Hi friends! Today I have a review of PanPastel 5 Grays for you. While PanPastel is not new to me, I bought this set when I crossed the border to shop at Hyatt’s 2 months ago. It retails for US$32.99/CAD$43.12, and you get 5 shades plus a few Sofft tools.
What Is PanPastel?
PanPastel is an ultra soft pastel in pan form with low dust and applies like paint. It is also lightfast and very blendable. Since you apply with tools like Sofft, or Sofft tools dupes, you keep your hands and fingers clean.
If you are concerned about that Cancer Warning on the label, California also slaps that same warning on seaweed too. Since PanPastel creates very low dust, I personally don’t perceive it to be a problem, but the choice is up to you.
Contents of PanPastel 5 Grays Set
Here are the contents of the set:
- 820.5 Neutral Gray Tint 5
- 820.7 Neutral Gray Tint 7
- 840.3 Payne’s Gray
- 100.5 Titanium White
- 800.5 Black
- 1x Sofft Mini Applicator
- 1x Sofft Sponge Bar
- 2x Sofft Knife Covers (one square and one oval)
By the way, if you purchase PanPastels or any Sennelier pastels, be sure to shop either in person or from a trusted art supplies store that will pack your order well with cushioning and in a box. I have purchased my other set of PanPastel 5 colours from Amazon which arrived completely shattered!
Painting With A Limited Palette
For this PanPastel 5 Grays review, I decided to paint Jane Seymour in Somewhere In Time. I watched the movie as a kid, and thought she was the most beautiful woman ever.
I used to do portraits in charcoal and coloured pencils, but since I fell in love with watercolour, I rarely paint faces. I love using pastels because they are much quicker to spread and blend than using coloured pencils. With pastels I can still do portraits but in much less time.
Moreover, I bought this set because I thought I could do a portrait with just 5 colours. As it turns out, I could actually do it with 4! I didn’t use Payne’s Gray much, since it didn’t quite fit with the rest of the colours, which are more neutral. Payne’s Gray is a bit too blue and cool for it.
Performance of PanPastel 5 Grays
Just like my other set of PanPastel, the 5 grays performed beautifully. Each shade is smooth and soft, and spreads like butter on Pastelmat. I also appreciate the Sofft Tools it comes with.
If you wonder whether you can do a black and white portrait with this set of 5, you absolutely can. PanPastel is expensive, but this set of 5 is enough in my opinion. For the smaller details like the eyes, I did use a pastel pencil, but the rest is all from the set.
All in all, I highly recommend getting this set if you like doing black and white portraits. You will not be disappointed.
The Other PanPastel Set of 5
My first set of PanPastel came in Earth Colours. They are not as stand-alone as the Grays, but if you have other pastels, you can definitely use them together. I painted Pedro Pascal with the Earth Colours set, along with my other pastels. They worked well together, providing that you use the harder pastels as your first layers before PanPastels.
By the way, this was the set I mentioned earlier that arrived shattered. Amazon just put it in a bubbled envelope and tossed it at my door. I recommend shopping in person for fragile art supplies like this if you can, or you’d be dealing with a mess when you open the package!
I do commissioned artwork! If you are interested in having a commissioned portrait done, please click here.
