Pastels come in soft, hard and oil form and they are a delight to use. If you've never tried them, you really ought to give them a go. They're so easy to use, and there's no worry about having to hurry with them, because unlike paints, they're a dry medium. Soft pastels tend to be round in shape and very crumbly and these are really good for filling in large spaces. Hard pastels have a straight edge and they are good for painting in something that needs more detail, like the edge of a window or building for instance.
Oil pastels don't tend to blend as well, and for that reason, I don't use them very much. It is possible to make a wash with oil pastels if you blend in a little bit of turpentine or linseed oil. That can look very effective. The only way you'll decide whether they're the medium for you, is to try them and see what effects you can achieve with them. Pastel crayons are very good for fine detail. Any outlines, or the fur of animals, for example, can be achieved by using these. They're the perfect answer when soft or hard pastels are too thick.
Pastels can be painted on various surfaces. Sand or glass paper is an interesting surface as it is rough and holds the pastel well, but bear in mind you will use a lot of pastel using this. It might be better to leave sandpaper as a base until you're more experienced in using pastels. You can buy pastel boards from art shops in different sizes and pastel paper comes in various types. Ingres paper has a lined texture while Mi-tientes paper has a dotted appearance.
Pastel paper which has a thickness of 360gms is ideal. I personally prefer to work on a heavy - duty cartridge or watercolour paper because I like to obtain detail and I use a lot of pastel. The grains of textured paper are sometimes a bit of a nuisance for me when I'm trying to get detail, as the pastel tends to sit within the grooves (which it is intended to), and unintentionally it gives me a texture that I'm not looking for.
Other things you will need are a clean, white rubber, and a rubber on the end of a pencil is handy because it helps to blend in small details. You could always mould a bit of putty rubber into a point and use that. Your hands will get dirty when blending in so you might have to wash them in the middle of painting because you blend in with your fingers and don't want to get colours mixed together on your paper, making it look dirty.
One point to remember is that pastels will tend to come off the paper and because of that, you will need to fix them. How much of this you use will depend on how thickly you put on the pastel. Fixatives do have a tendency to dull the artwork, so don't overdo it, but you can always add more pastel afterwards over a section if you think it needs it. You can buy fixative sprays from art shops, but a firm hairspray works just as well. Hold the can about 12 inches away and spray quickly across the paper from left to right. Let it dry and if the surface has a mottled look, just blend over it with your finger.
After fixing, you will need to consider choosing a mount and frame. A mount is important because it raises the glass of the frame away from the paper and it also makes a painting stand out. It kind of finishes it off and makes it look professional. A good colour choice for mounts is cream because it's a colour that will blend in with the decor of most homes. Another option is to choose a double mount where an inner mount is placed under the cream one and it can be in a colour that complements the outer, cream one.
If you don't intend to frame your painting straight away, protect it with a clear, polythene wrapper which you can buy with mounts. If you intend selling your pastel paintings, this is a good way to display them. If you find that some pastel has gone onto the mount, don't wipe it away with your finger because that will smudge it. Instead, just rub it with a clean, white or cream rubber and the particle will come off. You'll learn more tips as you progress, and you should find painting with pastels a pleasure.