Palette MasterHow to mix colors with soft pastels
Soft pastels are almost pure pigment held together with a little binder. You do not mix them on a palette. You mix them on the paper.
Why pastel mixes differently
There is no wet stage with pastels. Colors mix by layering one over another, by blending with a finger or tool, or optically, by placing marks of different colors side by side so the eye combines them.
Because there is no drying, what you see is what you get, though fixative can darken colors slightly.
Layering that works
Work from dark to light and from hard to soft. Use a light touch for early layers so the paper tooth can hold the later ones. Test combinations on a scrap of the same paper.
How Palette Master handles soft pastel
Select soft pastel and recipes show which colors to combine for your target. There is no dry time, so the Mix screen hides it and you can check your match with a photo straight away.