Oil Pastel for Beginners: Soft Seascape with Flowers

1. Intro : Hello, and welcome to this class. My name is Michelle, and I'm an artist who love working with oil pastel and creating soft coming drawing inspired by everyday movements and peaceful scenes. In this class, I'll be guiding you step by step to create this dreamy coastal landscape with gentle waves, distant rocks, and a few of soft flowers. This class is designed to be beginner friendly. So even if you're new to oil pastel, you can follow along at your own path. And if you already have some experience, I hope this class can be a relaxing drawing season for you. More than just learning techniques, I want this class to feel like a quiet space for you to slow down, take a break and enjoy the process of creating. We'll start with a light pencil sketch to plan our composition. Then gradually build up layers using oil pastels. I'll show you how to blend colors, create soft textures, and add small details to bring the whole scene together. You no need worry about making everything perfect. Just take your time, follow along and enjoy each step. I'll also be sharing small tips throughout the class to help you feel more confidence when working with oil pastels. If you enjoy this class, you can also up my other oil pastel classes here on Skillshare. I have classes on drawing food, bakery team, and other landscape, and I always creating new classes. You can follow my profile to stay update whenever I upload a new class, so you can continue learning and drawing with me. And if you like, you can share your artwork in the project section or tag me on Instagram. I would really love to see your version of this piece. So take a moment to get your material ready, find a comfortable space, and when you're ready, let's begin. 2. Materials: In this class, we're going to go over all the tours and supplies. You'll need to draw the beautiful landscape. Here's what I recommend using. For paper, I personally don't really like to use very thick paper for oil pastel, but also not too thin. The idea paper type will be in 100-35 grams to 200 grams, like sketchbook or mixed media paper and pencil for sketching. Or if you prefer to use light colour pencil to sketch, it's fine, too. And a eraser to erase the sketch. For blending, we use cottonbd or some blending tools which you can get online or your local art store for like two or $3. And also finger for blending, too. For oil pastel, I'll be using Mono soft oil pastel 72 colors is a brand from Korea. You don't need fancy supplies, just grab what you have, and let's play. 3. Sketch: Before we start sketching, I just want you to take a moment to slow down and settle into this space. In this class, we are not trying to create something perfect. We are simply spending some quiet time drawing, letting ourselves enjoy those process. One step at a time. This reference is inspired by a peaceful coastal scene with soft wave, distant rocks, and a few of gentle flowers. As we draw, I want you to focus less on getting every detail right and more on how it feels to build the scene slowly. Feel free to pause whenever you need. Take your time and draw at your own pace. There are no rush here. When you're ready, we begin with a simple pencil sketch to make up the composition. Now we're going to start with a light pencil sketch. Try to hold your pencil gently and don't press too hard. We just want to create a soft guide for our oil pastel later, so keep your lines light and lose. First, I'm going to draw a vertical rectangle to mark the frame of my drawing. This will help me keep the composition in place. Next, I'll start with the sea. I draw a simple horizontal line to separate the sky and the ocean. Then I lightly sketch the shape of the water and the distant land. Then I sketch the path in the middle, keeping the line soft and slightly curved and uneven. After that, I add the rocks in the ocean. Don't worry about details, draw the basic shape. Take your time, and when you're ready, we'll move on to adding colour. 4. Sky & ocean: Now we are going to start using oil pastel. The color we use for the sky is white and turquoise blue. The ocean will be used white, turquoise blue, cobalt blue, and raw umber. For the ground, we will use light olive, moss green, meltic green, orange, and golden yellow. For the walking path, we will use ochre and white. Now this chapter will be focused on the sky and the ocean only. Before that, take your erasers and gently erase the pencil sketch. Don't erase everything, lighten the lines. This help prevent the sketch from smudging when we start blending. We'll begin with the sky. I'm using Taqui blue and white. First, I apply the Tkoyblue at the top of the sky using horizontal strokes. The top area is more blue, so I add more color there. For the middle area, I just add a few light strokes and leave some space. Next, I use white to blend. Before using white, make sure your pastel is clean. You can white it with tissue paper. Start from the top and apply the white in horizontal strokes. Slowly moving downward, then over the blue areas to soften them. Then I go back with Turquoiblue and add a few more strokes. Remember to leave some white space. This will become the cloud. Now I use a cotton bud or blending tool to blend everything gently. If you're using a blending tools like me, make sure you clean or wipe it before you start using or you will smuch your painting, starting from the top and moving down. If it feels like some areas need more white, you can add a bit more and blend again to make it look soft and smooth. On the sky is done, we move on to the ocean. I start again with Toko Blu. First, I draw the line between the sky and the ocean. Then slowly fill in the sea using horizontal shocks. Remember to leave some blank space for the rocks and also for the wave. Next, based on the reference, you can see there are some dark colour on the ocean. So I use cobalt blue to add a few darker strokes to create the deck, but don't blend yet. Then I use raw umber to roughly draw the rocks. After that, I add a bit of malachite green to create shadows on the rocks. Now, I go back with toqoiblue to adjust and fill in any areas that need more colors. Then I use white to do some light blending, but don't blend the entire ocean. Leave the areas where the waves are, especially near the rocks and near the shore. I realized I missed one rock, so I'm adding it now. Before we start full blending, I add a bit more white. This helps the blending process because oil pastel need enough pigment to blend smoothly. If you want to learn more about basic oil pastel techniques, you can jack out my beginner class and don't forget to follow my profile, so you can find my classes easily. Now we can start blending using a cotton bag or blending tool. Begin from the top of the ocean and slowly move downward. Be careful around the rocks to avoid smudging. Then I use white to soften the lines between the sky and the ocean, so it looks more natural. If you look at the reference, you can see mountain in the distance. I use turquoise blue to draw them, then add a bit of white between the mountains and the ocean to separate them. Next, I likely apply white on the ocean. You'll notice it creates a very nice texture, similar to water. This is one of the unique effect of oil pastels. I also add white to highlight the wave. The ocean is not only blue and white. These are also hints of green. So I add a few strokes of Malchic green, then blend it slightly. If the color looks too strong, you can softer it with white. Finally, I add any small detail or adjustment where needed. And now our sky and ocean are complete. 5. Grass & flowers: Now we are going to work on the grass and flowers. First, I use light olive to paint the grass. I apply the color in small circular motions. The edges can be uneven. That's completely okay. It will make the grass look more natural. Try to vary your pressure. Some areas can be lighter and some can be a bit heavier. If you feel like some parts look too light, you can go over them again. But remember to leave some blank spaces for the flowers later. Once the left side is done, we move to the right side. The right side have a larger area, so I first catch the outer shape of the grass, then slowly fill in the color. I still use circular motions, but in some areas, I also use strokes, and that's okay. It helps create a more natural look. Again, don't feel everything completely. Leave some space for the flowers. Now we can start adding the flowers. I use golden yellow and apply it in the blank areas we left earlier. You can use more dots or little circular shapes to suggest the flowers. You can press a bit harder here, and it's okay if some flowers overlap with the grass. After that, I go back with the light olive to fill in some gaps between the flowers and add some more flowers here and there. Oh Next, I use more screen to add shadow to the grass. Before you start, take a moment to observe the reference. Notice where the darker areas are. Then slowly build out the shadows. Starting from the bottom. In some area, you can use strokes and in others circular motions. Keep your pressure light. It's okay if you see small gaps. We can always build it up gradually. Try to add shadow underneath the flower as well. This will help them stand out more. Also add some darker tones near the edge of the walking path. Then I use orange to add depth to the flowers, making them look more dimensional. Now, we start filling in the remaining empty spaces. I use more screen first then light olive. Alternate between these two colors and slowly build up the layers. Try not to cover the flowers. Use the same process on both sides. If some flower get covered, you can always go back with golden yellow and orange to bring them back. Using both darker and lighter green will make your painting look richer and more dimensional. Finally, I use raw umber, which is a brown tone to add darker shadow and soil near the edge between the grass and the walking path. Then I plan it slightly by adding more screen around it. And light olive next to the most screen to connect the colors and make everything look more natural. If it feels like you need more flowers, you can always add a few more at the end. And now our grass and flowers are complete. 6. Path: Now we are going to paint the walking path. I'm using ochre for this part. Start by applying the color very gently with light pressure, using horizontal strokes. You can vary the pleasure slightly. Some areas a bit darker, some lighter. But try not to press too hard. Next, I use white to blend. Remember to white your white oil pastel before you using and make sure it's clean. Start from the bottom and move upward. Still using horizontal strokes in some area where the colour looks darker in the reference. You don't need to blend too much. This helps keep some texture. Then I go back with ochre again. Starting from the bottom, I lightly layer the color on top. Keep your touch very soft. You'll notice the texture start to look different from just applying color directly. This is called layering and it creates a natural uneven texture, almost like a real stone path. Now we can begin blending. You can use a cotton bud or a blending tool like I'm using. Slowly blend from the bottom upward little by little. Take your time with this part. I personally find this process very calming and relaxing. Once the center of the path is blended, we move to the edges where the path meets the grass. Use a combination of gentle shocks and small dipping motion to blend these areas. This helps soften the transition between the path and the grass. Take your time here as well. There's no need to rush. Good things take time. After finishing one side, move to the other side and repeat the same process. Finally, adjust and lend any small detail if needed. And with that, your soft seas gap painting is complete. If you like, you can also write down the colour palette you use next to your artwork. Then draw a small decorative boulder around it to make it even more special.