Arrtx 48 Soft Pastels Review

[@nancylemon4120]

Wonderful review my friend, though I don’t use pastels currently, I love the painterly effects you have achieved in that beautiful artwork! I LOVE the artwork and, in my opinion, the best works I’ve produced are the ones that took very little time paintings that came together quickly. Gives the work a certain freshness, simplicity is key. WELL DONE Harry, of course I would LOVE to hang that artwork on my wall! Love & Hugs to All!

[@canvastea7044]

Beautiful work. I think I need to try these. Thank you!

[@TheArtGearGuide]

I think you will really like them, if you have used pastels before and understand how to use them and the paper to use etc, I think you will really enjoy them.

[@angelashortall9778]

Yeah, that’s the first time I’ve ever seen pastels with the name stamped on them like that. Like they’re beautiful, but they don’t need the name stamped on them. I also like that they’re short, I find the longer ones tend to crack, and I absolutely hate cracking my art supplies. I want them to be beautiful as long as possible.

[@thefrugalcrafter]

Nice review! I tried these out this week too. I found the black and white to be a bit lackluster but not bad overall.

[@TheArtGearGuide]

Hay Lindsay, thank you. As someone commented earlier, the price point of the Arrtx Pastels is in line with the Rembrandt pastels and so why would someone chose Arrtx over long established Rembrandt. Unfortunately I have not tested and reviewed the Rembrandt yet, although I have had a set in my stash since last summer waiting to review, so I couldn’t really answer that question, but I thought it was an excellent point. I am going to have to get on reviewing them and then do a comparison video of the Arrtx, Paul Rubens and Rembrandt and see how all three compare, cause I think they probably are quite similar and only cost would be the big factor. Also I just got a set of 36 White Nights Watercolors to review, the IWS Limited Edition set which I am so excited about reviewing because I have wanted to try these watercolors for ages now. However, I have to be really careful because of this war in Ukraine. Thing is I reviewed the SketchMarkers a while back which are actually Headquartered in Ukraine but until recently there only market place was Russia and Ukraine. I had someone go nuts with me for reviewing what that person thought was a Russian art company and so I was supporting the Russian cause etc. I know a thing or two about War and one thing I know for certain is, what the public are told by the media, what the public are told by politicians and what is happening on the battle field are all three very different stories and there are three very different agendas. But I don’t see why people should be getting angry with Russian art supply companies, they are not at war with anyone. In fact the real facts of the matter are Russian men are trying to leave Russia in droves to avoid fighting with Ukraine and the very first wave of Russian Troops along the Ukraine boarder were under the impression they were about to help Ukraine from Nazi influenced militia. The entire thing is a tragedy and there is only one person we should be angry with and that is the Russian President. I always said I would keep politics and religion away from my channel and just focus on art, but I am going to have to be very careful whilst still being very honest about this review. I know you reviewed them about 6 years ago. Do you like them? Sorry to ramble on a bit. I bet you will think twice about leaving a comment on my channel 😂 making sure you don’t get bombarded with a crazy long reply.

[@thefrugalcrafter]

@@TheArtGearGuide 😆 I don't mind at all! Yes, I like them and I've used them since the late 90s under the yarka line. I think you would be fine to review them now. I try to avoid controversy too but it's impossible. Especailly when everyone was cooped up and online during the pandemic. People were on edge. Thanks for your perspective.

[@nothingnessofeverything]

Harry I’m only seeing this 4 mo later great review thanks for the review

[@neilallen529]

Red and blue don't make that nice of a purple. It's brown-ish and weird. This is a big reason why instead of Red, Blue, and Yellow as primaries, a lot of people, myself included, prefer Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow. If you want magenta to be red, add yellow. You want a really nice purple, mix magenta and cyan. You want a nice green, add cyan and yellow, and more yellow if you want it like a spring green. Keep up the good work!

[@ladynsearch-of-art]

Thanks Harry for the in depth review. They look beautiful as well as your artwork. I like how soft they seem. I hesitate to get pastels because I understand you need to use a fixative. And I don't want to use that inside and don't have anywhere outside in my apt building.

[@sabrinayerger5279]

A fixative isn't necessarily needed, if you're worried about storing your pastel paintings you can place them between sheets of Bristol paper sketchpads

[@barbdouglas3242]

I bought a set of these and was very very pleasantly surprised with the quality. I hope they consider expanding with a larger set and perhaps pastel pencils.

[@TheArtGearGuide]

A larger set would be awesome and the pencils would be perfect, fingers crossed.

[@neilallen529]

Also, another comment. 13:25. About the scratchiness ... That COULD be the paper. I don't know why this is, but I have found that Pastelmat HATES my Caran D'Ache pastel pencils. Jason Morgan actually did a video on this subject and he blamed the pencils. I ran into the same problem as him and then used the same pencils on LuxArchival paper and it was night and day. The pencils worked amazingly. I don't know what it is with Pastelmat, but it just rejects some things. I don't know if that paper you're swatching on is Pastelmat, but regardless, you might want to try that yellow on a different paper and see what result you get. I wouldn't be surprised if it works well with something else.

[@TheArtGearGuide]

Yeah Neil you are completely correct, Pastelmat can do this and I found the very same thing with my Caran d’Ache Pastel pencils. The Lux Archival paper is absolutely amazing though, I was sent a pack of it when Alyona first released it to review and I just loved it. I think of all the papers, not just colored pencil but pastel, the Lux Archival is such a strange surface, it clearly is like a sanded surface, but when you touch it or use it, there is this softness to the feel, almost like Velour, it feels to me like you get the benefits of UART sanded paper but with the gentle softness of Velour. Jason is a wonderful artist in fact he reached out to me the other week asking if I would do a review of his pastel course which I am in the middle of doing now. I’ve always loved the results Jason gets with pastel, her is a phenomenal artist.

[@wanderingstar5673]

Thank you for the review. The pastels look so lovely in the box. I just haven’t gotten into them due to feeling they could be messy and the sanded paper is so pricey. Of course my artistic capabilities don’t come close to yours. The artwork is great 👍🏽 .Really like the contrast of the background.

[@sabrinayerger5279]

Something you may like to try is cold pressed watercolor paper, or any other paper with a tooth to it. It's the next best thing

[@christyverity1444]

The scratchiest is often due to the pigments used and how finely they are ground. I think Dianne Townsends have some pumice in the. Also, a lot of pastel artist don’t blend them to try to mix colors. They will layer lightly and the color underneath will influence the top layer. It’s good to know about the black printing. I haven’t used this brand and didn’t know about that. I like your painting. It has a nice freshness.

[@YukinoKary]

It looks like it has some beautiful shades 🥰...although I don't paint much with pastel oils 😳 it's a patient and beautiful technique 😊 that you can learn to create effects thanks to the texture of the product 👍✨. Thanks for the review! I like this 😃💖✨✨✨

[@mjpete27]

Hullo Harry, lovely lemons and sweet review! I have found certain colors or pigments are more course and even the softest pastel will feel scratchy or gritty because the pigment can only get ground down so far! I love Schmincke pastels and they are described as “buttery” by most everyone! I have found several sticks that are scratchy, but not horribly so! I do wonder at the lightfastness of the budget brands, I am not sure they have the resources for testing and keep the prices so low! These Arrtx sticks are under $1 Schminke are over $5! Pastel painting is, I believe the most expensive medium to work in. Not only the pastel sticks or pans or pencils, but the pastel surfaces are pretty expensive too! If you want your artwork to last you cannot skimp on your surface! I totally agree that everyone should try as many different papers or surfaces as they can before they decide on “The One” I have even followed several homemade recipes by different artists here on KZbin especially to use for practice, watercolor paper with workable fixative spray to add layers, even just clear gesso and sometimes adding pumice to give it more grit for more layers. Excellent video Harry! Thank you for sharing your opinions on these sticks.

[@TheArtGearGuide]

Thank you so much my friend for your wonderful comment and your amazing support of the channel. I agree totally with you about the cost of working with pastel. I watched a KZbin video a few years ago, which I have saved in one of my playlists, but it was about this renowned pastel artist, visiting his favourite pastel shop in France I think it was. It has been a while since I watched it, but the individual pastels, some were €20 and more. However I used to watch the video all the time because when the lady who owned the store brought out all these trays of pastels, the colors just amazed me, the range was mind blowing and for that reason alone, I used to watch the video two or three times a day if I had time. I’ve not tried the Schminke yet, in fact there are so many I would love to try but just can’t afford, like the Terry Ludwig and even the Sennelier. Any way thank you so much for your comment I sincerely appreciate your continued support, it means the world to me

[@niveen6039]

the art work turned out amazing 😍

[@miss_socrates]

Beautiful art work 😍

[@corriemcginnis4400]

I wonder why they decided to stamp the name on the stick 🤔 I have never seen that before. I would think that would be difficult in the manufacturing process to accomplish unless it was done by hand. I would think a label would be easier and safer to manufacture and it would fix the black smudge issue.

[@TheArtGearGuide]

I totally agree with you Corrie, pastels are really brittle and even a laser doing this must have been difficult and certainly costly. Adding a paper wrap with the name and logo similar to Unison I think would be easier, more cost effective and if done right I think would look more sophisticated. Excellent point

[@angelashortall9778]

These looks so beautiful, but I absolutely cannot stand the sensation of pastels on my fingers. I also don’t really like the sound of the pastel pencils when they go down on paper, because I find all the ones I’ve tried are really scratchy. I’d like to be able to use pastels, it’s just something I don’t see myself getting past.

[@TheArtGearGuide]

I completely understand you are not alone at all Angela, so many people feel the same way. I think your best bet would be Pan Pastel if you want to try them and add pencil on top.

[@angelashortall9778]

@@TheArtGearGuide I’ve had some of those, I liked them well enough. Didn’t give me the ick either!

[@sabrinayerger5279]

​@angelashortall9778 you could use gloves or finger cots to be able to hold pastels without the mess and texture as well

[@benjamina6915]

They look like great pastels and your work with them is lovely and the review is great. One thing I don't get though, which has nothing to do with your review or thoughts on them, is the pricing. Why would I want to choose these over the highly acclaimed Rembrandt half size soft pastels? Those cost less, are about the same size, are of a much higher quality, are a lot less dusty and have proven lightfast ratings. Arrtx claims to provide professional and affordable art supplies, but their prices aren't that affordable and a lot of their supplies aren't professional, but study or studio quality. I was really interested in their jelly goauche paint. But it's basically rebranded Himi jelly gouache paint, which costs €10 less for the same set.

[@TheArtGearGuide]

I can’t speak to the Jelly Gouache it’s a medium I know nothing about. However, I don’t know if you watched this video in its entirety or seen the bit at the end where I briefly compare the Paul Rubens with the Arrtx pastels just to show people they are not quite the same pastels although they are from the same company, Paul Rubens and Arrtx are affiliated to each other. With regards to the Rembrandt comparison that is a choice everyone would have to make, this is why I try my very best to never actually say on a video, I think you should buy these, I try to stick to the parameters I set down for myself when I first started and that is, provide people with the facts of the product in front of me and from there they can determine whether or not to buy them. Also Arrtx claiming to sell professional products I completely agree with you on that. I have spoke about this in another video that far too many companies claim their products are professional. I have a set of Rembrandt pastels but I’ve not used them yet because they are for review and I just haven’t got round to them, but from what I understand, Rembrandt are Royal Talens and I wouldn’t put them in the Professional category either. When I think professional, in the Colored pencil world I think Luminance, Derwent Lightfast and so that is really the standard any pencil claiming to be professional has to hit. With pastels I think Terry Ludwig, Unison, Sennelier etc and so that is the standard I am looking at for other professional pastels. The likes of Arrtx, Rembrandt and Paul Rubens I personally place them all about level and I am putting my neck on the line here because I haven’t actually tested the Rembrandt so knowing me I’ll get it wrong and say something different on the review 😂😂😂. As for price comparison, that is absolutely something I stay away from, I know I am a coward, but I see a lot of reviewers compare price and tell their viewers which product is better value for money and they are brave people in my opinion. Price is such a wide subject to tackle, what I think is an expensive product based on my financial situation someone else wouldn’t think twice of wiping their nose with that amount of money. It’s such a subjective area and I just don’t want to assume who can afford what. I get artists contacting me so upset because they just can’t afford any art supplies at all, and so if I can and I have a few spare sets laying about, I will send them a set of pencils. I am in the process of doing that for two young artists at the minute and the sets I’m sending are not professional sets or anything like that, but they are so grateful and it allows them to be creative which is really what they are upset about, they can’t create. Once I do my Rembrandt review, I’ll do a comparison video on Arrtx, Paul Rubens and Rembrandt but only so people can see for themselves what each pastel can do or not do. Even with my comparison videos I try to stay clear of saying which I preferred. I never want artists to be swayed one way or the other by what I use or think is good or bad. The whole reason I do the reviews is so people can see the test results for themselves and make a decision. I will say however I definitely agree with you on the Rembrandt not being as dusty, when I picked them up out of the packet I didn’t experience a real dusty feel from them. But I shall reserve comment until I have actually used them. Thank you so much for your comment, I absolutely love hearing other peoples experience with products and helping to get conversation going. I think art in general is a very lonely and isolating event and so due to all the mental health issues I’ve experienced and all the wonderful emails and messages I have received from other artists sharing their stories, I really feel it’s important to get conversation going and getting us all communicating, and comments like yours start it off. It’s like going to a disco, (my god that shows my age a bit) everyone waits until the first person starts dancing and then we all join in. Getting a bunch of recluse’s to start talking, needs a lead point. Talk to you soon and thank you so much

[@benjamina6915]

@@TheArtGearGuide thanks for the detailed reply and sharing ypur process. There's always choices to make when doing a review. Looking forward to your review of the Rembrandt pastels. When well know artist's like Robert Dutton recommend them and many are using them alongside Unison and Sennelier. I don't think they would do that if they're not of a professionail quality. But I think we all have our favourites. I like a lot of the art materials Royal Talens sell, because they're affordable and of a high quality. Well pigmented and lightfast, that's important. The price is often lower that with other companies, but that makes the Rembrandt and Cobra line not less professional.