When I first tried out Sennelier’s Woodless Pastel Pencils (first impression here), I was immediately put off by the idea of using them on large areas, and decided to pair them with PanPastel. But, I wanted to be sure of that decision, so I got a big sheet and decided to do a large drawing using only these pencils.

While I don’t dislike the way it came out, I truly only enjoyed drawing the faces and hair. The clothes were a battle that I didn’t need to fight.

Things I Noticed

• Some of the pastels were very very scratchy. I know this happens with the medium, so I keep some sandpaper nearby, but there is one shade of brown that was just tearing into the paper no matter what I did.
• Speaking of browns, they’re all far too similar. They must be warmed by adding some yellow, but they could just as easily have replaced one of them with a goldeny shade instead.
• For small areas, they are still my favourite. I loved using them on the faces, it was so much better than pastel pencils because instead of having to sharpen or sand them, they can be held parallel to the paper and still get thin lines even if the point is going down. Also, the point doesn’t disappear completely because there’s no wood for it to sink into. Even square pastels don’t keep as many sharp edges in my experience.
• Building layers is simple to do in a delicate way. In fact, these are beautiful for delicate anything. For big areas, though, I’ll stick to PanPastel, they honestly work beautifully together.
• The holder for these that Sennelier makes is a *very* useful tool. I did purchase one, and I am very glad that I did. The extra bulk of the holder makes it less of a pain on the medium-large areas.