Soft, Medium & Hard Pastel Pencils - What's the Difference?

With Pastel Pencils it is possible to purchase soft, medium or hard pastel pencils. Some also have stars at the end of the pencil, but what do these mean?I have found that the words medium and soft mostly appear on the white pastel pencil. I have asked my distributor about what the difference is and they didn't know themselves. If someone is able to get an answer from Faber-Castell then let us know! I have used both soft and medium versions and I personally cannot tell the difference.The stars at the end of the pencil however are an indication of the "light-fastness". The more stars you have at the end, means the more "light-fast" it is. Light-fast means to be affected by the daylight or sunlight. It's a technical thing that they have to put on their pencils to let people know. The more stars on the end of the pastel pencil means it is less likely they'll be affected by daylight or sunlight. A red pastel pencil (Faber-Castell's 127 for example) has only 1 star which means that will fade. The reason for this is to do with the pigmentation that they supply in these colours.Many of you will know that the sun bleaches pictures and it goes without saying that you should never leave a pastel pencil directly in the sunlight for a lengthy period of time. Don't be put off by the what is written on the end of the pencils. Faber-Castell still proves to be the best pastel pencil on the market due to their high pigmentation and strong build quality. Ask our students of our website and I'm sure they'd agree.Join our membership today and learn how to draw with pastel pencils.