Pastel adventures

31 days of creative practice

Hello, everyone, Happy New-ish year!

I finally got round to writing my first 2026 post - let me start by saying welcome to all new subscribers!

The reason why I’m so late is your wonderful, overwhelming response to my January sketchbook practice! I decided to take part in 31 Days of Creative Practice challenge, picking a simple theme of cozy houses and landscapes to draw every day for 31 days straight. I took my smallest sketchbook (it’s always easier to commit to a tiny format) and used dry media (colour pencils, oil pastels and Neocolor crayons) with mineral oil for smudging and blending.

I posted every day, sometimes only managing to complete my sketch just before midnight, and with every post the number of your likes and comments grew 💕.

So here are your favourite top six - I used Pinterest for inspiration, always trying to find an actual photo reference, not an AI hallucination, and there was something special about this pink wintry sky that got over 4.6K likes. You can see all 31 sketches in my Instagram stories highlights.

I was never a big fan of oil pastels, I always found the sticky, waxy surface unappealing and their chunky size hard to control. But then I took a short course on using mineral oil with pastels by Elina Ellis and now I’m enjoying the possibility of combining thin layers of pastels with coloured pencils and other dry media.

First I filled in basic shapes with chunky pastels, trying to match the colours as best as I could (I found that even water soluble Neocolors will blend nicely with oil pastels). Then I smudged them out with a drop of oil and cotton wool (cotton buds work best for more detailed work). At the end I added details in pencil, smudging those in when needed or keeping marks clear and sharp.

When I draw digitally, I often tend to overwork my illustrations, going too much into details and always correcting imperfections. By using these less precise tools I saw my drawings become more confident and I started to appreciate the little “accidents” that had so much character. As additional exercise I drew a landscape using only Neocolors, no sharp pencils, and this was the result (the drawing below measures about 10 x 11 cm).

After a full month of practice I felt confident enough to tackle a larger portfolio piece. I used my Procreate sketch and traced it onto a thick paper (I like papers in warmer, slightly ivory white so I used Canson 224gsm paper “C” à grain). I trusted the process and went all in, not leaving out any elements to add later digitally (which would also be an option). Once the colours were down, I drew all the details and shading in pencil to add depth and texture.

I am really happy with the result, especially the surprisingly intense colours (even without much manipulation after scanning) and rich textures, always my favourite part of any drawing.

I’ll share more portfolio pieces in my next posts, until then I’m keeping my eye on a next sketchbook challenge - let me know which one you are taking part in!

See you next time,

🌸Damjana