Vic Bearcroft's Pastel Velour Pad - Large Black and Dark Grey (350mm x 500mm)

I like the blue or paper very much but I have found that I would be less likely to use black

Great quality! Takes a while to arrive so plan ahead!

Best velour paper I've found especially for animals and portraits. Have been using it for 5 years.

These velour pads offers a unique surface for soft pastels, and is recommended to all pastel artists looking to try new surfaces for their soft pastel work. It is softly textured, and although it took me a while to get used to it and to fully understand how it works, I ended up really loving it. The downside to this surface is that the pigments do not blend as easily. The beauty of soft and hard pastels is in how they blend so effortlessly. I am able to do a quick pastel background in just minutes, as opposed to hours if I were using coloured pencils. This velour surface will take a bit of that power away. At first I was taken aback and became a bit frustrated not being able to blend my pastels as effortlessly as I am used to (don't bother using your fingers) but once you have your under painting down, the process get's easier as the pastels will apply much more effortlessly once you have that pastel pigment underneath. The upside to this, your finished work will not smudge as easily and this does give me a peace of mind. Another positive is that there is minimal dusting when painting, so you get very little crumbs to dust away.I did use professional grade pastels, and pastel pencils and their performance did vary. As expected, soft pastels performed the greatest, while the pastel pencils ranged from good to not-so-good. So be warned, this paper is not ideal if you are only using pastel pencils; the lay down is much more muted and it will take you a long time to achieve a radiant result. I did find the Rembrandt pastels worked wonderfully, as did the Mungyo Gallery Artists' Soft Pastels; out of the pastel pencils, I found the Generals brand performed better than the Faber-Castell Pitt Pastels (these disappointed me), while the Stabilo Carbothello outperformed the Pitt pastels, but not the Generals.Overall, despite my initial frustration, I gotta admit, I am loving my results (so far). As long as the artist is aware of what they are getting with this surface- for sake of comparison, it is no where near as easy to use as Pastelmat. With velour, it will take you a little more time to get your work done, but overall, I do think it is worth it as it gives your finished piece a softness, and a radiance missing when using traditional paper, and I do feel that depending on your style, this surface will elevate/enhance your work. For instance I would definitely recommend this to wildlife artists, as I feel the softness of fur is greatly enhanced by the silky soft tooth of this paper. So give it a try and see for yourself. Recommended

Great product . Delivered swiftly

I think this product definitely has potential, and obviously some people get incredible results on it, however i struggled to get any fine detail. Could do with some tips on the packaging.

This produces such a dramatic result that I am totally addicted to it. Brilliant surface and needs a great deal of thought to complete the effect.

Excellent for animal portraits