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Michelle
Acrylic to Soft Pastel Play: Adding Vibrant Pops of Colour
There’s something incredibly freeing about taking a painting you’ve already created and giving it a whole new life. That’s exactly what I’m doing in today’s video, transforming an acrylic painting on paper with the pure, vibrant pigment of soft pastels.
I absolutely love working with mixed media because it opens up so many creative possibilities. When you layer different mediums together, magic happens. The acrylics give you that beautiful foundation, and then the pastels come in and just sing with colour.
Soft pastels are pure pigment, which means the colours are incredibly intense and vibrant. They’re perfect for adding those final pops of colour that make your painting come alive. There’s no overthinking here, just pure play and exploration.
Whether you work primarily in acrylics or you’re curious about mixed media, I hope this inspires you to experiment and push your creative boundaries. Remember, your paintings don’t have to be precious. Sometimes the most exciting work happens when we’re willing to take risks and see where the creative journey takes us.
Materials I Used:
- Golden Fluid Acrylics (for the foundation layer)
- Sennelier Soft Pastels
- Unison Soft Pastels
- Golden Pastel Ground
Try This
Grab a painting you’ve already finished and let’s play! You don’t need soft pastels to experiment with this technique. The beauty of mixed media is that you can use whatever you have to hand.
Try layering over your acrylic painting with:
- Soft pastels for vibrant, pure colour
- Oil pastels for rich, buttery marks
- Coloured pencils for fine detail and texture
- Wax crayons for bold, expressive additions
- Charcoal for dramatic contrast
- Even collage elements or ink
The point isn’t to make it perfect. The point is to give yourself permission to keep exploring, keep playing, and see where your creative curiosity takes you. You might be surprised at how a painting you thought was finished can transform into something even more exciting.
So go on, be brave. Pick up that extra medium and see what happens. The worst that can happen? You learn something new. The best that can happen? You create something magical.
What will you try? I’d love to see what you create! let me know in the comments if you’re going to try this.
Want to explore more techniques and build your colour confidence? Discover what’s possible in Vibrant Visions.
8 thoughts on “Acrylic to Soft Pastel Play: Adding Vibrant Pops of Colour”
I look forward to trying this, but how do I seal the soft pastel so it doesn’t smudge? Thank You!
Hi Summer. Soft pastels will always have some ‘smudge’ to them, you can apply a light pastel fixative to them however it won’t make them fully smudge free and you have to be careful not to apply to much as it can change the pastels in terms of vibrancy and can affect your values. Enjoy!
Thanks so much Michelle -I hadn’t realised just how effective this is and I will look out some of my paintings where I just felt something was missing!
Amazing, I hope it helps, they are a lovely medium to work with.
I found this really inspirational Michelle, the result is so beautiful, almost impressionistic!
I enjoy painting in acrylic and love mixed media especially soft pastels! Now going to work on a painting which needed a bit of definition. So off I go, soft pastels in hand, feeling encouraged by you!🌻
Amazing Stella. Thanks so much for sharing. I’m glad you found that helpful and I hope the pastels add the definition you’re looking for.
Another beautiful result! Ive worked a bit with pastels, and love the look and vibrancy, but I shy away from them because of the “mess”. I was taught that soft pastels will forever smear so the piece needs to be put under glass and that oil pastels never fully dry. Do you seal your pieces to give them stability and durability? I would love to try this again but am unsure how to finish off the piece so that it will endure.
Thank you Diane and great question. You’re exactly right, soft pastels will always have some ‘smudge’ to them, you can apply a light pastel fixative to them however it won’t make them fully smudge free and you have to be careful not to apply to much as it can change the pastels.
I always put mine behind glass for protection.
Oil pastels never dry so I don’t use these on artwork that will be exposed to the elements as they would gather dust. You can put behind glass but again you have have to be careful and have a barrier so they aren’t touching the glass.
Hope that helps.