I did the soft pastels on Strathmore 500 series charcoal paper so I decided to have a go with hard pastels on the same paper to compare them.
Pastel paper doesn't always stand up too well to hard pastels. Only a few layers is enough to polish the surface of the paper. So I really didn't expect too much.
To my surprise the Strathmore stood up quite well. It took a few layers and there didn't seem to be a problem with the paper showing through; I didn't fix it between layers either.
The pastels that I used were Derwent pastels and Lyra Polycolor pastels. The Derwents were quite nice but the Lyras were very gritty. Even so they seemed to give reasonable results.
This paper is a good alternative, especially for beginners, to the sanded surfaces which are quite expensive. It should work reasonably well with the less expensive pastel brands too.
Pastel paper doesn't always stand up too well to hard pastels. Only a few layers is enough to polish the surface of the paper. So I really didn't expect too much.
To my surprise the Strathmore stood up quite well. It took a few layers and there didn't seem to be a problem with the paper showing through; I didn't fix it between layers either.
The pastels that I used were Derwent pastels and Lyra Polycolor pastels. The Derwents were quite nice but the Lyras were very gritty. Even so they seemed to give reasonable results.
This paper is a good alternative, especially for beginners, to the sanded surfaces which are quite expensive. It should work reasonably well with the less expensive pastel brands too.