Simple Barnstar in Soft Pastels tutorial

Soft pastels are an interesting medium. They combine the body mechanics of drawing with the messiness of paint and a blendability all their own. While many people use them for fine art that showcases great talent and dedication, they are also suitable for easier folk art drawing. Follow along with this easy tutorial for a barn star. You can use the finished drawing in a number of ways, including in a junk journal, as wall art, for greeting cards, etc.

For this tutorial, you will need :

Two pastels, a white one and a gray one.
a pencil
Art paper (you can use most sketchbooks, construction paper, etc. Do not use typing paper or anything else smooth.)
An eraser
Hairspray (for fixing the finished drawing)

The first step is to draw a straight, vertical linel, about as long as you want the arms of the star to be.

Next, you want to start creating the other five arms of the star. Draw two lines coming out from the first, as though you were drawing a peace sign, but closer together.

Now, draw two more lines coming out from the center. See if you can make the distance between all the lines equal. You are dividing the area into fifths. You may need to erase and redraw lines. In the end, you want all these longer lines to be about the same length as each other.

Now, draw new, shorter lines in between the lines you already have. Each shorter line should divide the section in half. Here, again, you may see that your longer lines need to be redrawn. Be patient and keep perfecting your lines until you are satisfied. These shorter lines should all be about the same length as each other.

Now comes the moment of truth. Draw a line from the tip of one of the longer lines to the tip of the nearest shorter line. You are now forming the points of your star. For the rest of the point, draw another line connecting the end of this same line to the tip of the short line on the other side. Repeat for each point of the star.

You should have a five pointed star. At this point, fee free to erase and redraw any part of the drawing that needs it. You want the points of the star to look fairly even.

When you are satisfied with your drawing, you can begin the pastel painting part. We will start by painting in the gray. Half of each point should be colored gray, as shown. As you can see, I made a bit of a mistake and erased it.

Next, color in white where you didn't color gray.

Next, color in white over top of the gray. Part of the beauty of pastels is their self-blending quality. As you color over the gray, it gets blended with the white. You can also work with your fingers to increase the blending. This will create the illusion of shadows. Tweak anything you feel needs it, and you're done. You can also add other colors at this point, for instance, a little rust at the edges or here and there. You can seal your work by spraying it with hairspray.