👍

[@KirstyRebeccaFineArt]

Thank you so much 😀

[@bostonblackie9503]

These are partially aquarellable, have you used them with water and if so have you done a video on them?

[@KirstyRebeccaFineArt]

I haven't tried using water yet because I haven't felt the need to with the way they blend naturally (also, sometimes the lightfastness is effected when you add water - like with watercolour pencils - so I'm hesitant to try it without testing being done after water has been added, unfortunately!)

[@moonmagnolia7]

I wish I’d found your channel before I bought the Derwent pastel pencil set. 😩

[@KirstyRebeccaFineArt]

I have the Derwent pastel pencil set and they are perfectly good pastels! I'm honestly not sure why I don't use them as often but I think I just prefer the Faber Castell Pitt and Stabilo Carbothello! I'm not sure why, I just find myself reaching for them more often than the Derwent but there's also nothing wrong with the Derwent either - just slightly different colours between all three sets!

[@Reme873]

I want to buy pastel pencils as I can't get fine detail in pastels alone and they get slightly hazy .Are they best or better than most what u suggest ? The pastel pencils look good the way u used.Whats ur overall experience.

[@KirstyRebeccaFineArt]

I use Pan Pastels with pastel pencils for the majority of my pastel work and I definitely prefer this method over using pastel sticks! I recommend either the Stabilo Carbothello or the Faber Castell Pitt Pastel pencils (they're very similar, jsut different colour ranges) 😊

[@Reme873]

@@KirstyRebeccaFineArt Nice suggestion.Thamks.

[@sammicheng4271]

Hi, what paper are you using?

[@KirstyRebeccaFineArt]

Clairefontaine Pastelmat 😊

[@naturemouse4675]

how do you get your sketch down?

[@KirstyRebeccaFineArt]

You can use white transfer paper like this; www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0036TF8BI?ie=UTF8&linkCode=sl1&tag=kirstyrebecca-20&linkId=6263bdbf8abe8e2465e52339d75b1be0&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl Or you can use a Pan Pastel and rub it on the back of your printed reference photo (or if you are wanting to freehand/use the grid method, do that on a separate piece of paper then rub the Pan Pastel on the back of that) and lay that on top of your drawing surface, and trace over the front so the Pan Pastel imprints onto the drawing surface Hope that makes sense!

[@marleytc2003]

This is 100% pastel? This (chalk-pastel coloring pencil) is equal the "chalk-pastel pencil?

[@KirstyRebeccaFineArt]

Yes, the pencils are 100% soft/chalk pastel 😊

[@marleytc2003]

@@KirstyRebeccaFineArt and what paper I must use to do realistic portarias? Because will be fine details.

[@KirstyRebeccaFineArt]

@@marleytc2003 If you're using pastels - I only recommend Clairefontaine Pastelmat - it allows for many layers but also creates a smooth finish 😊

[@marleytc2003]

Thanks very much Kirsty

[@sonderstudios6675]

For that background, you could have knocked it out quickly with powders. Looks good though

[@KirstyRebeccaFineArt]

Yes, most of my pastel work is done using Pan Pastels for the background and underpaintings but some of my students prefer only using pastel pencils so I have made a few tutorials without Pan Pastel for them 😊