Company Background

Most of the time, when I visit an art supply store and ask the employees for recommendations, they point to Schmincke. This happened often enough at various Pearl Paint stores that I wondered whether there was some sort of bonus being paid to employees for these recommendations. Then, I tried other stores and found the same results. I tried artists, too, and when I got the same reaction, I became a believer.

Schmincke -- which is pronounced, roughly, "SHMINK-uh" -- is a German company founded more than a century ago. They are reknowned for their pastels (more about why shortly), and equally well-regarded for their line of watercolors (tough to say whether Winsor & Newton or Schmincke is the best in the world; it's a close call). They make excellent oils, too. So this is a company that understands colors, and knows how to make products that artists adore. This is a company that believes in VIVID colors, rich and thick and dense, with product lines that no other company can match.

Schmincke has been manufacturing pastels for about a hundred years.

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Product Background

There are 298 different Schmincke pastels. The total number of pastels in any given line is always difficult to understand because each manufacturer constructs its line in a different way.

To put this another way, there are 54 individual "full tones." Among these full tones, you'll find, for example, Carmine Red, Rose Madder, Purple 1, Purple 2, Reddish Violet, Bluish Violet, and Deep Violet. The "Volton" or pure tone, is typically the second darkest shade of each color. There is one shade darker (made by adding black pigment), and three additional shades lighter (made by adding progressively more white). This approach yields, for example, five colors in the Rose Madder tone.

Multiply 54 full tones by 5 shades of each tone, and the result is 270 different pastels. Which leaves 28 still to be counted. Some of these are blacks and whites, there's a gold and a silver, and there's a batch of dark tones containing extra pigment (really good deep darks are a problem in pastels; these products help to solve that problem).

Schmincke Pastel Products - Getting Started

The best way to start with Schmincke pastels is either to buy a box of half-sticks, or to select a batch of individual pastel colors. A well-stocked store or catalog will offer both options.

If you are buying individual pastels, you'll want to sample not only the pure tones, but Schmincke's extremely nice near-whites and the darker tones as well. Schmincke's line is very heavy on greens and browns (these represent at least half the line), so landscape artists have plenty of choices. The line of pinks and other tones needed for portraiture is sufficient, though hardly as wide or deep. But the real fun is in the really bright colors, like the Ultramarine Deep, or the Permanent Red Deep, or Purple 2. These colors will jump out the display, and, when used intelligently, they can really make a pastel painting extraordinary.

Pastels are racked end-out, so you can get a sense of color range by simply staring at a store display. But flourescent store lighting and the lack of any reasonable try-out space should strongly encourage you to buy a dozen and take them home. Budget just under $3 per stick-- shop around and you'll find them closer to $2.50-- so a dozen should cost no more than about $40.

One very nice alternative is the 30 half-stick box, which sells for about $45-50. If you're a bit reluctant to spend even that money, there is a set of 15 half sticks that's widely available for about $25.

Another, available only from Dakota Pastels, is the set of 48 best sellers. The emphasis is darks and lights, with fewer earth tones. It's not wholly representative of the line, but it is a good starting place. Good dedal, too, at $135 for 48 sticks.

Schmincke Pastel Products - Making a Committment

Schmincke wins my award for the best packaging of pastel products. Their boxes are uniformly well-made, the foam cushions for each individual stick really do shield them from breakage (under reasonable use, anyway).

There are lots of boxes available.

If you're at all serious, you'll quickly outgrow the more modest boxes. For this reason, I'd bypass the boxes that come in the tempting lighter-colored wood. The largest selection in this series is 30 pastels. (If you're going in that direction, the half-sticks are a far better way to start, offering selection at a low price.)

Three sets (in darker wooden boxes) should serve the needs of most amateur artists.

The box of 45 pastels, typically available for about $150 or so, offers a very good sampling of the tonal range, with several excellent yellows, pinks, blues, a few purples, and so on. (Unfortunately, colors are not printed on the outside of the shrink-wrapped boxes, so you must open the packaging to see what, exactly, sits inside.) This the right set for a generalist; if you do nothing but portraits, or nothing but landscapes, you may find yourself limited because only half the box will be applicable to your routine needs.

The box of 60 pastels is better for that reason. The cost isn't so much greater-- roughly $200-- and the contents should be more than adequate for most pastel paintings (and remember: you can always buy individual sticks).

The best choice is one step further up the ladder. For about $300, the set of 90 pastels is ideal. With this set, it's unlikely that you'll find yourself reaching for the one color or shade that just isn't there-- and there is nothing more frustrating when you're in the midst of a painting.

A closer look helps to explain. In the blues, there is first a Grey Blue, then a light and a dark Cobalt Blue Tone, then several shades of Ultramarine (including the excellent Ultramarine Deep), and to fill things out, a Greenish Blue as well. Not a whole lot of blues, but enough to get any job done. It's the same for the yellows, the reds, the purples, the greens. Each is represented by a large handful of tones and shades so that color coverage is rarely an issue.

In time, you might supplement this set with the box of 17 Dark Tones (15 darks, actually, plus the gold and the silver). This is an especially good idea of you paint a lot of landscapes, or tend toward shadows for effect in any paintings.

Admittedly, $300 is a substantial investment in any hobby. (If you buy fewer, and you get serious, you'll almost certainly spend as much buying individual sticks or supplemental sets, however). The next step up the line is the $500 set of 180 pastels. This investment requires either enormous dedication or a very deep wallet. The benefits of the 90-set apply, doubly.

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