Do Oil Pastels & Acrylics Work Well Together for Mixed Media Art Projects?

As a mixed media artist, I LOVE figuring out which art supplies work well together to create successful mixed media art projects.

While it's tempting to collect ALL the art supplies under the sun, it's MORE important to know HOW to USE THEM, including which art supplies "play nicely" together, and what order they need to be layered in. 

Today, I'm testing how oil pastels work on top of acrylics. I'm also trying a portion of this project with a layer of clear gesso on it to see if that surface accepts the oil pastels BETTER than straight-up acrylic paints. Let's see what happens! 

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Not Sure How to Layer
​Your Mixed Media Art Supplies for Success?

I can help you with that!! In fact, it's kinda my thing!! My signature mixed media layering process is an exact recipe you can follow at home to achieve SUCCESS with your art supplies each and every time you sit down to create!

It's called the "Hamburger System," and there are 7 key layers. CLICK HERE or press the button below to download my FREE Hamburger System cheatsheet so you can follow along at home. 

You can learn about my Hamburger System FOR FREE on YouTube in this playlist, or take a deep dive with me over in my Mixed Media Society art membership over at Awesome Art School :)

My Hamburger System became SO popular I also turned it into a book! Check it out here on Amazon. 

Do Oil Pastels & Acrylic Paints Work Well Together?

As you'll see in today's video, before I started my pastel layer, I coated only the hair portion of my whimsical face painting with clear gesso so we can test if gesso helps or hinders how oil pastels work with acrylics.

Next,​ before using oil pastels (especially important if you're a newbie like me who might not know this yet!), make sure you either put on some gloves or use Gloves in a Bottle to protect your hands from the toxins that can be inside oil pastels. 

To create the hair, I used 2 shades of blue plus some white (from my Mungyo oil pastel set). In case you missed episode #1 of this Oil Pastels for Beginners Series here on YouTube, that's when I discovered Mungyo was my favorite, economic oil pastel brand to work with. ​

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Once the hair was finished, I grabbed some additional pastels to start adding makeup and shading to the face. THIS portion of my painting was NOT covered in clear gesso, so the oil pastels were applied directly on top of my dry acrylic paint layer.

It didn't take me long to figure out I liked the feel of working directly on top of acrylics WITHOUT gesso best. Blending seemed to be way easier without that gesso layer. 

Also during today's project, I discovered I enjoyed blending with my blending stump, and it was WAY easier to work on a substrate that didn't have a ton of texture (vs the fox project I did last week on cold press watercolor paper for Episode #2 in this series). 

Overall, I felt like using oil pastels over acrylics was similar to gelatos over acrylics -which I do ALL the time in my Hamburger System projects (click here if you still need that Hamburger System Cheatsheet). The only difference between gelatos and oil pastels, is that gelatos are watersoluble. That means you CAN add a sealant on top of them like mod podge. 

Oil pastels are oil-based and NOT watersoluble. Therefore, they have to be your last layer in a mixed-media art project. There are oil-based sealants you can use with oil pastels. I'll be testing those out in a future video, so stay tuned!!

Wanna Create a Mixed Media Masterpiece
with FOUR Art Supplies or Less?

I got you!! There are days when less is SO much more, and I'm not in the mood to create with 7 layers of supplies like I often do with my Hamburger System. I call THIS, my Mixed Media Hot Dog System, and it's just 4 supplies or less!

A couple of years ago I created a  FREE 32-page Hot Dog Packet  with some of my artsy friends. Inside, you'll find tried and true art supply combos that you can try at home with confidence to create your own art! 

Wanna try some Hot Dog style projects with me for free on YouTube? Check out this playlist! Click below to grab the Hot Dog packet so you can follow along at home, and even note YOUR OWN favorite mixed media art supply combos!

​Looking for Something Else?

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