Sketch your outline

First, sketch the outline of your frog either directly onto your card, or trace onto it from your drawing. 

You cannot erase the outline so easily when you draw directly onto the card.  To trace your work, draw onto another piece of paper, rub the back with chalk and then trace carefully over your original drawing back onto your card, making sure that you do this lightly so you do not leave an outline impressed into your paper.

I have used Sennellier pastel card for this painting.  Pastel card is far better than any paper that you can buy.  It is like painting on sandpaper.  Using card gives you the ability to layer in your colour, just as you would with an oil painting. 

There are several types available and you can even buy a paint-based ground that you can use on other paper materials to make your own material to use for your pastel works.  The paper that you can buy usually only goes up to about 60-70cm, so the ground is useful for larger work.

I usually use my own photographs for the pictures that I create, and I work from several photographs and reference books where it is appropriate.  Sometimes, you might need a close-up of an eye, and reference books are really great for this. 

You may have been lucky enough to sneek up on a frog in your garden, the countryside, or in my case, two that I found in my cellar, and you use those for your initial photographs and inspiration.  The frogs that I had in my cellar were released.  They were probably living on the woodlice that live in my cellar, but it is much better have frogs out of doors!  Over the years I have found several lovely little frogs in the cellar, including one that had bright red and orange flashes on its back.  I digress...

It may be that you have not managed to photograph anything in the amazon lately, or your cellar or garden, but you can buy stock photographs should you need to do this, and you can create your own frog by simply drawing a frog and then using your reference materials - eg an eye looks like this,  frog feet look like this close-up, my light source is coming from there etc.

Blocking in colours

Start by outlining the leaves and blocking in the main sections of colour.

Here I have used darks for the background - Unison soft pastels.

I usually use Unison, Faber castel, Windsor N, Schmincke and some Daler Rowney.  I am quite particular about pastel pencils though, and prefer Faber Castel.  I find that they sharpen really well, and they are not gritty like some others.

Protecting work

I like to protect my work as I go along.  Pastels are quite messy.  Some people work on easels that allow the excess pastel to fall away.  Pastel dust should not be inhaled.  You can buy dust masks at any local DIY, and if you work as I do, you might have to do that.

I shake the excess off onto a piece of paper as I work.  If you blow dust away, you might blow a tiny drop of saliva onto your work, and then you end up with work that cannot be salvaged - see 'sketching your outline' above.

You will notice that all of my pencils are in a wooden try on top of my work.  I don't lean on this at all because it would mark my work. They are there because I had not moved them when taking the photograph.  I also use a magnifying glass sometimes for detailed work.

Blocking in the frog

Block in all of your colours using the soft pastels, and use your pencils to put the fine detail onto your painting.

Continue to identify the main colours in your painting, blocking them in before adding highlights and detail.

Layering of colour

Using pastel card, you are able to work in layers as long as you don't grind your pastels into the card.

Try to work lightly and build up the layers of your paint.  Pastels use the same pigments as other mediums - oils, acrylics, water colour paints.  They just don't have the medium holding them together.  It is possible with pastels to 'glaze' very gently over the top of another colour, and achieve a beautiful subtle change to your painting.

Reworking the background

I generally re-work the background throughout my painting.  I do this because when I do knock off the loose pastel dust, it can stick to the other layers where I don't want it to stick.  Sometimes I use a very soft water-colour mop to just lift off the loose particles.

Before I add any finishing details, I check the background, making sure that I rework any sections that need it, and also making sure that my edges remain sharp where I want them to be.

Finishing details

Finally, I can add the finishing touches to bring the painting to life.

This would include any tiny little highlights in white, and in this case, the edge of the grass that has become dry and splintered off and the edge of the grass where froggy is hanging on.

Finished painting

I have checked the details and highlights and reworked the painting for colour balance.  Sometimes our highlights are not quite bright enough, and we forget the shadows.

After this, I do not use fixative.  It is uneccessary when using this particular surface for your painting, and all too often, the fixative ruins your work by altering the colour balance, and leaving spots on your work.

I always frame my pastel works because they need to be protected as soon as possible.

I place a spacer between the pastel work and the mount that is smaller than the opening of the mount so that any loose pastel will fall behind the mount and glass into the space made.  I either use another mount that is thick enough, or I use the foam board that you can buy. 

I use archival tape to secure the painting to a back board, and put all of this into an appropriate frame.  If you don't use archival tape, just remember what old selotape does to a piece of paper.  The surface becomes brittle and the adhesive damages the paper, leaving a greasy mark.

You can get a framer to do this for you, but only one that you trust will not smudge your work in the process.  There are good framers around.

Happy painting!