Best Oil Pastels for Beginners: 10 Smooth and Blendable Sets

Choose one useful box before chasing softness

The featured image is an original conceptual illustration of oil pastels and a drawing, not a photograph of tested products. Exact product images appear in the recommendations above.

A good first oil pastel set gives you a workable palette and a reason to sit down and draw. A huge tray can be lovely, but it also adds decisions. If you have never used the medium, a small flower, a rounded bear character or a three-color landscape is a better first project than a large picture requiring every hue.

The ten sets above include different sizes within the same ranges. They are alternatives for different needs, not ten separate recipes or a measured softness ranking. Expressionist 12 and 25 let you choose how restricted to make your palette; Pentel 25 and 50 serve a similar choice. The two Mungyo selections differ in color count and storage. You only need one first box.

“Smooth and blendable” reflects the intended character of these ranges and manufacturer descriptions. We have not compared friction, coverage, layering or blending in person. Paper texture, pressure and the amount of color already on the surface will also affect your result.

Understand the material you are buying

Oil pastels combine pigment with an oily, waxy binder. They make marks directly, so you can begin without mixing paint or setting out water. Their surfaces can transfer color to your hand, another sheet or a storage sleeve. A beginner kit therefore needs a protected work area as much as it needs a nice palette.

Dry soft pastels are a separate medium. Their powdery deposit and dust handling differ from the oily mark considered here. See our soft pastel guide if that is the tutorial or technique you intend to follow. Mungyo’s “Gallery Soft Oil Pastels” name refers to its oil-pastel range, not to dry soft pastel sticks.

Watersoluble oil pastels are separately identified products. Mont Marte sells ordinary and watersoluble Signature tins with similar names. This guide selects the ordinary 48-piece MMPT0020 tin. Do not substitute a water-based tutorial for the exact product instructions.

Match the palette to your pictures

For kawaii characters, consider the colors you actually need: a light body color, a darker outline or shadow, a blush color and a background. Pastel in the product name describes the medium; it does not promise a box full of pale aesthetic colors. Look at the shown selection before choosing it for a peach-and-sage journal theme.

For simple landscapes, pull out a light sky color, a middle-value land color and a darker foreground. For portraits, check the pictured skin and earth tones rather than assuming that any 48-color box contains the right ones. You can learn mixing with a small palette, but a set that repeatedly misses your subject’s useful colors may be the wrong purchase for you.

Treat storage as a separate decision. The Mont Marte tin can keep a broad selection together; Mungyo’s 72-color wooden case needs more space. A small cardboard box can be perfectly adequate for a drawer at home. None of those containers protects the surface of a finished picture.

Start with suitable paper and a small study

Use a sturdy surface whose maker identifies it as suitable for oil pastel, and try a small sample before buying a large supply. Pentel lists paper, board and canvas as compatible surfaces; that does not mean every paper texture will feel the same. For comparisons during practice, keep the paper type consistent.

Very textured paper may leave visible gaps in light strokes. You can use that broken color deliberately instead of forcing every mark into a solid patch. On a smoother surface, test how readily another layer sits over the first. If marks slide around or lose their separation, reduce the amount of color and try a fresh area.

Begin with three small exercises:

1. Make pressure swatches. Give each selected color a light mark and a denser patch. Label the swatch from the wrapper or packaging so you can find the same color later.
2. Blend a pair of neighboring colors. Put the colors side by side with light pressure, overlap the boundary and gently work that boundary with a clean tool suitable for the material. Keep an untouched example nearby.
3. Draw a simple shape. Use one light, one middle and one dark color for a rounded fruit or character. Preserve the silhouette before adding cheek color, leaves or small details.

This is a practice plan, not a test protocol or evidence of our own use. The aim is to see what your set does on your paper before committing to a finished picture.

Blend selectively and keep colors clean

Blending can soften a sky or turn two adjacent hues into a gradual transition, but it can also blur a shape you wanted to keep clear. Work on one boundary at a time. Leave some marks visible so the drawing retains texture and direction.

Start lightly and build the important areas gradually. A heavy first layer leaves less room to learn what the next mark contributes. Wipe a contaminated tip on a spare piece of paper and keep the tool used for pale colors separate from one carrying dark pigment. Test any tool against the exact product’s instructions; direct skin contact is not essential to learning the technique.

Scratching through a top layer to reveal color beneath is another possibility. Sakura identifies scratch art among the uses of Junior Artist. For a supervised family project, use an age-appropriate blunt tool and a small practice patch. Do not cut into the paper with a sharp implement or turn a craft exercise into a reason to ignore the package guidance.

You do not need to begin with solvents, heating or added oils. Some makers describe techniques using mediums, but those are separate experiments requiring compatible materials and their own handling instructions. The dry exercises here help you learn color placement first.

Protect the desk and the drawing

Keep sticks away from direct heat and return them to their labeled slots when you finish. Protect the table from oily color and keep food away from the work area. Save the package instructions rather than relying on a general online “non-toxic” label. For children, product suitability and supervision still matter; non-toxic does not mean edible or suitable as face paint.

Sakura specifically says Junior Artist has not been evaluated for cosmetic use on skin. Faber-Castell lists Creative Studio 127024 for ages 13 and up. Those are useful distinctions for a parent buying from a guide that also includes adult artist ranges.

Do not expect a finished oil pastel drawing to become touch-proof simply because you leave it out. Sennelier documents a non-drying binder. Keep another sketchbook page, sleeve or glass from pressing directly against the artwork, and use an appropriate separated storage or mounting arrangement. Test any protective treatment on a sample and follow the treatment’s instructions; a fixative for dry pastels is not automatically suitable for oil pastel.

If tidy fine details matter more to you than broad color passages, our colored pencils for drawing and sketching guide offers a different starting point. Choosing supplies that fit your routine is more useful than buying an elaborate set you do not enjoy handling.

Manufacturer sources and exact variants

Research was checked on October 11, 2026. The sources below support the range descriptions and set identification. The purchase controls above resolve through our affiliate components to the exact Amazon.com detail pages. Each listing had an active ordering path when inspected; sellers, delivery and stock can change. No live prices or customer ratings are stored.

• Sakura Expressionist range and model list supports XLP25 and XLP12. Selected Amazon US identifiers are B005E0CF5O and B001DKLF14.
• Pentel assorted oil-pastel box sets identifies PHN-25 and PHN-50. Selected Amazon US identifiers are B0016P4G4E and B00LFCWSPM.
• Mungyo Soft Oil Pastels MOPV manufacturer page distinguishes the range and shows boxed and wooden-case packaging. Selected Amazon US identifiers are B004WQHY4S for 48 colors and B004WQHYWK for 72 colors in a wooden case.
• Faber-Castell Creative Studio 127024 provides the 24-color contents and age guidance. Selected Amazon US identifier is B0007OED0W.
• Sennelier oil-pastel formulation and card-box assortments describe the range. Selected Amazon US identifier is B0018C032E for the introductory 12-stick box.
• Mont Marte Signature 48-piece oil-pastel tin identifies MMPT0020. Selected Amazon US identifier is B09S8FF57Y.
• Sakura Junior Artist manufacturer information describes introductory uses, regular-stick set sizes and the skin-use limitation. Selected Amazon US identifier is B0017D5XO2 for the 25-piece regular-stick set.

Broad manufacturer smoothness or lightfastness statements are not a substitute for our own comparison or color-specific permanence documentation. We have not made either claim. Read our editorial policy for how research-based recommendations differ from personally tested reviews.