1) Combining Pastel and Marker

Use a pencil to prepare a sketch of the picture as needed.

Stick paper tape onto the paper in the selected areas. These areas will remain white even after the creation, or we can work with them later.

Use pastels and shade large areas with them by first applying individual shades and then smudge them using paper napkins to achieve the shading effect.

Use a ruler to create straight objects. The black effect of objects can be achieved using a marker of suitable thickness. For white surfaces, in addition to the mentioned tape, we can also use a whitener or a white gel pen.

Use a pencil to shade the necessary areas.

Carefully remove the tape from the painting. You can erase possible excess lines. It is suitable to use rubber in a pencil, which can be effectively cut to the required tip.

2) Shading

Create a thin sketch of the picture with a pencil, gradually erasing it during the work. The sketch only serves as a guide showing which pastel should be used in which area, but we do not want it to be seen later in the painting.

Fix the edges of the painting to the table with paper tape.

Start applying individual colours of pastels to the erased part of the painting. Start from the background; the last objects to work with are the ones in the front.

Shade the pastels using a paper napkin. If you work with multiple colours, it is better to always take a new one for each shading.

To highlight certain objects, apply the colour with pastel again and leave it there.

When the painting is ready, carefully remove the paper tape and use a fixative. We could not use it with the previous technique, because the objects drawn with the markers would be blurred. After fixing the painting, it can no longer be corrected, so it is the last item to be used.

3) Painting Using Cotton Sticks

Create a precise pencil sketch. Unlike the previous variants, it will remain in the picture and underline the final form of the work.

Prepare the shades of pastels that match each other. You can try their combination on a separate sheet of paper. At the same time, prepare a large number of cotton swabs, necessary for this technique. It is advisable to have one stick for each colour of the pastel.

This time you don't have to fasten the picture with tape, but you can if you want.

Start applying the individual colours to selected areas using cotton sticks, i.e. paint the cotton stick with pastel and then rub it against the paper. The darker shade you want, the more you need to rub the pastel against the stick, and vice versa.

First, we work with objects in the front part of the painting. Imperfect details do not matter. After filling in the entire object, we will return to the affected areas and erase the excessive lines again with the rubber in a pencil. Background will be the last part to finish.

After you finish colouring with the cotton sticks, highlight the outline created with a pencil once more.

Thanks to the cotton sticks, there is not too much excessive paint in the painting that would need to be fixed, but you can do it.

A Few General Tips at the End:

Be careful when removing the tape so as not to damage the surface of the paper. It is better to use paper with a harder surface.

When erasing, keep in mind that the rubber will be able to remove only a thin layer of the pastel. With a thicker layer, the rubber could smudge the paint over the paper.

Spray fixative is best suited for fixing.