Another attempt at pastels

So I was given a link to a great pastels tutorial, and decided to have a go at a couple of little drawings.

My first attempt was a hot-air balloon, inspired by this weeks Iluustration Friday, and the design was inspired by the tutorial:

After seeing the ‘overlapping the frame’ designs in the tutorial, I thought it would be perfect for the balloon design, make it seem as if it were flying across the page. The basket needs a bit more work I think, but I was interrupted by small children waking.

And attempt two is pretty much a direct replica of the tutorial. I decided to use the same design so I could compare results and see if I was heading in the right direction. I did change the colours to suit my tastes:

I also didn’t fill in the background, as I felt the deep purple was a strong enough colour to just do a border – I was worried that a full background may have been overwhelming.

Now I’m getting the hang of it, I think I’m really starting to like pastels…