 Hi there Lindsey here the frugal crafter. Body Quest today we're gonna paint some sunflowers with pastel. And actually I just noticed there were sunflasters. Sunflasters. So my goodness I'm starting off so well today. Sunflowers on top of my pastel box. I just noticed that. Anyway I'm just using some inexpensive student grade pastels. These are half sticks set which means, so this is a half stick set of 72. So basically it's like you're getting 36 pastels, but well take your paint with 36 pastels we get 72 colors because you know they're half the size. So it's a really good option if you are beginning. And this is a Kantson meet-tint pastel paper that I'm working on and I'm working on an IV green color. And we're gonna start by grabbing kind of a yellow ochre color pastel. Use whatever color you have that's closest to what I'm using. And I'm gonna start by sketching a circle. And I'm gonna put a smaller circle on the inside, not all the way around just kind of like that. And then I'm gonna sketch in some petals. And when I do sunflower petals, I kind of think of them as points on a compass. And I'll do one, they'll go across to the other side. And I'll do another one. And I'll do that on every side, kind of like north-south east west. Because if I get those point, you want your petals pointing directly out from the center. And if you kind of start on one side and you start lying them all up, then they tend to usually tilt one way or the other and you get kind of an awkward look. And then they'll go in and I'll fill in between. And ironically, this is actually the same way I would put like buttons or brads on a layout, like a scrap of page if I was trying to space them out. So, you know, you probably already have the skills that you need for composition. Even if you've never really painted before and you've been more of a crafter and you're just kind of that getting your feet wet, you have these composition skills because you have made beautiful crafts and scrap of glayers. I might have some, you know, petals that are kind of curling over, maybe they're a little bit, you know, wilted. So, I might have just little indications of those. But look at that, that's pretty easy. We've got our little sunflower drawn there. I think I'll put on maybe a few, maybe a little leaf. And I think, you know what? I'll sketch that in with the same color because that will blend out. Let's see, maybe I'll just throw kind of like a little leaf in here, I'm gonna put the center vein and then it's kind of, it's kind of have a little heart shape but it can be kind of jagged edged. So, I'm just kind of wiggling my pastel to get that jagged edge and we'll give him a stalk. Of course, I'm painting it upside down, so it'll be right set up for you because we all know I don't like to edit anything. Yeah, Lindsay Live, that's what you all love. Oh my goodness. All right, so we got that. We got a little flower, some flower there drawn that works. And then I like to keep the colors I'm using. I kind of set them in the box, they're kind of sticking up so I know when I go to grab another color, I know what ones I've already used and I want to keep returning back to the same color so I have color harmony. So now I've got this kind of burnt sienna color and I'm adding some of that into the center and I think I'll add some of that also to some of my petals just because I like to keep that harmony and continuity in my piece. And, you know, maybe I'll just throw a little bit on the stem just to keep that harmonious. And then you can, the thing is you can really use a color you prefer, if you prefer one shade of green over another, just remember to keep it, to keep returning to the same colors so that you end up with a harmonious layout. And you know, it's like I wouldn't even have to really color in these leaves too much because I'm working on green paper. You know, or I could work on like a sky blue and have that beautiful orange yellow standout so I like to work on colored paper because I feel like it does a lot of the work for me and if I'm just trying to do a quick sketch, I find it very pleasing, very advantageous to do that. Oh, this is a beautiful colors, avocado green, adding some of this in here. Now you're probably wondering, Lindsay, that looks pretty, those pastels look really nice. I can't believe the student grade, what's the difference between the expensive pastels that are, you know, $45 is stick and the ones that, you know, you can get a set of 72 for, you know, $10. The big difference is what they're using in there for pigments. Now I recommend that, you know, for kids and beginners to really check out the student grades, grade pastels because for one thing, they're not gonna have cobalt and cadmium in lead and other substances that are quite volatile and carcinogenic. So I want, you know, you guys to be safe first and foremost. And then also, if your pastels stick cost you a lot of money, you may feel intimidated to use it. This is just kind of a little bit, I don't know, almost like a, gosh, it's almost like a seafull. Well, I don't know. This is just a really kind of pale olive, I guess. I'm throwing in here. And so, you know, if you're practicing with something like this, you're not gonna worry about using up that set. You'll feel a lot more comfortable. So that's another reason I like to recommend these. And they, I mean, the results are beautiful. So, you know, I definitely favor castles, makes good ones, SEI, Sargent. They all make really nice student grade pastels. So as long as they look nice and vibrant in the box, they're probably gonna look pretty vibrant when you paint with them. All right, now I've got this kind of like gold and yellow. And I'm putting in the color near the bottom of the petals where they kind of touch the center of the sunflower. Pastels are so fun to work in because you can get so much color, so quickly, it's so easy to fill up an area. You can erase if you get yourself, you know, if you get too much on there, this paper's nice because it's got a subtle texture. On one side has a little bit more texture. I'm working on the smoother side, actually. So that's kind of nice about the cance and the tints. And they offer in pads now. You stuff to buy it in big sheets. And sometimes you have to buy a whole pack, but it's much more, much more available in the smaller sheets now. And I'm gonna get kind of a highlighted yellow color and just kind of throw in some of the brighter spots on the petals. Now you can blend with your fingers or cute tip if you want to or you can leave the brush strokes very visible and harsh. It's up to you. Sometimes I do a little bit of both. I might go in and blend the petals out a little bit so that I'll have some, so it'll contrast the texture in the center of the flower. So like I can go through and just kind of softly smudge them a little bit and go add more detail later. Yeah, it's completely up to you. It's just, I like to have a little bit of a contrast in the texture. There you go. All right, so now I wanna fill in some of the color here in the middle. And I'm gonna want some brown. I'm gonna go with this, this is almost like a burnt umber color. Get that kind of on the edges there. Now I don't wanna go, I don't wanna do the same everywhere because I don't want it to look like, um, I don't want it to look like a bullseye. I want it to look very natural. I put a head, put a little green there in the middle, a little more of this golden color. This is a color that we sketched with originally. Get some of that in there. At least scumbally strokes are just kind of tap and we'll go my pastel around. Like in there with the darkened teeth, easy for me to see what I used when I can go pick up that same color again. Just gonna tap and make your marks and try to get some texture in there. Let's see, what else does that need? Maybe a little more green in there actually. Get some sunflower seeds that aren't quite ready yet. And then I feel like it also needs a little bit of a highlight so I'm gonna go with some of that yellow and just kind of tap it a little bit there too. Now you can also use pastel pencils if you want to to bring in a little bit more definition. You know, if you feel like you've lost your edges, I'm going with the darker green that we used on the leaves just to help define a little bit here. I can even go over it with this reddish brown and kind of blackened it out a little bit just to, so I get that depth of color, but I don't have a really bright green spot in there. And I'm actually gonna take that dark color and define some of my petals here and I'm just using the edge of the pastel and I'm going to not blend it, just kind of leave it. I think pastels are kind of fun to take like to, if you took a sketching class or if you're just going out and about just to do some sketching because you can get some really quick results and it's just fun. It's like coloring. It's like kind of being a child again, which is just fun once in a while to really that wild art making process. All right, I feel like I want a brighter, wider yellow. So let me see. You know, go to like almost like this. Oh, this is really, really, really pale, pale yellow. And I'm just going to add some just high highlights here and there. This is more of an impressionistic sunflower, which is just right for the amount of time we have for our video today. And it's just, just right for the amount of time I personally have to do a video because taking my kids to the frozen yogurt place, which I think they're insane because it's 30 degrees out. Of course that does feel like a heat wave this time of year remain, but I've been promising and I would take them since that joint opens. Gonna make good of my word. I try to add my highlight colors elsewhere too, just to kind of give it harmony. And really that's about it. I really hope this looks like a sunflower when I totally turn it around and say, yeah, not too bad. Looks like a sunflower. Oh, yeah, by the way, that's the other reason. That's not a good idea to blow that dust right in the air. Like I just did. Luckily, this is a student grade pastel, so I don't have to really well, you know, still don't want to breathe it. But I did that without thinking about it. You should have like tapped it over a trash can or something. But you know, if you can't be an inspiration, at least be a horrible warning, I guess. It's not how the saying goes. Well anyway, I hope you have a wonderful Sunday and I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment below. Thumbs up and subscribe if you like this video. And until next time, happy crafting.