Paul Rubens Oil Pastels, 50 Colors Artist Soft Oil Pastels Vibrant and Creamy, Suitable for Artists, Beginners, Students, Kids Art Painting Drawing

In school we had regular pastels, and I was never a fan because of the mess and the scratchy feeling when using them, so I never really explored them after that.Oil pastels are a game-changer! These are so smooth and creamy, and I was hooked by the pastel macaron colors so I decided to buy them. I did notice the listing said 48 but when in my cart it said 36, so I contacted the seller to clarify and they got back to me very quickly and confirmed it was really a 48 set.The colors go on smoothly and while I do still get some on my hands, it's not like inhaling a bunch of dust while working. I've been happy with all the Paul Rubens items I've tried. There is a good range of colors in this set, and for the price it's a really good deal if you want to try oil pastels.

I bought these to make cards with my grandchildren. We made about 40. Since the sticks don’t dry, we pressed cellophane (fruit wrap paper I bought on Amazon) on top to seal them. We even layered our designs using the cellophane [a la photoshop].They became the house supply of birthday cards. Very handy to have functional art!

I've never been a fan of oil pastels. For one thing, they make a huge mess with these little peelings everywhere, like eraser stubble on steroids, and they got all over my hands and in my nails. Those were the kind you found in the craft stores or at Walmart. Recently, I heard lots of artists on YouTube talking about this brand and comparing it to the ones that are expensive. They mentioned another brand, which I won't mention here, and it seemed like most artists I watched were more impressed with these. I decided I wanted to try them out. What I found is that you can't really compare these with the ones you get in the store. It's like a whole 'nuther level of quality. These seem to have a lot more oil in them, and they are very smooth and blend well, which means, no more peels everywhere! Don't put them close to a heat source. They come in many sets, so I did a comparison spreadsheet to make sure I was getting the most colors. At first I got the 50 set and this one. Then I felt that I didn't have enough pink for flowers. I needed a certain color of pink, and these only had about 3 pinks total. So, I got the macaron set, which does give me a larger range of pinks. I still haven't found a certain shade of green, so I may be ordering single colors in Sennelier or another brand to supplement these or to replace colors that are used up since this brand doesn't come in individual colors. Still, it's a good product if you are new to oil pastels or don't want to shell out the money for the expensive brands.

Whouah! In North America, we use to pay a lot to have good quality oil pastel set! The set that I got, two sticks are very oily as soaking oil and two colours are different and two others are having deeper teints than 72 original Sennelier. As their price is costing four to five time less than original Sennelier, it is worthy every penny spending. I will buy them again for sure, but Sennelier product will stay my best preference than HAIYA for theirs firmness and colours consistency. Both are having the same numbers and mostly the same colours than original Sennelier, that’s why I am calling them « Dupes Sennelier products » and damn good, considering theirs price!

I bought several oil pastel brands at the same time to test them with a new technique I'm experimenting with. The Paul Rubens set impressed me the most for several reasons - the oil to pigment ratio leaves a nice clean stroke that is fairly opaque without being too dense. The colors are pure and there is a variety of warm and cool hues. The other brands seemed to favor hot colors, more for beginners I think. The edge of the round sticks are sharper, meaning you can use the edge for cleaner lines, if needed. Or pull back some paper and use the side of the stick. And the color goes on in a similar manner to soft pastels (dry traditional pastels) so I get more of a clean stroke not unlike bristle rounds with oil paint.Very nice set, especially for the price!UPDATE - After using these oil pastels for awhile, I changed my mind about their overall quality. They are fine for beginners but contain less pigment and what feels more waxy than other brands. They don't have the same covering power and color density, so when blending they don't hold up as well but leave more of a light smear rather than a stroke. Still a good choice for the price if you are wanting to test oil pastels on canvas or rough paper, but good oil pastels will cover areas better more like semi-dry oil paint, not like wax.

Not even close. The softness is between Sennelier and the original Paul Ruben oil pastels. Sennelier is a lot softer and tacky. That being said, I love Paul Ruben oil pastels and lay them in order of softness. So in order it is Crayola, Mungyo, OG Paul Ruben, these and then finish with Sennelier.

These are fantastic to use and blend, not really the consistency of butter but gosh it’s close!I love using these! Blendable++++

Very creamy texture. A little goes long way. These pastels tend to seep oil and melt easily but they are worth it. I’ve learned to lightly rub over the sky and it creates illusion of clouds. Will be purchasing much more

Colours are gorgeous! Super rich and creamy oil pastels. It’s like drawing with lipstick! I usually use Sennelier which are divine, but these are up there too.

Excellent product, would buy again which I did.

The media could not be loaded.  I love that this box includes a swatch card. The sticks also have the pigment, colour & lightfast rating on the stick in English. EG 019 Lemon Yellow PY35 ***. There is also a 'solid square', which I assume is the opacity. These will be a lot of fun to try out. The creamy crumbs could be a bit annoying, but they blend so well with my finger - hardly any pressure!

These comments all relate to using this product without any medium eg gamsol, turps, oils etc. The photo I used to demonstrate is a mix of other brands so I have referred to parts of it specifically for the PRubens review.This brand is super soft, sticky and greasy which has its uses. First, it’s great for impasto looking artworks for artists who enjoy a lot of texture. It’s much easier to sort of tap, dab and do short strokes to build up colour because if you try doing long smooth strokes for blending/making new colours it will lift the underlying colour and the stick gets very clumpy even with a light touch. It will only work on top of “dryer” feeling pastels like cray pas specialist if you don’t want it to scrape through previous layers, rather than layering well on top of itself. Even then it’ll “jump” or “break up” rather than lay down smooth which the much more expensive Sennelier will do. You can see the “jumping” in the middle of the photo with the light Orange on top of the darker orange and on the side where the same light Orange is on top of blue. I happen to like that effect as I do lots of landscapes but it’s something to keep in mind. This drawback can be overcome by waiting long enough for it to dry a bit, then it will take more layers, but it is still a bit patchy and needs to be smoothed in.However, it’s great on its own without combining with other brands if you lay the colours side by side. On the photo you can see on the top right hand side a gradation from white, Orange, red , blue where it works well.Some people have compared it to the softness of Sennelier. It is so greasy that Sennelier, the softest brand won’t register on it or will draw lines through it. You might think well that’s good, I’ll put it on top of Sennelier, but I can see no advantage to covering up the most expensive pastel on the market with this one. So basically I wouldn’t think of it as something to use in combination with Sennelier to expand your colour range, just enjoy it on its own.OVERALL-POSITIVES-great colours, great fun for impasto, relatively cheap, good for top layer if you don’t care if it’s a bit jumpy and not smooth. (You can smooth with blending tools but you won’t get a pure smooth stroke if you do) Can create good colour combinations if used side by side rather than mixing in layers.NEGATIVES depending on how you like to work- if wanting a smoother look best used without trying to blend with other brands. Can’t make new colours blending with other brands. Best used as side by side areas of colour instead of layers so you will need to buy the bigger box to get enough colours. Lifts previous layers easily once it gets a bit thick, have to let it dry out for a while, and also need to smooth previous layers for you to get more on top.

Love the soft texture and easy use , colourful tints usually only found in a much dearer brand