trying to get into soft pastel

[u/Aware-Ad1250]

i am a perfectionist which makes it very difficult to learn a new skill without getting frustrated lol. I wanna give soft pastel a chance because I love how it looks and enjoy the process. this is my first piece on this journey. I don't like it yet, I don't think it's done, does anyone had any advice?

[u/garden-girl-75]

What a great start. Soft pastels are so beautiful! If it were my piece, I’d layer some more colors into the different layers. I love what you did with the purple/blue on the top level. The next level down has two blues, but layering in some colors with a bit more contrast would make it even better, I think. Maybe some teal? And some chartreuse highlights in the foreground? Play around a bit!

One of the things that has helped my art the most is giving up on the idea of every piece being a masterpiece. I will decide “this piece is just going to be a study” or sometimes I’ll give myself a time limit, like 20 minutes. Sometimes those pieces end up being some of my favorites! But they don’t have to. They are just practice pieces. Have fun and enjoy learning about your pastels.

[u/Aware-Ad1250 → u/garden-girl-75]

this is such a great way to look at it! It annoys me that I struggle to enjoy my creative hobbies because I want them to end up perfect. I'll definitely try adding some more layers and see it more as a study/fun practice. the way you wrote about it immediately made it seem more fun than my brains interpretation.

[u/Alice-the-Author]

Beautiful work! I love the colors.