Blending the Pastel Pencil | Using Q Tips, Fingers and Colour Shapers

Katerina has messaged me with an interesting question and I am sure my answer will help you all.Katerina is having a problem using her finger to blend the pastel pencils into the Ingres pastel paper. When she attempts the same action she has seen me demonstrate on video, the tooth of the paper shows through spoiling the effect.She has also tried Q-Tips (cotton Buds) and although this seems to work better it still leaves the tooth showing through.When I blend the pastel paper with my finger I make sure that I have sufficient pastel applied to the surface then rub quite hard with my finger.Now, some people do have moisture on their finger tips and this has to be removed before attempting to blend the pastel. What I would suggest in a case like this is apply a generous application of the same colour pastel to spare pastel paper and rub this in with your finger until the moisture is removed.As far as Q-tips or cotton buds are concerned forget them completely they will never work successfully as they are too soft and also adsorb the pastel into the tip.A paper blender will work quite well but the very best tool next to the finger is our colour shapers.Remember that you need to use suitable base colours such as white, ivory, light grey, light pink etc. if you want to produce light to medium tones. There are enough references on our members site and on YouTube to show you how all this is done.